President Obama “will be huddling — electronically, at least — with his former campaign supporters Monday night to shore up support after two months of troubles with his signature health law have left him bruised and put the brakes on his domestic agenda,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Republicans Block Another Obama Nominee
Senate Republicans “denied President Obama his third nominee in recent weeks to the nation’s most powerful and prestigious appeals court and insisted they would not back down, inflaming a bitter debate over a president’s right to shape the judiciary,” the New York Times reports.
“Unlike previous fights over judicial nominees, this one is not driven by ideology or divisive social issues like abortion. Republicans have raised few objections to any of the candidates’ qualifications or political leanings. Rather, Republicans are trying to prevent Mr. Obama from filling any slots on the court, fearing that he will alter its conservative tilt.”
New Spending Creates Wave of Wealth in Washington, DC
“The avalanche of cash that made Washington rich in the last decade has transformed the culture of a once staid capital and created a new wave of well-heeled insiders,” the Washington Post reports.
“The winners in the new Washington are not just the former senators, party consiglieri and four-star generals who have always profited from their connections. Now they are also the former bureaucrats, accountants and staff officers for whom unimagined riches are suddenly possible. They are the entrepreneurs attracted to the capital by its aura of prosperity and its super-educated workforce. They are the lawyers, lobbyists and executives who work for companies that barely had a presence in Washington before the boom.”
White House Says No Shake-Up Coming
The White House “denied reports of a staff shake-up in the aftermath of the botched Obamacare rollout,” The Hill reports.
“Press secretary Jay Carney insisted that the president’s team was singularly focused on making improvements to the enrollment figures, not examining what went wrong behind the scenes and who was responsible.”
Ford Knocks Over Councilor in Contentious Meeting
“An unprecedented council meeting descended temporarily into chaos on Monday, when Mayor Rob Ford and Councillor Doug Ford got into a screaming match with spectators,” the Toronto Star reports.
A remarkable video shows Ford knocking over Councillor Pam McConnell but catching her before she fell.
A Living History of the JFK Assassination
Just released for the iPhone: The Day That Launched The Kennedy Half Century.
It’s a companion app for Larry Sabato’s The Kennedy Half Century.
Big Money
Coming next year: Big Money: Big Egos, Bigger Stakes, and the Biggest New Game in Politics by Kenneth P. Vogel.
“A Supreme Court decision, combined with regulatory gridlock and legal tricks, have fundamentally changed the role of money in politics in recent years, upending traditional bases of political power. Campaign decisions once made by party officials are now in the hands of super-rich benefactors and the consultants competing for their attention–and for increasingly lucrative commissions and fees. It’s as if, instead of a football coach on the sidelines calling the plays, every player and his agent decided what was best.”
Cheney Weighs In In Daughters’ Gay Marriage Feud
Dick Cheney and his wife Lynne said that they are “pained’ by the public dispute over gay marriage between their daughters but that Liz Cheney’s “many kindnesses shouldn’t be used to distort her position” on the issue, NBC News reports.
Said Cheney: “This is an issue we have dealt with privately for many years, and we are pained to see it become public. Since it has, one thing should be clear. Liz has always believed in the traditional definition of marriage. She has also always treated her sister and her sister’s family with love and respect, exactly as she should have done.”
Obama Down But Congress Down Further
The latest Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor Poll finds the bottom has fallen out for everyone in the nation’s political leadership.
“Just 38% of those polled said they approved of Obama’s job performance, with 55% disapproving. That’s the lowest approval, and highest disapproval, the Heartland Monitor poll has recorded for Obama in the 19 times it has measured his standing since April 2009.”
“Americans are even more dubious about Congress. Just 9% of those polled (down from 21% last November) approved of its performance. Fully 84% disapproved. Almost nine-in-10 of those who disapproved of Obama’s performance also gave Congress a thumbs-down; 56% of those who disapproved of Congress also flunked Obama.”
On Wonk Wire
GOP Still Lacks the Candidates to Take Back the Senate
National Journal: “Republicans are giddy about their chances to retake the Senate on the back of a disaster known as Obamacare. There’s just one problem: The GOP doesn’t have the right candidates to make it happen.”
“Sure, in the high-profile races of 2014, Republicans have recruited competitive contenders to take on red-state Democrats. But in the second-tier contests, the ones that could suddenly become competitive if the national mood turns increasingly toxic for Democrats, the GOP’s cast of hopefuls ranges from the unknown to the unelectable.”
