After comparing his past statements to his current ones, Steve Benen gives the award to Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI).
Two Very Different Budgets on Track for Approval
USA Today:
“Congress is on track to approve competing party-line budget blueprints
as well as legislation to fund the government and prevent a shutdown
March 27, but new found fiscal momentum on Capitol Hill is a temporary
reprieve from the budget battles that will renew this year. The
Republican-controlled House and the Democratic-controlled Senate will
approve respective ten-year budget plans with vastly different views on
spending, taxes and entitlement programs before adjourning for a
two-week spring recess.”
Ailes Picked His Own Biographer
Roger Ailes admits to Howard Kurtz that he recruited Zev Chafets to write a new biography, Roger Ailes: Off Camera that will compete with Gabriel Sherman’s more critical biography, The Loudest Voice in the Room, expected soon.
Said Ailes: “I picked Zev. He’s an actual author, a good journalist. He’s mature and thoughtful and not out to hurt people. I’m not saying anything about the other guy.”
GOP Opposition to Immigration Reform Weakens
“Republican opposition to legalizing the status of millions of illegal immigrants is crumbling in the nation’s capital as leading lawmakers in the party scramble to halt eroding support among Hispanic voters — a shift that is providing strong momentum for an overhaul of immigration laws,” the New York Times reports.
Wonk Wire: Prospect for immigration reform brighten.
Democrat Could Win if Sanford is Nominee
John Fund says that many believe former Gov. Mark Sanford (R) could lose the congressional special election — assuming he wins an upcoming runoff — “to a Democrat — especially a business-oriented woman such as Colbert Busch. Her platform is pitched perfectly toward moderates: protecting retirement benefits, an expansion of engineering and science education and reducing the deficit by eliminating waste.”
Said pollster Pat Caddell: “If Sanford is the final GOP candidate he could lose a 58 percent Romney district based on his weakness with women voters over the affair he had while governor.”
The Week: Is Mark Sanford vs. Stephen Colbert’s sister political gold?
Religious Right Snubbed by RNC Report
McKay Coppins: “Some leaders of the religious right are openly worried this week after a sprawling 98-page report released by the Republican National Committee on how the party can rebuild after its 2012 implosion made no mention of the GOP’s historic alliance with grassroots Christian ‘value voters.'”
“Specifically, the word ‘Christian’ does not appear once in the party’s 50,000-word blueprint for renewed electoral success. Nor does the word ‘church.’ Abortion and marriage, the two issues that most animate social conservatives, are nowhere to be found. There is nothing about the need to protect religious liberty, or promote Judeo-Christian values in society. And the few fleeting suggestions that the party coordinate with ‘faith-based communities’ — mostly in the context of minority outreach — receive roughly as much space as the need to become more “inclusive” of gays.”
Obama Asks Budget Director to Stay On
President Obama has asked Jeff Zients to stay on as acting budget director, “a move that takes him out of the running to become trade chief,” Reuters reports.
“Zients would stay in his current role until the confirmation of Sylvia Mathews Burwell, whom Obama has nominated to lead OMB.”
Rand Paul Won’t Help GOP Win Younger Voters
Nate Cohn: “While some might interpret his strength among younger voters as a sign that the GOP could benefit from a more libertarian tone, 59 percent of young voters believe that the government ‘should do more.’ Young voters are libertarian on cultural issues, but Paul is pro-life and against gay marriage. Even if young voters were libertarian on economic issues, the GOP’s small-government message attracts many of the same voters persuaded by economic libertarianism, without the cost of questionable ideas like ending the Fed. If Paul’s proposals for restraint abroad and marijuana at home would help Republicans, the party would be best served by attaching those proposals to a more traditional conservative, not Rand Paul.”
Politico: Five reasons you should take Rand Paul seriously.
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Obama Turns to Executive Power
President Obama “came into office four years ago skeptical of pushing the power of the White House to the limit, especially if it appeared to be circumventing Congress,” McClatchy reports.
“Now, as he launches his second term, Obama has grown more comfortable wielding power to try to move his own agenda forward, particularly when a deeply fractured, often-hostile Congress gets in his way.”
Sanford Advances to Runoff
Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) advanced to a runoff in the Republican contest for an open congressional seat, “taking a step toward reviving a political career that was derailed by an extramarital affair while he was governor,” The State reports.
Sanford will face either Curtis Bostic (R) or Larry Grooms (R) who are locked in a tight race for second place.
The eventual Republican candidate will square off in the May 7 general election against Elizabeth Colbert Busch (D), the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert.
Cotton Leads Pryor in Arkansas
A new Basswood Research poll in Arkansas finds Rep. Tom Cotton (R-AR) holds a 8% lead over sitting Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR), 43% to 35%..
Crist Holds Big Lead Over Scott in Florida
A new Quinnipiac poll in Florida shows former Gov. Charlie Crist (D) tops current Gov. Rick Scott (R) by 16 points, 50% to 34% among registered voters if the 2014 election were today.
A PPP poll released yesterday found Crist with a 12 point lead.
First Read calls Scott “the most endangered governor in the country as we head into next year’s midterms.”
The End of Power
Just published: The End of Power: Why Being In Charge Isn’t What It Used to Be by Moises Naim.
“We know that power is shifting: From West to East and North to South, from presidential palaces to public squares, from once formidable corporate behemoths to nimble startups and, slowly but surely, from men to women. But power is not merely shifting and dispersing. It is also decaying. Those in power today are more constrained in what they can do with it and more at risk of losing it than ever before.”
Angry Man Takes Microphone from Kansas City Mayor
Kansas City Mayor Sly James (I) was delivering an upbeat State of the City speech when an irate man commandeered the microphone, the Kansas City Star reports.
James “quickly recovered his composure and delivered the rest of his speech before a crowd of about 250 people.”
Send Bush a Message
On the 10th anniversary of the Iraq war, Gawker published former President George W. Bush’s private email address.
Are Paul Ryan’s 15 Minutes Over?
A new Rasmussen poll finds Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) approval rating has plummeted since the November election to 35% to 54% — a stunning reversal from last August, when his approval rate was 50% to 32%.
The Week: So what happened to Ryan’s once-shining star?
Lawmakers See Little Fallout from Sequester
Roll Call: “At the White House and in the Capitol, sequestration has nearly faded from view as an issue, with no compromise in sight to roll back automatic spending cuts that were supposed to bring a doomsday scenario but so far have been met by shrugs across the country.”
Wonk Wire: The invisible hand of sequestration.
