Photograph by Chris Miller/AP Photo

Alaska Republican Governor, Sarah Palin, center, greets 7-month old Nora Frame and her mother Ruth, right, of Pelican, Alaska, during the inaugural annual Christmas open house at the Governor’s Mansion, in Juneau, Alaska, in this 2007 file photo.

The Fourth of July may still be a couple of weeks away, but apparently it’s never too early to focus on Christmas — or, at the least, plumb it for political points.

Sarah Palin, kicking off Act Two of her Fox News career, touted for viewers yesterday her latest literary offering.

“Writing a book — a book about Christmas and pushing back on the politically correct who would like to take ‘Christ’ out of Christmas,” she said on “Fox & Friends” in giving an update on what she’s been up to since she vanished from the network’s airwaves in January.

In her inimitable (unless you’re Tina Fey) rhetorical style, she described her effort as “a kind of a legalese how to push back and protect the heart of Christmas.” She quickly made clear, though, that she’s not penning a tome: “At the same time, a very festive and happy and jolly book about tradition and recipes and fun things about Christmas.”

In terms of setting holiday policy, though, we can’t help but think that Palin has been one-upped by Rick Perry.

Like Palin — John McCain’s surprise running mate in the Arizona senator’s failed 2008 presidential bid — Perry’s national aspirations ended up for naught when his bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nod spectacularly flamed out (what were those 3 Cabinet departments he was going to eliminate?).

But unlike Palin, who after returning to Alaska decided to resign as governor well before her four-year term was ending, Perry kept his day job — the Texas governorship he’s now held since December 2000. And in that post, at a ceremony last week that included a gaggle of Santa Claus impersonators, he signed into law legislation dubbed the “Merry Christmas” bill.

As reported by the Associated Press, the measure “removes legal risks of saying `Merry Christmas’ in schools while also protecting traditional holiday symbols, such as a menorah or nativity scene, as long as more than one religion and a secular symbol are also reflected.”

Perry took note of the seasonal disconnect, saying, “I realize it’s only June. But it’s a good June and the holidays are coming early this year.”

He added: “It’s a shame that a bill like this one I’m signing today is even required, but I’m glad that we’re standing up for religious freedom in this state. Religious freedom does not mean freedom from religion.”

Can an interview with Palin on the ever-lurking Scrooge threat be far behind?

Original post is Palin, Perry Stand Firm Behind Christmas by Political Capital.

Photograph by Darren Hauck/Getty Images

Sen. John McCain and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin attend a campaign rally at Pima County Fairgrounds for his reelection on March 26, 2010 in Tucson, Arizona.

John McCain and Sarah Palin are operating on different pages these days.

Recent tweets from McCain:

.@SenJohnMcCain: We can’t just do nothing anymore http://t.co/WbB1pLiaZe #Syria

— The Situation Room (@CNNSitRoom) June 13, 2013

Our failure to act is unconscionable: “Syrian Forces Seen Stepping Up Air Attacks on Rebels” http://t.co/6tUKcNadBb

— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) June 13, 2013

Good piece from @LibertyU‘s @JohnnieM: “#Syria is our problem” http://t.co/CrKriuHD9Q

— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) June 17, 2013

Sarah Palin held forth on the issue Saturday in Washington at the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference:

“We’re talking now more new interventions. I say, until we know what we’re doing, until we have a commander in chief who knows what he’s doing, well, chief, in these radical Islamic countries who aren’t even respecting basic human rights, where both sides are slaughtering each other as they scream over an arbitrary red line, ‘Allah Akbar,’ I say until we have someone who knows what they’re doing, I say, let Allah sort it out.”

And we could have sworn these two once offered themselves as a cohesive team ready to occupy the White House.

Original post is McCain vs. Palin on Syria: U.S. vs. Allah by Political Capital.

Photograph by Craig Ruttle/AP Photo

Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton holds hands after she introduced Rio de Janiero Mayor Eduardo Paes at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Mid-Year Meeting on May 6, 2013 in New York.

Much was made of how Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton evolved from nasty rivals to working partners after he became president and she served him as secretary of state.

Their transformation was spotlighted by the mutual admiration they lavished on one another in a joint “60 Minutes” interview as she stepped down from her diplomatic post earlier this year. But now Clinton is mulling a possible 2016 bid for the presidential prize that Obama snatched from her five years ago. And already, it appears, the process of separating herself from her former boss has begun.

