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“This is the first step that the president has made to really reach out and do like other presidents in the past — develop relationships and build trust. If they continue to do that, that’s how you set up to get something done.”
— Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), quoted by National Journal, on dinner with President Obama earlier this week.
After Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) called him a “wacko bird“, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) told Mike Huckabee, “You know, I think he’s just on the wrong side of history, and on the wrong side of this argument, really.”
He added that he respected McCain’s service and record, but that that experience didn’t mean his colleague was always right: “I treat Sen. McCain with respect. I don’t think I always get the same in return.”
An aide to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) defended the senator’s criticism of Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and his filibuster this week, BuzzFeed reports.
Said the aide: “Senator McCain is obviously well aware of the politics of this — he just doesn’t care. He’s doing what he thinks is right. Unlike many of these guys, he’s actually been involved in a few national security debates over the years. He knows that jumping on the Rand Paul black helicopters crazytrain isn’t good for our Party or our country, no matter what Twitter says.”
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Kim Ghattas, author of The Secretary, tells Politico the secret to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s incredible stamina was hot chili peppers “that make you sweat.”
Said Ghattas: “It wakes you up. It flushes your system, maybe from whatever viruses are there.”
Harry Enten: “More Americans trust Obama on the sequester than Republicans, but the margin between the two seems to be down. Obama held a 26pt lead over congressional Republicans in December per Pew Research, which dropped to 18pt in mid-February and 13pt by the end of the month. After the sequester took effect on 1 March, CBS, which has generally found better numbers for Obama than other pollsters, had the margin down to 5pt.”
“Interestingly, a lot of this movement isn’t because more people are blaming Obama alone – more people are blaming both parties equally.”
Andrew Sullivan: “There is a Grand Bargain here and I suspect Obama knows that this legacy will be tainted if he cannot find it. He should, in my view, have grasped this earlier and more clearly. But it’s not in any way too late.”
President Obama and the First Lady dined at the White House with former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week, NBC News reports.
A White House spokesman characterized the get-together as a “private dinner” but declined to offer further details about what was discussed.
“Listen, I don’t think our platform is the issue. I think a lot of times it’s some of these biologically stupid things that people say, you know, that I believe caused a lot of the problems.”
— RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, in an interview with Radio Iowa.
Mark Blumenthal takes an extensive look at why Gallup’s polling was so wrong during the 2012 presidential election.
South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard (R) signed into law a bill that would allow teachers to carry guns in the classroom, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports.
“Hotly debated this legislative session, it was pitched as a way for small schools without nearby law enforcement to protect themselves against shooters or other dangers. They also emphasized the local choice — no school would be forced to implement a sentinels program.”
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel arrived in the Afghan capital “to take stock of America’s winding-down war in Afghanistan, one of the thorniest issues the new Pentagon chief will confront,” the Washington Post reports.
“The trip, which was not announced in advance due to security concerns, comes at a delicate time. U.S. officials continue to debate the role and mission the United States should aspire to have in Afghanistan in the long run — a process that has become knottier as Karzai has sought to rein in the authority of American troops in recent weeks.”
The latest jobs report shows 236,000 were created last month — significantly more than the consensus forecast.
The unemployment rate dropped to 7.7%, the lowest it’s been since December 2008.
Former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) announced on Twitter that he won’t run against Sen. Al Franken (D-FL) or for any political office in 2014.
Jeb Bush suggests to Michael Gerson that if he were writing his book, Immigration Wars, today instead of last year, he would probably have advocated a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.
Said Bush: “The book was written last year in a certain environment. The goal was to persuade people against immigration reform to be for it. Since that time, eight of 100 senators have moved, and not much in the House… When we were working on this, Marco Rubio wasn’t for a path to citizenship.”
A new Quinnipiac poll finds support for same-sex marriage is inching up and now stands at 47% to 43%, including 54% to 38% among Catholic voters.
Said pollster Peter Brown: “Catholic voters are leading American voters toward support for same-sex marriage. Among all voters, there is almost no gender gap, but a big age gap. Voters 18 to 34 years old support same sex marriage 62% to 30%; voters 35 to 54 years old are divided 48% to 45% and voters over 55 are opposed 50% to 39%.”
“It’s always the wacko birds on right and left that get the media megaphone.”
— Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), quoted by the Huffington Post, referring to “Rand Paul, Cruz, Amash, whoever.”
National Journal reports Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) “had lined up the tacit approval of the GOP leadership” for his filibuster earlier this week of John Brennan’s nomination to be CIA Director.
“For a politician who earned his stripes as a political outsider, Paul’s filibuster performance and planning demonstrated his aptitude at the inside D.C. game.”
Meanwhile, RNC Chair Reince Priebus told the Des Moines Register, “I think it was completely awesome. I was excited about it myself. I couldn’t go to bed. I’m still excited about it.”
Political scientists are going to have a lot of egg on their faces when a single dinner party ends all this polarization.
— Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias) March 6, 2013
A new UMass Lowell/Boston Herald poll in Massachusetts finds Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) remains largely unknown by most voters despite a 36-year career in Congress.
Markey led all his prospective GOP opponents — Daniel Winslow (R), Gabriel Gomez (R) and Michael Sullivan (R) — by double digits in the poll, but he did not crack the 50% mark against any of the little-known Republicans.
In the Democratic primary, Markey is way ahead of Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA), 50% to 21%.
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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