Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) “is scheduled to visit Iowa next week to campaign for Democrats as he weighs a campaign for the 2020 presidential nomination,” the AP reports.
McAuliffe Hits the Road
“Terry McAuliffe is spending 2018 on a cross-country tour promoting the next generation of Democratic governors — and hyping himself a little along the way,” Politico reports.
“The former Virginia governor has already held fundraisers for candidates in swing states like Michigan and Ohio. He’s in talks about trips to Iowa, South Carolina and Nevada — key early states in the presidential nominating process — and helping out Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams, who hopes to be the first Democrat to win that state’s governor’s race in two decades.”
“McAuliffe insists the activity has nothing to do with a potential run for president in 2020, saying that the midterms are his priority and that fellow Democrats have paid too little attention to state politics for too long. Republicans currently hold 33 governorships and 32 state legislatures, relegating Democrats to observer status in many states over the last decade, with huge implications on a range of policies and potentially the next round of redistricting, a favorite subject of McAuliffe’s.”
Terry McAuliffe Eyes White House Bid
Richmond Times-Dispatch: “It’s been four years since he spent much time behind the wheel. McAuliffe got used to someone else doing the driving. With a laugh, he says he could get used to it again. Three months after leaving the Virginia governorship, the perquisites of which included a lumbering black SUV driven by a state trooper, McAuliffe is considering a second act: the presidency… These days, McAuliffe is doing what national prospects are supposed to do: traveling to key states, plumping for his party’s candidates, tweeting, talking — and listening.”
McAuliffe Considering Presidential Bid In 2020
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) is “seriously” considering the 2020 presidential race, The Hill reports.
Said one McAuliffe friend: “He’s given me every indication that he’s taking it seriously. I don’t think he’s 100 percent decided that this is something he’s planning to do but it is something he’s seriously considering.”
McAuliffe Hits the Road with Pelosi
USA Today: “Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Rep. Nancy Pelosi have been quietly courting major party donors during a series of weekend trips that illustrate how the Democratic Party’s road to rebuilding begins with changing the habits of labor unions and traditional donors.”
“The duo has traveled to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston and New York to try to convince traditional donor groups and grassroots organizations to channel more funding to local and state elections — with a particular focus on the next generation of governors who will oversee redistricting around the 2020 Census — as well as legal battles and ballot initiatives to challenge gerrymandered congressional districts.”
Said McAuliffe: “I don’t care who the president of the United States is, it doesn’t matter in the sense that, if we don’t have governors to stop these horrible maps, they’re going to pass a lot of this stuff at the state level. Politically, this is what I’m going to do. I’m obsessed.”
Russia Was Helped by ‘Treasonous’ Americans
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) told Politico that the Russians had “treasonous” guidance from Americans in hacking the 2016 presidential election.
Said McAuliffe: “Somebody had to give these people a roadmap. So I believe somewhere in this, somebody was directing the Russians on whose names to use, what impact these certain people sending a memo would have on the American electorate. I mean, they just didn’t sit over in some cubicle over there somewhere in Moscow and figure this out.”
McAuliffe Says Clinton Is Done with Politics
Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) told the Washington Post that the Clintons were done with politics.
Said McAuliffe: “I think so, sure. I don’t think Hillary has any interest in running again. I’ll let her speak for herself. I haven’t asked her that. I think the president’s probably going to go back, working on all the good deeds he’s done before in helping people around the globe. You know, there are elections. We’ve got to move forward.”
Clinton Ally Aided Campaign of FBI Official’s Wife
“The political organization of Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, an influential Democrat with longstanding ties to Bill and Hillary Clinton, gave nearly $500,000 to the election campaign of the wife of an official at the Federal Bureau of Investigation who later helped oversee the investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s email use,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The Virginia Democratic Party, over which Mr. McAuliffe exerts considerable control, donated an additional $207,788 worth of support to Dr. McCabe’s campaign in the form of mailers… That adds up to slightly more than $675,000 to her candidacy from entities either directly under Mr. McAuliffe’s control or strongly influenced by him.”
McAuliffe Suggests Clinton Will Flip on Trade Deal
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) “got crosswise with another powerful Clinton friend when he suggested Tuesday that Hillary Clinton might revert to her previous support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership once in office,” the Washington Post reports.
Said John Podesta: “Love Gov. McAuliffe, but he got this one flat wrong. Hillary opposes TPP before and after the election. Period. Full stop.”
Politico: “To say it was an unforced error is gross understatement: Trump tweeted out the story, and will almost certainly bring it up as proof ‘Crooked Hillary’ can’t be trusted.”
McAuliffe Would Appoint Kaine’s Successor
If Hillary Clinton wins, and Tim Kaine becomes vice president, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) will get to appoint someone to the U.S. Senate.
Politico: “The buzz in McAuliffe land is that he can appoint a placeholder, like the 77-year-old Chuck Robb, or someone who is a longer-term option like Rep. Don Beyer, Creigh Deeds, Attorney General Mark Herring or Anne Holton, the education secretary who is also Kaine’s wife. Tom Periello, a one-term congressman who is now at the State Department, could also be an option. McAuliffe WILL NOT appoint himself, sources close to him say.”
Quote of the Day
“It’s time to move on. This man has paid the price.”
— Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), in an interview with WTOP, on former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) after the Supreme Court overturned his corruption conviction.
Could McAuliffe Probe Hurt Clinton?
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) “is moving to head off a burgeoning controversy sparked by a federal probe that could have consequences for his close friend and political ally, Hillary Clinton,” The Hill reports.
“McAuliffe has launched a media blitz insisting the FBI will not find any wrongdoing in its investigation of contributions to his 2013 gubernatorial campaign.”
McAuliffe Under Federal Investigation
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) “is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the FBI and prosecutors from the Justice Department’s public integrity unit,” CNN reports.
“The investigation dates to at least last year and has focused, at least in part, on whether donations to his gubernatorial campaign violated the law.”
Terry McAuliffe’s Other Big Job
“Terry McAuliffe tells political associates that he’s focused on his day job as Virginia governor, so he won’t have any formal responsibilities in his friend Hillary’s campaign,” Politico reports.
“But the Clinton loyalist, fundraiser and 2008 campaign chairman is already shaping a significant role for himself… Despite the daily demands of running the state he was elected to lead in 2013, he’s emerging as Hillary’s informal liaison to governors and the party’s biggest donors, while also keeping a finger on the pulse of the camp’s central operations in Brooklyn.”
McAuliffe Suddenly Gets Chummy with Republicans
“After a year of partisan warfare that brought Virginia to the brink of a state government shutdown, Gov. Terry McAuliffe has started showing Republicans so much love that he has some Democrats worried,” the Washington Post reports.
“The same governor who blasted Republicans last year for ‘demagoguery, lies, fear and cowardice’ has lately heaped praise on them, celebrating their willingness to find common ground in certain areas even as they blocked some of his top priorities. That dramatic shift in tone is one that legislators and political strategists chalk up to McAuliffe’s ‘growth’ as a governor, his humbling defeat on Medicaid expansion or his desire to shake his lightning-rod image to help his good friend Hillary Rodham Clinton win the swing state.”
Quote of the Day
“Why come out and vote for the Democratic Party? There was no message to say: Here’s what we’ve done. I wish the party or whoever had done a national media campaign and say, here’s what you get when you elect Democrats. But there was no — what was the message out of ’14? I’m asking you rhetorically — do you know? No. What was it?”
— Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), quoted by Politico.
[speech_bubble type=”std” subtype=”a” icon=”pwdome.jpg” name=””]Rhetorical or not, it’s a pretty good question. [/speech_bubble]