Speaking today at a conference in Chicago sponsored by a former president — who just happens to be her husband, Bill — Hillary made a point of touting the international expertise she gained as secretary of state. But the former first lady — and her mate, the 42nd president — are politicians who know full well that White House elections almost always are determined by conditions on the home front. And as she discussed domestic matters, this line jumped out at us:

“In too many places in our own country, community institutions are crumbling, social and public-health indicators are cratering and jobs are coming apart,” she said.

Hardly a ringing endorsement of the current administration’s economic record.

Somewhere in the White House, Obama’s ears may have been burning.

Bloomberg’s John McCormick has more on the conference here.

Original post is Hillary Clinton’s Cloudy View of Economy (Was Obama Listening?) by Political Capital.

Photograph by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

House of Representatives Majority Leader Eric Cantor in Washington, DC.

For quite some time now, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has been hosting parties — and raising political cash — to commemorate his birthday. He’s doing it again this year, and pulling out all the stops.

The Virginia Republican turns the big 5-0 today, and he’s invited folks to join him in Richmond tomorrow for “desserts, drinks and dancing.” A basic ticket for the gathering, expected to attract a few hundred, starts at $50. But $50,000 gets four people a dinner date with the congressman, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports.

The soiree no doubt will generate a good chunk of change for Cantor, who in the most direct sense doesn’t seem to need it: he routinely cruises to re-election (winning with 59 percent of the vote last November).

But a bulging campaign coffer wins friends and influences people when — as is widely presumed the case with Cantor — you’ve got your eye on one day becoming the House speaker. And, one wonders, perhaps even higher office.

The main bash that follows the dinner event is being held at the Science Museum of Virginia, which on its website boosts of housing “a theater company, a 30-ton moveable kugel ball, a Foucault Pendulum, and a variety of live animals—including our own rat basketball team!”

No word on whether the rodents plan to dunk a few for the donors.

Original post is Cantor’s 50th: Fifty Grand Buys Dinner by Political Capital.

As Bloomberg’s Greg Giroux noted yesterday upon word of Lautenberg’s death at age 89, the New Jersey Democrat was the Senate’s last World War II veteran. He also was the chamber’s only octogenarian. By contrast, he was among six senators who were in their 80s at this juncture just six years ago (the oldest, Democrat Robert Byrd of West Virginia, was just a few months away from turning 90).

The 2007-08 Senate also consisted of 29 members — i.e., close to one-third of its 100 total — who were born before 1940 (and thus were at least in their late 60s, the age by which many Americans are retired).

That number now stands at 13. And three of those pre-1940 babies – Democrats Carl Levin (78) of Michigan, Jay Rockefeller ( 75) of West Virginia, and Tom Harkin (73) of Iowa — have decided not to seek re-election next year.

So through a combination in recent years of mortality, retirements and defeats — such as the loss by Richard Lugar (81) in the 2012 Indiana Republican primary — the Senate is getting appreciably younger, right?

Wrong.

The average age of a senator at the start of the 110th Congress in 2007 was 61.7; as this year’s session convened, the comparable figure was slightly higher — 62.0 — according to the Congressional Research Service.

The updated figure will come down slightly with Lautenberg’s death but still, how could there be virtually no change in the number, given the torch-passing delineated above?

As it turns out, several of those who are part of the “new blood” entering the Senate of late have been close to or well into their 60s upon winning election. These include such members of the class of 2010 as Arkansas’ John Boozman (currently 62), Indiana’s Daniel Coats (now 70),  Connecticut’s Richard Blumenthal (67) and West Virginia’s Joe Manchin (65). And the 2012 election added Angus King (69) of Maine, Mazie Hirono (65) of Hawaii, and Elizabeth Warren (63) of Massachusetts.

So youth is hardly on the march in the venerable Senate. For the aging Baby Boomer cohort, though, the recent electoral trends might be heartening.

Original post is Senate Aging: Will You Still Re-Elect Us When We’re 64? by Political Capital.

Photograph by Win McNamee/Getty Images

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks with reporters at the Capitol on May 7, 2013 in Washington, DC.

The name Mitch McConnell and the term “money bomb”  once would have been considered an odd coupling. But times change, and politicians adapt.

