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Obama Woos Republicans for Broad Deficit Deal

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President Obama “stepped up his wooing of rank-and-file Republican lawmakers Wednesday, hosting a dozen senators at a dinner at a Washington restaurant and setting a visit to the Capitol in hopes of reigniting talks on a broad budget deal,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The efforts mark his most aggressive outreach to lawmakers in years and show Mr. Obama is trying to build his own coalition in Congress at a time when his past negotiating partners in the GOP leadership are under renewed pressure to accommodate the party’s conservative base.”

Washington Post: “Obama picked up the tab personally, and two of his guests, Sens. John
McCain (R-AZ) and Tom Coburn (R-OK), emerged flashing a thumbs-up.”

Meanwhile, Politico reports Obama invited Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) to lunch at the White House.

Governorships a Big Opportunity for Democrats in 2014

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Stu Rothenberg: “While the fight for the House of Representatives will take center stage next year, another battle could be almost as important for the two parties: control of a handful of big-state governorships.”

“Republicans like to point out that while they lost the presidency and seats in both chambers of Congress in 2012, their party continues to hold governorships in 30 states, including nine of the country’s 12 largest states. But most of those governors — 23 to be exact — were elected in 2010, a great GOP year that doesn’t reflect the nation’s (or many states’) political fundamentals.”

How the White House Silenced Gun Control Advocates

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Even though President Obama’s gun control proposals are stalled on Capitol Hill, Politico notes gun control advocates “still haven’t said a word to complain. That’s no accident.”

“The White House knew its post-Newtown effort would require bringing key gun-control groups into the fold. So the White House offered a simple arrangement: the groups could have access and involvement, but they’d have to offer silence and support in exchange.”

“The implied rules, according to conversations with many of those involved: No infighting. No second guessing in the press. Support whatever the president and Vice President Joe Biden propose. And most of all, don’t make waves or get ahead of the White House.”

Quote of the Day

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“I would go for another 12 hours to try to break Strom Thurmond’s record, but I’ve discovered that there are some limits to filibustering and I’m going to have to go take care of one of those in a few minutes here.”

— Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), quoted by the New York Times, ending his filibuster after 13 hours and looking forward to using a bathroom.

Paul Ends Filibuster After 13 Hours

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“One of the oldest and most storied traditions of the Senate made a sudden return to Capitol Hill on Wednesday when a junior senator seized control of the chamber with an hours-long ­filibuster involving rambling speeches aimed at blocking a vote on President Obama’s choice to lead the CIA,” the Washington Post reports.

“Led by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) with help from other junior senators, the filibuster stretched nearly 13 hours — with the Senate adjourning at about 12:40 a.m. Thursday — and was aimed at drawing attention to deep concern on both sides of the aisle about the administration’s use of unmanned aerial drones in its fight against terrorists and whether the government would ever use them in the United States.”

John Avlon: “Instead of resorting to cheap filibuster tricks like reading the dictionary or a phonebook, Paul delivered a real speech–albeit Castro-esque in length–discussing the constitutional principles at stake more or less off the top of his head for nearly 13 hours.”

Romney Gets a Job

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NBC News has learned that Mitt Romney is returning to the private sector, joining his eldest son Tagg’s investment firm, Solamere Capital, as chairman of the executive committee.

Romney “is planning to work with Solamere for one week a month. He will be advising on matters of private equity, and is not planning to fundraise at all for the firm.”

House Passes Stop Gap Funding Measure

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The House “voted to extend spending cuts that went into effect on March 1 and keep the government operating for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The legislation is necessary to keep the federal government open after current funding runs out on March 27. It would keep in place automatic spending cuts known as the sequester for all federal agencies, while giving the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments more flexibility in setting spending priorities.”

However, Roll Call reports the “continuing resolution that will come out of the Senate will almost certainly be a larger and more complicated measure than the stopgap funding measure the House coped with this week.”

Arkansas Passes Most Restrictive Abortion Law in U.S.

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“In the sharpest challenge yet to Roe v. Wade, Arkansas adopted Wednesday what is by far the country’s most restrictive ban on abortion, at 12 weeks of pregnancy, around the time that a fetal heartbeat can be detected by abdominal ultrasound,” the New York Times reports.

