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Stu Rothenberg looks at Mark Sanford’s flailing comeback attempt in South Carolina and concludes, “Republicans are on quite a streak when it comes to throwing
away elections.”
“This tossup contest tilts toward the Democrat.
If Colbert Busch wins the seat next month, it won’t be because most
voters wanted her to represent them in Congress. It will be because many
voters — Republican voters — concluded that Sanford was unacceptable.”
“With Congress and the flying public up in arms over airline delays
caused by Federal Aviation Administration furloughs, lawmakers seem
somehow caught off guard by the extent of the problem caused by the
sequester,” Roll Call reports.
A day before sharing the stage with his Republican predecessor, President Obama raised money for Democrats at a supporter’s sprawling home in Texas, the AP reports.
“Even as he sought to build up his party on Wednesday, Obama hinted at a more bipartisan tone set to envelop Dallas on Thursday, when the Obamas attend the dedication ceremony for former President George W. Bush’s presidential library. He vigorously defended the Republican whose record as president he derided in both of his presidential campaigns.”
First Read: “Meanwhile, are we the only ones surprised that Obama decided to hit a fundraiser in Dallas last night… It’s an odd tone.”
First Read: “To be sure, Bush supporters tout his accomplishments, such as the No Child Left Behind education law, the Medicare prescription-drug benefit, the Africa/AIDS work, and the Roberts-Alito appointments to the Supreme Court. Other events — like 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and the 2008 financial crisis — would have challenged any president.”
“But it’s the Iraq War that Bush will find hard to escape. After all, it was a war of choice that resulted in the deaths of thousands of U.S. soldiers, the deaths of many more civilians, the destabilization of the Middle East (think Iran would be the threat it is today without the Iraq War?), and the election of Barack Obama in 2008 (who essentially campaigned against Bush in his two winning elections). More importantly, the war’s primary justification — Iraq having weapons of mass destruction — turned out to be incorrect.”
“He’d be a marvelous candidate if he chooses to do so. He doesn’t need my counsel ’cause he knows what it is, which is ‘run.'”
— George W. Bush, in an interview with ABC News, urging brother Jeb Bush to run for president in 2016.
New York Times: “It has become an awkward ritual of the modern presidency that the current occupant of the Oval Office is called upon to deliver a generous historical judgment of the previous one. With the opening of each new presidential library, the members of the world’s most exclusive fraternity put aside partisan differences to honor the shared experience of running the nation in difficult times.”
“The task in such moments is especially acute when, as with Mr. Obama and Mr. Bush, the current and previous presidents come from opposing parties and such different sensibilities. The incumbent must hit grace notes without appearing inconsistent with past criticism or, worse, hypocritical. Sometimes a president goes through the motions, dutifully reading what aides put before him. Other times, library dedications have become bonding moments when presidents genuinely grow closer.”
“Congressional leaders in both parties are engaged in high-level, confidential talks about exempting lawmakers and Capitol Hill aides from the insurance exchanges they are mandated to join as part of President Obama’s health care overhaul,” Politico reports.
“The talks — which involve Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), the Obama administration and other top lawmakers — are extraordinarily sensitive, with both sides acutely aware of the potential for political fallout from giving carve-outs from the hugely controversial law to 535 lawmakers and thousands of their aides.”
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) is apparently considering a run against Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R), Roll Call reports.
“If Nelson ran for and won the governor’s mansion in 2014, he would be charged as governor with appointing someone to serve two years as his Senate successor. But there’s some confusion about who would actually make the Senate appointment. An aide with Florida’s Division of Elections said such a situation would leave a small window of time for Scott to appoint a Republican to the Senate. Democrats say Nelson would appoint his own successor.”
Mark Sanford debated a cardboard cutout of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
Charleston City Paper: “Acting as a stand-in, Sanford says, for his Democratic opponent Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the former governor peppered posterboard Pelosi with questions ranging from unions, to the stimulus, to the federal budget.”
“I’m not going to let that tool go unused.”
— Anthony Weiner, quoted by the New York Observer, on why he’s using Twitter again despite his rocky history with the social media network.
Jimmy McMillan is back and running for mayor of New York City. And he’s got a rap video to kick off his campaign.
Anthony Weiner “ended his slow-and-steady approach to media appearances today, granting at least four on-camera interviews with ABC7, NBC 4, CBS and RNN-TV. Despite flooding the airwaves, the former congressman insisted he has yet to decide whether he’ll ultimately make a high-profile mayoral bid this year. However, he did vow to make the decision in the near future,” Politicker reports.
Said Weiner: “In political terms, it’s as Yogi Berra would say, ‘It’s getting late early.’ I’ve going to decide soon. It’s going to be a matter of days or weeks. It can’t be a matter of months, that’s for sure.”
He also admitted “that there could still be more embarrassing photos of himself out there.”
The Week: “If history is an indicator, talk of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner — affectionately known as ‘Nerd Prom’ — is about to set Washington atwitter.”
“And the fact that journalists are willing to own the nerd word (even ironically) speaks volumes about how far nerddom has come in recent decades.”
“House Republicans pulled a controversial health care bill from the
floor Wednesday, after a strenuous attempt by leaders to secure enough
votes for its passage failed. It’s the latest instance of Speaker John
A. Boehner’s difficulties in controlling his unruly conference,” Roll Call reports.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) signed into law the final piece of a six-year effort to rewrite state laws using gender-neutral vocabulary, replacing terms such as “fisherman” and “freshman” with “fisher” and “first-year student,” Reuters reports.
“Lawmakers have passed a series of bills since 2007 to root out gender bias from Washington statutes, though a 1983 state mandate required that all laws be written in gender-neutral terms unless a specification of gender was intended.”
A new Public Policy Polling survey finds Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) now has an upside down approval rating with 44% of voters giving her good marks and 46% disapproving. That’s down a net 15 points from October, when she had a 48% approval with 35% disapproving.
Key finding: 75% of New Hampshire voters support gun background checks and 50% of voters in the state say Ayotte’s vote against them will make them less likely to support her in a future election, compared to just 23% who consider it to be a positive.
The Cloakroom: Was George W. Bush the worst president ever?
The Week: Is Bush’s re-emergence good for the Republican party?
David Catanese says that Ken Cuccinelli (R) could be the GOP’s next big
star if he wins Virginia’s gubernatorial race this fall.
“If indeed he’s able
to dispatch former Democratic National Committee chairman and
uber-fundraiser Terry McAuliffe just as Republicans are enduring a
wrenching period of soul-searching about their identity, his timing
could be impeccable. He has the social conservative street cred of Rick
Santorum, speaks the libertarian language of Rand Paul, and brandishes
the constitutional acumen of Ted Cruz. And if he captures the
governorship, odds are he’ll have a longer list of tangible achievements
in two years than Marco Rubio racks up in five. He’ll also, surely,
have a longer list of controversies.”
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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