Roll Call: “Other than a clear front-runner, Georgia’s GOP race for Senate race has it all — including three sitting congressmen, a minister, a runner-up for the 2010 gubernatorial nomination and three candidates who may be capable of at least partially self-funding.”
Swedish Lawmaker Bares All in Social Media Gaffe
Swedish lawmaker Lars Ohly “was caught with his pants down Wednesday after flashing his private parts in a picture meant to show off his newly-inked Liverpool football club tattoo,” AFP reports.
He deleted the photo on Instagram but other Swedish politicians “were quick to weigh in on the issue after the picture went viral.”
Responded political opponent Carl Bildt: “Congratulations to you, after all these years, for getting this genuinely public breakthrough!”
Weiner Says Sexting Continued Until Last Summer
Anthony Weiner finally offered “a rough date” for when his sexting with women online finally ended, Politicker reports.
Said Weiner: “Last summer. Yeah, roughly August. Maybe even a little earlier than that.”
Obama’s Legacy
Walter Shapiro listened to President Obama’s speech on the economy today but says it “comes three years too late. In early 2010, Obama confronted the question that ultimately every president has to answer: What will be my legacy?”
“Obama chose health care reform, and it has made all the difference. To govern is to choose – and by choosing health care, Obama inadvertently lost his chance to put a lasting imprint on the economy. High unemployment, and the personal anguish that comes with it, will be as much a legacy of his two terms in office as Obamacare.”
Thompson Would Win NYC Runoff if He Makes It
A new Quinnipiac poll in New York City finds Anthony Weiner leads in the Democratic mayoral race with 26% of likely voters, followed by Christine Quinn at 22%, William Thompson at 20%, Bill deBlasio at 15% and John Liu at 7%.
The poll was conducted before news that Weiner continued his “sexting” issues even after he resigned from Congress. If Weiner drops out of the race, Quinn leads with 30% to Thompson’s 26% with de Blasio at 21% and Liu at 10%.
In a Democratic primary runoff, however, Thompson tops Weiner 52% to 41% and leads Quinn 51% to 42%.
Marc Ambinder: Hath Weiner no shame?
Obama Speaks Even if GOP Isn’t Listening
Zeke Miller: “Obama’s address, spread over an hour and six minutes, read like a laundry list of prior policy announcements, from job training and education programs to mortgage relief, health care and raising the minimum wage. But there is little appetite in Washington for making these programs a reality. The administration sees value in just talking about them.”
“Officials are approaching the speeches as part of a coordinated, campaign-style effort to gain the upper hand in the looming fiscal fights over the debt limit and the budget this fall. The White House wants to increase funding from the current levels under sequestration, but House Republicans are opposed to any measure that would raise taxes to pay for a fix.”
Wonk Wire: Obama signals new perspective on the economy.
Kennedy Tapped as Ambassador to Japan
President Obama will nominate Caroline Kennedy as ambassador to Japan, the AP reports.
King Stands By Comments on Immigrants
Rep. Steve King (R-IA) told Breitbart News that he stands by his comments saying that many undocumented workers were criminals — despite condemnation from the House GOP leadership.
Said King: “You know when people attack you–in this business, when you’re in this business, you know that when people attack you, and they call you names, they’re diverting from the topic matter. You know they’ve lost the debate when they do that. We’ve talked about it for years. Tom Tancredo and I joked about it that that’s the pattern. When people start calling you names, that’s what confirms you’ve won the debate.”
Roll Call: Steve King’s greatest (recent) hits.
The Week: Republicans have a Steve King problem.
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“Never in the last century of our state has the power of government been so misused. Today is the day when history will mark this General Assembly did what was morally right in the eyes of God.”
— North Carolina Rep. Nelson Dollar (R), quoted by the Winston-Salem Journal.
Will the GOP’s North Carolina End Run Backfire?
Rick Hasen: “Anyone wondering about the importance of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling hobbling a key part of the Voting Rights Act needs look no further than North Carolina, whose Republican legislature is poised to enact one of the strictest voting laws in the Nation, one which will make it harder to register and vote, likely hurting minority voters most. North Carolina is making it harder to vote now because it can, but recent experience in Florida and elsewhere shows it is a decision North Carolina Republicans may come to regret.”
