Roll Call: “Four senators may have signed on to a gun background check deal Wednesday, but only two showed up for the news conference — in part because Sen. Patrick J. Toomey’s public support for the bill hinged on not having to stand next to Sen. Charles E. Schumer.”
The Roberts Court
Out next month: The Roberts Court: The Struggle for the Constitution by Marcia Coyle.
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“Last week they were attacking my wife’s ethnicity and apparently also bugging my headquarters, much like Nixon and Watergate. That’s what the political left does these days.”
— Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), quoted by Roll Call.
Margolies-Mezvinsky Mulls Comeback Bid
Former Rep. Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky (D-PA) is mulling a return to Congress, two decades after she “committed political suicide,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
“A freshman member of the U.S. House… she cast the 11th-hour deciding vote to enact President Bill Clinton’s budget, including a whopping tax increase, in the summer of 1993. She had promised to vote no. Angry voters kicked her out in 1994.”
Her son, Marc Mezvinsky, is married to Chelsea Clinton.
Bonus Quote of the Day
“Frankly to tell you the truth some in the evangelical Christian movement I think have appeared too eager for war.”
— Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), in an interview with David Brody.
Margaret Thatcher Won’t Jump
Margaret Thatcher refuses repeated requests by an interviewer to jump into the air.
Scoring Congress
David Hawkings counts “more than 80 advocacy groups — from all along the ideological spectrum and from every mainstream and obscure corner of the policy universe — have come up with their own algorithms for measuring every member’s level of loyalty with a single letter or number.”
Sheheen Will Run Again for South Carolina Governor
Vincent Sheheen (D) announced that he will run again for South Carolina governor in 2014, the Columbia State reports.
He lost a tight race against Nikki Haley (R) in 2010 — 51.4% to 47%. Haley is “widely expected to enter the race after the legislative session ends in June.”
A Public Policy Polling survey in December found Sheheen leading Haley, 46% to 44%.
The Way of the Knife
Just published: The Way of the Knife by Mark Mazzetti.
Washington Post: “Since the 9/11 attacks, a dramatic shift has occurred in the way the United States deploys its military and intelligence forces.”
McCain Leaves Palin Out of 2008 Leftover Money
Political Moneyline: “Over $1.3 million in left funds from the 2008 presidential campaign were given to Sen. John McCain in February and March and none to former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.”
Kansas Official Apologizes for Racist Comment
Saline County, Kansas Commissioner Jim Gile (R) told the Salina Journal it was a “bad choice of words” when he used the expression “nigger-rigging it” in a heated discussion that was being recorded.
Gile insisted that he meant to say “jury-rigged,” noting “I had it on my brain and this came out. It was a bad choice of words. I’m sorry.”
Quote of the Day
“North Korea is not a State — it’s a cult.”
— Former North Korean spy Kim Hyun-hee, quoted by the Daily Mail, on how she was taught “that our leader, Kim Il-sung, was a God.”
Republicans Move the Budget Goal Posts Again
Greg Sargent notes President Obama has included budget items specifically asked for by Sen. Mitch McConnell and Speaker John Boehner “to show he’s serious” but now it’s not good enough.
“In late December, a Boehner aide told Bloomberg News that the Speaker wanted Chained CPI more than other entitlement cuts, such as raising the Medicare eligibility age, as the two were negotiation over a possible cuts-for-revenues swap to avert the fiscal cliff.”
“And in late November, Mitch McConnell explicitly told the Wall Street Journal that if Obama offered entitlement changes such as Chained CPI and Medicare means testing, Republicans would consider new revenue. He actually said this: ‘those are the kinds of things that would get Republicans interested in new revenue.'”
The bottom line: “There is literally nothing that Obama can offer Republicans — not even things they themselves have asked for — that would induce them to agree to a compromise on new revenues.”
A Budget No One Likes is a Good Sign
John Avlon says that President Obama’s budget released today “is not like all the others. It is not a positional bargaining document, designed simply to rally the base at the outset of negotiations. One way you can tell is that liberal activists and congressmen are already screaming ‘sellout’ at the White House for offering Social Security reform as part of a balanced plan to reduce the deficit and debt.”
“The Republican response so far has been crickets, and that throat clearing you hear in the distance might just be a recalibration before another reflexive ‘tax and spend liberal’ attack on the president.”
National Journal points out “the most important fiscal development of the week will hinge on the success of Obama’s dinner with 12 Republican senators tonight.”
Documents Contradict McDonnell on Wedding
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) “has said his daughter and her husband paid for their own wedding. So a $15,000 check from a major campaign donor to pay for the food at the affair was a gift to the bride and groom and not to him and therefore did not have to be publicly disclosed under the law,” the Washington Post reports.
But documents show that McDonnell “signed the catering contract, making him financially responsible for the 2011 event. The governor made handwritten notes to the caterer in the margins. In addition, the governor paid nearly $8,000 in deposits for the catering.”
Aides Hustle Bachmann Out of Press Conference
When the questioning at a press conference turned to Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-MN) ethics problems from her 2012 presidential campaign, “aides closed in blocking reporters and photographers and ushered her out of the room,” the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.
Democrats View Taxes Very Differently
A new Washington Post-ABC News finds 53% of self-identified Democrats view the income tax system favorably while 43% see it unfavorably. That’s a stark contrast to the 66% of Republicans and 62% of independents who have an unfavorable opinion of the tax system.
Weiner Admits He’s Mulling Mayoral Race
Saying that he would like, at some point, to “ask people to give me a second chance,” disgraced Rep. Anthony Weiner (D) told the New York Times he is mulling a run for mayor this year because “it’s now or maybe never for me.”
Weiner cautioned that he did not know when he would decide about entering the race, and conceded that “the fact that I don’t know tells me I shouldn’t run. Or I should not run now.”
Weiner and his wife, Huma Abedin, gave an extensive interview to the New York Times Magazine.
Politico: “Were Weiner to run, it would be one of the most remarkable comeback efforts launched in a short time frame, as New York City prepares for the post-Giuliani, post-Bloomberg era with a Democratic mayoral field generally regarded as weak.”
