Bloomberg: “The former president, itching to seal up support early in what remains a key state in the Republican presidential contest, has checked in with Iowa influencers who have stood by him in the past.”
“Senators Chuck Grassley and Governor Kim Reynolds didn’t answer when he telephoned recently, and neither of them are willing to give their party’s former leader their nod this early, according to people familiar with the matter. Nor are Joni Ernst or other top state elected officials.”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) told Raw Story that “she’s not not running. In fact, she has no plans to decide — let alone announce — her 2024 intentions until next year.”
Said Feinstein: “I need a little bit of time, so it’s not this year.”
She added that she isn’t fazed by her current — or potential — Democratic challengers: “Oh, I don’t mind it. The more, the merrier.”
Charles C.W. Cooke: “Let’s check in on the shadow primary for the 2024 Republican nomination. Nikki Haley is putting together a finance committee, and suggested last week that she’s ‘leaning in’ to a run. Mike Pompeo has just published a book called Never Give an Inch, and told CBS yesterday that he’ll decide whether to enter the fray over the ‘next handful of months.’ Governor Ron DeSantis has continued to pick winning fights in Florida since being reelected in a November landslide, and has stayed assiduously quiet about his future.”
“And then there’s Donald Trump, who, despite being the only candidate who has officially announced his bid, is . . . well, ranting like a deranged hobo in a dilapidated public park. No, don’t look at him — he might come over here with his sign.”
“There was a point in time at which Trump’s unusual verbal affect and singular nose for underutilized wedge issues gave him a competitive edge. Now? Now, he’s morphing into one of the three witches from Macbeth. To peruse Trump’s account on Truth Social is to meet a cast of characters about whom nobody who lives beyond the Trump Extended Universe could possibly care one whit.”
Author and activist Marianne Williamson, who is considering a second campaign for president against President Biden, plans to visit New Hampshire in the coming weeks to help her make “a more informed decision” about her political future, the Washington Post reports.
Associated Press: “In what is quickly emerging as one of the most closely watched Senate races of the 2024 campaign, Slotkin is aggressively acting on Stabenow’s call for ‘the next generation of leadership.’ The 46-year-old former CIA intelligence officer is taking steps to prepare for a Senate run, including forming a national campaign team.”
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) told KQED that he made his Senate campaign announcement after talking to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).
Said Schiff: “I wouldn’t be doing this without her blessing.”
Richard Thau: “DeSantis has a choice to make as he inches towards a presidential run: Either consume a lot of time and resources educating voters on the evils of ‘wokeism,’ or stress another issue position that would more intuitively bring swing voters to his side. Attacking the woke may stir the base, but our evidence indicates it may not be that helpful in winning the center.”
“When Governor DeSantis declares, ‘Florida is where woke goes to die,’ many of these swing voters have no clue what ideology he’s trying to bury.”
Washington Post: Backlash grows against DeSantis decision to block AP African American studies class.
“As Donald Trump prepares for his first public events since announcing his presidential campaign, dozens of members of the Republican Party’s governing body are expressing doubts about his ability to win back the White House and are calling for a competitive primary to produce a stronger nominee in 2024,” the New York Times reports.
“The 168 members of the Republican National Committee are gathering in Southern California to select their own leader on Friday, and interviews this week with 59 of them — more than one-third of the committee’s membership — found few eager to crown Mr. Trump their nominee for a third time. While they praised his policies and accomplishments as president, many expressed deep concerns about his age (he’s 76), temperament and ability to win a general election, often in unusually blunt terms.”
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) has announced he is running for U.S. Senate in 2024, joining a growing field of Democrats who are seeking to replace Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who has not explicitly said she would run for reelection, the Washington Post reports.
Politico: “If there were any remaining doubts about President Joe Biden running for a second term, the president’s upcoming travel plans should lay them to rest.”
“He’s running, people. And some Democrats view Biden’s pre-State of the Union address calendar, which is starting to take shape, as the soft launch for it. His aides don’t even dispute that.”
