(swong@politico.com or @scottwongDC)
RETURN OF THE CULTURE WARS? – Jonathan Allen writes for the hometown paper: “The culture wars are back, but this time with a significant twist: the left is picking the fights and, for the most part, enjoying being on the right side of public opinion. Five years after Barack Obama warned that anxious voters are just ‘clinging’ to guns and religion, wedge issues are cutting differently — more to the liking of Democrats. Gay marriage is the talk of capital city parties. Lawmakers are working across the aisle on immigration reform plans. And New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg just committed $ 12 million to pressure Congress to tighten gun control laws.
– “Activists say the three issues — gay rights, guns and immigration — climbed to national attention after surviving battle-tests in the states and enjoying a shift in public opinion. Now Washington is just playing catch up. On Tuesday, moderate Democrat Mark Warner, of Virginia, became the most recent in a line of public officials to back same-sex marriage. One the same day, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a Democrat from West Virginia, called the Defense of Marriage Act ‘discriminatory,’ noting that he went through a ‘process’ to arrive at that conclusion. … They join Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, a conservative Republican, who announced recently that he had converted to favor same-sex marriage because his son, Will, is gay.
– “The Supreme Court will hear arguments this week on the federal Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8, both of which ban same-sex matrimony. The cases might have been considered long shots even a few years ago, but now gay-rights activists are hopeful that the court will swing along with public opinion, which has moved unequivocally in favor of gay marriage.” http://politi.co/X64tlk
‘GAYS DESERVE EQUAL RIGHTS’ – Attorneys Theodore B. Olson and David Boies, who will argue in favor of gay marriage before the Supreme Court today, write in a Wall Street Journal op-ed: “The central question is whether a state may exclude gay and lesbian Americans from what the Supreme Court has called ‘the most important relation in life’—the institution of marriage. The answer is no. We represent two loving and committed couples. In many ways, our clients’ relationships are indistinguishable from our own: They have lives and homes together, they are raising children, they have jobs, they pay bills, they run errands. They experience together many of the joys and sorrows and laughter of life as a family in America. But California has locked them out of the institution of marriage because they are gay. …
– “Because of their sexual orientation—a characteristic with which they were born and which they cannot change—our clients and hundreds of thousands of gay men and lesbians in California and across the country are being excluded from one of life’s most precious relationships. … withholding marriage causes infinite and permanent stigma, pain and isolation. It denies gay men and lesbians their identity and their dignity; it labels their families as second-rate. That outcome cannot be squared with the principle of equality and the unalienable right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness that is the bedrock promise of America from the Declaration of Independence to the 14th Amendment, and the dream of all Americans. This badge of inequality must be extinguished.” http://on.wsj.com/14rRbTC
New York Times, “Cold, Wet Wait for Tickets to Supreme Court’s Same-Sex Marriage Cases,” By Jeremy W. Peters: “Being a witness to history can be messy business. And for those waiting outside the Supreme Court on Monday for one of the few coveted tickets to hear oral arguments in a pair of same-sex marriage cases this week, it was also cold, wet and tedious. … A spring snowstorm that blew through the capital on Monday seemed to do little to deter an eager few dozen people from huddling under soggy sleeping bags, plastic tarpaulins and oversize umbrellas as they counted down the final hours before the arguments began on Tuesday morning (the second case was scheduled for Wednesday morning). With about 20 hours to go, some had been there since Thursday night, moved by a sense of the moment and civic purpose. Others, like the Carters, had a less sentimental reason: They were being paid to wait for someone else. ‘It’s enough,’ Ms. Carter said, declining to say how much she would make.” http://nyti.ms/YR5etX
TEA PARTY SENATORS TO FILIBUSTER GUN-CONTROL BILL – Sens. Rand Paul, Mike Lee and Ted Cruz write in a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid: “‘We will oppose the motion to proceed to any legislation that will serve as a vehicle for any additional gun restrictions,’ the three conservatives wrote in a copy of the signed letter obtained by POLITICO.” http://politi.co/X62hu8
– Wayne LaPierre may be the public face of the NRA, but Jim Baker is the group’s man in Washington, POLITICO’s Anna Palmer writes. “It’s a strategy that plays both the inside and outside games. LaPierre rallies the masses on cable news, Baker works the halls of Congress and behind it all is a grass-roots network of 5-million NRA supporters who mobilize fast. Many big interest groups have the same playbook, in which a fiery front man offers a public face, while a trusted inside-man works the halls of Congress where deals really get made — or blocked. Baker, known as a respected Second Amendment expert, built his power base over decades by working the halls of Congress, earning the trust of Democrats and Republicans — and putting real money behind his word and into the coffers of reelection campaigns.” http://politi.co/14qqzSY
TIM JOHNSON TO ANNOUNCE RETIREMENT TODAY – Reuters’ Margaret Chadbourn reports: “Senator Tim Johnson, the Democratic chairman of the powerful banking committee, does not plan to run for re-election when his current term ends in 2014, two sources familiar with the matter and a Capitol Hill staffer said on Monday. Johnson, 66, a three-term senator from South Dakota, has scheduled a news conference for Tuesday in his home state to discuss what his aides described as ‘his future plans.’ His retirement would leave a vacant seat in a conservative-leaning state that could be difficult for Democrats to defend as they try to protect their majority in the Senate. Political analysts expect Johnson’s son, Brendan Johnson, who is South Dakota’s U.S. attorney, to emerge as a potential Democratic candidate in the 2014 election. The younger Johnson has not announced any formal plans to seek the Senate seat. Former Democratic Representative Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, who lost a bid for reelection in 2010, is another leading choice to run if the incumbent senator retires, analysts said.” http://yhoo.it/10JcPQ3
–Johnson becomes the seventh senator who will not seek reelection in 2014. The others are: Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and Mike Johanns (R-Neb.).
