Roll Call: “A little-noticed Senate vote just before 4 in the morning on March 23 — amid the chamber’s 13-hour vote-a-rama on a fiscal 2014 budget resolution — suggests trouble for President Barack Obama’s gun control agenda.”
Obama Names Female Secret Service Director
President Obama will appoint Julia Pierson, a veteran U.S. Secret Service agent, as the first female director of the agency, the Washington Post reports.
“Obama’s selection of Pierson comes after an extraordinarily difficult year at the service, and amid calls that the next director make internal changes at the agency whose masculine culture was exposed during an overseas trip last year.”
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“I kept my mouth shut for two years because, hey, I’m a party guy. But you know what, at the end of the day, you say to yourself, they’re dumping on you, they’re crapping on your legacy, they’re giving you crap for stuff that they didn’t want to do in the first place — coalitions, expanding media, social media networks.”
— Former RNC Chairman Michael Steele, quoted by The Hill, continuing his feud with current RNC Chairman Reince Priebus.
Governor Signs Strictest Anti-Abortion Law in Nation
North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple (R) “has signed three abortion-limiting bills passed by the North Dakota Legislature, giving the state the most anti-abortion laws of any U.S. state and setting up possible legal challenges over provisions critics say are unconstitutional under Roe v. Wade,” the Fargo Forum reports.
“Dalrymple acknowledged the likelihood of an ensuing court battle and recommended that lawmakers set aside money for litigation.”
Dean Vows to Flip State Legislatures
Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (D) announced that his political action committee would launch a campaign to flip state legislatures around the country, the Huffington Post reports.
“In a conference call, Dean said that Democracy for America’s ‘Purple to Blue Project’ would work to swing state legislatures from Republican to Democrat, starting in Virginia, then adding three states in 2014.”
Gingrey Will Announce Senate Bid in Georgia
Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) will formally announce he’ll run for the Republican nomination to replace retiring Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Georgia Tip Sheet reports.
“Gingrey will be only the second candidate to enter the Republican contest, still 16 months out, and square off with outspoken conservative Rep. Paul Broun. Other possible GOP recruits include Reps. Jack Kingston and Tom Price.”
Too Soon for Court to Rule on Gay Marriage?
“As the Supreme Court on Tuesday weighed the very meaning of marriage, several justices seemed to have developed a case of buyer’s remorse about the case before them,” the New York Times reports. “Some wondered aloud if the court had moved too fast to address whether gay and lesbian couples have a constitutional right to marry.”
The Washington Post notes the justices “wondered openly about whether it was time for the court to render a judgment.”
Tom Goldstein sees two possible scenarios with the upshot being “a modest step forward for gay rights advocates, but not a dramatic one. The Court would stay its hand for some time for society to develop its views further. But combined with a potentially significant ruling in the DOMA case being argued tomorrow, the Term will likely nonetheless end up as very significant to gay rights.”
Adam Winkler: Beware of early predictions on what the court will do.
Bonus Quote of the Day
“You have a combination of large donors and very clever consultants, neither of whom have any interest in building a healthy party, so they look for nasty ways to have more impact. If it becomes how clever we can be in vilifying Hillary Clinton, that’s a party that will not win in 2016.”
— Newt Gingrich, in an interview with Howard Kurtz.
A Generational Divide Among Republicans on Gay Marriage
A new CBS News poll finds support for legalizing gay marriage is at 53% to 39%, with 33% of those who support marriage equality saying they once held the opposite view.
Meanwhile, Greg Sargent notes a “sharp generational divide” among Republicans on the issue. Overall, 56% of Republicans oppose legal gay marriage. But among Republicans under 50, a plurality of 49% supports gay marriage, versus only 46% who oppose it.
South Carolina Special Election a Toss Up
A new Public Policy Polling survey in South Carolina’s 1st congressional district finds Elizabeth Colbert Busch (D) leading Mark Sanford (R), 47% to 45% and deadlocked with Curtis Bostic (R), 43% to 43%.
