McConnell, Bevin Trade Attacks in KY SEN; Dueling VA GOV Party Ads; Introducing 'Carlos Danger'

National Journal

Wake-Up Call! is Hotline's daily morning briefing on campaigns and elections. Click here to subscribe.

WHAT'S NEWS

  • Pres. Obama's first "major economic address" this week will be at Knox College in Galesburg, IL, on Wednesday (Reuters).

  • Businessman Matthew Bevin (R) "plans to announce on Wednesday that he will challenge" Senate Min. Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) after initially "playing coy" on whether he would run. "Bevin has scheduled campaign stops in Frankfort, Newport and Louisville on Wednesday and Owensboro, Paducah and Bowling Green on Thursday" (Louisville Courier-Journal). McConnell is out with an ad, back by a "six-figure" buy, calling his GOP opponent "Bailout Bevin" (Politico).

  • Ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) "vowed to press ahead" with his NYC mayoral campaign after he "acknowledged that his habit of sending sexual images and text messages to female fans had continued for more than a year after he left Congress vowing to seek treatment and change his behavior" (New York Times).

  • In VA GOV '13, the RGA "launched its first television ad of the race, aimed at" ex-DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe's (D) "pledge to create jobs after opening a plant to build electric cars in China." The state Dem Party also debuted a new ad Tuesday, "declaring" that AG Ken Cuccinelli's (R) "goal is to 'make all abortions illegal'" in the commonwealth (Washington Post).

  • Ex-Sen./'04/'10 FL SEN candidate Bob Smith (R-NH) said "he 'hasn't ruled out a run'" in NH SEN and "is starting to look seriously at the race" (WMUR-TV).

  • A new MassINC Polling Group poll of MA RVs, conducted 7/17-20, shows Sen. Edward Markey (D) leading ex-Sen. Scott Brown (R), 43-38% (release).

  • Midland Univ. pres. Ben Sasse (R) "has filed paperwork to establish his candidacy" for NE SEN (AP).

  • Rep. Jo Bonner (R-AL) said Tuesday "that he will move up his planned resignation date" to 8/2 "to help speed up a special election" in AL-01 so it can be held before the end of the year (Mobile Press-Register).

  • Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) said, "At this time I intend to run for reelection," but he "isn't ruling out retirement." Rangel said his "plans could change 'around October,' based on 'what the community decides'" (New York Daily News).

  • Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC) was taken to DC hospital "with severe stomach pains" on Tuesday and "was scheduled for immediate hernia surgery" (Raleigh News & Observer).

  • Ex-IA state Sen. Swati Dandekar (D) announced her IA-01 candidacy Tuesday "in a news release and on her website" (Des Moines Register).

  • According to a new Field Poll of CA RVs, conducted 6/26-7/21, 43% "would be inclined" to reelect Gov. Jerry Brown (D), while 38% would not (release).

  • DHS Dep. Sec.-designate Alejandro Mayorkas "is under investigation for his role in helping a company run by a brother" then-Sec/State Hillary Clinton (D). Mayorkas "is being investigated in connections with efforts to secure an international investor visa for a Chinese executive" (AP). "The investigation also poses difficulties for ... McAuliffe, who co-founded an electric car firm tied to a company involved in the probe" (Washington Post).

  • Political consultant Laura Fink "came forward" Tuesday "to report an unwanted advance" by San Diego Mayor Bob Filner (D) in '05, when Fink was serving as dep. mgr. for Filner's House campaign (KPBS-TV).

  • The RNC is "launching an ambitious '50 state strategy' that will steer party resources and staffers to every corner of the country as it works to repair its voter contact effort" (CNN).

NUMBER BRUNCHING

  • According to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll of nat'l adults, conducted 7/17-21 by Hart Research Assoc. (D)/Public Opinion Strategies (R), 45% approve of the job Obama is doing as POTUS, while 50% disapprove. In the previous poll, conducted 5/30-6/2, 48% approved of Obama, and 47% disapproved (release).

  • According to a new Pew Research Center poll of nat'l adults, conducted 7/17-21, 46% approve of the way Obama is handling his job as POTUS, while 46% disapprove. In the previous poll, conducted 6/12-16, 49% approved of Obama, and 43% disapproved (release).

OUR CALL

Hotline editors weigh in on the stories that drive the day

• The Senate Majority PAC ads hitting McConnell are almost Rovian in their efforts to turn his biggest asset -- his influence in the Senate -- into a liability. That theme is likely to continue to be the Dem message for the next year.

• Brown has turned state Dems' legislative supermajorities in CA into a political asset as well as a lawmaking one. By positioning himself as the bulwark against potential free-spending impulses by legislative Dems, Brown has avoided the approval drops that other chief executives with unified party control have suffered. Consider, as a contrast, today's coverage of CO Gov. John Hickenlooper (D).

HAIR OF THE DOG

FRESH BREWED BUZZ

  • VA Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) "announced Tuesday that he repaid more than" $120K in loans :to a businessman whose nutritional supplement he and his wife promoted, and he apologized for the first time for a gifts scandal that has consumed his final year in office" (Washington Post).

  • "I knew I was making a point in an interview and I made the point and it had gone out on the Internet and on the airwaves for days out there and it was relatively dormant until another member of [C]ongress decided that he was offended and, of course, he didn't have an alternative number. He didn't suggest that there are more valedictorians than there are drug mules, but it's enough for anybody to be offended these days. They apparently don't have to use their brain" -- Rep. Steve King (R-IA), asked about criticism from Rep. Joe Garcia (R-FL) of King's comments last week that many young illegal immigrants "weigh 130 pounds and they've got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert" (Radio Iowa).

  • The Russian state news agency RIA Novosti "says ... Edward Snowden has been granted a document that allows him to leave the transit zone of a Moscow airport and enter Russia" (AP).

  • "I'm trying to tell people what I'm up to and give them a sense of my life" -- Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), on her Twitter account (Buzzfeed).

SWIZZLE CHALLENGE

  • There was some disagreement on which album sold the second-most copies of all time. Our previous winner said it was AC/DC's "Back in Black," but others submitted evidence (different measures and methodologies) indicating it could be Pink Floyd's "The Wall," or an Eagles' greatest-hits album.

  • As a result, we're throwing out a bonus Swizzle Challenge: "All the Carlos Danger mentions made us remember: Adolfo Carrión (I) says he's vying to be NYC's first Latino mayor, but someone may have beaten him to it. Which NYC mayor was descended from Spanish nobility?" The 5th correct e-mailer gets to submit the next question.

NJ'S EARLY BIRD SPECIALS

SHOT...

"I don't know what you're talking about" -- Weiner, asked Tuesday night about the "Carlos Danger" moniker (Politicker.com).

...CHASER

"You know, I can't say with certitude" -- Weiner, in '11 (RealClearPolitics).

Reid Wilson, Editor-in-Chief

Steven Shepard, Executive Editor