Kerry Defies White House on Egypt
“Before Secretary of State John Kerry’s recent trip to Cairo, National Security Adviser Susan Rice told him to make strong statements in public and private about the trial of deposed President Mohamed Morsi. On his own, Kerry decided to disregard the White House’s instructions,” Josh Rogin reports.
“The tension between the national security adviser and the secretary of state spilled over into public view in the past week, when Rice laid out her critical appraisal of the Egyptian government, which contradicted Kerry’s assessment that Egypt was ‘on the path to democracy.’ The now public rift has been simmering behind the scenes for months and illustrates the strikingly divergent Egypt policies the White House and the State Department are pursuing.”
Warren Not Running for President in 2016
Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) former national finance chair, Paul Egerman, “has told several inquiring donors this month that, despite runaway speculation and a burning desire from the party’s left wing, the freshman senator will not run for president in 2016,” Ruby Cramer reports.
Said Egerman: “It’s not going to happen.”
A Real Socialist in the White House?
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) told the Burlington Free Press he would consider a presidential bid in 2016 if the race is without a strong liberal voice.
Said Sanders: “That is honestly not me. Anyone who really, really wants to be president is slightly crazy because this is an unbelievably difficult job given the crises that this country faces today.”
He added: “Under normal times, it’s fine, you have a moderate Democrat running, a moderate Republican running. These are not normal times. The United States right now is in the middle of a severe crisis and you have to call it what it is.”
Will the Obamacare Website Be Fixed in 12 Days?
First Read: “Health care isn’t today’s most intriguing political story of the day (that honor goes to the spat inside the Cheney family), but it remains the most important political story — given all the stakes for President Obama and congressional Democrats up in 2014. When the going gets tough in politics, the first human instinct is to flee. And that’s particularly true for the always-antsy Democrats (just see 1994 and 2010). But the problem when politicians start jumping ship from their party and president, they only make things worse.”
“Strikingly for Democrats, Friday’s House vote on the Upton bill could have been much worse. While 39 Democrats broke ranks and supported the GOP bill, that was a far smaller number than the White House had been bracing for. More than anything else, that party unity — as fragile as it might be — bought the White House additional time to get to that self-imposed Nov. 30 deadline to fix the website. But as we’ve said a million times these last few weeks, it all comes down to that website. In fact, going forward, there’s little point in covering the bits and pieces regarding the health-care law until Nov. 30. Everything right now comes down to meeting that deadline. Fail to meet that deadline and the survival-of-the-fittest instinct that every politician feels when they run for office will kick in, even if it’s bad national politics.”
Wonk Wire: Website fixes make good progress
Childers Mulls Senate Bid in Mississippi
Former Rep. Travis Childers (D-MS) “says he is considering entering the Mississippi Senate race next year — particularly if longtime Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) opts not to seek another term,” the Washington Post reports.
“Conservative and tea party groups have lined up behind GOP candidate and state Sen. Chris McDaniel, who got into the race in advance of Cochran’s announcement. The prospect of a hard-fought GOP primary has Democrats hoping to capitalize in a tough state.”
Ford Wants to be Prime Minister
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford told Fox News that wants to be prime minister, despite admitting that he has smoked crack cocaine.
Said Ford: “Yes, one day I do want to run for prime minister.”
However, Ford reiterated that he had made mistakes and was getting professional help: “I’m training every day. I’m in the gym for two hours every day. I’m seeking professional help. I’m not an alcoholic. I’m not a drug addict.”
He said that he isn’t getting help for substance abuse problems because he is not an addict. Instead, he said his weight was “a huge issue.”
GOP Big Money Groups Pull Back
“The biggest Republican-leaning money machines are spending dramatically less to help the party ahead of the 2014 congressional elections, a year after big-dollar conservative groups poured millions into unsuccessful campaigns against President Obama and Democratic candidates, and the GOP failed to retake the White House or the Senate,” the AP reports.
“Groups such as American Crossroads and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce no longer are willing to risk major investments on hard-line conservatives who embarrassed GOP leaders last fall and rattled the confidence of party donors. Many remain concerned after last month’s government shutdown highlighted Republican divisions… Outside spending on television ads designed to benefit Republican Senate candidates is down almost 60% compared with two years ago.”
