Split Farm Bill Squeaks Through House; Reid Has Finger on 'Nuclear' Button; Spitzer Has the Sigs
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WHAT'S NEWS
House GOPers "narrowly passed a farm bill on Thursday that was stripped of hundreds of billions in funding for food stamps, abandoning four decades of precedent to gain the backing of conservative lawmakers. The vote sets up "weeks of acrimony and uncertainty as House and Senate leaders must reconcile two vastly different visions for providing subsidies to farmers and feeding the hungry" (Washington Post).
Senate Maj. Leader Harry Reid set the chamber on a path Thursday toward changing Senate rules so that only a simple majority is needed to clear executive nominations. The Senate will gather at 6 p.m. Monday for a rare, informal meeting in the Old Senate Chamber to hash out differences on Senate rules and confirmation procedures, a meeting suggested by an exasperated Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) (National Journal Daily).
"Speaking after an hour-long meeting" with Pres. Obama and VP Biden at the WH, Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) "said they were 'encouraged'" by House GOPers' "willingness to consider immigration reform legislation at all -- even it they take a more piecemeal approach by passing border security measures before tackling other parts of the nation's immigration laws." McCain: "We want legislation that we can go to conference on" (Washington Examiner).
VA GOV '13: The state Dem Party "is spending" $275K on TV ads this weekend, "days after" ex-DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe's (D) camp "transferred" $300K to the party, "according to people familiar with the media buy" (Norfolk Virginian-Pilot).
GA SEN: Rep. Jack Kingston (R) raised $800K in the second quarter and has roughly $2.3M CoH (Hotline reporting).
HI SEN: Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D), who "announced she was would run against" Sen. Brian Schatz (D) in May, raised $500K in the second quarter (Honolulu Star-Advertiser).
MN SEN: Sen. Al Franken (D) "will report raising" $1.97M in the second quarter and "more than" $3M CoH (Minneapolis Star Tribune).
NC SEN: Sen. Kay Hagan (D) "raised over" $2M in the second quarter and has $4.2M CoH (Politico). Rep. Renee Ellmers (R) was ready to make announce a decision about running on Thursday, but wrangling on the House floor over the farm bill has her reconsidering. Ellmers: "I'm not sure the decision I made was the right one. ... Watching I've watched today, the way this has played out, I'm not sure that either side is very effective" (Hotline reporting).
SD SEN: Ex-Tom Daschle aide Rick Weiland (D) "raised just over" $105K in the second quarter and "also loaned himself" $100K. Weiland has "around" $195K CoH (Sioux Falls Argus Leader).
WV SEN: Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R) "said she raised about" $770K in the second quarter (Roll Call).
CA-07: '12 SEN nominee Elizabeth Emken (R) raised "a little over" $300K and has "nearly" $290K CoH (Roll Call).
MA-05: Middlesex Co. Sheriff Peter Koutoujian (D) raised "approximately" $308K in the second quarter and has "about" $290K CoH in the pending special election to succeed Sen.-elect Edward Markey (D). State Sen. Katherine Clark (D) raised $228K and has "over" $400K CoH. State Sen. Karen Spilka (D) raised "over" $200K and had "over" $200K CoH. State Sen. Will Brownsberger (D) raised $130K and had $290K CoH (Boston Globe).
MA-09: NRCC Chair Greg Walden "expressed interest" in '13 SEN nominee Gabriel Gomez (R) running next year against Rep. William Keating (D), but Walden has "not yet reached out to Gomez" about the race (Roll Call).
NY-18: Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D) raised $491K in the second quarter and "will report" $680K CoH (Roll Call).
PA-15: Rep. Charlie Dent (R) raised nearly $369K in the second quarter and has "approximately" $440K CoH (PoliticsPA.com).
MA GOV: Ex-Sen. Scott Brown (R) "told reporters" on Thursday "he intended to make public his plans for next year's ... race 'in the fall, at some point,'" though he "said he 'absolutely' expected" '10 nominee Charlie Baker (R) "to run again" (Boston Globe).
TN GOV: "State e-mails ... raise new questions about whether" Gov. Bill Haslam (R) "broke campaign finance laws by paying lobbyist Tom Ingram out of his own pocket" (WVTF-TV).
TX GOV: AG Greg Abbott (R) "widely is expected to announce" he is running at "his San Antonio appearance Sunday, with his campaign rebranding it from a meet-and-greet to a 'major announcement'" (San Antonio Express-News).
WH '16: Ex-Sec/State Hillary Clinton (D) "has plunged into the lucrative world of paid speechmaking," where, for "about" $200K, Clinton "will offer pithy reflections and Mitch Albom-style lessons from her time as the nation's top diplomat" (New York Times). Meanwhile, "a controversial business venture that has dogged" ex-FL Gov. Jeb Bush (R) "for years is popping back up in federal court" (Tampa Bay Times).
San Diego Mayor '16: Mayor Bob Filner (D) "apologized Thursday for his poor treatment of women and vowed to change his behavior in response to allegations of repeated sexual harassment." In a video statement, Filner "didn't directly address calls for his resignation but made clear he plans to remain in office" (U-T San Diego).
NUMBER BRUNCHING
A new Quinnipiac Univ. poll of nat'l RVs, conducted 6/28-7/8, shows Dems leading the '14 House generic ballot, 39-34%. In the previous poll, conducted 5/22-28, Dems and GOPers were tied, 38-38% (release).
