By Scott Wong (swong@politico.com or @scottwongDC)
GARDNER SHAKES UP THE SENATE – Lynn Bartels and Kurtis Lee report for the Denver Post — “Republican Congressman Cory Gardner intends to drop his re-election bid to run for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Mark Udall, lobbing a bombshell that alters Colorado’s political landscape for the November elections. Shortly after The Denver Post first reported Gardner’s plans, the GOP front-runner in the Senate race, Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck, revealed he was going to run for Gardner’s seat in the 4th Congressional District. … Gardner, who is viewed as a rising star by the national GOP, has criticized Udall over his support for the Affordable Care Act. …
– “Denver political consultant Eric Sondermann said the Gardner move ‘single handily puts Colorado at the center of the battle for U.S. Senate that Republicans are waging.’ ‘It’s a statement that Republicans regard 2014 as their potential turnaround year,’ Sondermann said. ‘And Gardner is really going all in at the poker table.” http://bit.ly/1mCCIdY
New York Times, A1, “G.O.P., Though Deeply Split, Has Election Edge, Poll Shows,” By Jonathan Martin And Megan Thee-Brenan: “Republicans are in a stronger position than Democrats for this year’s midterm elections, benefiting from the support of self-described independents, even though the party itself is deeply divided and most Americans agree more with Democratic policy positions, the latest New York Times/CBS News poll shows. … 42 percent say they will back Republicans in November, and 39 percent indicate that they will back Democrats, a difference within the poll’s margin of sampling error.” http://nyti.ms/1ep7EfV
RIVERA NAMED IN ILLEGAL MONEY SCANDAL – Marc Caputo writes on A1 of the Miami Herald: “For the first time, a convicted congressional candidate has stated in federal records that former U.S. Rep. David Rivera was a part of the conspiracy to funnel illegal contributions to his campaign. Justin Lamar Sternad said in three recent Federal Elections Commission filings that a total of $ 81,486.15 in illegal campaign contributions were coordinated or tied to ‘Ana Alliegro and/or David Rivera.’ The revelations about the two come almost a year after Sternad’s March 15 guilty plea on counts of accepting illegal campaign contributions, conspiracy and making a false statement on an FEC report. Sternad’s sentencing has been repeatedly delayed. He is cooperating with federal investigators who are trying to bring charges against Rivera and Alliegro.” http://hrld.us/1hWb2lB
CAMP TAX PLAN GIVES DEMS 2014 FODDER – Brian Faler reports for the hometown paper: “Dave Camp is giving Democrats a big, fat election-year gift. His long-awaited tax reform bill released on Wednesday includes something to offend seemingly everyone: manufacturers, the poor, Wall Street banks, governors and deficit hawks. The Ways and Means committee chairman emphasizes what taxpayers will get in return for lower rates — a simpler, fairer code, one that will give the economy a jolt. But it’s a high-risk gambit that will likely leave many Republicans, even those only dimly aware of the plan, fighting off complaints this election year that they’re targeting scores of popular tax breaks. Many Republicans are scratching their heads at the strategy, and even some Democrats are befuddled by the move….
– “‘It doesn’t make sense,’ said Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.). ‘You don’t send up trial balloons on such significant issues — particularly in an off-year election.’” http://politi.co/1ftDeo4
** Republicans and Democrats finally agree! Congress has bipartisan legislation to repeal Medicare’s broken funding formula. But not if Congress gives up before the March 31 deadline. SGR is the problem; H.R. 4015 and S. 2000 are the solution. FixMedicareNow.org
AFL-CIO: KIRK FOCUSED ON OLYMPIANS, NOT UNEMPLOYED – The AFL-CIO this morning launched an online ad campaign urging Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) to extend unemployment insurance, something he’s refused to do in past votes. The group says Kirk spent the past two weeks talking about almost nothing but the 11 Olympians from Illinois, while failing to mention the nearly 100,000 people in his state who lost UI benefits. The online campaign aims to reach 900,000 people, and will be followed by targeted emails and local newspaper ads, spokeswoman Amaya Smith told Huddle. View an ad on Facebook here: http://on.fb.me/1bOilsQ
–Americans United for Change is hitting Kirk on the unemployment issue with its own tough TV ad. It begins running today through the end of the week on MSNBC and CNN in Chicago. Watch here: http://youtu.be/SDhhlwvL5p8
