Christie, Biden Spur WH '16 Speculation; McDonnell Attys Meeting With Feds; Ted Cruz's 'Creepy' Robe
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WHAT'S NEWS
The RNC "voted Friday to centralize party control over" WH primary debates "in the name of punishing two networks that are producing major films" about ex-Sec/State Hillary Clinton (D) (Time).
In VA GOV, ex-DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe (D) released a new ad on Monday, featuring TV news clips about AG Ken Cuccinelli's (R) refusal to return $18K in gifts from Star Scientific CEO Jonnie Williams, unlike Gov. Bob McDonnell (R), who said he has returned all the "tangible" gifts he's received (release).
Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) "announced Friday he won't run" for MI SEN, "dashing the GOP’s hope of recruiting the powerful House Ways & Means chairman into the race" (Detroit News).
A new WNBC-TV/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll of NYC mayoral Dem primary LVs, conducted 8/12-14, shows City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio tied, 24-24%, with '09 nominee Bill Thompson at 18%, ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner at 11% and Comp. John Liu at 5%. In the previous poll, conducted 7/24, Quinn led de Blasio, 26-17%, with Weiner at 16%, Thompson at 15% and Liu at 7% (release).
NJ Gov. Chris Christie (R) "is planning to endorse" NJ SEN Special nominee Steve Lonegan (R) at an event on Tuesday (Politico).
Christie on Friday "rejected three major pieces of gun-control legislation" passed after "last year's fatal school shootings" in Newtown, CT, even though one of the bills would have implemented "a ban on purchases of the Barrett .50-caliber gun and similar weapons," which Christie himself proposed in April. NJ GOV '13 nominee/state Sen. Barbara Buono (D) "issued a statement saying that Christie "has made his priorities clear -- the wishes of right-wing, fringe Republicans in Iowa and New Hampshire are more important than protecting children and families in the Garden State" (Philadelphia Inquirer).
With an eye to WH '16, Christie "is pouring resources into an effort to attract blacks, Hispanics and women" for his reelect (New York Times).
"Political allies" of VP Biden "are considering steps he could take to prepare for a potential" WH '16 candidacy, "even if" Clinton runs. "One step under discussion by Biden backers is to form" a PAC "he would use to funnel money" to other Dem candidates, "which could build goodwill ... people familiar with the talks said" (Wall Street Journal).
Ex-Linn Co. GOP Chair Jo Rae Perkins (R) "announced her candidacy" for OR SEN, "marking the beginning of what's expected to be a lively GOP primary election" (Oregonian).
The NRCC "is reserving airtime for a few television ads against" Reps. Mike McIntyre (D-NC) and Collin Peterson (D-MN), spending $10K against McIntyre and $22K against Peterson (The Hill).
Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD) "said Friday that he is still considering running" for MD GOV and "decried the 'negativity' that has emerged between the two leading candidates," LG Anthony Brown (D) and AG Doug Gansler (D) (Washington Post).
At a fundraiser Friday for EMILY's List in San Francisco, TX state Sen. Wendy Davis (D) said a TX GOV "campaign would be 'a hard journey' but that 'hard things are worth fighting for'" (Dallas Morning News).
Supporters of a recall effort against San Diego Mayor Bob Filner (D) "began circulating petitions" at 12:01 a.m. Sunday morning. They have 40 days to collect 101,597 signatures (U-T San Diego).
OUR CALL
Hotline editors weigh in on the stories that drive the day
• Chris Christie telegraphed his WH '16 ambitions as clearly as ever over the past week. He's beginning to tack rightward, quietly vetoing gun legislation on Friday. And his message Friday to the RNC, calling for the party to put pragmatism ahead of ideology, was a not-too-subtle effort at self-promotion.
• Talk about threading the needle. Over the weekend, Mark Pryor criticized Obama for having a "hard left agenda" and "not connecting well," but he also reiterated his support for the president's health care law. Pryor risks antagonizing the GOP base, while not getting any benefit from the president's supporters -- a formula for disaster in AR.
HAIR OF THE DOG
FRESH BREWED BUZZ
The weatherman selfishly said it would rain, but Pres. Obama "hit the links on his Martha's Vineyard vacation with comedian Larry David" on Saturday anyway (AP).