So it is that McConnell, gearing up his 2014 Senate re-election bid in Kentucky, has launched a variation of the fundraising blitz popularized by fellow Republican Ron Paul’s unconventional 2008 presidential campaign. McConnell’s campaign last night sent out e-mails addressed “Dear Patriot” that — in bashing President Barack Obama for not having “any control over or idea of what’s happening inside his own administration” — asks for help in meeting a 30-hour fundraising goal.

The Senate minority leader’s target is modest compared with the scads of cash Paul supporters would pony up for their man — the “money bomb” phrase first gained currency (as it were) when his backers raised more than $4.2 million over 24 hours in November 2007. McConnell, in his appeal, simply asks for $10 per donor to amass $25,000 by the end of today. Still, the principle is the same — set a quick deadline, and push for a grassroots response.

Some eyebrows were raised last fall when McConnell announced that a Paulista, Jess Benton, would manage his race for a sixth term. Benton not only served as communications director for Paul’s ’08 White House effort — which Republican establishment members such as McConnell steered completely clear of — but he then came to the aid of the Texan’s son. In 2010, Benton supervised Rand Paul’s winning Senate race in Kentucky — a campaign McConnell initially opposed.

McConnell’s hiring of Benton was seen in part as a way to sidetrack any possible primary challenge from the Tea Party movement that had helped propel the younger Paul into office. But clearly the veteran senator had more in mind than that.

Original post is McConnell Borrows Tactic from Paulistas in Fundraising Push by Political Capital.

Photograph by Stephen Morton/AP Photo

Former Sen. Sam Nunn, left, his wife Colleen, second left, his daughter Michelle, right, and his grandchildren Vinson, second right, on Sea Island, Ga., in this 2007 file photo.

Will an opinion article that used the Occupy Wall Street movement as a hook to reflect on the so-called Millennial generation come back to haunt a potential Democratic Senate candidate who could brighten her party’s 2014 prospects of holding onto its chamber majority?

Folks at the National Republican Senate Committee are pressing the case that it will. By the same token, the spotlight these partisans put on the article and the assertions they draw from it could easily interpreted as protesting a little too much over someone they’d rather see stay on the political sidelines.

The Democrat in question — Michelle Nunn — will bring quite a pedigree to the race to replace retiring Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia if she decides to enter the fray.

She’s the daughter of former four-term Sen. Sam Nunn, who established a national profile by focusing on national security and once was described as “the archetype for a vanishing breed of conservative Southern Democrat.”

Michelle Nunn also is CEO of the Points of Light organization, which bills itself as “the world’s leading volunteer organization with more than 20 years of history and a bipartisan legacy.”

Indeed, the group’s name and activities were inspired by Republican President George H. W. Bush’s stress on volunteerism during his administration. And his son Neil — brother of another former president, George W. Bush — serves as chairman of the Points of Light board.

It adds up to impressive connections to bring to a contest in a Republican-leaning state. And amid indictions that Nunn will seek the seat her dad held from 1973-1997, the NRSC is launching pre-emptive strikes. A release issued yesterday took her to task as both a “liberal extremist” who is “to the left” of President Barack Obama, but whose positions on key issues are unclear.

To clear up the seeming contradiction in those broadsides, the missive quotes NRSC Press Secretary Brook Hougesen saying: “Why has Nunn been silent over her stances? Because Nunn’s extreme record of praising radical liberal groups like the Occupy movement illustrates just how dangerously out of touch she is with voters in Georgia.”

The accolades Hougesen refers to stem from a piece Nunn wrote for the Washington Post in December 2011 with the innocous headline, “Millennials to business: Social responsibility isn’t optional.”

Nunn began her article by using the Occupy Wall Street movment as a foil, saying that while it was “largely fueled by a relatively small set of young people who view the protests as a fight for their future,” the “vast majority” of their generational cohort “are part of a less dramatic but, perhaps, equally powerful movement” bent on “demanding greater honesty and accountability from businesses.”

Hardly a radical call to arms, and the bulk of the piece is devoted to proving Nunn’s thesis. It does, though, wrap up with this: “The values behind Occupy Wall Street are manifesting themselves in the marketplace and companies that are failing to take notice should start. These people-powered movements may not have stopped the markets in their tracks, but they are creating the demand for new forms of corporate behavior and ethical imperatives. The winning brands of the future will be ones that authentically respond.”

