Feds Ask to Reinstate TX Preclearance; Dems Call for Filner Resignation; Wendy Davis' DC Fundraisers

National Journal

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WHAT'S NEWS

  • The Obama admin. on Thursday "asked a federal court" in TX "to restore that 'preclearance' requirement there, citing the state's recent history and relying on a different part" of the Voting Rights Act (New York Times).

  • OFA "will air a national television ad bolstering" Pres. Obama's "economic vision ... on cable TV stations for about two weeks" (AP).

  • NJ state Sen. Barbara Buono (D) "has selected" labor leader Milly Silva as her running mate in NJ GOV (PolitickerNJ.com).

  • Attys for Senate Min. Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-KY) camp asked a KY TV station WAVE-TV to pull businessman Matt Bevin's (R) first TV ad because the ad "lacks text declaring the candidate approves the message" contained therein (The Hill).

  • In WY SEN, Dick Cheney daughter Liz Cheney (R) "announced a core group of state leaders and advisers" on Thursday that "offers the first substantial look at who" in WY "is on her side," but the list doesn't include any "prominent elected officials" (Casper Star Tribune).

  • "Shaken by plunging polls and raunchy new photos," ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) "struggled Thursday to salvage his faltering" NYC mayoral campaign, "even as he confessed to having three online affairs after he quit Congress in disgrace" (New York Daily News).

  • Ex-TV news anchor Don Shelby (D) "is reportedly mulling a run against" Rep. Erik Paulsen (R) in MN-03, "potentially putting in play a suburban Minneapolis" CD that has been in GOP "hands for decades" (Minneapolis Star Tribune).

  • Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC) was "discharged" from GW Hospital "early Thursday morning" following hernia surgery earlier this week, and "he went right to work," voting later Thursday. Coble "was expected to return home" Thursday night "with a staffer who drives home every other weekend" (WFMY-TV).

  • TX state Sen. Wendy Davis (D) "drew big name" Dems "at a Capitol Hill fundraiser Thursday" morning, including Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Patty Murray (D-WA) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) (Houston Chronicle). Thursday evening, Davis addressed a packed crowd of about 300-400 guests at a fundraiser at the U St. NW bar Local 16, ostensibly for her state Senate campaign. Davis strategist Matt Angle said he guessed Davis will decide whether to run for higher office, including a possible GOV run, "in a few weeks" (Hotline reporting).

  • Four more "prominent San Diego women" came forward on Thursday, "accusing" San Diego Mayor Bob Filner (D) "of unwanted sexual advances" (KPBS-TV). The San Diego Co. Dem Party "demanded he resign" Thursday night. Earlier Thursday, Filner "asked city residents to 'take a deep breath' amid the swirling accusations as he contemplates whether to address the allegations in a public forum" (U-T San Diego).

  • "Invoking the families of 9/11 victims," NJ Gov. Chris Christie (R) "on Thursday heatedly denounced the growing libertarian drift on national security" in the GOP "that is favored by" Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) "and others in the party" at a panel at the RGA retreat in Aspen, CO (New York Times).

OUR CALL

Hotline editors weigh in on the stories that drive the day

• The fact that both sides of the vote on Rep. Justin Amash's NSA-curtailing amendment was bipartisan means we're going to see some intra-party fissures playing out in primaries. Already, Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) is taking heat from a GOP challenger, while liberals will let Rep./PA GOV candidate Allyson Schwartz (D) know they didn't like her no vote.

• Alison Lundergan Grimes released an unfocused campaign announcement video Thursday, spending about half of it talking about her deceased grandmother and an ad she produced in 2011. Granted, Grimes does eventually connect the story to her new Senate campaign and even lands a few blows, turning the tables on McConnell on coal. But Grimes doesn't even mention her opponent until the last minute of the ad. Like her thrown-together announcement nearly four weeks ago, it's an odd kick-off to a campaign, in which Grimes has little room for error.

• Which sounds less like your typical crowd for a state legislative reelection fundraiser: eight U.S. sens., or several hundred rapturous young professionals? Wendy Davis faced both crowds in a pair of DC events yesterday. She is still deciding whether to run for statewide office, but her influence with donors large and small and the breadth of her fundraising pull -- from her state capital to the nation's, soon to be followed by trips to the Northeast and San Francisco -- is simply not consistent with state legislative-level ambitions.

HAIR OF THE DOG

FRESH BREWED BUZZ

  • The FEC "said Thursday that legally married same-sex couples must be treated in the same manner as opposite-sex couples under election law, revering its position in response" to the SCOTUS's ruling last month "that struck down part of the Defense of Marriage Act" (Washington Post).

  • The Lincoln Memorial "is temporarily closed after someone splattered green paint on the statue and the floor" (AP).

  • "State and local agencies are investigating threatening emails sent to" VA AG/GOV candidate Ken Cuccinelli (R) (WRC-TV).

  • Ex-DC Mayor Vincent Gray aide Thomas Gore "is scheduled to be sentenced" on Friday "for committing campaign finance violations and destroying evidence" (AP).

  • Documents released Thursday from ex-AG Robert F. Kennedy's (D) tenure "provide a direct look" at the JFK admin.'s "policies, including its relationship with Cuba, the Soviet Union, and Vietnam" (Boston Globe).

  • "My feeling is if you want to make sure that the Democrats take control of the House, run that strategy" -- Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), on GOP efforts to tie defunding the '10 health care law to gov't-funding and debt-limit legislation (Politico).

  • Where Are They Now, IL SEN edition (Twitter).

  • "New York is a City that represents a ladder -- a ladder that lets you pull yourself up. And you come here not expecting miracles. ... You're not asking that when one of us gets elected mayor, suddenly milk and honey flows through the streets and the Mets win the pennant" -- Weiner, at an event Thursday night in the Jackson Heights neighborhood of Queens (Politicker.com).

  • "Newt Gingrich Goes to the Zoo (With Google Glass)" (Atlantic Wire).

  • "Dewhurst office says statements on feces are 'self-explanatory'" (Houston Chronicle).

SWIZZLE CHALLENGE

  • Woodrow Wilson was the first POTUS to meet the Pope.

  • The winner is Nick Mildebrath, and here's his Swizzle Challenge: "What two SCOTUS justices served in the War of 1812?" The 2nd correct e-mailer gets to submit the next question.

NJ'S EARLY BIRD SPECIALS

SHOT...

"It's a costly circus, a fundraising gimmick for the state party. Straw polls are not reliable indicators of who's going to have the ability to win the caucuses, so it's usually a waste of time" -- IA Gov. Terry Branstad, on the IA GOP Straw Poll (National Review).

...CHASER

"Well, actually, I think it's grown in its influence. More people participate, and it's been a nice fundraiser for the Republican Party in the state of Iowa" -- Branstad, asked prior to the '11 IA Straw Poll if it had been "diminished" (C-SPAN).

Reid Wilson, Editor-in-Chief

Steven Shepard, Executive Editor