Photograph by Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo

President Barack Obama talks with Supercommittee Co-Chair Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., second from left, and Supercommittee member, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., center, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington, on Nov., 21, 2011.

If you’re planning on retiring from the U.S. Senate, and you want a nice send-off from the White House, you might want to consider supporting the president’s agenda — or more recently, voting for the gun bill.

“I want to thank Max Baucus for his nearly 35 years of service to the people of Montana,” President Barack Obama said today of the Montana Democrat who announced he will retire in 2014.

Baucus is one of just four Senate Democrats who voted against the background checks for gunbuyers, on principle, that Obama was attempting to secure in the aftermath of the Newtown schoolhouse shootings. (Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid voted no to preserve the right to call for reconsideration of the bill.)

Baucus was among three of the four facing re-election next year — and it turns out he didn’t really face that threat.

Consider the statement that Obama issued on March 7 when Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan announced his retirement:

“If you’ve ever worn the uniform, worked a shift on an assembly line, or sacrificed to make ends meet, then you’ve had a voice and a vote in Senator Carl Levin. No one has worked harder to bring manufacturing jobs back to our shores, close unfair tax loopholes, and ensure that everyone plays by the same set of rules. As chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Senator Levin is a true champion for all those who serve, and his tireless work will be missed not just in his home state of Michigan, but by military families across our country. Michelle and I wish Carl, Barbara and their family all the best, and I look forward to working with Carl over the next two years as we continue tackling some of our nation’s toughest challenges.”

Or Obama, in February, on the retirement of Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey:

“Frank is a steadfast champion of the people of New Jersey. Throughout his time in the Senate, Frank has fought tirelessly for workers, veterans, members of our military and their families, and immigrants, and he continues to make extraordinary contributions to our nation’s safety, and the health and welfare of our citizens. His service in World War II is a testament to his character and deep commitment to public service. I look forward to working with Frank on critical issues before us these next two years, and Michelle and I wish him and Bonnie all the best.”

And Obama, in January, on the retirement of Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa:

“By the time Senator Harkin finishes his fifth term, he will have represented the people of Iowa in the United States Congress for an incredible 40 years. He has served in the U.S. Senate longer than any Democrat in Iowa’s history. During his tenure, he has fought passionately to improve quality of life for Americans with disabilities and their families, to reform our education system and ensure that every American has access to affordable health care. Senator Harkin will be missed, and Michelle and I join Iowans in thanking him for his long-standing service and wish him and his wife, Ruth, all the best in the future.”

Then, today, Baucus:

Not since Montana declared statehood has a patriot….

Ooops, just dreaming there.

This is today’s statement on Baucus:

“I want to thank Max Baucus for his nearly 35 years of service to the people of Montana. Max has made small businesses a top priority, often taking “Work Days” to visit local businesses across Montana and spend a day working alongside his constituents to gain perspective and help bolster the local economy. As Finance Committee Chairman and a senior member of both the Agriculture and the Environment and Public Works Committees, Max has been a leader on a broad range of issues that touch the lives of Americans across the country. Michelle and I commend Senator Baucus on his career, and wish him and his family well in the future.”

Original post is Obama’s Baucus Farewell: No Levin, Lautenberg or Harkin Homages Here by Political Capital.

Photograph by Alyssa Schukar/The Omaha World-Herald/AP Photo

Sen. Mike Johanns speaks with reporters after announcing that he will not seek re-election in 2014, explaining he wants a “quieter time” to focus on his family following a busy political career.

Nebraska Republican Mike Johanns is a rare breed: an elected senator who’s voluntarily leaving after one term or less in a position of political strength and without seeking some other political office.

Johanns, who announced his retirement Feb. 18, is a popular former governor who was easily elected to the Senate in 2008 and would have breezed to re-election next year in one of the nation’s most Republican states. At 62, Johanns is at about the midpoint of senatorial ages, more than a generation younger than 89-year-old Frank Lautenberg, who’s also retiring at the end of 2014.

The list of elected senators in the past two decades who exited political life after serving one term or less isn’t very long.