That was all the NRSC needed to read to justify its attack on Nunn. We asked Hougesen, though, if the group’s rhetoric might be a bit of a stretch, based on a full reading of the article.

Hougesen’s answer, via e-mail: “Anyone who is so inspired by the Occupy Movement that they pen a national op/ed referring to it as the future of America is far outside the mainstream, especially in a state like Georgia.”

The NRSC release also refers to Nunn as a “long-shot” candidate. To be sure, winning statewide is a challenge these days for any Georgian running with the Democratic designation. But it’s hard to imagine Republican operatives getting so worked up over one who doesn’t have a chance.

Original post is Republicans Pre-Emptively Target Michelle Nunn in Georgia by Political Capital.

A bill that cleared the Alabama legislature yesterday stands as the latest illustration of the direction taken by parts of the country on the issue.

At the national level, the bottom-line has been status quo. An aggressive agenda of new gun control measures pushed by President Barack Obama in the wake of the school shooting quickly got pared down in Congress. It then lost all steam five weeks ago when the Senate sidetracked what seemed the least controversial step — an expansion of background checks for firearm purchases.

State lawmakers, though, have been busy making changes to their statutes.

Several states — mostly those that are part of the Democratic base in presidential elections — have significantly strengthened their gun control laws. These include New York, Maryland and Connecticut, the state directly affected by Adam Lanza’s murderous rampage with a Bushmaster AR-15 semiautomatic rifle.

Other states — more in number and generally solidly Republican in presidential races — have expanded gun rights. In joining that list, Alabama legislators have sent to Gov. Robert Bentley for his expected signature a measure that will let workers keep firearms in their vehicles while on the job while shielding businesses from being sued for amy harm stemming from use of the weapons.

Under the bill, according to the Associated Press, loaded guns could be carried in cars by anyone with the proper permit, while any driver could tote around an unloaded weapon, as long as it is out of reach.

The bill “keeps the prohibition on carrying weapons in many government buildings and in any public buildings where government bodies like city councils or county commissions are meeting,” according to the AP.

One of the bill’s main backers, state Sen. Scott Beason, told the wire service he remained disappointed with that exemption. But, he said, “I couldn’t get that through the Legislature.”

That would be one of those entities covered by the limited ban on “open carry” of a firearm.

Original post is Alabama Joins States Pursuing Differing Paths on Gun Control by Political Capital.

Photograph by Alex Wong/Getty Images

Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) speaks during a hearing before the House Ways and Means Committee on May 17, 2013 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

Rep. Mike Kelly came to politics late and, only in his second term at 65 years of age, the actuarial tables don’t favor him rising to become a Capitol Hill kingpin. He could retire tomorrow, though, and know that he made the most of one moment in the spotlight.

As a member of the House Ways and Means Committee that held a hearing today on the the IRS political scandal, the Pennsylvania Republican did more than just join in the expected bipartisan grilling of outgoing agency boss Steven Miller — he scorched him, and in the process earned a prolonged standing ovation from spectators.

As you can see here, Kelly starts out in fairly routine fashion but then gets to the bottom line that most citizens can relate to — IRS chieftains can offer all the excuses they want about a poorly managed agency being the root cause for the untoward scrutiny given Tea Party groups, but John Q. Public doesn’t get cut that type of slack when its audit time.

Addressing a clearly chagrined and morose Miller, Kelly noted: “If you think it’s uncomfortable sitting over there, you ought to be a private individual when the IRS is across from you questioning.”

At the risk of causing his own immediate family to perhaps squirm a bit, Kelly later used a personal anecdote to speak truth to bureaucrats: “I have a grandson who’s afraid to get out of bed at night because he thinks there’s somebody under the bed that’s going to grab him. And I think most Americans feel that way about the IRS. I mean, you get a letter from you folks, or a phone call, it’s with terror that you look at it.”

Gaining a head of steam, he drove his point home with gusto: “You talked about — you’re a horribly run organization. If you’re on the other side of the fence, you’re not given that excuse.” When a taxpayer deals with the IRS, he continued, “You’re not allowed to be shoddy, you’re not allowed to be run horribly, you’re not allowed to make mistakes, you’re not allowed to do one damn thing that doesn’t come in compliance. If you do, you’re held responsible right then.”

The Mediaite website headline sums it up: “GOP Rep. Mike Kelly Delivers Brutal Takedown of IRS to Audience’s Applause.”

