Interests: Politics, Government, Media, Transportation, Space, Social Media, Civic Engagement, Washington, DC Following: The Obama Presidency, Decision 2012, The 112th Congress Work: myImpact.org- a non-profit working at the intersection of social media & citizen engagement
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
The Golden Report for Wednesday September 28
Shana Tovah!
TOP STORY: Today the Justice Department formally requested that the Supreme Court decide a case determining the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act and consider the ruling of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals which found the law’s individual mandate section to be unconstitutional. The Court has until January to decide whether it will hear the case- and issue its ruling by next June, which would make the decision a major factor in next year’s presidential election. The Justice Department said in a statement, “Throughout history, there have been similar challenges to other landmark legislation such as the Social Security Act, the Civil Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act, and all of those challenges failed. We believe the challenges to Affordable Care Act — like the one in the 11th Circuit — will also ultimately fail and that the Supreme Court will uphold the law.”
2012 PRIMARY CALENDAR: Republican National Committee officials are scrambling tonight after an early-morning report by CNN that Florida was about to announce a change in the date of its presidential primary next year- moving it forward to January 31st. Such a move would violate Republican Party rules, and put Florida as the first state to vote. As a result, Iowa and New Hampshire (and likely South Carolina and Nevada)- the four states sanctioned by the party to have the first primaries and caucuses in the nation- would move their elections forward- with the Iowa caucuses potentially being held in early January. They are currently slated to be held in early February. There are reports tonight that Florida Republicans may be easing from this action- and may instead agree to hold their primary on February 21st- still ahead of the planned March 6th “Super Tuesday” primaries but after the two traditional first states. Saturday is the date set by the RNC for states to finalize the dates for their elections.
IF FLORIDA moves its date forward, and New Hampshire and Iowa follow suit- the Iowa Caucuses could be held in early January just days into the new year. This means we might be close to within 90 days of the first-in-the-nation caucus. The election that seemed to be getting off to a slow start may in fact be moving along at a much faster pace- which makes it all the more unlikely, and closing in on impossible, that another candidate could enter the race and be viable.
HUNTSMAN: A FOX News poll out today has the former Utah Governor sitting at 4%- still extremely low, but enough to make him likely qualify for the next round of debates. Huntsman had been trailing at 1% in the average of recent polls, which would disqualify him from the planned October 11th and October 18th debates- however, with this higher poll number, it appears he will be invited to attend
CAIN: ”“Today, I could not support Rick Perry as the nominee for a host of reasons…Him being soft on securing the border is one of the reasons. I feel very strongly about the need to secure the border for real, the need to enforce the laws that are already there, the need to promote the path to citizenship that’s already there,” candidate Herman Cain said today on CNN. Cain was the surprise victor of Saturday’s straw poll in Florida and has been gaining in recent polls as his candidacy may be poised to move from the third tier to the second, eclipsing the position of Michele Bachmann, who once enjoyed enthusiastic support
PERRY: Texas Governor Rick Perry, who campaigned with his wife on the trail today in Iowa, now says he apologies for his word choice in answering a question about illegal immigration and the DREAM Act at last week’s Republican presidential candidates debate. Perry accused rival Mitt Romney of “not having a heart,” Perry’s statement: “I probably chose a poor word to explain that for people who don’t want their state to be giving tuition to illegal aliens, illegal immigrants in this country — that’s their call and I respect that. I was probably a bit over-passionate by using that word and it was inappropriate.”
CAPITOL TERROR PLOT: 26-year-old Rezwan Ferdaus, a US Citizen, was arrested today on charges of conspiring with Al-Qaeda to attack and blow up the US Capitol Building and the Pentagon with remotely-controlled aircraft. Ferdaus was discovered as part of a FBI sting operation. Roll Call reports, “Undercover FBI employees delivered C-4 plastic explosives, three grenades and six fully automatic AK-47 assault rifles today to Ferdaus, who had already acquired a remote-controlled F-86 Sabre. According to the affidavit, Ferdaus opened a PayPal account under a false identity to buy the aircraft, which the unmarried, childless man claimed he was purchasing for his son.”
GUANTANAMO TRIBUNAL: Abd al-Nashiri, the chief suspect held at the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba accused of the 2000 attack of the USS Cole in Yemen will face a military tribunal and, if convicted, could face the death penalty, the Justice and Defense Departments announced today. A trial must begin within 30 days- and this will be watched very closely as the Administration continues to operate the military prison after having pledged to close it within one year of taking office
WALL STREET ended its three-day winning streak, with the Dow ending the day down over 1.5%. Also today- Finland’s parliament gave approval to the creation of a Eurozone bailout fund. Now 7 of the 17 nations have yet to ratify the measure- with Slovakia expected to be the next country where deep debate could delay the fast-track approval regulators had hoped to achieve.