“The law was passed by the newly Republican-controlled legislature over the veto of Gov. Mike Beebe, a Democrat, who called it ‘blatantly unconstitutional.’ On Tuesday the state Senate voted to override his veto by a vote of 20 to 14; on Wednesday the House enacted the bill into law by a vote of 55 to 33, with several Democrats joining the Republican majority.”

Bonus Quote of the Day

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“The President is trying to make it tough on members of Congress. It’s just silly. I want to know who is being laid off at the White House.”

— Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), in an interview on CNBC, on the decision to shut down White House tours due to the sequester.

Ahmadinejad Says Chávez Will Rise Again

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New York Times: “In a letter of condolence to the people of Venezuela, Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, struck a note of interfaith harmony on Wednesday, expressing confidence that the late Hugo Chávez would eventually be resurrected, along with Jesus and the Hidden Imam, a messianic figure in Shiite Islam.”

Durbin Says Filibuster Reform Should Be Revived

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Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D-IL) signaled “it may already be time to reopen the debate about the chamber’s rules, given Republicans have attempted to or plan to filibuster three presidential appointments in the month and a half since the chamber approved modest filibuster changes,” Roll Call reports.

Meanwhile, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) launched a filibuster of John Brennan’s nomination to head the CIA: “I will speak until I can no longer speak.”

Clinton-Era Budget Team Takes Over

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Wall Street Journal: “The economics team Mr. Obama built in his first term to deal with the financial crisis has mostly exited. As the White House retools advisers for the second term, it is assembling a cadre of budget experts from the Clinton administration. Ms. Burwell, Mr. Lew and Mr. Sperling joined Mr. Rubin in helping the Clinton administration erase annual deficits and build a budget surplus. Mr. Rubin, 74 years old, a centrist Democrat with a firm understanding of markets and Wall Street, was a big proponent of pushing for aggressive deficit-reduction… The Obama White House faces a political dynamic very similar to the one that the Clinton team faced in the 1990s — a House of Representative controlled by Republicans who oppose tax increases and are demanding large spending cuts.”

Venezuela Takes Page From Cuban Playbook

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“Shortly before announcing that Hugo Chávez died, Venezuela’s government resorted to one of the late president’s favorite ploys to try to unite his supporters: allege a conspiracy by the U.S. to destabilize the country,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Vice President Nicolás Maduro kicked out two U.S. military attachés for allegedly plotting against Venezuela and even suggested that Washington may have been behind Mr. Chávez’s cancer.”

Said Maduro: “Behind all of the plots are the enemies of the fatherland.”

“Maduro’s rhetoric is similar to the kinds of conspiracy theories that Mr. Chávez wove during his 14 years in power, and which Mr. Chávez seemed to have adopted from his political mentor, Fidel Castro, who has long rallied support among Cubans by portraying the U.S. as an implacable foe.”

Wonks vs. Pols in Battle for GOP Soul

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Politico: “Almost daily, there is a fresh op-ed or magazine piece from the class of commentators and policy intellectuals urging Republicans to show a little intellectual leg and offer some daring and innovation beyond the old standbys of cutting income taxes and spending. It’s not that the eggheads are urging moderation — it’s more like relevance. The standard plea: The GOP will rebound only when it communicates to working-class and middle-class voters how its ideas will improve their lives.”

“But there is virtually no evidence that these impassioned appeals for change are being listened to by the audience that matters — Republican elected officials. With few exceptions, most of the GOP leadership in Washington is following a business-as-usual strategy.”

Jeb Bush’s Rocky Return to Politics

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“As political re-entries go, Jeb Bush’s has been rocky,” the New York Times
reports. 

“Mr. Bush quickly found himself backpedaling from [his opposition to a
path to citizenship for illegal immigrants] on Tuesday. In fact, he told
a series of interviewers that he could easily support granting
citizenship in the context of a comprehensive approach to immigration.”

First Read: “Here’s something to remember about Bush: He hasn’t run a race since 2002 (before Facebook, Twitter, and more partisan media). And the backlash he’s received in the past 24 hours could either convince him that he doesn’t have the stomach for a run, or it could steel him for what to expect over the next three and a half years.”

About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan 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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