A new Public Opinion Strategies (R) poll in Virginia finds Terry McAuliffe (D) edging Ken Cuccinelli (R) in next year’s race for governor, 43% to 42%.
The poll was done for Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) and also shows him with a 67% approval rating.
Obama Brings Gun Debate to Fore
The Wall Street Journal reports that President Obama’s comments “on the need to act against gun violence mirror those he made in the aftermath of the 2011 shooting in Tucson, Ariz., that severely wounded then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed six. He stopped short of making any proposals after that incident, however, and no new federal gun laws were enacted in its aftermath.”
“Whether the Connecticut school shootings, in which 27 people were killed, will lead to an effort to tighten gun laws will likely depend on the facts of the incident, many of which remained murky throughout Friday.”
Politico notes that “this time, the immediate, impassioned calls for new gun-control measures far outstripped the reaction to a series of other recent shooting sprees across the country, including at a Colorado movie theater, a Sikh temple in Wisconsin and a shopping mall in Oregon.”
Schock Under Investigation for Ethics Violations
Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL) is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee over possible violation of House rules, the Chicago Tribune reports, but the ethics panel declined to make public what it is investigating.
However, a spokesman said the ethics review involved super PAC money and reports that Schock solicited a $25,000 contribution from Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s political action committee to help fund a super PAC that successfully backed Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) in a March primary against another Republican incumbent, Don Manzullo (R).
Huckabee Blames Shooting on Removing God from Schools
Mike Huckabee told Fox News that today’s deadly massacre in an elementary school in Connecticut was due to the lack religion in public schools.
Said Huckabee: “We ask why there is violence in our schools, but we’ve systematically removed God from our schools. Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage because we’ve made it a palce where we don’t want to talk about eternity, life, what responsibility means, accountability?”
Obama’s Statement on the Shootings
President Obama’s emotional statement on the mass shootings in Connecticut indicated he wanted to take “meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.”
Wonk Wire: It’s time to talk about guns.
Bonus Quote of the Day
“What I won’t miss are the 20 people in their pajamas who go on Cleveland.com anonymously and feel that the world is just dying for their snarky, stupid comments.”
— Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-OH) telling Cleveland.com what he won’t miss when he retires from the House of Representatives in January.
Too Trained in Media?
Peggy Noonan: “I find both Mr. Ryan’s and Mr. Rubio’s media expertise mildly harrowing–look at the prompter here, shake your head here, lower your voice there, raise it here, pick up your pace in this section. An entire generation of politicians in both parties has been too trained in media, and to their detriment. They are very smooth but it doesn’t make them seem more convincing, it makes them seem phonier. My old boss [Mr. Reagan] had actually been an actor, but he didn’t seem like a phony. He talked like a normal person at a podium, with a nice voice, and occasionally stumbling. It’s not bad to be human when you’re trying to appeal to humans.”
White House Spokesman Brushes Off Gun Control Question
Hours after the tragic elementary school shootings today in Connecticut, White House spokesman Jay Carney said that it was not the time to discuss gun control legislation, the Washington Post reports.
Said Carney: “I’m sure there will be rather a day for discussion of the usual Washington policy debates, but I don’t think today is that day.”
Marc Ambinder: How to prevent more mass killings.
Very Few Doubt Global Warming
A new Associated Press-GfK poll finds that 78% of Americans now think temperatures are rising and 80% say global warming will be a serious problem for the United States if nothing is done about it.
Key finding: The biggest change in the polling is among people who trust scientists only a little or not at all. Within that highly skeptical group, 61% now say temperatures have been rising over the past 100 years. That’s a substantial increase from 2009, when the poll found that only 47% of those with little or no trust in scientists believed the world was getting warmer.
News Outlets Claim Romney Campaign Ripping Them Off
McKay Coppins reports media organizations are preparing to file a formal complaint to Mitt Romney’s campaign contesting some of the “seemingly inflated charges” that were billed to them during the campaign.