RUBIO IN PAUL’S BACKYARD: WE CANNOT RETREAT FROM THE WORLD – POLITICO’s Manu Raju in Louisville, Ky.: “Florida Sen. Marco Rubio swung by Rand Paul’s home state here on Monday where he effectively made one thing clear: He’s no Rand Paul — particularly on foreign policy. In a soaring speech on the University of Louisville campus, Rubio made the case for American military might around the world, vowing that the U.S cannot ‘retreat’ from international conflicts, must encourage democracy and continue spending money overseas aimed at bolstering the country’s image. …Rubio’s remarks come just as Paul has been trying to clamp down on federal dollars spent on foreign aid and as the Kentucky freshman has been pushing for a “less aggressive” American role in the world — as the two prospective 2016 rivals continue to lay out competing visions of the GOP’s future.
– “‘We can’t solve every humanitarian crisis on the planet, we can’t be involved in every dispute, every civil war and every conflict,’ Rubio told a concert hall filled with young adults and middle-aged Kentucky voters. ‘But we also cannot retreat from the world. It’s not that America will continue to function as the world’s police officer. The problem is that like anything in the world: If you pull back from it, a vacuum will be created.’ Rubio added: ‘The alternative to U.S. [engagement] on the global stage is chaos.’” http://politi.co/109oQKS
– For the Senate GOP, the tail is wagging the dog, NYT columnist Frank Bruini writes in a piece titled “Rand Paul’s Loopy Ascent: “Rather than [Ted] Cruz, the junior senator from Texas, humbly taking cues from John Cornyn, the senior senator, Cornyn labors to match the supercilious upstart scowl for scowl, and even followed Cruz’s intemperate lead to cast one of only three Senate votes against John Kerry’s confirmation as secretary of state. And Mitch McConnell, who is not only Kentucky’s senior senator but also the Senate minority leader, seems to worry more about Paul, the state’s junior senator, than vice versa.” http://nyti.ms/13sEQz5
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GOOD TUESDAY MORNING, MARCH 26, 2013, and welcome to The Huddle, your play-by-play preview of the day’s congressional news. Send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints and corrections to swong@politico.com. If you don’t already, please follow me on Twitter @scottwongDC.
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TODAY IN CONGRESS – The House and Senate are out for the two-week Passover and Easter recess.
VITTER OUTLASTS SCANDAL – Paul Kane reports in the Washington Post’s Style section: “Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) is suddenly in high demand. His banishment is over, his rehabilitation almost complete. Several years after acknowledging his ‘very serious sin,’ he has successfully adopted a higher profile in the divided U. S. Senate. Vitter is teaming up with Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), the chamber’s leading environmental advocate, to shore up levees and beach fronts from flood risk. He is working with one of the financial industry’s biggest thorns, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), on the latest bill targeting mega-banks and their ‘too big to fail’ status. When he’s not working across party lines, Vitter is throwing his increased seniority around in stronger ways: Last week he vowed to block President Obama’s nominee for Labor secretary until the administration releases documents about voting rights issues in Louisiana. Now Vitter’s name is atop most lists of possible GOP gubernatorial nominees for Louisiana in 2015 when Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) reaches his term limit.” http://wapo.st/ZSYoaD
– “Some senior Democratic and Republican advisers point to Vitter as the latest example of how — if a senator can outlast a scandal and win reelection — the Senate is a forgiving shelter where ‘sin’ is not in small supply. Vitter was lucky that he had almost 3 ½ years after the revelation of his entanglement with an escort service before he had to face voters again— enough time to work town halls and local fairs.”