TOO MUCH FOCUS ON OBAMACARE? – Karen Tumulty writes on A1 of the Washington Post: “Nearly every advertising dollar being spent against Democratic congressional candidates is going toward pounding them on the new health-care law. That strategy could miss the mark, warned Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who is vice chairman of the Republican Governors Association and a possible contender for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination. …’I think that’s a huge mistake,” [Jindal] added. ‘If we want to earn the majority, we have to be offering detailed policy solutions, detailed ideas of what we would do differently. I don’t think it is enough to say, ‘Just repeal Obamacare.’’ Polls indicate that the Affordable Care Act continues to be unpopular, but the intensity of anger about it may be dissipating. Other issues — principally jobs and the economy — are greater concerns for most voters.” http://wapo.st/1ftqcXM
SOME DEMS DISAGREE ON MINIMUM WAGE STRATEGY – Burgess Everett writes for the hometown paper: “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid isn’t budging on a proposal to hike the minimum wage to $ 10.10 an hour. But not all of his Democratic colleagues are following their leader on the issue, which is key to the party’s election-year messaging. In fact, moderate Democrats — including a handful up for reelection this year — are weighing support of a more modest increase designed to attract Republicans that could save them from having to oppose a tough bill before November. … Interviews with a group of deal-seeking Democrats and Republicans indicate that there is room for negotiation. Elements under discussion include dropping the rate under $ 10.10 an hour, adding business incentives and re-examining the wage floor for tipped workers, which would rise for the first time in more than 20 years under legislation written by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and co-sponsored by Reid. Under that bill, wages would rise in future years at the rate of inflation.” http://politi.co/N6sGW2
BREWER VETOS ARIZONA ANTI-GAY BILL – Alia Beard Rau, Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Mary Jo Pitzl report for the Arizona Republic: “Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer silenced the vitriolic outcry over Senate Bill 1062 with a veto early Wednesday evening, eliciting relief from opponents who said it would lead to discrimination and hurt the state’s economy and reputation, and disappointment from supporters who maintained the bill’s intent had been distorted. A somber Brewer announced her decision in a rare news conference in the rotunda outside her office. ‘Senate Bill 1062 … could divide Arizona in ways we cannot even imagine and no one would ever want,’ she told the room packed with journalists from around the country. ‘Let’s turn the ugliness of the debate over Senate Bill 1062 into a renewed search for greater respect and understanding among all Arizonans and Americans.’” http://bit.ly/OEaXpO
– SEN. JOHN McCAIN, who along with Arizona GOP Sen. Jeff Flake opposed the bill, praised the decision: “I hope that we can now move on from this controversy and assure the American people that everyone is welcome to live, work and enjoy our beautiful State of Arizona.”
SEN. AL FRANKEN’S CAMPAIGN pointed out that a National Journal story included in Tuesday’s Huddle has been updated with a new headline and spending figures. Here’s the full clarification: “A story Tuesday reported that Sen. Al Franken’s campaign has spent more than $ 15 million on his reelection effort. Information provided by the campaign after the story was published indicates that about $ 7.5 million was spent on reelection, with the remainder spent on the recount in his last election and to retire campaign debt.” http://bit.ly/Nz8v2W
GOOD THURSDAY MORNING, FEB. 27, 2014, and welcome to The Huddle, your play-by-play preview of all the action on Capitol Hill. Send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints and corrections to swong@politico.com. If you don’t already, please follow me on Twitter @scottwongDC.
My new followers include @JeremyNEvans and @mee_moua.
TODAY IN CONGRESS – The Senate meets at 9:30 a.m. and at 2 p.m. will hold a series of votes, including on the Comprehensive Veterans Health and Benefits and Military Retirement Pay Restoration Act. The Senate is also expected to vote on the nomination of Michael Connor to be deputy secretary of the Interior.
The House meets at 10 a.m. with first votes expected between 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. and last votes between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. on the All Economic Regulations Are Transparent Act and the Consumer Financial Protection and Soundness Improvement Act.
AROUND THE HILL – Sen. Ted Cruz headlines a Playbook Breakfast at 8:30 a.m. at the Newseum. Livestream: www.politico.com/livestream. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Sens. Barbara Boxer and Ed Markey attend the 2nd annual Globe Climate Legislation Summit at 9 a.m. in Russell 325. Sens. Barbara Mikulski and Susan Collins will accept the 2014 Allegheny College Prize for Civility in Public Life on behalf of the bipartisan Senate women at 10 a.m. at the National Press Club. The event will be webcast live at: http://sites.allegheny.edu/civilityaward/
Nancy Pelosi holds her weekly press conference at 10:45 a.m. in HVC Studio A. Speaker John Boehner follows at the same location at 11:30 a.m.
