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By Seung Min Kim (
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MICHIGAN SENATE: WHISKEY AND SLED RIDES - POLITICO's Manu Raju files this dispatch from Marquette, Mich., where he followed Democratic Rep. Gary Peters in his bid for the Senate: "Braving sub-zero temperatures at the annual dog sled race here, Democratic Senate candidate Gary Peters happily indulged when a prospective voter offered him a swig from her flask of whiskey. And as some Upper Peninsula locals (known as "Yoopers") were sledding down a giant snowbank the next day in nearby Houghton ., the three-term congressman borrowed a sled and barreled down the hill himself, even though his attire was more suited for a boardroom than the playground.

"'I'll admit, I haven't done that in a while,' said Peters, 55, a bespectacled former college professor and onetime state senator who worked in the financial sector for two decades. Peters is campaigning like a man with nothing - or perhaps, everything - to lose. His dead-of-winter barnstorming in a region with a mere 3 percent of the state's population shows how critical Michigan has become in the battle for control of the Senate - and the lengths to which Democrats will go to turn out voters without a presidential election to spur them to the polls.

"Peters is running at a time when Obama's popularity is swooning and his health care law is as polarizing as ever. To counter the GOP Obamacare onslaught, Democrats are building a ground game they say will help neutralize the effects of being outspent on the air. That means old-fashioned, retail politicking. Peters and his party are leaning on reliable allies like labor unions and local party chapters to let their voters know their slim Senate majority is on the line. Their message has an element of fear: Sit out this election, and November will be a repeat of the GOP wave of 2010. 'I'm worried,' said Laura Swenson, a retired Democratic activist, at a pizza parlor in Hancock, Mich. 'We need
to fire up the base.' Democrats see a clear difference between a battle-tested campaigner like Peters and [Republican candidate Terry Lynn] Land, who easily won two lower-profile secretary of state races and recently served as a member to the Republican National Committee. They believe Land - who in an interview dodged questions about her position on the minimum wage, Medicare reform and Michigan abortion legislation - will implode once the spotlight intensifies and her record as secretary of state is picked apart. But the race may end up coming down to numbers, something that could help the GOP in a nonpresidential year."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=46702b19e294974ac769b992e75e8fb886bf78b5ed8a885891095c661747aa20
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CRISIS IN KIEV: TRUCE COLLAPSES, AT LEAST 20 KILLED - CNN with the latest from Ukraine: "A shaky truce crumbled in Kiev on Thursday morning, when gunfire erupted at Maidan, or Independence Square, which has been ground zero for anti-government protesters. At least 20 people are dead, said Oleg Musiy, head of the protesters' medical service. A policeman was also killed, the interior ministry said. It's unclear what prompted the gunfire. But CNN crews at the scene reported that as security forces were moving away from the area, a group of protesters pursued them, throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails. 'Protesters broke the truce,' said a statement from President Viktor Yanukovych's
office. 'The opposition used the negotiation period to buy time, to mobilize and get weapons to protesters.'
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=46702b19e294974a05228ec493a530d7e2f0c4d862ed76e1bd537fc8ac6a6595
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--The New York Times: "Just after dawn, young men in ski masks opened a breach in their barricade near a stage on the square, ran across a hundred yards of smoldering debris and surged toward riot police officers who were firing at them with shotguns. Protesters pushed back the police in a continual racket of gunshots and by around 10 a.m. had recaptured the entire square, but at the cost of creating a scene of mayhem. The fighting left bodies lined up on a sidewalk, makeshift clinics crammed with the bloody wounded, and sirens and gunfire ringing through the center of the city. The demonstrators captured at least several dozen policemen, whom they marched, dazed and bloodied, toward the
center of the square through a crowd of men who heckled and shoved them. 'There will be many dead today,' Anatoly Volk, 38, one of the demonstrators, said. He was watching stretchers carry dead and wounded men down a stairway slick with mud near the Hotel Ukraina.
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=46702b19e294974acf60464b127cf131dd779b9a7c8cca37f9e291df8dddb18d
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MCCAIN, MURPHY WRITING SANCTIONS BILL - Buzzfeed's Rosie Gray: "Sens. John McCain and Chris Murphy are writing a bill that would enact sanctions against people responsible for violence against anti-government protesters in Ukraine, two sources with knowledge of the bill told BuzzFeed. 'Folks are working on it,' a senior Senate aide said on Wednesday. 'Would be targeted sanctions against individual Ukrainians responsible for ordering or carrying out violence against peaceful protesters, as opposed to blanket sanctions against Ukraine.' ... The two senators visited Ukraine in December to lend support to protesters who have been demonstrating against Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's
decision to turn the country closer to Russia and reject a deal with the European Union."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=46702b19e294974ab80d20aa72fc1d2f53a574cce05d914436a305209d314916
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--Statement from McCain and Murphy: "We have begun working together on legislation that would impose targeted sanctions on government officials and other persons who have committed, ordered, or materially supported acts of violence against peaceful citizens in Ukraine, or who are complicit in the rollback of Ukraine's democracy. These sanctions should not, and will not, target the people or the country of Ukraine as a whole. Instead, they will be narrowly focused on those individuals who must be held accountable for violating human rights and undermining democracy. We remain in contact with the administration and look forward to working together on this legislation."