“Biden will appear at a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee in New York City next Tuesday, according to three people familiar with the event. On Friday, he’ll deliver a speech at the DNC’s two-day gathering in Philadelphia, as will Vice President Kamala Harris, and both will attend another DNC fundraiser there, according to three people familiar with that event.”
Meanwhile, a new Granite State Poll in New Hampshire finds 82% of progressives and 57% of liberals, groups that usually dominate the Democratic primary there, probably or definitely do not want Biden to run again next year.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) told NBC News that he’s running for re-election.
“Scott also promised to push a controversial conservative plan that brought bipartisan condemnation last year. Scott released his plan, nicknamed ‘Rescue America,’ when he led the National Republican Senatorial Committee and packed it with red-meat conservative proposals on welfare, immigration, gender, crime and education.”
Yahoo News: “There’s no shortage of Democratic senators in danger of losing their seats in 2024. Joe Manchin in ruby-red West Virginia. Jon Tester in solidly Republican Montana. Sherrod Brown in ever-more-conservative Ohio. And their colleagues in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Michigan — four of the purplest places on the map.”
“But if the latest polls are to be believed, no Senate incumbent is in as much trouble as Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema.”
Mitch Daniels (R) “embarked on a tour of Capitol Hill Wednesday to figure out whether running for his state’s open Senate seat makes sense,” Politico reports.
Said Daniels: “I’m not the least bit worried, honestly, about losing an election. I’m worried about winning it and regretting it for six years.”
He added: “I say this with great respect for those who do it. But you know, that doesn’t mean it fits me or fits me at this time of my life. So that’s what this field trip’s about.”
Donald Trump hosted the conservative influencers behind “Libs of Tik Tok” and Babylon Bee at his Florida estate Mar-a-Lago as part of a new charm offensive by the Republican presidential candidate, NBC News reports.
Cook Political Report: “The political incentives at play here are pretty clear: not only did McCarthy desperately need Santos’s vote for speaker; he can’t afford to cut the GOP’s lease on the seat short. A Santos resignation or expulsion would set up a special election in a Long Island district that would have voted for President Biden 53%-45% in 2020 — giving Democrats a phenomenal opportunity to narrow Republicans’ already-tenuous 222-213 majority.”
“At the same time, it’s great politics for other New York GOP freshmen, including Reps. Nick LaLota (NY-01), Anthony D’Esposito (NY-04), Mike Lawler (NY-17), Marc Molinaro (NY-19) and Brandon Williams (NY-22) to demand Santos’s resignation. All five are up for reelection in Biden-won seats in 2024 and would vote to declare the radioactive Santos a federal Superfund site if it bolstered their standing with independent voters…”
“If Santos were to somehow make it to the November 2024 ballot, the seat would be a slam dunk for Democrats. The far more likely scenario is that he’s demolished in a primary if he runs at all, making the fall race a Toss Up. We don’t feel that Santos belongs in the same category as other vulnerable Republicans, so New York’s 3rd CD will start in the Lean Democrat column in our initial ratings.”
“Senate Democrats returned to Washington to wield their newly expanded majority this week, but the specter of potential retirements in their ranks is already raising anxiety about their prospects in the next election,” the Washington Post reports.
“Democrats will be defending a sprawling map of 23 Senate seats in 2024, and three of their incumbents are in states that President Donald Trump won in 2020 — Ohio, West Virginia and Montana. They are also defending seats in the battleground states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada and Michigan.”
Daily Beast: “According to five Republicans familiar with the discussions, the governor’s top lieutenants have quietly recruited a network of conservative social media influencers as part of a broader attempt to circumvent the mainstream press and appeal directly to GOP primary voters nationwide.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) “is angling to be Donald Trump’s running mate in 2024,” NBC News reports.
“That goal is at the heart of Greene’s recent efforts to rebrand herself as a politician who can stand astride the divide between the party’s hard-liners and its establishment wing.”
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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.
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