BACHMANN DENIES CAMPAIGN FINANCE VIOLATIONS – Jon Avlon reports for The Daily Beast: Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) “is embroiled in a litany of legal proceedings related to her rolling disaster of a presidential campaign—including a Office of Congressional Ethics investigation into campaign improprieties that has not previously been reported. The Daily Beast has learned that federal investigators are now interviewing former Bachmann campaign staffers nationwide about alleged intentional campaign-finance violations. The investigators are working on behalf of the Office of Congressional Ethics, which probes reported improprieties by House members and their staffs and then can refer cases to the House Ethics Committee. … Two other former staffers confirmed the existence of the investigation this weekend, and on Monday Bachmann’s campaign counsel, William McGinley, of the high-powered firm Patton Boggs, confirmed that the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) was looking into the congresswoman’s presidential campaign last year. ‘There are no allegations that the Congresswoman engaged in any wrongdoing,’ McGinley said. ‘We are … confident that at the end of their Review the OCE Board will conclude that Congresswoman Bachmann did not do anything inappropriate.’” http://thebea.st/Yc8nZB
SHELBY SACKS SIX APPROPS STAFFERS – Austin Wright and Jonathan Allen reports for POLITICIO: “Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby has ousted five Senate Appropriations Committee aides with strong ties to Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran, sources familiar with the purge tell POLITICO. One of the five aides, Rebecca Davies, had worked on Capitol Hill for decades. A sixth staffer, brought onto the committee by former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), was also let go, one of the sources said. Shelby succeeded Cochran as the top Republican on the spending panel at the beginning of the year.” http://politi.co/14qhRnM
– It’s not completely unprecedented for a new chairman or ranking member to replace staffers with their own people. When Sen. David Vitter took over as top Republican of the EPW Committee, he let go 12 staffers who had worked under his predecessor, Sen. Jim Inhofe. http://bit.ly/YBHU7f
SENATE DEMS LEAVE OBAMA HANGING ON CLIMATE CHANGE – Andrew Restuccia and Darren Goode report for POLITICO: “More than a dozen Senate Democrats have a message for President Barack Obama: If he wants to take dramatic action on climate change, he’s on his own. The latest evidence came from this weekend’s marathon series of budget votes, in which moderate and conservative Democrats sided with the GOP on the Keystone XL oil pipeline and against any prospects for a tax on carbon. In the two Keystone votes, the Democrats helped the Republicans prevail by filibuster-proof majorities — a clear sign that Obama will have little political cover from his party’s middle if he chooses to reject the Canada-to-Texas pipeline, as climate advocates are urging him to.” http://politi.co/14qmdLA
– National Journal’s Coral Davenport looks at five small pieces of energy legislation that could pass Congress, from energy efficiency and offshore drilling to ethanol reform. http://bit.ly/10eTRhC
DOG BELONGING TO GIFFORDS’ RELATIVE KILLS CALIF. SEA LION – Alisha Gomez reports for the L.A. Times: “A dog that belongs to a relative of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords attacked and killed a sea lion along the Laguna Beach shoreline, police said Monday. A video of the violent encounter shows Giffords’ stepdaughter and husband trying to pull the canine from the limp mammal as the surf rolls in. A copy of the video was sent to The Times. Laguna Beach police received a call at 2 p.m. Saturday and arrived to find that the 65-pound American bulldog mix had broken free from its 18-year-old owner and attacked a beached sea lion on a public beach near the exclusive Montage Laguna Beach, Capt. Jason Kravetz said in an email. The video taken by a local resident shows Giffords’ stepdaughter struggling to free the sea lion.
– “Giffords’ husband, Mark Kelly, appears later in the video, running down and pulling the dog off the sea lion, both police and a senior advisor to Giffords confirmed. Kelly and Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, are vacationing in Laguna Beach.” http://lat.ms/X9jfsw
MONDAY’S TRIVIA – Wyeth Ruthven was first to correctly answer that Peter Fitzgerald of Illinois was the only U.S. senator to succeed and be succeeded by an African American senator. Fitzgerald beat Carol Moseley Braun and then retired and was succeeded by Barack Obama.
TODAY’S TRIVIA – David Heymsfeld has today’s question: Name two U.S. presidents who, four years before they were elected, lost a vote to become the vice presidential nominee of their party. First to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day’s Huddle. Email me at swong@politico.com.
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