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Possible promotions for U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice and acting CIA
Director Michael Morell “remain in jeopardy” after the two officials met with three of their Republican critics in the U.S. Senate regarding the attacks in Benghazi, Libya, the Washington Post reports.
Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) reaction best summarized the reaction: “Bottom line, I’m more disturbed now than I was before.”
The Wall Street Journal has a round up of reactions.
Stacie Marie Laughton (D) made history when she was elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives earlier this month and became the first elected transgender official in the nation.
However, the Laconia Daily Sun now reports that Laughton was convicted in 2008 for “conspiracy to commit credit card fraud” and served four and a half months in jail.
While convicted felons can run for office in New Hampshire as long as they have completed their sentence, ABC News reports Republicans are calling for Laughton to step down.
Update: Several readers point out that Stu Rasmussen was the first elected transgender official as the Oregonian also points out.
“A Hungarian far-right politician urged the government to draw up lists of Jews who pose a ‘national security risk’, stirring outrage among Jewish leaders who saw echoes of fascist policies that led to the Holocaust,” Reuters reports.
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Rolling Stone has a good interview with James Carville who marvels that Mitt Romney, “a businessman whose core sales pitch was competent management, entrusted his campaign to second-rate crony consultants who were so divorced from reality that they had him convinced to the bitter end that victory was all but assured.”
He also predicts that the United States could face “a surprising role reversal in 2016: Democratic voters are likely to behave like the GOP base and fall into line behind a pre-anointed candidate, while Republicans will be forced to embrace a centrist agent of change – a Republican version of Carville’s former boss.”
Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) tells the Weekly Standard that he is “open” to another presidential bid in 2016.
Said Santorum: “I think there’s a fight right now as to what the soul of the Republican party’s going to be and the conservative movement, and we have something to say about that. I think from our battle, we’re not going to leave the field.”
The Week: “The GOP has a long tradition of embracing, and eventually rewarding, its runners-up in the party’s presidential primary.”
Newsweek: “There he was, less than a month ago, browbeating Barack Obama and finally finding his fire. Then Election Day dawned, Ohio was declared, and Mitt Romney waved goodbye to his White House dreams with a shellshocked ‘Thanks, guys.’ And that was that. No ‘You won’t have Romney to kick around anymore’ tirade. No demands for a recount or talk of hanging chads. Sure, he tried to sling a little mud by claiming Obama had bought off Hispanics, but even GOPers called the comment ‘nuts.’ No–by and large, Romney’s fade has been quick and quiet. His last tweet was on Nov. 10. He’s not making the talk-show rounds. Paparazzi are having trouble finding him–and when they do, he’s in the middle of the most yawnworthy of tasks (pumping gas, taking the clan to Disneyland). Clearly the man’s not planning a big comeback.”
David Frum: Paying people to lie to you has consequences.
ABC News has a good backgrounder on Grover Norquist’s tax pledge, the short document which looms large over the fiscal cliff negotiations.
“Known in Republican circles simply as ‘The Pledge,’ the Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) Taxpayer Protection Pledge has steered GOP tax policy for decades, applying pressure to any candidate, lawmaker, or president who would raise taxes. If tax rates aren’t at stake, the pledge is equally unforgiving to those who would limit deductions, even as a tradeoff, as Republicans are now being asked to do by Democrats and President Obama.”
The Week: Will Republicans regret it if they dump Grover Norquist?
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) met with a group of his former staffers at a Washington, D.C. hotel, National Review reports.
“Bush, a potential 2016 presidential contender, spent an hour in the hotel’s Cannon room, reminiscing and entertaining questions about his political future… Neil Newhouse, Mitt Romney’s campaign pollster, was at the meeting, as were several veteran Florida operatives.”
Joe Conason: “Jeb’s business dealings may well prove an insurmountable obstacle to a
national candidacy, just as Romney’s business career became excess
baggage for his presidential campaign. Known today only as another Bush
brother, Jeb must be introduced to American voters. And among the first
things they are likely to learn about him is the string of borderline
business deals that built his original fortune in Florida real estate,
which began three decades ago.”
President Obama “plans to try to ratchet up public pressure on Congress to accept his ideas for resolving the looming tax-and-spending crisis with a series of events at the White House and on the road this week,” the New York Times reports.
First Read: “While Team Obama is beginning to increase its activity as we get closer to the fiscal cliff deadline at the end of the year — we learned yesterday that Obama chatted over the phone with House Speaker John Boehner on Saturday (along with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid) — the reality is that everyone is going to run in circles over the next couple of weeks. Why? Because Washington typically needs the pressure of a deadline to get things done. There’s more of a chance for getting a deal in mid to late December. That’s just the nature of how this process works. And by the way, it’s what the negotiators themselves know. All of them have privately expressed an interest to hit the fast forward button on the DVR and simply get to the end game.”
The Economist: “The door is open to a deal; the hard part is walking through it.”
As Ambassador Susan Rice prepares to meet with GOP senators today to discuss the administration’s handling of the attacks in Benghazi, Libya, a new CNN/ORC poll finds 54% disapprove of the White House’s actions.
However, 54% also do not believe that the administration purposefully misled the public.
A new Quinnipiac poll in New Jersey finds 95% of voters think Gov. Chris Christie (R) did an “excellent” or “good” job responding to Hurricane Sandy.
Christie now holds a sky high 72% to 21% approval rating.
Meanwhile, a new Rutgers-Eagleton poll shows 59
percent support Christie’s re-election for Christie while 32% oppose him.
In a possible match up, Christie leads Cory Booker (D) by 19 points,, 53% to 34%.
“It would be wrong for me to leave now.”
— New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), quoted by the AP, announcing his plans to run for re-election.
Private talks between President Obama and top congressional leaders in search of a deal to avoid the year-end “fiscal cliff” are accelerating, the Washington Post reports.
Obama telephoned House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) over the weekend, “in a sign that high-level negotiations are advancing with only weeks to go before an automatic series of spending cuts and tax hikes starts to hit nearly every American.”
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports Obama “is ramping up the White House’s postelection effort to generate public support for his preferred package of tax increases and spending cuts.”
U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice will be on Capitol Hill the next two days to meet privately with select senators, including Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), regarding the attacks in Benghazi last September, sources tell NBC News.
Rice requested a meeting with McCain, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH). These are significant because McCain, Graham and Ayotte are prominent GOP national-security voices and have been among Rice’s harshest critics for her handling of the situation in Benghazi.
Illinois Gov.Pat Quinn (D) ordered a special primary election for February 26 for voters in the state’s 2nd Congressional District to begin the process to replace former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D), the Chicago Tribune reports.
The special general election is set for March 19, but could be changed to April 9 if Quinn can convince the legislature to allow the date to be the same as the already scheduled municipal elections.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) filed the necessary paperwork to officially launch his 2013 re-election campaign, the Newark Star Ledger reports.
Said adviser Michael DuHaime: “He’s made his decision and wanted to make sure as soon as he did he
would to let people know. He’s instructed us to get the
ball rolling on re-election.”
Friends of former Georgia secretary of state Karen Handel (R) tell the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she’s mulling a 2014 Republican primary challenge to Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA).
Former Florida Republican party officials tell the Palm Beach Post that a new election law that “contributed to long voter lines and caused some to abandon voting altogether was intentionally designed by Florida GOP staff and consultants to inhibit Democratic voters.”
“Republican leaders said in proposing the law that it was meant to
save money and fight voter fraud. But a former GOP chairman and former
Gov. Charlie Crist, both of whom have been ousted from the party, now
say that fraud concerns were advanced only as subterfuge for the law’s
main purpose: GOP victory.”
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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