Eliot Spitzer is holding a fundraiser in New York for Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA), who is running for governor in Washington, the New York Post reports.
“Insiders believe Spitzer’s soiree shows he’s trying to become a political mover and shaker once again — this time as a national kingmaker… Fund-raising is also a chance for Spitzer to test the political waters without drawing too much attention locally.”
Rick Santorum’s wife granted a rare interview telling Glenn Beck that she initially had been against her husband running for president but finally concluded it was “God’s will,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Karen Santorum: “I did always feel in my heart that God had big plans for Rick. Eventually it was there, tugging at my heart. When Obamacare passed, that was it. That put the fire in my belly.”
Just before she resigned as Alaska’s governor, the Anchorage Daily News reports Sarah Palin “displayed growing frustrations over deteriorating relationships with state lawmakers and their perceived efforts to ‘lame duck’ her administration, along with outrage over ethics complaints that she felt frivolously targeted her and which prompted her to write: ‘I can’t take it any more.'”
“The details are included in more than 17,000 emails released Thursday by state officials — nearly three and half years after the records were first sought by several news organizations.”
The AP notes the emails also show Palin was seriously thinking of divorcing her husband in 2007.
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During a live performance, Bill Maher presented a check for $1 million to a Super PAC which supports President Obama’s reelection campaign, the Hollywood Reporter reports.
Jon Huntsman may have endorsed Mitt Romney when he dropped his White House bid, but today he called for a “third party movement” to freshen up the presidential race, NBC News reports.
Said Huntsman: “Someone’s going to step up at some point and say we’ve had enough of this. The real issues are not being addressed, and it’s time that we put forward an alternative vision, a bold thinking. We might not win, but we can certainly influence the debate.”
He added: “All I can say is I’m looking at the political marketplace and the duopoly is tired and we’re stuck in a rut.”
“Advocates for same-sex marriage turned in enough valid signatures to
get a question on the November ballot,” the Portland Press Herald reports.
“Maine voters rejected gay marriage by a 53-47 percent vote in 2009.
But recent polling shows more Mainers and Americans support gay marriage
than they did three years ago.”
Meanwhile, the Washington Post notes a same-sex marriage bill passed the Maryland Senate, sending it to Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) who said he’ll sign the bill into law.
“You know but other than me going over there with a gun and holding it to their head and maybe killing a couple of them, I don’t think they’re going to listen unless they get beat.”
— Rep. John Sullivan (R-OK), quoted by TPM, telling constituents that he’d have to personally shoot members of the U.S. Senate to get a budget passed through the chamber.
The long-running court battle over a sexually explicit videotape featuring John Edwards and his mistress, Rielle Hunter, has been settled out of court today and all copies of the tape will be destroyed, ABC News reports.
Daily Telegraph: “Students of economic history are in for a treat. An official studying deep in the bowels of the US Treasury library has recently uncovered a prize of truly startling proportions — an 800 page plus transcript of the Bretton Woods conference in July 1944, the meeting of nations which established the foundations of today’s international monetary system.”
“All previous accounts of Bretton Woods have been second hand, with historians apparently completely unaware that a full, and one must presume faithful, transcript of proceedings, had been taken.”
Jake Tapper reports the memo White House economic adviser Larry Summers didn’t want President Obama to see was almost certainly leaked to journalist Noam Scheiber by former budget director Peter Orszag.
By making the original memo available to readers on the web, Scheiber also allowed people to see the document properties which indicate the document last resided on Orszag’s computer.
A new SurveyUSA poll finds that 49% think President Obama’s view of the world is closer to theirs while 35% pick Mitt Romney’s world view.
Asked to choose between Obama and Rick Santorum, Obama’s view of the world is seen as closer to their own by 52%, while Santorum’s was chosen by 37%.
Of those who chose both Romney and Santorum, 51% of these voters said Santorum’s view of the world was closer to their own while 43% said Romney’s.
Coming soon: The Rent Is Too Damn High by Matthew Yglesias.
“The odds are greater that there’s life on Pluto than that the GOP has a brokered convention.”
— Karl Rove, writing in the Wall Street Journal.
In an appearance in Arizona, Mitt Romney mocked Rick Santorum for his attempts to “explain why he repeatedly voted against his conscience while in Congress,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Romney: “We saw Senator Santorum explain most of the night why he did or voted for things he disagreed with. And he talked about this as taking one for the team. I wonder what team he was taking it for. My team is the American people.”
Expect to see the “taking one for the team” line in an advertisement very soon.
A new Brown University Poll in Rhode Island finds Gov. Lincoln Chafee’s (I) approval rating is a dismal 22%, down from 27% in December.
Rep. David Cicilline’s (D-RI) approval rating is even worse at lowly 15%.
A new Rasmussen survey in Georgia finds Newt Gingrich with a small lead in the GOP presidential race with 33%, followed by Rick Santorum at 28%, Mitt Romney at 20% and Ron Paul at 9%.
The Georgia primary is on March 6.
Former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland (D) has not ruled out a rematch with current Gov. John Kasich (R), the Columbus Dispatch reports.
Said Strickland: “I haven’t ruled it out, haven’t ruled it in. I continue to be interested in, engaged in Ohio politics. I certainly want to keep my options open at this point.”
Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) forthcoming memoir has a title: An American Son: A Memoir.
The Miami Herald has an interesting tidbit from the book: “When Marco was 8 years old and living in Las Vegas, the Rubio family attended a Mormon church for a few years.”
BuzzFeed confirms Rubio was baptized in the Mormon church and says it “could complicate his political future at a time when many Republicans see him as the odds-on favorite for the 2012 vice presidential nod. Vice presidential candidates are traditionally chosen to provide ethnic and religious balance to a ticket. Mitt Romney’s Mormonism and Rubio’s Catholic faith would already mean the first two members of minority traditions on a Republican ticket in American history. Rubio’s Mormon roots could further complicate that calculation.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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