“It is standard procedure for presidential campaigns to arrange and prepay for meals, bus travel, and charter flights, then bill the news outlets afterward for their share of the cost. In order to travel with the candidate, reporters and their editors must agree upfront to pay for the cost of the trips, as determined by the campaign. But many of the bills from the Romney campaign — which have continued to trickle in since Election Day — are much higher than during other campaigns.”
Quote of the Day
“The truth of the matter is that my policies are so mainstream that if I
had set the same policies that I had back in the 1980s, I would be
considered a moderate Republican.”
— President Obama, in an interview with Univision.
Man Robs Bank Wearing Romney Mask
A man wearing a Mitt Romney mask robbed a Virginia bank yesterday — the same bank hit by a robber in a Hillary Clinton mask two years ago, NBC Washington reports.
The End of the Senate?
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) told the Tennessean that if Senate Democrats carry out a dramatic maneuver to change one of the institution’s most revered traditions, the filibuster, it will be “the end of the United States Senate.”
Alexander says the Senate “will become just like the House,” where a simple majority vote wins every time and the chamber loses its historic function of acting as a brake on popular proposals to give them more judicious consideration.
The 34 Days that Decided the Election
Out next week for the Kindle: The End of the Line: Romney vs. Obama: The 34 days that Decided the Election by Glenn Thrush and Jonathan Martin.
Fiscal Cliff Talks Stalled
Reuters reports that negotiations on averting the “fiscal cliff” are at an apparent impasse.
The AP notes that not getting a deal before December 31 “would immediately change the political dynamics, making
it easier for many lawmakers – especially Republicans – to agree to a
second-chance compromise in the new year.”
“This scenario strikes a good number of Washington insiders as
irresponsible and improbable – who knows how the markets will react? But
others argue it will be easier to round up the congressional votes
needed for a big compromise if the deadline passes and lawmakers rush
back to Washington next month under a starkly new political reality.”
Financial Times: “No deal” tax stance suggests many Republicans are willing to go over the fiscal cliff.
Rove Says Obama is Trying to Split Republican Party
Karl Rove writes in the Wall Street Journal that President Obama is pushing for a “civil war” within the Republican Party by not negotiating fairly to avoid the fiscal cliff.
Said Rove: “He apparently believes that Republicans, in a weakened state and defending an unpopular position, might buckle on a central GOP tenet, opposition to any increase in marginal rates. That might kick off a Republican civil war, resulting in divisive party primaries in 2014 that leave the president’s opposition even more weakened and produce more subpar candidates like this year’s Republican Senate candidates in Indiana and Missouri.”
Jonathan Chait: “The psychology on display here is familiar to anybody who has seen a petulant teenager, who assumes that any restriction that causes them to feel anger must have been intended to produce that emotion. Republicans are feeling humiliated and divided, so Obama’s goal must have been to humiliate and divide them.”
The Week: Is the conservative dream in its death throes?
Rove Promised IRS Limited Activity in Elections
ProPublica obtained Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS’ confidential 2010 application for tax-exempt stautus and finds that while the group told the IRS it would spend some money to influence elections, it said “any such activity will be limited in amount, and will not constitute the organization’s primary purpose.”
Patrick Already Looking at Kerry Replacement
Jonathan Karl: “The President has not made a choice on his next nominee for Secretary of
State yet, but Governor Deval Patrick is already making plans to fill
presumptive SecState nominee John Kerry’s Senate seat. Knowledgeable
sources tell me Governor Patrick has already had a discussion with one
potential replacement for Senator Kerry: Vicki Kennedy. The sources
say the governor talked to Kennedy, the widow of Senator Ted Kennedy,
about the possibility of replacing Kerry in the Senate and that she did
not rule it out.”
“If Kerry is nominated and confirmed as Secretary of State,
Governor Patrick would appoint somebody to replace Kerry and, under
Massachusetts law, a special election would be held no later than 180
days (and no earlier than 160 days) after Kerry leaves the Senate.”