OBAMA 'CONDEMNS IN THE STRONGEST TERMS': POLITICO's Josh Gerstein reports that Obama, at summit meeting in Toluca, Mexico, denounced the violence in Kiev and warned of unspecified "consequences" for those behind the violence: "'We hold the Ukrainian government primarily responsible for making sure that it is dealing with peaceful protesters in an appropriate way, that the Ukrainian people are able to assemble and speak freely about their interests without fear of repression,' Obama said, flanked by Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. 'We've also said we expect peaceful protestors to remain peaceful and we'll be monitoring very closely the situation, recognizing that with our European
partners and the international community there will be consequences if people step over the line.'

--"The State Department announced Wednesday afternoon that it has banned the issuance of U.S. visas to 20 Ukrainians deemed involved in human rights abuses related to political repression."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=46702b19e294974a9c29bc4518ebec5fa3f890518894be7d1efdff9de7cd5933
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--House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.) presses White House for sanctions: "Last week, the House of Representatives went on record, calling for the 'utmost restraint' and avoidance of confrontation in Ukraine.Significantly, the resolution called for the administration to impose additional 'targeted sanctions' against those individuals responsible for the violence.Today, the White House indicated that it is considering doing just that.The president should act now, without delay, before more are killed in the streets of Kiev and elsewhere in Ukraine."

--Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) calls the actions of the Yanukovych regime 'deplorable': 'The state-sponsored violence against the Ukrainian people is abhorrent, demands swift condemnation, and must cease at once. The responsibility for this tragedy rests with President [Viktor] Yanukovych who has failed at every turn to address the legitimate democratic aspirations of his people. The actions of President Yanukovych and his government are deplorable and the time is now to apply sanctions against the Ukrainian government for gross human rights violations. I expect the Administration with congressional support to act swiftly on this issue of critical
importance.'

--Slate has a round-up of photos of the protests in Kiev:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=46702b19e294974a57c818828db9133f95e3cdb251f01688cc9dae4566ac54da
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=46702b19e294974a57c818828db9133f95e3cdb251f01688cc9dae4566ac54da

TAX REFORM BACK FROM THE DEAD? POLITICO Pro's tax team reports that despite the next-to-zero odds of clearing a major tax code rewrite through Congress this year, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp is forging ahead and will release a tax reform plan next week: "The Michigan Republican wrote his party's tax panel members to make it official: He is moving forward with a proposal, the product of several years' work. 'We ... know that many in Washington are scared by the prospects of tax reform; they don't want to look special interests in the eye and say the game is up. Well, it is. We simply cannot afford the business-as-usual mentality that keeps Washington comfortable, but
complacent,' Camp wrote in an email sent on Wednesday."

--"For months, House Republican leaders have fretted over Camp's looming tax legislation, worried it would force members to take positions on cutting lucrative tax benefits for businesses and middle-class voters - awful timing with 2014 elections on the horizon. But they told him they won't stand in the way now."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=01436d919da7703a057ca95145016a16e68d80494cabd7b2b3748a616b75c2cf
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MINIMUM WAGE FIGHT: WAL-MART PONDERS SUPPORT - Bloomberg: "Wal-Mart is weighing the impact of additional payroll costs against possibly attracting more consumer dollars to its stores, David Tovar, a company spokesman, said [Wednesday] in a telephone interview. Increasing the minimum wage means that some of the 140 million people who shop at the chain weekly would 'now have additional income,' Tovar said. In the mid-2000s, Wal-Mart backed an increase in the federal minimum wage that eventually took effect in 2007. Asked whether Wal-Mart would support another raise in the federal minimum wage, Tovar said: 'That's something we're looking at. Whenever there's debates, it's not like we look once
and make a decision. We look a few times from other angles.'" The Democratic-led Senate plans a vote on raising the federal minimum wage in the coming weeks, and House Democrats are expected to launch a discharge petition on the issue next week.
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=01436d919da7703a108a03565fd7a013021662991e9e7ce5000bad559d6e03ff
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--But, the spokesman later clarified to The Hill's Erik Wasson, saying the mega-retailer is "neutral" on the minimum wage bill:
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http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=01436d919da7703a39e836fa789fabe64496cd2ccf3fbcab7b7fedf771425cac

