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Exchange of the Day

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Candy Crowley, to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) via Mike Allen: “You seem to be the go-to guy for this Gang of Eight. Do you think this would help or hurt Marco Rubio if he, perhaps, ran for president in 2016?”

Rubio: “You know, I haven’t even thought about it in that way …”

Crowley: “Seriously, Senator?”

Rubio: “… I really haven’t. I have a job. My belief has always been that if I do my job and I do my job well, I’ll have options and opportunities in the future to do things — whether it’s run for reelection, run for something else or give someone else a chance at public service. And that’s how I view this issue.”

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Quote of the Day

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“In the age of constant communications, our politics has devolved to the point that political rehab is now the norm.”

— Republican strategist Alex Castellanos, quoted by Politico, adding that “there is no distinction between private and public life… everything is public.”

Obama Weighs Options as Agenda Sits in Congress

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President Obama’s “ability to secure the three high-profile legislative items now confronting Congress — gun-control measures, reform of the immigration system and his long-term budget priorities — is likely to determine his domestic legacy,” the Washington Post reports.

Obama’s plan now is to ensure that as much of his politically challenging agenda as possible is enacted, after months of effort to frame the policies for the American public and, perhaps more important, for the House and Senate. Each of the issues that Obama is pursuing is being managed independently by the second-term White House team — an improvisational strategy that is testing the president’s ability to calibrate when to get involved and when to stay out of the way.”

However, administration officials “acknowledge that only immigration
legislation has a chance of resembling Obama’s ideal bill once it
emerges from the Democratic-run Senate and the Republican-controlled
House.”

Democrats Face Attacks Over Obama’s Budget Proposal

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“Whether or not Republicans ever agree to a budget deal with President Obama, one thing seems certain: now that he has officially put Social Security and Medicare benefits on the negotiating table, opponents on his party’s left will make that an issue for Democrats in the midterm elections next year — and perhaps in the 2016 presidential contest,” the New York Times reports.

“In the midterm races already taking shape, Democrats who back Mr. Obama’s budget proposals to trim future benefits as part of a long-term deficit-reduction compromise could be attacked from the left and the right.”

The Hill: “A growing number of House Democrats are concerned that President Obama’s proposal to cut Social Security benefits will haunt the party at the polls in 2014.”

Robert Shrum: “The Republican jeremiads were expected–but why can’t liberals see the sense in the president’s not-at-all draconian budget proposals?”

Quote of the Day

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“People are tired of her antagonistic, propagating gridlock. A lot of people come up to me and say we’re kind of embarrassed by our representation in Washington.”

— Jim Graves (D), in an interview with the Huffington Post, discussing his intent to challenge Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) again in 2014.

Mayor Drops Race After Arrest for Kidnapping

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Marcus Hook, PA Mayor Jay Schiliro (R) has dropped his bid for reelection “after he was arrested on charges he abused his position to imprison a 20-year-old man during a drunken, gun-wielding encounter at his home,” the Delaware County Daily Times reports.

“Authorities allege that late on the evening of Feb. 21, Schiliro contacted the young man by text message and had a police officer deliver him to his borough home. There… the mayor allegedly gave the young man alcohol and produced three firearms, one of which was fired into papers inside the house. During the encounter, the mayor repeatedly asked the young man if he could give him oral sex.”

Gun Bill Will Actually Weaken Many Gun Laws

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“As the Senate prepares to begin debate next week on the biggest gun-control bill in nearly two decades, the gun rights lobby and its Senate allies are working on a series of amendments that could have the opposite effect — loosening many of the restrictions that exist in current law,” the Washington Post reports.

“Most worrisome to those who advocate new gun limits is an expected amendment that would achieve one of the National Rifle Association’s biggest goals: a ‘national reciprocity’ arrangement, in which a gun owner who receives a permit to carry a concealed weapon in any one state would then be allowed to do that anywhere in the country. Other pro-gun proposals would make it easier for dealers to sell their merchandise between states or let certain people who had been treated for mental illness regain the right to buy weapons.”

Dana Perino Raps

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Former White House press secretary Dana Perino tried rapping on Fox News.

Gawker: “Obviously this is sad and deeply embarrassing for her and for anyone who has the misfortune of watching it, but let’s not forget that the ‘joke’ here (the one Perino is making, not the one you’re laughing it) is ‘LOL, black people.'”

[Read more…]

Big Majority of Latinos Back Tougher Gun Laws

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A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Telemundo poll finds that 70% of Latinos believe that “that the laws covering the sale of firearms should be made more strict,” while just 5% believe they should be made less strict and 22% believe they should be kept the same.

TPM: “Those findings suggest that pro-gun Republicans may be jeopardizing the party’s standing with another group of voters it is desperate to attract.”

RNC Bows to Social Conservatives

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The RNC “passed resolutions reaffirming its commitment to defining marriage as between a man and a woman, and calling on the Supreme Court to ‘uphold the sanctity of marriage’ as it weighs rulings on two landmark cases involving gay marriage,” the Washington Post reports.

“The moves come days after social conservatives sent a letter to RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, threatening to decamp if the party did not reaffirm its commitment to their issues. It’s important to note that resolutions have to be submitted ten days in advance, meaning they have been on tap at the committee even before the letter was sent.”

Obama Explains Politics

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After two Navy football players presented President Obama with a helmet, USA Today reports someone in the crowd at the ceremony shouted “put it on.” But he refused.

Said Obama “Here’s a general rule. You don’t put stuff
on your head if you’re president. That’s politics 101. You never look
good wearing something on your head.”

Why Obama Can’t Close a Deal

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Newt Gingrich tells Businessweek why President Obama can’t get a budget deal with Republicans.

Said Gingrich: “My sense is that Obama is a very bad negotiator. Obama doesn’t listen. Clinton listened. Clinton understood the art of getting to a deal because he’d been Arkansas governor. He’d dealt with legislatures. He was used to talking it out, paying attention. Obama is a college professor. He gives a lecture and then he grades you on your ability to understand his lecture. There’s no practical way that a Republican-Obama negotiation is going to work, because they want radically different things.”

About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan 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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