Kelly came to Congress as part of the 2010 Republican tsunami, knocking off a one-term Democratic incumbent in a district in Pennyslvania’s northwest corner. Owner of a Chevrolet-Cadillac deadlership he took over from his father, Kelly’s previous political experience consisted of four years on the city council in Butler, a Pittsburgh suburb.

The one time he had strayed from his Keystone State roots was to attend the University of Notre Dame, where he was recruited to play football. He got his degree there, though his athletic career was quickly sidetracked by a knee injury his freshman year.

Today, he got the ball and ran with it.

and look who was watching:

Must watch! RT @caintv: Rep. Mike Kelly levels blistering attack at IRS Comm. Steven Miller bit.ly/Z1QJu0

— Herman Cain (@THEHermanCain) May 17, 2013

Original post is Mike Kelly’s IRS Spotlight for John Q. Public: Standing Ovation by Political Capital.

Photograph by Alex Wong/Getty Images

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer speaks on stage during the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Will he or won’t he?

Whether ex-Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer will ride to the rescue of his fellow Democrats is the question taking center stage in party politics following the surprise retirement announcement today by Max Baucus, the state’s senior U.S. senator.

Even before Baucus, a 71-year-old Democrat, revealed that he won’t seek a seventh term next year, Schweitzer was seen by some analysts as the party’s better bet for keeping the seat. And that race in Montana could prove crucial in a midterm contest in which Democrats are under the gun defending their six-seat Senate majority.

Schweitzer, 57, is considering a Senate run, a person familiar with his thinking told Bloomberg News earlier today, and in a couple of interviews he’s already given the ex-governor isn’t discouraging such speculation.

“I’m the kind of guy that, when I see a broke-down pickup, I’ll get out with my tools and try to fix it, and I can tell you looking at Washington, D.C., from Montana, there is no bigger broke-down pickup than the Senate in Washington, D.C.,” Schweitzer told The Hill, which focuses on congressional news.

He said much the same thing to the Los Angeles Times while, in the best tradition of the wily politician, he stressed how reluctant he would be to leave his home turf.

Writes the Times’ seasoned political reporter Mark Z. Barabak: “Speaking from his home on Georgetown Lake in southwest Montana as he gazed out at the snow-capped mountains, Schweitzer suggested he was in no hurry to leave the state.

“`There’s not a sound to be heard, unless it’s the howl of a wolf or the yip of a coyote,’ he said. `“Life is good. You can print that in the L.A. Times.’”

As Schweitzer’s comments indicate, if he does seek a Senate seat, “folksy” is the term that almost inevitably will be included in any national story on him. It was a persona he honed during what turned out to be a star turn at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Clad in his signature look — blazer, blue jeans, bolo tie and cowboy boots — he took the stage one night with the seemingly unenviable task of proceeding the evening’s featured attraction, Hillary Clinton, who was set to do her part to tout nominee-in-waiting Barack Obama. He didn’t quite steal her thunder — but he came close.

As the Christian Science Monitor noted at the time, Schweitzer ”did the equivalent of summiting Everest … getting the crowd to roar while discussing renewable energy. Sir Edmund Hilary would be proud.”

If anything, Schwetizer did himself one better the next morning in an appearance before a presumably sleepy Florida delegation. As a post in the South Florida Sun Sentinel headlined it: “Montana Star Makes `Big Dog’ Florida Bark.”

And how did he do that? By promoting Obama’s chances of carrying Montana, and challenging Florida Democrats not to be outdone.

“Florida is the big dog,’’ Schweitzer told his listeners. “Are you going to let a tail like Montana wag the big dog, or is the big dog going to stand up and bark?’’

His challenge, the Sun Sentinel reported, “prompted more than a few to `bark! bark! bark!’’’

Obama went on to easily carry Florida that year, though he fell short in Montana, losing it by about 3 percentage points. Schweitzer, meanwhile, won re-election with 66 percent of the vote.

That’s the sort of showing that makes national Democratic leaders yearn for him to seek to replace Baucus. And his common-man political touch notwithstanding, Schwetizer would bring an interesting skills-set to the Senate. Though he tends not to promote this part of his resume, he holds a master’s degree in soil science, spent several years working overseas on irrigation projects and speaks Arabic.

Original post is Schweitzer, Who Made Democrats Bark, Mulls ‘Broke-Down’ Senate by Political Capital.