Wake Up To Politics - January 14, 2015
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Wednesday, January 14, 2015
664 Days Until Election Day 2016It's Wednesday, January 14, 2015, I'm Gabe Fleisher for this late morning edition of Wake Up To Politics, and reporting from WUTP world HQ in my bedroom - Good morning: THIS IS YOUR WAKE UP CALL!!!
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Election Central
Who’s Doing What: 2016 Roundup Hillary Clinton The likely Democratic presidential candidate has hired two veterans of the Obama 2008 and 2012 campaigns, the Washington Post reported Tuesday. Jim Margolis will be the campaign’s media adviser, while Joel Benenson will play the role of chief strategist.
Benenson’s role in the Clinton campaign will be closer to David Axelrod’s position in the Obama campaigns; Benenson was chief pollster for Obama in 2008 and 2012.
Other likely Clinton hires that have been previously speculated are John Podesta, currently White House counselor to Obama, who would chair Clinton’s campaign, and Robby Mook, likely campaign manager of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 run.
Marco Rubio “American Dreams: Restoring Economic Opportunity for Everyone,” the Florida Senator and potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate’s second book came out Tuesday.
As potential candidates explore runs for the Presidency, they almost always write books to get their message out, and then go on a book tour (and stop in key primary states) to test the waters of a campaign. As Politico writes,
“Such books, which tend to be anodyne at best, are a handy way for hopefuls to introduce themselves to activists on their own terms, give an excuse for travel to early primary states, generate media and make cash.”
Rand Paul The Kentucky Senator and likely candidate for the Republican nomination in 2016 has hired Chip Englander, the Washington Post also reported Tuesday.
Englander, who managed Bruce Rauner’s successful 2014 campaign for Illinois governor, would serve as campaign manager for Paul’s likely 2016 presidential efforts.
In addition, today Paul will be back in New Hampshire – the key first-in-the-nation primary state – for the first time since the midterm elections in November. Paul will meet with activists opposed to the education program Common Core, which his likely opponent for the GOP nomination Jeb Bush supports. Paul dished on Bush’s support for Common Core in an interview saying, “He’s been a proponent of Common Core, a proponent probably of a much bigger government — a Big Government Republican who believes more things should be occurring in Washington rather than decentralization.”
Chris Christie The same day he delivered his annual State of the State address, the New York Times reported Tuesday that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is forming a leadership PAC (political action committee) this month.
This PAC would allow Christie to launch a de facto campaign that could make hires, raise money, and let the New Jersey Republican travel around the country.
Launching the PAC is the latest move by Christie suggesting a 2016 presidential run; other potential presidential candidates already have PACs, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R).
Christie is also headed to the early primary state of South Carolina today to hold a “meet and greet” organized by the state Republican Party, where business leaders, state legislators, and powerful local Republicans, according to CNN.Capitol Hill News
Senate: Status Update The Senate is in recess for the rest of the week, while both party caucuses hold their annual retreats (Democrats today and tomorrow; Republicans tomorrow and Friday).
House: Status Update Meanwhile, the U.S. House votes today on passage of two bills President Obama has promised to veto.
First up: DHS funding. The “cromnibus” spending bill passed at the end of last year only funds the Department of Homeland Security through February 28. This provision, pushed in by Republicans, was a way to block the President exeucitve order on immigration.
However, the department still must be funded, and the House will vote on a bill today that will do so…while still blocking Obama’s immigration action. This will cause a problem, as the President will definitely veto the bill, and it might not even pass the Senate – where some Republicans may defect, and it could be filibustered. Causing Washington’s next fiscal showdown, with both sides agreeing the DHS needs funding, but likely to fight over immigration before doing it.
Also today, the House will vote on the Promoting Job Creation and Reducing Small Business Burdens Act. The Obama Administration has already issued a formal veto threat of this measure (one of five such threats the White House has released in the first week of the Republican-controlled 114th Congress). The point of controversy on the bill is a provision that would delay a part of the Volcker Rule, a “key component of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act that prevents institutions from taking excessive risks through proprietary trading and fund investing,” according to the White House.
Both bills are expected to pass the House.
Obama Nominee Withdraws after Pressure from Warren President Barack Obama’s nominee for Under Secretary of Domestic Finance (the third-ranking official at the Treasury Department” has withdrawn his nomination, after pressure from the left.
The nominee, Antonio Weiss faced opposition led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) over his connection to Wall Street, where he currently works as a Lazard banker. President Obama accepted the withdrawal, and promptly tapped Weiss as counselor to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, a position not requiring Senate confirmation.
Weiss’ withdrawal represents Warren’s emergence in the new Congress as a force to be reckoned with in the Democratic Party, not afraid to stand against her own party to advance the liberal cause. As many in the left wing of the Democratic Party hoped she might be, Warren has become a Democratic Ted Cruz of sorts…but her forcing Weiss to step down shows she might be even more effective.
White House Watch
The President’s Schedule President Obama travels to Iowa today, obviously to lay groundwork for a presidential campaign. Oh wait…
In reality, the President is in Cedar Falls, Iowa to continue his State of the Union preview tour. This week, the theme has bene Internet-related issues, and Obama will speak about increasing high-speed and affordable broadband access across the country, especially in rural areas like the one he will be visiting today.
Obama, who departs the White House at Noon (Eastern Time) and arrives in Iowa at 1:45 (Central Time), will attend a fiber optic splicing demonstration at Cedar Falls Utilities at 2:25 PM local time, before speaking there at 2:40 PM, and arriving back at the White House at 6:45 PM Eastern Time.
Read #TodaysWake Up here. <-----
President Obama meets with Speaker Boehner, announces new manufacturing institutes; John Dingell retiring, panel of African-American senators today; and trivia: It's Tuesday, February 25, 2014, I'm Gabe Fleisher for Wake Up To Politics, and reporting from Brittany Woods Middle School in University City, MO - THIS IS YOUR WAKE UP CALL.
Have a great day,
Gabe Fleisher
Editor-in-Chief
Wake Up To Politics