OUR CALL
Hotline editors weigh in on the stories that drive the day
• The spat between right-leaning elections analyst Sean Trende and left-leaning Ruy Teixeira and Alan Abramowitz over missing white voters, non-whites and the future of the electorate has been a fascinating back-and-forth. But let's not miss the forest for the trees: Dems are drawing from a growing pool of non-white voters, and the GOP has almost peaked with whites. Does anyone truly believe Clinton won't attract more than Obama's 42% among white women, or 44% among whites between 18-29?
• A corollary: Every conservative who argues passing immigration reform won't solve the GOP's problem with Hispanics is correct. Simply passing a bill isn't the fix. The fix is a decade, maybe two, of reinvesting in a relationship with a community that's badly soured on the GOP. Pro-reform GOPers think passing a bill is the first step, not the last.
• Kingston's $800K haul isn't bad for a candidate who has spent just two months on the trail. But Kingston brought in $45,000 less than he did in the first quarter of the year -- which ended a full month before he even entered the race. This could be the first sign that early reports out of GA are correct: GOP donors are wary of taking sides in a crowded field that still may not be set (remember David Perdue?). With so many open seats and a GOV primary coming up next year, Peach State candidates are going to have to fight for every cent.
HAIR OF THE DOG
FRESH BREWED BUZZ
"My friend the majority leader is going to be remembered as the worst leader in the Senate ever. It makes me sad" -- Senate Min. Leader Mitch McConnell, on Reid (Washington Post).
Ex-Treas. Sec. Larry Summers "is indicating" to Obama's "supporters" on Wall St. "that he wants to become" Fed chair, "according to people familiar with the matter, as he keeps in touch with" sens. "who would vote on the nomination," including a meeting next week with Senate Finance Cmte Chair Max Baucus (D-MT) (Bloomberg News).
Ex-NY Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) "managed to collect a whopping" 27K petition signatures "in the four days since he announced his last-minute, comeback bid" for NYC comp., more than six times the threshold to make the ballot (Politicker.com).
"He waits two years and calls when he wants something" -- An anonymous NYC-area House Dem, on NYC mayoral candidate/ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner (D). Weiner has reached out to his former colleagues, most of whom "have not yet made an endorsement in the mayor's race" (New York Daily News).
CT Gov. Dannel Malloy (D) was booed at the Eastern League (AA) All-Star Game Wednesday night in New Britain, CT (Hartford Courant).
At an event Thursday, IA SEN candidate Matt Whitaker (R) "joked about a new farmer whose chickens kept dying, so he asked another farmer what he was doing wrong: 'Am I planting them too deep or too close together?'" (Quad-City Times).
The fight in TX over "new abortion restrictions" moves to the state Senate on Friday, where GOPers "vow to pass the bill." Dems "say they can’t stop it, but they do promise a spirited debate -- and a legal challenge once it becomes law" (Fort Worth Star-Telegram).
DC Councilmember/ex-Mayor-for-Life Marion Barry (D) "has agreed to be censured and fined $13,600 for accepting gifts from city contractors, the District's ethics board said Thursday" (Washington Post).
"I don't know if this is breaching national security but when he was getting elected the second time, he was like, 'Hey, you know, fourth quarter, just give me the ball,' I said, 'word'" -- rapper Jay-Z, on texts he claims to have exchanged with Obama (TPM).
Rutgers Univ. poli. sci. prof. Alan Rosenthal, "whose unassuming public demeanor masked his far-reaching influence" on gov't in NJ "and beyond, has died" (Newark Star-Ledger).
"I was saying all the time ... 'We have to embrace the 'nado.' You can't go in being embarrassed by what you're doing. You have to go in and go, 'I'm genuinely going to try to make the best damn movie I can'" -- "Sharknado" director Anthony Ferrante (Buzzfeed).
SWIZZLE CHALLENGE
Grover Cleveland and FDR are the two men to still be president 10 years after they were first elected.
The winner is Doug Dziak, and here's his Swizzle Challenge: "Francis Marion, also known as the Swamp Fox, is often credited for his use of guerrilla warfare tactics against the British Army in SC during the Revolutionary War. Mel Gibson's character in the 2000 movie "The Patriot" was partially based on Marion. Forty years prior, another actor, later made famous for his comedic roles, also played Francis Marion. Who was this actor?" The 3rd correct e-mailer gets to submit the next question.
NJ'S EARLY BIRD SPECIALS
SHOT...
"It was a shock radio job. He was doing wet T-shirt contests. But can a guy not have a youth and stuff? People try to say I smoked pot one time, and I wasn't fit for office" -- Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who "stoutly defended an aide who ... praised John Wilkes Booth, heaped scorn on Abraham Lincoln and wore a ski mask emblazoned with the stars and bars of the Confederate Battle Flag" (Huffington Post).
...CHASER
"He and Randy came to my house, they knocked on my door, and then they blindfolded me, tied me up, and put me in their car. They took me to their apartment and tried to force me to take bong hits. They'd been smoking pot. ... They told me their god was 'Aqua Buddha' and that I needed to bow down and worship him" -- An anonymous Paul acquiantance from his days at Baylor Univ. (GQ).
Reid Wilson, Editor-in-Chief
Steven Shepard, Executive Editor
