September 09, 2011
President Obama's address to a joint session of Congress last night drew 31.4 million viewers across 11 networks, according to
Entertainment Weekly.
"Overall, Obama's TV audiences have declined during his presidency. But last night's viewership is higher than his previous recent policy speeches on Libya in March (25.6 million) and on Iraq in August, 2010 (29.2 million)."
Mike Madden looks back at the news coverage on the morning of September 11, 2001.
This headline stood out:
Poll Finds Public Wary on Tax Cut, Majority Hold Bush Responsible For Dwindling Budget Surplus.
Mitt Romney won praise -- and ultimately won the Republican debate this week -- by coming to the defense of Social Security.
Josh Green: "This indicates two things: first, protecting Social Security must poll extremely well, even among Republican primary-goers, or Romney would not have been so outspoken in his defense of it (he's not exactly known for taking stands that could thwart his political ambitions). Second, he thinks he's found his line of attack against Rick Perry, who reiterated during the debate his belief that Social Security is a 'Ponzi scheme.'"
But, as
Ben Smith notes, Democrats are clearly worried about Romney being branded as a defender of social security. They're sending DNC chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz to next week's GOP debate in Tampa to "lay in to Mitt Romney's outright hypocrisy on the issue."
Rick Hasen flags a very interesting
research paper which describes "how political operatives set up fake accounts to spread rumors or false statements about candidates."
This "
astrotweeting" is done in a way "to make it appear as though the information is coming from numerous sources, to convey the impression that the information is reliable."
"The message was: either accept my package as it is, or I will take it to
the American people. I would say that that's the wrong approach."
-- House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), quoted by
Politico, on President Obama's jobs speech last night.
Howard Kurtz is told that President Obama "has vowed to campaign against the GOP if the party balks at passing his jobs bill, and believes he can rally public opinion to his side. That should please his disaffected liberal loyalists, who are fed up with Obama's appeals to bipartisanship, which always seem to end with John Boehner's crowd kicking sand in his face."
"The president is said to believe that the country faces a second recession if he doesn't push through the $450 billion package -- and by laying out an ambitious plan, he has positioned himself to blame the Republicans if the economy tanks."
Jonathan Cohn: "It will take a sustained campaign -- one Obama cannot wage alone, but one only he can lead."
The
Los Angeles Times reports that top fundraisers for President Obama's reelection campaign met in Chicago yesterday and were invited to another event "just down the street" after watching the president's speech to Congress -- a reception hosted by Bill Burton and Sean Sweeney, the two former White House aides who set up the independent "super PAC" called Priorities USA to support Obama's reelection.
"Super PACs, which can accept unlimited donations from individuals and corporations, cannot coordinate with candidate campaigns or political parties. Burton said Priorities USA did not communicate with the campaign to put together the event, which he said was organized independently."
Said Burton: "It's not exactly a secret when a large number of Democrats get together."
Here's an interesting kit on running a political campaign:
How to Win Any Election.
Heading into the final days of the special election in New York's 9th congressional district, a new
Siena poll finds Robert Turner (R) has taken a six point lead over David Weprin (D), 50% to 44%.
In a Siena poll done one month ago, Weprin held a six point lead over Turner.
Said pollster Steven Greenberg: "While Turner has an overwhelming 90-6 percent lead among Republicans, Weprin has only a 63-32 percent lead among Democrats, and Turner has a 38-point lead among likely independent voters. Currently, Turner enjoys a slightly larger lead among independent voters than Weprin has with Democrats. Weprin needs to find a way to win a larger share of Democratic and independent voters if he's going to turn the race back around in the final days."
First Read notes House Republican leaders were surprisingly receptive of President Obama's speech last night and did not immediately dismiss his proposals.
"The GOP leadership reads polls and cares about them. That's never been the issue. What is the issue: the party's rank-and-file and its presidential candidates (all of whom released statements last night criticizing Obama's speech). So the challenge for House GOP leaders -- and the Obama White House -- is how they bring along the base and the presidential candidates. Realistically, if half of the proposal get passed, the White House would see that has a victory."
Greg Marx: "In even the earliest primary and caucus states, voters choose from the options presented by party insiders (or, in some years, ratify the insiders' choice). If reporters wait for the voters to weigh in to take stock of who's ahead, they'll have missed much of the story. If you're an ordinary voter, that might seem unfair. But one of the features of American democracy is that ordinary voters who care deeply about their party's choice can, through the commitment of time and energy, influence the insider conversation. And good horse race coverage can help them understand how to do that effectively, by making the conversation transparent."
"I have people tell me on a regular basis, 'Gee, are you still running?'"
-- Newt Gingrich, quoted by
TPM on a conference call with supporters.
If you missed the Republican presidential debate the other night, a reader sends over a
condensed version.
See more...
