Courtesy Office of the Speaker of the House

House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, right, shows Bloomberg Television reporter Peter Cook how to tie a necktie following an interview at the Capitol on May 7, 2013.

House Speaker John Boehner may have drawn a line in the sand on taxes, but you will almost never find him with a wrinkle in one of his ties.

The Ohio Republican is a model of sartorial splendor on Capitol Hill, known almost as much for his perfectly knotted neckwear as his perma-tan. So when we sat down for an interview this week I was surprised when he took note of my own tie.

“I have that tie,” he told me, pointing out that it was good he hadn’t worn the same neckwear as his inquisitor.

“I got it from my wife,” I responded. “Apparently she has good taste.”

I conceded that the tie probably looks better on him given his superior knot-tying know-how. Assessing my handiwork, he didn’t disagree.

“You don’t have a dimple. You’ve got to have a dimple in it,” Boehner told me.

“It’s not that hard,” he added.

With that admonishment, I asked the speaker for a lesson after our interview, and he graciously agreed. So when he was done dealing with my probing questions on the budget battle (hasn’t given up hope for a grand bargain), immigration (committed to a House vote this year) and even his own future (he “fully expects” to remain speaker past 2014), my cravat class began.

We started from scratch with the speaker stressing the tension in the knot and the placement of the left thumb. “Pull down gently” he told his impatient student.

I blamed my problems on the equipment. “I think it’s my tie.”

Boehner wasn’t buying that excuse, yet did concede, “You’ve got to train the tie.”

My ties apparently aren’t trained yet.

When the lesson was over, everyone agreed my knot looked better. Still, the real test will be what happens when the speaker isn’t there to tie one on for me.

He did promise to continue to police my neckwear from this point forward, even if he doesn’t answer all of my questions — with thanks to the speaker for the interview time, the tutorial and the fashion tips.

Original post is Boehner Knows How to Tie One On — Our Reporter’s Neckware Tutorial by Political Capital.

President Barack Obama has given House Republicans an opening:

While protecting the tax rates for 98 percent of Americans at year’s end, allow the rates for top-earners to rise to pre-Bush levels and then return in the next session of Congress to examine the bigger picture of tax reform, eliminating exemptions and possibly lowering the high-end rates then.  He said so in an interview with Bloomberg Television yesterday.

House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp says his fellow Republicans are still looking for a “comprehensive” agreement to avert the automatic tax increase and spending cuts set to take effect Jan. 1.

“I think we’re all still looking for a comprehensive solution here that includes all of the factors that are in place,” the Michigan Republican said on his way into a party conference meeting today, “and there’s many, and so I think at this point its still how do we get to a comprehensive solution.”

Does the standoff on tax rates for the top 2 percent of income-earners bode an unbreakable stalemate?

“No I don’t think so at this point yet,” Camp said. “Obviously you have to think about all the options potentially. I think people are thinking about it, but I think we want to see if we can get a comprehensive answer at this point.”

Original post is Camp: `Comprehensive’ Deal Sought by Political Capital.

Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Erskine Bowles, co-chairman of President Obama's deficit commission, right, and Alan Simpson, fellow co-chairman of the deficit commission, pose for a portrait at the Russell Senate office building in Washington.

For nearly three years Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles have been joined at the hip.

Simpson the Republican, former Wyoming Senator with the sharp wit, and Bowles the Democrat, former Clinton chief of staff with the investment banker pedigree, formed a political odd couple when President Obama called them back into public service as the co-chairs of his deficit commission.

Since then they have spoken with one voice on the need to put America’s fiscal house in order. They have agreed that any plan must include tax revenues and deep spending cuts, and they have taken aim at Democrats and Republicans in Washington for not getting the job done already.

But they don’t agree on everything.

When asked today on Bloomberg Television whether he would be open to serving as President Obama’s next Treasury Secretary, Bowles said he wants to return to his native North Carolina and wasn’t the best choice.

“I think there are a lot better candidates than I am,” Bowles said. “If he wants to move the Treasury to Charlotte, I’d be glad to think about it but otherwise I am going home.”

Simpson was quick to disagree.

“He would be the best one that ever did anything in that arena because he knows the numbers,” Simpson said.

“He is a sensitive, wise, savvy guy with guts and courage and patriotism. They could stack them all end on end all the way back to Alexander Hamilton and not find a guy as good as this.”

Bowles’ response: “I thought you were my friend.”

Original post is Simpson, Bowles Divided on One Issue by Political Capital.

Photograph by Melina Mara/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Elizabeth Warren at a campaign event in Scituate, Massachusetts.

“The nation’s hottest Senate race is in Massachusetts.”

So notes Bloomberg Television’s Peter Cook, who has interviewed both Republican Sen. Scott Brown and challenger Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard Law professor and consumer advocate, in “a heavyweight fight that could determine control of the Senate.”