Who is Defecting from Obama?
Nate Cohn: “It’s not that these polls show Republicans poised to take back the White House by 2016, or something. That’s way too far away. Instead, the polls give us an idea of which voters are peeling away from Obama and, therefore, might be most receptive to switching sides if the GOP could craft a message for them. Trying to win over the voters sticking with Obama would presumably be more difficult.”
“Today’s Pew Research poll paints a clear picture of the Obama defectors. They’re almost exclusively white voters without a college degree. Obama’s standing among minorities, college educated whites, and affluent whites has actually improved since the final Pew Research poll before last November’s presidential election. Instead, Obama’s support among white working-class voters has taken a huge hit, opening an unprecedented 41 point education gap among white voters. Incredibly, the poll now even shows Obama with a stronger approval rating among affluent whites than downscale whites–something that’s never happened for a Democrat in a presidential election.”
Spitzer Says He Hasn’t Used Prostitutes Since Scandal
“A day after Anthony Weiner acknowledged that he continued sending lewd messages to women even after he resigned from Congress, former Gov. Eliot Spitzer said he hadn’t used prostitutes after his own downfall in 2008,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Said Spitzer: “Absolutely not. And we’re done answering those questions.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“I’m not going anywhere. I love this job… there has been no consideration of that.”
— Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R), in an interview with NBC Washington, on whether he’s ever considered resigning over the gift scandals swirling around him.
Weiner Messages Fit Pattern of Online Recklessness
“The racy online conversations now convulsing Anthony D. Weiner’s campaign for mayor began with an angry Facebook message,” the New York Times reports.
“Not long after Mr. Weiner resigned from Congress, the 22-year-old woman reached out to express her disappointment in him. Mr. Weiner responded and, within a week, their exchanges veered from politics to sex, with the pair trading dozens of explicit photographs.”
The account “fit his longstanding pattern. In rapid and reckless fashion, he sought to transform informal conversations with female fans into graphically sexually exchanges, frequently laced with lewd language and bawdy images.”
Carter is Most Threatened Former President
“Potential assassins have threatened the life of Jimmy Carter multiple times since he left the White House in 1981, making the one-term Georgian the most threatened former president in history,” the Washington Examiner reports.
“In The Kennedy Half Century: The Presidency, Assassination, and Lasting Legacy of John F. Kennedy, Carter told author Larry J. Sabato that he has faced at least three home-grown assassination attempts since returning to Georgia and is constantly warned by the U.S. Secret Service of personal threats during his frequent overseas travel.”
Brown Remains Very Popular in California
A new Field Poll in California finds that a majority of Californians, 51% to 33%, approve of the job done by Gov. Jerry Brown (D).
The survey “also finds that a 43% to 38% plurality of the overall electorate, and a 57% to 22% majority of Democrats, are inclined to support Brown in a re-election bid should he run for another term.”
Huma Channels Hillary
Eleanor Clift: “We all know that Anthony Weiner’s wife, Huma Abedin, learned from the master: she worked for Hillary Clinton in the late 1990s, when the first lady was humiliated by Bill during the Monica Lewinsky affair but nevertheless chose to stand by him. Now Abedin is soldiering her way through a similar situation. And at Tuesday’s press conference, where she spoke on her husband’s behalf in the wake of new allegations against him, it was clear that she was operating from the Hillary playbook. Her message to the public was simple: she loves him, she’s forgiven him, she believes in him, and they’re moving forward.”
“This strategy worked for the Clintons politically. But after this latest press conference, I’m pretty sure that Abedin has stretched the Hillary mantle past the breaking point.”
Christie’s Outsized Ego
Jonathan Martin looks at the chapter on New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) flirtation with running for president in Dan Balz’s Collision 2012 noting that the author “relies on Mr. Christie to essentially narrate the tale, which the governor, a man of considerable ego, clearly relishes.”
“But Mr. Christie’s recounting of his role in 2012 also offers a reminder of his high — some would say excessive — self-regard, and why some in Mr. Romney’s campaign were so uneasy about possibly putting him on the Republican ticket last year. It is hardly unusual for a politician to have an outsized ego, but Mr. Christie lacks the masking subtlety possessed by many in his business.”
