James Carville has some advice for Obama, Perry stands by his rhetoric, the FBI raided a former Walker aide’s home, blame for NY-09 goes to the president and Weprin’s facial hair, and Ron Kind isn’t running for Senate.
EARLIER ON THE FIX:
Deja vu all over again on debt talks
New Hampshire governor won’t seek reelection
Why Rick Perry’s debate performances haven’t hurt him (yet)
NV-02 and NY-09 Fix prediction contest: We have a winner!
Obama’s chance to bounce back
WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED:
* Democratic strategist James Carville has some advice for President Obama: Panic and fire a bunch of people. Also, indict some of people responsible for the financial crisis — and if Attorney General Eric Holder can’t make that happen, fire him. Carville also offers some more familiar advice, like making a better case for stimulus spending.
* In an interview with TIME magazine, Texas Gov. Rick Perry repeats some of his more incendiary rhetoric,calling the Obama administration “socialist,” and Social Security a “Ponzi scheme” and a “criminal enterprise.” On Iraq and Afghanistan, he said he thought we’d met our “overall objective” in both countries and that “we need to try to move our men and women home as soon as we can.” Perry’s policy on Afghanistan has been somewhat inconsistent.
* The FBI has raided the home of a former aide to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) as part of an investigation into whether county staffers did campaign work for the governor while was Milwaukee County executive. Cynthia Archer says she has nothing to hide and has no need of legal representation; Walker himself hired a lawyer after he got a subpoena for campaign emails shortly before last November’s election.
* Donald Trump had dinner with Perry last night and came away impressed, but he’s reportedly waiting for former Alaska governor Sarah Palin to make up her mind. If Trump does endorse someone, “that individual will basically lock up the Republican nomination,” predicts a totally unbiased aide to Donald Trump.
* New York Assemblyman David Weprin (D) blames his Tuesday night special election loss on President Obama, saying the election “turned into a referendum of the President and I was an unfortunate consequence.” Sheepshead Bay Democratic District Leader Michael Gellar blames it on Weprin’s facial hair.
WHAT YOU SHOULDN’T MISS:
* Newly minted Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren declined to endorsePresident Obama’s jobs bill on the trail today, saying, “I’m my own person, and I’ve been talking about my set of issues for a very long time. ... What I’m doing right now is trying to talk about the bigger conversation we need to have.” Meanwhile, primary challenger Alan Khazei wants Warren to pledge not to take corporate lobbyist and political action committee money. Both are competing to take on Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.)
* Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.) is not running for retiring Democratic Sen. Herb Kohl’s seat — specifically because he wants to avoid a “divisive primary contest .” That’s great news for Rep. Tammy Baldwin, the first Democrat to get into the race. Former Rep. Steve Kagen(D) is still considering a bid.
* Former Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Ohio) is running again in the new Columbus-area 3rd district. She represented the old 15th district for just one term, barely winning her first race and losing to Republican Steve Stivers in 2010 by 14 points. This new district will be far more Democratic, but she will probably have some primary competition.
California state Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheny (D) is running for the state’s new 51st district in 2012, which covers Imperial County and parts of San Diego County. Current Rep.Bob Filner (D) is running for mayor of San Diego. State Sen. Juan Vargas (D) is already in the Democratic primary.