Former Rep. David Wu (D-OR), who resigned from the House last month because of an
alleged sexual encounter with the daughter of a donor, made a surprise appearance at President Obama's speech to Congress,
The Hill reports.
"His former Democratic colleagues kept their distance, keeping several seats away from him in the minutes before the speech when most took the time to mingle or position themselves to shake the president's hand."
Kevin Drum: "Here's how Social Security works: every month we take in taxes from working people and every month we turn around and distribute those taxes to retirees. That's it. That's how it works, and everyone who actually knows anything about the program knows that's how it works. Taxes come in, benefits go out. And the key to solvency is simple: making sure that those taxes and benefits are in balance."
"Now, morally speaking, we certainly have an obligation to keep Social Security running. After all, today's seniors did their bit back in the day and provided benefits to yesterday's seniors. But again, that's true of every government program... If Social Security is a 'monstrous lie,' as Rick Perry says, then the entire federal government is a monstrous lie."
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) is joining American Crossroads, the influential Republican Super PAC founded by Karl Rove, to help the group raise money during the 2012 election, the
New York Times reports.
"Well-connected in party circles and known as a formidable fund-raiser, his addition to the American Crossroads team suggests that the group is preparing to play a leading role in the 2012 elections, with the capacity to raise and spend more money than the G.O.P.'s official national party committees combined. They are, after all, subject to contribution limits, while Crossroads is not."
September 08, 2011
Political Wire has learned that Public Policy Polling has a new survey in the field in New York's 9th congressional district.
The first night of surveying likely voters shows Democrats in real jeopardy of losing the special election to fill the seat of former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY).
They
tweet: "Dems in BIG trouble. It deserves the caps."
After President Obama's speech tonight, you might want to read
The Last Campaign: How Harry Truman Won the 1948 Election by Zachary Karabell.
I'll bet there are a few copies lying around the White House.
Jacqueline Kennedy recalled in a series of oral-history interviews recorded in 1964, but just released, that President Kennedy felt strongly that Lyndon Johnson shouldn't become president,
ABC News reports. In the months just before his death in 1963 he has even begun talking to his brother, Robert Kennedy, "about ways to maneuver around Johnson in 1968."
Said Mrs. Kennedy: "Bobby told me this later, and I know Jack said it to me sometimes. He said, 'Oh, God, can you ever imagine what would happen to the country if Lyndon was president?'"
"Mrs. Kennedy describes a vice president who was far from the inner sanctum of power. She describes a lieutenant who resisted the president's efforts to solicit his input and involve him, even in areas that interested him."
President Obama delivered an impassioned speech to a joint session of Congress, but make no mistake: this was a political speech designed to fire up his supporters and draw lines of contrast with Republicans. Obama gave it away when he said, "You should pass it. I intend to take that message to every corner of the country."
It's a page from Harry Truman's campaign playbook.
The White House knows there's little chance the plan will be enacted when there's so little support for anything the president proposes. The president's policy proposals were bipartisan in nature but the reaction from Republicans in the chamber was just as partisan as it's been over the last three years. Then sat through most of it in stony silence.
President Obama urged Congress to "stop the political
circus and actually do something" by approving a $447 billion mix of
tax cuts and spending that he sad would help put people back to work,
National Journal reports.
"The package was larger than expected but the president pledged it would
not add to an already historic deficit."
Wall Street Journal: "The president's plan, unveiled in a
speech to a joint session of Congress, is an attempt to wrest the initiative in Washington's protracted debate about fiscal policy. Both parties emerged from the debt-ceiling fight this summer with their approval ratings heading south as the economy stalled and the unemployment rate stayed above 9%."
See more...
Out next month:
Deadline Artists: The Greatest Newspaper Columns by America's Greatest Newspaper Columnists edited by Jesse Angelo, John Avlon and Errol Louis.
"If we nominate someone who the Democrats could correctly characterize
as being opposed to Social Security, we would be obliterated."
-- Mitt Romney, in a
radio interview with Sean Hannity, slamming Rick Perry.
New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez (R), who has taken a very hard line on illegal immigrantion, acknowledged to
KLUZ-TV that her paternal grandparents entered the United States illegally.
The
AP notes reports about Martinez's grandfather "coming across the border illegally have surfaced numerous times over the past few years. The governor's office has largely dodged directly answering questions about the issue, saying Martinez was unsure of his status since he abandoned the family when her father was young. Her comments Wednesday appeared to be the first time she has answered the question definitively."
Matt Damon told
New York magazine that just because he's interested in politics doesn't mean he wants to run for office someday.
Said Damon: "I don't think I have an interest in politics any more than anybody else does, or should. I mean, we should kind of know what these guys are doing. We've elected them to run the country, so we have to pay attention. That doesn't mean I would want to go into politics! I have a job, I love my job, and I wouldn't really be interested in that."
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