“Wall Street is watching every move,” BTV’s chief Washington correspondent adds.

“I want to go to Washington to fight for working families,” Warren is shown telling voters — “She’s a hero to the left, and Wall Street’s worst nightmare,” Cook reports.

Then a woman hugging Brown and saying: “I’m so proud of you” — “a popular Republican in a Democratic state,” Cook says.

Now Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren are locked in the most closely watched Senate race in the country, and at nearly $48 million dollars and counting — it’s also the most expensive.

In 2010 Brown took the political world by storm when he won Ted Kennedy’s senate seat with Tea Party support. Now he’s trying to keep his job by portraying the consumer advocate, TARP watchdog and Harvard professor as too liberal even for this state.

“Professor Warren is the founder of the radical occupy protest movement. She’s also the one who pushed the you didn’t build it mentality, demonizing job creators,” Brown says.

“Washington is wired to work for those who can hire an army of lobbyists and an army of lawyers,” Warren says. “I just reached a point where I couldn’t stand it anymore and threw myself into this fight.”

Warren has raised more than$28 million,  much of it from liberal groups outside Massachusetts. After a high profile speech at the Democratic convention — in which she spoke of Wall Street lurking in Washington — she’s now leading in polls and pushing a middle class message.

“The Republicans have made it clear. They cut taxes for the richest slice at the top and you let everybody else pick up the ticket,” Warren says.

“Listen,” Brown says, “I’m a Republican from Massachusetts in the middle of a presidential year. I get that and so do the people of Massachusetts. They also understand they want a check and balance.”

Original post is Brown vs. Warren: $48M and Counting by Political Capital.

Photograph by Bloomberg

White House economists, Alan Krueger and Gene Sperling, left, versus Team Bloomberg, Hans Nichols and Peter Cook, right. Note the relative trophies. Photo: Bloomberg News

As a Washington journalist, there’s only one thing worse than being beaten on a White House story: Being beaten by the White House itself.

Last night, my Bloomberg colleague Hans Nichols and I faced off on the tennis court with the president’s top economic minds, National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling and Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Alan Krueger. It was a celebrity death match in the first annual Washington Kastles Charity Classic. And, as we quickly learned, the two policy wonks also happen to be tennis wonks.

Things started off well for us. During warm-ups, I sensed Sperling was rattled when the PA system started playing Kid Rock’s “Born Free”, the soundtrack of the Romney campaign. Krueger was clearly intimidated by Hans’ Cornell tennis pedigree and his blue headband. Less intimidating was my backhand.

Still I was confident my family and the hundreds of paying fans were about to witness my Wimbledon moment under the bright lights of the Kastles’ center court.

My SportCenter dream quickly fizzled into reality.

Sperling played at the University of Minnesota, and his skills were on display early. He may be struggling to pay for all of the president’s economic priorities, but his serve is money. With his Harvard economics PhD and solid ground strokes, there was no slack in Krueger’s game either.

Their steady play overwhelmed Team Bloomberg’s unforced errors, and we went down to defeat 7-4 in the brief tie-breaker.

“The key was, when we were about to serve, Hans was looking for someone in the administration to leak which way our serve was going, and when he didn’t have that option he really had no game,” Sperling said afterwards.

I still think we could have won, if only I had worn a headband as well, and perhaps paid for a lesson within the last 45 years.

Adding insult to injury, Sperling and Krueger’s “Stars” squad ended up beating our “Stripes” team in the overall competition.

The good news is the event raised money for three good causes, and I can proudly say I played on the same team as Redskin great Darrell Green at least for one night.

We’re already looking forward to a rematch next year, but only if Team White House can win an election first.

Original post is Obama’s Backhanded Economists: Reporter’s (Sweaty) Notebook by Political Capital.

Mitt Romney is hard at work today trying to unseat President Obama, but don’t expect to see him at a rally or town hall in a battleground state.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee is instead busy raising money in New York City behind closed doors. With the President holding a significant cash advantage over Romney ($115M vs $9M at the end of April), the former Massachusetts Governor is spending almost as much time fundraising right now as he is campaigning.

Since the start of May, Romney has held 15 public events and at least 14 fundraisers based on a review of his public schedule and media reports.

Most Romney fundraisers are private and reporters aren’t allowed access, so the number of fundraisers could be even higher.

Sunday night he participated in a fundraiser in Greenwich hosted by Connecticut state Senator L. Scott Franz. His first fundraiser today took place in the heart of Wall Street at Bayard’s Downtown. The guests included New York Jets owner Woody Johnson. After that Romney headed to a lunch at the Waldorf-Astoria, with at least one more fundraiser scheduled in New York on Tuesday.

Original post is Romney Raising Money Behind Closed Doors by Political Capital.