President Obama “is preparing to expand the fiscal cliff fight beyond the confines of Washington, travelling the country and leaning on Democratic activist groups to help apply political pressure,” the Huffington Post reports.

“The goal, organizers said, is to keep engaged the activists and followers who have stood with Obama through two campaigns, and to begin applying external pressure to the president’s negotiations with congressional Republicans.”

“And so, top Obama operatives are gaming out ways to squeeze political capital out of the 2012 elections, aiming to affect the lame-duck session in Congress. Obama previewed the strategy in a conference call with activists after the election, saying that a second term that will include some barnstorming across the country.”

BuzzFeed reports Obama “will not repeat what is widely seen as a mistake
of his first term: switching off his grassroots operation at the behest
of Congressional Democrats, who bridled at its organizing in their
districts.”

After watching Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) fell into the trap laid nicely by a reporter asking him about the age of the Earth, Marc Ambinder notes the answer is not a “mystery” as Rubio claimed. The Earth is “about 4.5 billion years old, give or take a few million.”

Nonetheless, “there’s a way for Christian conservatives who believe in the literal (or proximately literal) truth of the Bible to answer the question without denying science. Denying science is not just a position; it is fundamentally a denial of modernity, which is why it is so, well, stupid, to the ears of elites, and even to the ears of folks who just know that geology isn’t a just-so story.”

Matt Lewis: This was a problem Rubio could have easily avoided.

Rep. Allen West (R-FL) announced that he won’t challenge Patrick Murphy’s (D) narrow victory in their nationally watched battle for Florida’s 18th congressional district seat, the Palm Beach Post reports.

Said West: “While many questions remain unanswered, today I am announcing that I will take no further action to contest the outcome of this election.”

Associated Press: “Ever see a couple go through a nasty divorce, and then one side gets angry and starts bringing up old history as the other tries to move on in life with someone else? Well, that’s sort of what the Republican Party of Florida is going through with former Gov. Charlie Crist … When Crist says something nice about President Barack Obama, the state GOP immediately shoots out a press release with something not so nice Crist said about Obama when he was a Republican. If Crist endorses a Democratic candidate, the party reminds people Crist used to say he was a Ronald Reagan Republican. There’s strong speculation that Crist, 56, will challenge Gov. Rick Scott as a Democrat in 2014. He has dismissed talk of a potential return to politics, saying he won’t even think about his future until after Jan. 1.”

“The idea is this: defeat Crist before he can re-emerge as a political candidate with a D next to his name. The unusual part is Crist isn’t a candidate and the attacks began before the 2012 election was decided. It breaks traditional election strategy for a party to begin airing campaign ads for the next election cycle while in the middle of another.”

The Fix gives the award to Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) “for his remarkably poor presidential campaign.”

“Remember back to the late summer of 2011. Perry entered the race with what looked like a straight path to frontrunner status. He was a conservative’s conservative with a proven record of doing what he said in Texas. He was a fundraising powerhouse. He had a charisma that former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney lacked. It was all there for the taking. Until, it became clear that the idea of Rick Perry running for president was very different than the reality of Rick Perry running for president.”

Runners up: Thad McCotter, Ric Sanchez, Todd Akin, and Pete Hoekstra.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) declined to tell GQ magazine how old he thought the earth was, saying it’s “one of those great mysteries.”

Said Rubio: “I’m not a scientist, man. I can tell you what recorded history says, I can tell you what the Bible says, but I think that’s a dispute amongst theologians and I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product or economic growth of the United States. I think the age of the universe has zero to do with how our economy is going to grow. I’m not a scientist. I don’t think I’m qualified to answer a question like that. At the end of the day, I think there are multiple theories out there on how the universe was created and I think this is a country where people should have the opportunity to teach them all. I think parents should be able to teach their kids what their faith says, what science says. Whether the Earth was created in 7 days, or 7 actual eras, I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to answer that. It’s one of the great mysteries.”

New Republic: “That perhaps the two most compelling politicians in America hail from the same state is dramatic enough. Now consider that soon they may be running against each other.”

“Visions of a Booker-Christie match-up make political junkies weak at the knees… There are no nationwide campaigns next year, and just two gubernatorial seats are up for grabs, so this race–hypothetical though it remains–would have America’s attention. Money would flow: Both are beloved by Wall Street and, having campaigned on other candidates’ behalf, are loaded with IOUs from political fundraisers around the country. Coverage would be nonstop: Both are extraordinarily talented at handling the microphone and delivering social media-optimized sound bites. And the stakes would be high: Both have designs on the presidency, and are aware of the benefits of handing the other a premature political death.”

Who would win? Take our poll.

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