It includes Jim Webb, a Virginia Democrat, who didn’t seek re-election in 2012 — not a surprise for a man who never set out to be a legislative careerist.

Florida Republican Mel Martinez resigned fewer than five years into his term to join the private sector in 2009. That set in motion a series of events that would lead to Republican Marco Rubio succeeding him.

Zell Miller, the party-bucking Georgia Democrat, didn’t run for a full term in 2004, when he spoke at the Republican National Convention and endorsed George W. Bush. Colorado Republican Hank Brown didn’t run for a second term in 1996.

Some one-term-and-out senators left at a time of political vulnerability. Mark Dayton, a Minnesota Democrat who didn’t seek a second term in 2006, acknowledged in his retirement announcement that he wouldn’t be the best Democratic candidate. (He’s now Minnesota’s governor). Ethics troubles forced New Jersey Democrat Bob Torricelli out of a 2002 re-election campaign.

Illinois Republican Peter Fitzgerald retired after one term at age 44 in 2004, when he would have been an underdog to an up-and-coming Democrat named Barack Obama.

Obama left the Senate in 2008 after less than a full term, though he had the most compelling reason for doing so: He had won the presidency.

Original post is Johanns Joins List of Rare One-Term-And-Out Senators by Political Capital.

Photograph by Mel Evans/AP Photo

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, the oldest member of the U.S. Senate, stands with his wife Bonnie Englebardt Lautenberg, as he waves to a gathering on Feb. 15, 2013, in his hometown of Paterson, N.J., where he announced plans to retire at the end of his current term.

New Jersey Democrat Frank Lautenberg’s decision not to seek re-election in 2014 almost assuredly will close an era in the U.S. Senate.

With Lautenberg’s departure, the chamber won’t have any World War II veterans, barring the election in next year’s races of someone else who served in the conflict that ended in 1945.

“His service in World War II is a testament to his character and deep commitment to public service,” President Barack Obama said in a statement praising Lautenberg, 89, who announced yesterday his decision to step down.

The House has two World War II veterans – Michigan Democrat John Dingell, 86, who was elected in 1955 and is the longest-serving House member in history, and Texas Republican Ralph Hall, elected in 1980 and who at 89 is the oldest House member in history.

Daniel Inouye, a Hawaii Democrat and a Congressional Medal of Honor winner for his World War II service, died in December at age 88 after almost 50 years in the Senate. His Hawaii colleague and fellow wartime vet, Daniel K. Akaka,  also 88, retired from the chamber a few weeks later.

The Senate Historical Office lists 115 senators known to have served in the military during World War II. They include Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., a Massachusetts Republican who resigned his seat in February 1944 to serve in the Army.

“It seems to me this resignation is simply the final and conclusive demonstration of a superb character and an incorrigible courage,” said Senator Arthur Vandenberg, a Michigan Republican, according to the Congressional Record.

“I wish him well. I hope one day he may return again to his desk here,” Vandenberg said.

Lodge did. He won the state’s other Senate seat in the 1946 election. He then was defeated in 1952 by another vet, John F. Kennedy. And when Kennedy, famed for his service on PT 109 in the Pacific, won the presidency in 1960, the Republican ticket he defeated featured Lodge as the vice presidential candidate.

The last president who fought in World War II was George H.W. Bush,  a naval aviator who flew almost 60 combat missions.

Original post is Retiring Lautenberg is Senate’s Only Remaining World War II Veteran by Political Capital.

Photograph by Alex Wong/Getty Images

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, right, and Sen. Max Baucus arrive at the weekly Senate Democratic Policy Luncheon at the Capitol on Jan. 29, 2013.

That’s how many consecutive U.S. Senate elections Democrats have won in New Jersey.

The Democratic winning streak began in 1976, when Harrison Williams was elected for the fourth and final time, and was extended in 2012, when Democrat Robert Menendez was re-elected with 59 percent of the vote.

A Republican last won a Senate seat in 1972, when Clifford Case won his fourth and final term. Republican Nicholas Brady served in the Senate on an interim basis in 1982, when he was appointed to succeed Williams, who had resigned.

Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg announced yesterday that he would not seek re-election in 2014, when he will be 90 years old. Lautenberg won five Senate elections beginning in 1982.

Newark mayor Cory Booker and state Senate President Stephen Sweeney began exploring bids for the Democratic nomination prior to Lautenberg’s announcement.

New Jersey also is one of the nation’s most Democratic states in presidential elections. President Barack Obama won 58 percent of the vote in New Jersey in 2012, his ninth-best showing among the 50 states.

Original post is Bloomberg by the Numbers: 13 by Political Capital.

Photograph by J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo

Sen. Frank Lautenberg walks to the Senate floor from a Democratic caucus meeting on Capitol Hill on Feb. 14, 2013. Lautenberg, 89, has decided not to seek re-election on order to clear the way for Democratic Newark Mayor Cory Booker to assume the spot.

Octogenarian Frank Lautenberg – close to being a nonagenarian — seemed to delight in sending mixed signals on whether he would run for Senate re-election next year in New Jersey. So much so that the front page of yesterday’s New York Times featured a story on him headlined: Challenged for His Seat at 89, a Senator Does No Go Gentle.”

Gentle or not, today he went.

Lautenberg announced that he has decided to retire at the end of his current term. Aside from the obvious questions about his age that would have dogged a re-election bid, he faced the prospect of a primary challenge from fellow Democrat Booker, the 43-year-old mayor of Newark.

Booker had ruffled Lautenberg’s feathers  in December by announcing via a video that he had formed a committee to explore a Senate run. Booker’s move also surprised many New Jersey politicos, who thought it bad form he didn’t wait for Lautenberg to officially yield the political stage.

“If Mr. Booker was hoping to nudge Mr. Lautenberg toward the door, his announcement has had precisely the opposite effect,,” this week’s Times story said.  Lautenberg, it continued, “brightens at the prospect of tussling with a man half his age, even speaking openly to his staff about running again.”

Turns out he was just being a bit ornery.

Lautenberg is enough of a practical politician to know the odds were stacked against him. A Quinnipiac University poll, for instance, showed Booker leading the incumbent in a primary matchup by 21 percentage points, and that 71 percent said Lautenberg’s age would impede his work as a senator.

The survey was released Jan. 23, Lautenberg’s birthday. It couldn’t have been much of a present for him.

Original post is Lautenberg Goes — Maybe Not Gently — But He Goes by Political Capital.

Photograph by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, New Jersey, arrives at the Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho.

This time it was cold, not fire, threatening a Newark damsel in distress.

Still, Mayor Cory Booker knew just what to do: He swept her off her four furry feet, placed her in a police cruiser and ordered the heat cranked.

Booker, who pulled a neighbor from her burning apartment in April 2012, scored another rescue last night after Twitter posts from ABC-TV Eyewitness News reporter Toni Yates alerted him to a dog shivering on a front stoop. The temperature in Newark hit a low of 11 degrees yesterday, according to AccuWeather, during a streak of sub-freezing weather that started Jan. 18.

Booker, 43, has more than 1.3 million followers on Twitter, where the residents of New Jersey’s most populous city communicate with him on malfunctioning traffic signals, uncollected trash and crime. He also has formed a campaign committee in his bid for the U.S. Senate seat occupied by fellow Democrat Frank Lautenberg, 89.

Yates, who was on a news assignment, spotted the dog, which appeared to be a Rottweiler mix that had recently given birth, on the porch of a residence. She posted a message, which was retweeted by colleague Darla Miles. Booker arrived before 11 p.m. and carried the animal to a police cruiser, asking an officer to “crank up the heat.”

“This is brutal weather,” Booker said on camera. “This dog is shaking really bad.”

Owner Moises Rodriguez, interviewed by Eyewitness News, said he had been in Queens, New York, and wasn’t aware that the dog, named Cha-Cha, was outdoors. Her puppies were inside the home.

On Twitter, Booker shared the credit for the rescue with Yates: “Because of you, that dog was rescued.”