FINALLY: Amazon today unveiled today the KINDLE FIRE- its response to Apple’s iPad and a device that is expected to become a chief competitor. The $199 device is available for pre-order today and will ship November 15th. Logging onto Amazon.com tonight, customers will see a letter from CEO Jeff Bezos which reads- in part:“There are two types of companies: those that work hard to charge customers more, and those that work hard to charge customers less. Both approaches can work. We are firmly in the second camp…
Kindle Fire brings everything we’ve been working on at Amazon for 15 years together into a single, fully-integrated experience for customers – instant access to Amazon’s massive selection of digital content, a vibrant color IPS touchscreen with extra-wide viewing angle, a 14.6 ounce design that’s easy to hold with one hand, a state-of-the-art dual core processor, free storage in the Amazon Cloud, and an ultra-fast mobile browser – Amazon Silk – available exclusively on Kindle Fire.
We are building premium products and offering them at non-premium prices.”
Tech Crunch has a video demo of the new device on its site.
The Golden Report for Monday September 26
JUST IN: POLITICO’s Mike Allen is reporting that WH Deputy Senior Advisor Stephanie Cutter will leave the West Wing at the end of the year to move to Chicago and become to Obama 2012 “deputy campaign manager overseeing communications, press, policy and research, with responsibility for managing the long-term message plan”
Cutter was born 10/28/1968 in Taunton, Massachusetts. A graduate of Smith College and Georgetown Law, she has worked as Deputy Communications Director for President Clinton, Communications Director for Sen. Ted Kennedy and the Democratic National Committee and was Chief of Staff to Michelle Obama during the 2008 campaign. At the White House, she was chiefly in charge of messaging strategy for the year-long health care reform effort.
HEALTH REFORM: Today the Justice Department declined an opportunity to have the full 11th Circuit Court of Appeals review a ruling on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. In August, a 3-judge panel of the Court ruled the law’s individual mandate section to be unconstitutional. The Administration could have had the full Court issue a ruling, but this decision sets up a likely Supreme Court decision as early as this coming term. The 6th and 4th Circuit Courts of Appeals have ruled the law constitutional and a ruling is still pending in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
SHUTDOWN AVERTED?: Tonight the Senate voted 79-12 on a stopgap budget resolution which would keep the government funded through the middle of November, provided for additional funding for FEMA and avert a government shutdown by allowing the House to approve the funding in two waves- through next Tuesday (which would happen via voice vote in a pro forma session) and then by recorded vote through November. The level of funding for FEMA- $2.65B- is less than Senate Democrats had wanted- but the bill does not include the additional cuts in domestic discretionary spending that some Republicans demanded. Earlier today, FEMA announced they had enough funding to last through the end of the week- enough cover for a deal that has the auspices of bi-partisanship to be reached.
NEW CNN/ORC POLL (with changes from last survey):
President Obama Job Approval Rating: Approve: 45% (+2), Disapprove: 52% (-3)
ON WALL STREET: News from Europe that discussions were underway to expand borrowing authority as a potential solution to the Euro Zone debt crisis (although nothing has been confirmed) was enough to reverse last Thursday’s losses.
ALSO.. “A technical issue kept the Dow from accurately updating for 12 minutes at the beginning of trading in New York. The index opened flat as its component stocks and other indexes rose in the minutes after the opening bell” the New York Times reports
PRESIDENT OBAMA was in Mountain View, CA today for the LinkedIn Town Hall Meeting and is in Los Angeles and San Diego tonight for DNC fundraisers. Tomorrow, he’ll be in Denver.
WATCH THIS VIDEO the National Park Service released today- showing tourists racing down the stairs inside the Washington Monument at the time of last month’s 5.8 magnitude earthquake- as debris from the Monument fall from the ceiling. The Park Service said today that they have been assessing the damage since the quake and that the Monument will remain closed for an indefinite period of time.
FINALLY.. FACEBOOK FORMS A POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE: From Spokesperson Andrew Noyes (an American University alum!) “FB PAC will give our employees a way to make their voice heard in the political process by supporting candidates who share our goals of promoting the value of innovation to our economy while giving people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.” And- fun fact- Facebook’s COO Sharyl Standberg, who hosted last night’s fundraiser for President Obama attended by a who’s-who of Hollywood, including Lady Gaga, was mentioned four separate times in POLITICO’s Playbook this morning. For more on Standberg- see this New Yorker profile from earlier this year.