Key findings: “Democrats are far more unified than the Republicans are. Busch is winning 87-89% of the Democratic vote while Sanford (76%) and Bostic (72%) are both earning less than 80% of the GOP vote. Busch is also up by 16-18 points with independent voters.”
In next week’s GOP runoff, Sanford leads Bostic by double-digits, 53% to 40%.
Does a Majority Really Support Same-Sex Marriage?
Nate Silver forecasts that a national referendum to approve same-sex marriage “would have narrowly failed last year, 48% to 52%, despite national polls showing more voters approving same-sex marriage than opposing it. For right now, it is probably best to treat the question of whether a majority of Americans support same-sex marriage as having an ambiguous answer. Polls are on the verge of saying that they do, but the ballot results are more equivocal.”
“By 2016, however, voters in 32 states would be willing to vote in support of same-sex marriage, according to the model. And by 2020, voters in 44 states would do so, assuming that same-sex marriage continues to gain support at roughly its previous rate.”
Durbin Repeats Criticism of Quinn
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) repeated his criticism of Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) and his handling of the state’s pension crisis, ABC Chicago reports.
Said Durbin: “I believe this governor, any governor is going to be judged based on performance and the likelihood of Governor Quinn being re-nominated and re-elected depends to a great extent on his success in Springfield.”
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan (D) and former U.S. Commerce Secretary Bill Daley (D) are both considering challenging the incumbent in the 2014 Democratic primary.
Napolitano Doesn’t Rule Out White House Bid
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, “buzzed about as a potential 2016 presidential candidate if Hillary Clinton doesn’t run, did not rule out an eventual bid when asked about it,” the Washington Examiner reports.
Paul Stops Pushing IRS Doom
Bloomberg digs through Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) campaign tapes and notes he “has called for abolishment of the Internal Revenue Service. He’s urged an audit of the Federal Reserve. He’s questioned the constitutionality of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.”
“He’s even suggested there’s a risk Americans could soon become like Germans of the ‘Weimar Republic in 1923’ and need wheelbarrows full of money to buy groceries because of hyperinflation triggered by excessive debt. Adolf Hitler, Paul warned, gained power as a result.”
“Now that he’s considered a possible Republican candidate for president in 2016, Paul isn’t emphasizing any of that.”
Quote of the Day
“We do have a platform, and we adhere to that platform. But it doesn’t mean that we divide and subtract people from our
party.”
— RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, quoted by USA Today, defending the Republican party platform.
The Culture Wars are Back
Politico: “The culture wars are back, but this time with a
significant twist: the left is picking the fights and, for the most
part, enjoying being on the right side of public opinion.”
Quinn’s Private, Volatile Side
As she pursues a high-profile bid for New York City mayor, the New York Times reports that Christine Quinn (D) “has proudly promoted her boisterous personality, hoping that voters will embrace her blend of brashness and personal charm.”
“But in private, friends and colleagues say, another Ms. Quinn can emerge: controlling, temperamental and surprisingly volatile, with a habit of hair-trigger eruptions of unchecked, face-to-face wrath. She has threatened, repeatedly, to slice off the private parts of those who cross her.”
Bill Clinton Now Defending Same-Sex Marriage
New York Times: “It was 10 minutes before 1 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21, 1996, and there
were no cameras, no ceremony. The witching-hour timing bespoke both
political calculation and personal angst. With his signature, federal
law now defined marriage as the union of a man and woman. Mr. Clinton
considered it a gay-baiting measure, but was unwilling to risk
re-election by vetoing it.”
“For nearly 17 years since, that middle-of-the-night moment has haunted Mr. Clinton, the source of tension with friends, advisers and gay rights supporters. He tried to explain, defend and justify. He asked for understanding. Then he inched away from it bit by bit. Finally this month, he disavowed the Defense of Marriage Act entirely, urging that the law be overturned by the Supreme Court, which takes up the matter on Wednesday on the second of two days of arguments devoted to same-sex marriage issues.”
“Rarely has a former president declared that an action he took in office violated the Constitution. But Mr. Clinton’s journey from signing the Defense of Marriage Act to repudiating it mirrors larger changes in society as same-sex marriage has gone from a fringe idea to one with a majority.”