Original post is Super-Booker to the Twitter Rescue: ‘Cha-Cha Comes in from the Cold’ by Political Capital.

Photograph by Chris Kleponis/Bloomberg

Mitch Behm, assistant inspector general of the U.S. Transportation Department, left, and Senator Frank Lautenberg, center, a Democrat from New Jersey, before the start of a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing in Washington.

Frank Lautenberg might not be having such a good birthday: A new poll says the U.S. senator from New Jersey is vulnerable, and another high-ranking Democrat says he’s weighing whether to take on Gov. Chris Christie in November or seek the Senate seat next year.

The Democrat, who turned 89 today, doesn’t deserve to be re-elected, voters said in the Quinnipiac University poll by a margin of 45 to 36 percent. Seventy-one percent of those surveyed said his age makes work in the Senate too difficult, and just 21 percent said it gives him “wisdom and experience.”

Caley Gray, a spokesman for Lautenberg, didn’t immediately return an e-mail or phone call seeking comment.

State Senate President Steve Sweeney, a Democrat from West Deptford, said he’s “keeping his options open” on whether he’ll challenge Christie in November or seek a seat in Washington in 2014. Sweeney in December filed papers with the Federal Election Commission to run for Senate.

“It’s an exploratory thing,” he said today by telephone. “I’m looking at that, and I’m looking at a run for governor. I have a lot of options.”

Sweeney’s decision-making harkens to New Jersey’s drama last month over whether popular Newark Mayor Cory Booker would opt to challenge Christie in the fall or go for federal office. Booker ended up ruling out a challenge to Christie and has formed a Senate exploratory committee.

At least two other Democrats have said they might have their eyes on Lautenberg’s seat. Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver, a Democrat from East Orange, told the Star-Ledger of Newark that she’s considering a run. The state’s largest paper also said U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone is eyeing it as well.

Original post is Lautenberg Turns 89, Poll Negative by Political Capital.

Magnet for Wall Street money.

Scooper-upper of imperiled neighbor in a burning apartment.

Now, filer of Federal Election Commission Form 1, “Statement of Organization,” to run for U.S. Senate in 2014.

Cory Booker, 44, is officially going after the seat of 88-year-old Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg, potentially setting up a primary race in a state that hasn’t sent a Republican to the upper house since 1972. Campaign paperwork names as treasurer Judith Zamore, who was compliance director for Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown’s successful U.S. Senate run in 2006. Zamore now is a principal for Capitol Compliance Associates, a Washington-based campaign-finance consultancy.

Booker didn’t immediately return an e-mail for comment. Lautenberg hasn’t said whether he will seek another term, and a spokesman, Caley Gray, didn’t immediately return an e-mail.

Booker’s filing comes three weeks after he dashed the hopes of New Jersey Democrats by declining a 2013 gubernatorial run against Republican Chris Christie, whose record approval in public-opinion polls after Hurricane Sandy basically makes him the most popular guy ever in New Jersey, politician or otherwise. Only one Democrat, state Sen. Barbara Buono from Metuchen, has declared a candidacy against Christie, and she was 43 points behind him in a Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll released Jan. 8.

A Booker-Lautenberg primary would have the youth-vs.-wisdom overtones of California’s Brad Sherman-Howard Berman contest for Congress in November, the result of redistricting that left the Democratic veterans fighting for a single seat. Sherman, the younger, prevailed. In New Jersey, Booker led Lautenberg by 42 percent to 20 percent among Democrats and Democratic leaners, PublicMind found in its survey released Jan. 10.

Booker, an Oxford Scholar who has degrees from Stanford and Yale Law, has persuaded Wall Street hedge-fund founders to sink private money into redeveloping Newark, New Jersey’s largest city, where a years-long industrial decline was capped by race riots more than 40 years ago. Single and childless, he lives alone in one of Newark’s most violent-prone areas. In April 2012, he ran into a neighbor’s burning apartment, rescuing her and suffering minor burns and smoke inhalation.

Original post is Booker Books a 2014 Senate Race by Political Capital.