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The new mayor of Helper, Utah was chosen by picking a name from a basket, KSL-TV reports.
In two rounds of voting, Ed Chavez and Kirk Mascaro “each received two votes from the City Council to fill the mayor’s seat. When it became clear that the tie would not be broken, the slips of paper bearing the council members’ votes were placed in a wicker basket… City Attorney Gene Strate then drew Chavez’s name from the basket, making him Helper’s new chief executive officer.”
“Two weeks of bipartisan meals, closed-door meetings and dueling budget proposals have opened perhaps one last window for the White House and Congress to reach a deficit-reduction deal before a likely fight over the debt ceiling this summer,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Lawmakers say they now see a small opportunity to forge a comprehensive fiscal plan between now and July or August. That’s because the dynamics in recent days have changed, with a slow, steady process replacing repeated crisis-driven fights.”
“More background checks? Dandy idea, Mr. President.
Should’ve started with yours.”
— Sarah Palin, quoted by the New York Times, speaking to CPAC about President Obama’s gun control proposals.
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Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) won the Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll, edging out fellow Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), 25% to 23%, Roll Call reports.
Other top finishers: Rick Santorum at 8%, Chris Christie at 7%, Paul Ryan at 6% and Scott Walker at 5%.
After a narrow loss last year, Mia Love (R) is actively laying the groundwork for a second challenge to Rep. Jim Matheson (D-UT), Roll Call reports.
Love has hired former state GOP Chairman Dave Hansen, who was widely heralded last year for successfully managing the re-election campaign of Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT).
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) acknowledged to Politico that “he’s open to a presidential bid and pointedly declined to pledge to serve a full four-year term if he’s reelected next year.”
Said Walker: “For me, it’s really a measure of what I’ve accomplished and what more I could accomplish if I was in a different position.”
“All too often we’re associated with being anti-everything:
anti-immigration, anti-women, anti-gay.”
— Jeb Bush, quoted by USA Today, in an address to the
Conservative Political Action Conference.
Politicker NJ reports that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) was at the New Jersey Teacher’s Association for their screening process, apparently in search of their endorsement.
Christie has been a “political enemy” of the group and has generated national attention over his previous attacks on the union.
Disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner’s (D-NY) dormant New York City mayoral campaign paid more than $100,000 to a polling firm, “suggesting the once-prominent Democrat whose career was derailed by allegations he sent salacious texts and photographs to various women online was contemplating a return to politics in this year’s elections,” National Journal reports.
New York State assemblyman Steve Katz (R), who “has railed against illegal drugs and voted against the legalization of medical marijuana last year,” was arrested and charged with unlawful possession of marijuana after being pulled over for a traffic stop, Journal News reports.
Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) has lost the office suite his staff tried so hard to keep to Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS), Roll Call reports.
“Heller’s staff had been using bullying tactics to prevent more senior member offices from viewing the space, which includes an unusually large personal office. Several complaints had been lodged with the Senate Rules and Administration Committee about the behavior of Heller staffers through the course of the months-long lottery process.”
The North Dakota Senate “approved banning abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, sending what would be the most stringent abortion restrictions in the U.S. to the state’s Republican governor for his signature,” the Fargo Forum reports.
“The measure would ban most abortions if a fetal heartbeat can be detected, something that can happen as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. The House already approved the measure. Gov. Jack Dalrymple generally opposes abortion but has not said whether he will sign the bill into law.”
“In my party, we play to win. We play for life and death. Your party has no problem playing the Washington Generals to the Harlem Globetrotters.”
— Democratic pollster Pat Caddell, quoted by NBC News, to Republicans at CPAC.
Mitt Romney “made a wistful but triumphant return” to the Conservative Political Action Conference, “receiving standing ovations from the audience as he expressed optimism about the Republican Party’s future and vowed to work with conservatives to achieve ‘larger victories’ after failing to win last year’s presidential election,” the Washington Post reports.
National Journal: “His first public speech since his November defeat was as lackluster as most of his stump speeches and as about as forgettable as his candidacy. He will be better remembered for what he did wrong (’47 percent’ and ‘self-deportation’) than what he did right (his first debate against President Obama). He was a transitional, not a transformational nominee.”
Romney acknowledged that himself: “As someone who just lost the last election, I’m probably not the person to chart the course for the next one.”
The Republican National Committee “is moving forward with a comprehensive overhaul of its antiquated voter turnout operation, including a focus on fixing a collection of broken state parties,” Roll Call reports.
“The modernized national field operation will focus on improving voter registration, identification and turnout through a ‘bottom-up’ approach that reinvigorates the party organization at the precinct, congressional district and state levels.”
Louisiana Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne (R) told LA Politics Weekly that he won’t challenge Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) in 2014.
Said Dardenne: “I’m not going to run for the U.S. Senate. This fell in my lap. I didn’t go out looking for it. So I’m not going to prolong the question any longer. I love what I’m doing and I will continue to do that for the balance of my term.”
Former Rep. Allen West (R-FL) told the Tampa Bay Times that Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) is in trouble with the Tea Party for supporting expansion of Medicaid.
Said West: “I think when you say you’re gong to stand something then you kind of back off .. but there are other Republican governors who did the same thing. It’s kind of making people question, ‘Really, where is your backbone?'”
He added: “It does make him vulnerable. I’m being honest with you. Because it’s a fiscal conservative issue. Will the governor be able to go out and defend once he hits the campaign trail, we’ll have to see.”
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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