"This week, [the Washington Post] editorial board posed some questions about my time as chairman of GreenTech Automotive. Let me offer some answers" -- McAuliffe, in an op-ed in the Sunday Post's Metro section (Washington Post).
Attys for McDonnell "and his wife, Maureen, will spend Monday locked in separate hours-long meetings trying to convince federal prosecutors that the first couple should not be charged in the gifts scandal that has dominated state politics. The meetings open a new, critical phase of the investigation, timed to help prosecutors decide over the next few weeks whether to file charges, according to two people with knowledge of the investigation" (Washington Post).
M. McDonnell "twice purchased thousands of shares of stock in Star Scientific, a spokesman for McDonnell's legal team confirmed Friday night," but she "did not inform" her husband "either time she purchased stock" totaling "more than" $30K (Washington Post).
"Few" at the IA state fair on Sunday "recognized" ex-Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) "as he ate his very first corn dog, drank a couple of beers at the Bud Tent, shot a bunch of photos of his wife posed in front of the fair's main attractions (the butter cow, a deep-fried Oreo stand, the Big Boar) and did three local news interviews" (Des Moines Register).
"The Democratic Party, it's not dead like some people think it is" -- Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) (Politico).
Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY) "was late paying his property taxes 38 times" between '05 and this year -- "including at least 18 times since he joined Congress" in '10 (Buffalo News).
Earlier this year, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) "secretly financed a poll by his own longtime pollster," Doug Schoen, "to help convince" NYPD Commis. Ray Kelly "that he could win" the NYC mayoral race, but "Kelly declined" to run (New Yorker).
"I want to go and work on a goat farm in Vermont. She says, 'Someday ... but not now'" -- Quinn wife Kim Catullo, who has "dreams of a quiet, unplugged life someday -- far from the political scrum" (New York Times).
Both the New York Post and the Daily News had some fun endorsing Manhattan Borough Pres. Scott Stringer (D) over ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) for NYC comp. this weekend.
DC mayoral candidate/Councilmember Jack Evans (D) held a fundraiser on Nantucket Island earlier this month, where he was introduced by ex-DC Mayor Anthony Williams (D), "who stopped short of endorsing Evans" (Washington Post).
"I may not have been able to answer that question within 140 characters if I had to avoid using that word" -- Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), on why he used the phrase "white trash" in a Twitter exchange earlier this month (Orange County Register).
"Christie defeats Buono in Cockroach Derby" (Asbury Park Press).
"It left my arm numb for a day" -- Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), on a scorpion bite he suffered while "mowing his lawn" last week in Mesa, AZ (Arizona Republic).
"[Sen. Ted] Cruz may have to pick nation" (Dallas Morning News).
"[S]everal fellow classmates" of Cruz at Princeton "who asked that their names not be used described the young Cruz with words like 'abrasive,' 'intense,' 'strident,' 'crank,' and 'arrogant.' Four independently offered the word 'creepy,' with some pointing to Cruz's habit of donning a paisley bathrobe and walking to the opposite end of their dorm's hallway where the female students lived" (Daily Beast).
SWIZZLE CHALLENGE
The Alou brothers -- Felipe, Matty and Jesus -- batted in order for the the San Francisco Giants in a game in '63.
The winner is Tom Davis, and here's his Swizzle Challenge: "There have been 15 Republican female senators. Two states have produced 3. Which are they?" The 3rd correct e-mailer gets to submit the next question.
NJ'S EARLY BIRD SPECIALS
SHOT...
"What a surprise -- John Kerry calls while I'm in Iowa. ... He wanted to know how I'm doing and where I was. He's with the State Department -- I think he knows where I am" -- Brown, on his phone call from Kerry on Sunday (Des Moines Register).
...CHASER
"Each and every day that I've been a United States senator, I've been discussing issues, meeting on issues, in secret meetings and with kings and queens and prime ministers and business leaders and military leaders, talking, voting, working on issues every single day" -- Brown, in a June '12 radio interview (Boston Globe).
Josh Kraushaar, Editor-in-Chief
Steven Shepard, Executive Editor
