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OVERNIGHT CAMPAIGN: Dems struggle to find DSCC chairman
Senate Democrats are struggling to find a leader for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee even as Republicans are laying the groundwork to win back the upper chamber in 2014.
Party leaders say they are unconcerned that Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), who was offered the position by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) earlier this month, has not yet made his decision, insisting that it was too early to think about 2014.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who successfully led the DSCC in the 2012 cycle, said she was "not at all" concerned that Bennet hadn't made his decision, but offered no explanation to why he's taken three weeks to decide.
"We haven't even finished this year," she said.
And Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), third-ranking Democrat and a former DSCC chairman, insisted "we have a chairman!" — Murray.
Bennet's office did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Read more in Wednesday’s edition of The Hill.
TOMORROW’S AGENDA TODAY: President Obama holds a Cabinet meeting. He will also hold an event at the White House with middle-class Americans and a separate event with business leaders as part of his push to avoid the "fiscal cliff."
TWEET OF THE DAY: “So sad to see POTUS continue to pass John Kerry over for the big jobs. I just don't get it. #Statesman” — actor Rob Lowe
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Boehner, Boehner, don’t be a d---, budget cuts will make us sick. The budget cuts are really rude, that’s why we have to be so lewd.” — Naked protestors outside of Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) Longworth House Office Building office
POLL POSITION:
A CNN/ORC poll finds President Obama with a 52 percent approval rating, and 43 disapproval. The poll shows a slight uptick for the president since the last survey, taken in early November before his commanding reelection victory. That poll showed Obama with a 51-45 positive split.
RACE FOR 2016:
Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) said he remains "open" to seeking the GOP presidential nomination in 2016. “I’m open to it, yeah,” Santorum told the Weekly Standard. “I think there’s a fight right now as to what the soul of the Republican party’s going to be and the conservative movement, and we have something to say about that. I think from our battle, we’re not going to leave the field.”
BATTLE FOR THE HOUSE:
Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.) will be the National Republican Congressional Committee's (NRCC) new deputy chairman.
FLORIDA: Outgoing Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) is open to running for office again in the future, but said it is “not for now” to make any plans.
ILLINOIS: Former National Football League linebacker and recently-elected Illinois state Sen. Napoleon Harris (D) will run for the seat left open by Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.'s (D-Ill.) resignation.
TENNESSEE: A watchdog group has filed a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics against Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.), alleging that he lied to the public, violating House rules, when confronted about a past inappropriate sexual relationship. And state GOP Rep. Kevin Brooks said in a statement he’s exploring a run against DesJarlais.
SENATE SHOWDOWN:
WEST VIRGINIA: Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) has not yet decided whether he'll be running again in 2014. "I'll make that decision in time," he said, and offered no timeline for the decision when pressed.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's (R) approval rating has spiked to 72 percent following his handling of Superstorm Sandy, according to a new poll from Quinnipiac University.
Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) introduced an alternative bill to the DREAM Act that would allow illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children to stay in the U.S. without an expedited pathway to citizenship. The legislation is the first concrete move Republicans have made toward immigration reform since the election.
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