SETH ROGEN INSULTED TOM HARKIN NEVER SAW ‘KNOCKED UP’ – “If you’re going to bring actor Seth Rogen in to testify at your Senate hearing, you should probably be familiar with his material,” writes National Journal’s Matt Berman. “Rogen, who was testifying at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on the rising costs of Alzheimer’s disease, had a pretty funny exchange with Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. ‘Thank you for the opportunity to testify today and for the opportunity to be called an expert in something, because that’s cool,’ Rogen began. ‘I don’t know if you know who I am, chairman. I know you never saw Knocked Up, which is a little insulting.’ Harkin’s response: ‘I want the record to note that this is the first time, I will wager, this is the first time in any congressional hearing in history that the words ‘knocked up’ have ever been spoken.’ …
– Rogen’s “wife’s mother was diagnosed with the disease when she was just 55, and Rogen founded a charity to benefit the Alzheimer’s Association. ‘I came here today for a few reasons,’ he told the subcommittee. ‘One, I’m a House of Cards fan. Had to be here…. Two, is to say people need more help.’ ‘I’m sorry you had to unmask me,’ Harkin later replied. ‘I’m really Kevin Spacey in disguise. Not too many people knew that.’” http://bit.ly/1ka0i3n
TRANSITIONS – SARAH ROTHSCHILD has joined Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) as press secretary. She had been communications director for Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.), and previously served as spokeswoman for then-Rep. Ron Klein’s congressional office and campaign.
IG: STATE DEPT. DIDN’T VIOLATE RULES ON KEYSTONE – Neil Banerjee writes for the L.A. Times: “The State Department did not violate conflict-of-interest rules when it chose an outside contractor to conduct an environmental impact study of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, the department’s inspector general concluded in a report issued Wednesday. The conclusion came as a blow to environmental groups seeking to stop the pipeline’s construction. They had urged an investigation of recent business ties between TransCanada, which plans to build it, and Environmental Resources Management, which conducted the environmental assessment.” http://lat.ms/1ep8t8r
GOP REVIVES FOCUS ON LOIS LERNER – Rachel Bade and John Bresnahan report for POLITICO: “House Republicans are gearing up to take their IRS tea party-targeting investigation to a whole new level next week — potentially even holding former IRS official Lois Lerner in contempt of Congress. Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has recalled Lerner — the former head of the tax-exempt division — to Capitol Hill for another hearing next Wednesday. Lerner became the face of the nine-month-old IRS scandal when she admitted the agency singled out conservative groups for additional scrutiny when applying for tax exemptions. Lerner’s attorney, William Taylor III of Zuckerman Spaeder LLP, is imploring the panel to reconsider having his client testify publicly because Lerner fears for her life and has received numerous death threats. … But if she’s hauled in, Taylor said she’ll invoke her Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate herself.” http://politi.co/1hquP9u
– Three Republicans are vying to succeed Issa as Oversight chairman: Reps. John Mica of Florida, Jason Chaffetz of Utah and Michael Turner of Ohio. The Hill’s Molly Hooper: http://bit.ly/1ep9LAj
DEMS WANT DAINES’S BIRTH CERTIFICATE – James Hohmann has the story for POLITICO: “The Montana Democratic Party is calling on Steve Daines, a Republican congressman running for Senate, to release his birth certificate. The unusual request, typically the province of birthers on the right who question where President Barack Obama was born, comes as Daines has regularly been describing himself as a ‘fifth-generation Montanan’ in commercials, press releases and on the stump. The congressman was born in Southern California, and he was quoted in a 2002 Bozeman Daily Chronicle story describing himself as a ‘third-generation Montanan.’” http://politi.co/1cUKJrD
WEDNESDAY’S TRIVIA WINNER – David Morgenstern was first to correctly answer that Rep. Bob Matsui (D-Calif.) was the most recent member of Congress to be succeeded by his spouse. Doris Matsui succeeded her husband in 2005 upon the death of her husband.
TODAY’S TRIVIA – Rahul Chopra has today’s question: Name two sets of siblings where one sibling serves in Congress, the other as mayor. The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day’s Huddle. Email me at swong@politico.com.
GET HUDDLE emailed to your Blackberry, iPhone or other mobile device each morning. Just enter your email address where it says “Sign Up.” http://www.politico.com/huddle/
** After years of saying “wait until next year,” Congress finally has bipartisan legislation to repeal Medicare’s broken funding formula. This is the news seniors have been waiting for. But we’re not over the finish line yet. Congress must act by March 31st to avoid another costly temporary patch. Let’s pass H.R. 4015/S. 2000, scrap the broken SGR formula and fix Medicare once and for all! FixMedicareNow.org
GARDNER SHAKES UP THE SENATE – Rivera named in illegal money scheme – Ads hit Kirk on UI– ROGEN, HARKIN DISCUSS "KNOCKED UP" -- 3 vie for Issa"s gavel
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