--CBO chief Douglas Elmendorf defends his agency's report on the economic impact of an increase in the federal minimum wage, despite criticism from the White House on the CBO's findings: ''Our analysis is quite consistent with the latest thinking by economists,' he told reporters at an event sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=01436d919da7703a3d9eb3243144f45a368bfe3ccec036ceedcc4e95b08f85a7
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PELOSI JABS GOP CRITICS - McClatchy's David Lightman gets a sit-down with the House minority leader: "Her immediate goal is a detailed list of initiatives to help women and children, called When Women Succeed, America Succeeds. It includes child care training, licensing and money so states can set up pre-kindergarten programs, a higher minimum wage, paid sick and family leave and equal pay for equal work. It's very likely dead on arrival. 'I don't have any illusions this can happen in the next 10 months with Republicans in power,' she said. 'We just want to shorten the distance between what is inevitable to us and inconceivable to them.' Regaining the majority appears unlikely, and she's
inadvertently helped Republicans raise money to defeat Democrats. 'You can still raise money attacking Nancy Pelosi,' conservative consultant Keith Appell said. Republicans are running videos and ads in next month's special Florida House election that feature Pelosi.

--"Democrats dismiss the criticism. 'Nancy Pelosi is not running for office in other people's districts,' said Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Pelosi scoffs. 'Those people, to me, they're unimportant,' Pelosi said of her partisan critics. 'What the Republicans say about me -- if I were not effective they would not be trying to knock me down. And every time they try and knock me down it fills my coffers.'"
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=01436d919da7703a0d9084bc00b0f3cf0a03840d8ce10ab50dd09ebf139f204b
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TED CRUZ: DEBT VOTE 'TRICKERY' - In a CNN interview that airs this morning, the Texas Republican said he wasn't trying to "throw five Republicans under the bus" by insisting on a 60-vote procedural threshold on legislation to suspend the debt limit last week: "If 45 Republicans had stood together, nobody gets thrown under the bus. We actually just stand together and say, 'What we say at home when we campaign we actually mean,'" he said. "The result would have been Harry Reid would have been stopped from raising the debt ceiling and we would have used it as leverage as we've done over and over and over again to force meaningful spending reform."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=01436d919da7703a9bd2b09d5144092cb1a700b56ee3b4a69ae93828d2acde9e
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BOEHNER BUYS FLORIDA CONDO - Breitbart News with the scoop: "It'll be a bit easier for Speaker John Boehner to get that famous tan now that he has a place in Florida. The Ohio Republican just bought a condo in tony Marco Island, FL, known for its tropical climate and white sand beaches ... The new purchase is likely to prompt a new round of speculation about whether Boehner will retire at the end of this Congress, although he has been adamant - both publicly and privately - that he intends on staying on for another term. Boehner shared the happy news he had just closed on a place to colleagues at the National Republican Congressional Committee's recent winter meeting in Sarasota,
prompting gossip among GOP lawmakers about what it might mean for his future."

--Boehner spox Michael Steel (@michael_steel) on the purchase: "This area of Florida has been the Boehners' family vacation spot for many years, and rather than continue to put money into vacation rentals year after year, they decided to buy a condo. Their home is in West Chester, Ohio, and will continue to be."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=01436d919da7703ae8d129caa1a38dff6923aea8d4d1d4d6ae38046bf83808f5
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--Boehner bought the condo for $835,000, putting down $185,000 and taking out a mortgage for the rest, POLITICO's Jake Sherman notes:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=01436d919da7703a5bd6f3dd1d5fdcf3b83b81176d5aa274df3ea0cb03387cc7
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=01436d919da7703a5bd6f3dd1d5fdcf3b83b81176d5aa274df3ea0cb03387cc7

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GOOD THURSDAY MORNING, FEB. 19, 2014, and welcome to The Huddle, your-play-play preview of all the action on Capitol Hill. I'm taking over your favorite congressional morning tip sheet for the rest of the week, so send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints, corrections and your thoughts on "House of Cards" Season 2 (I've already watched all 13 episodes) to
mailto:skim@politico.com
skim@politico.com . Scott Wong (
mailto:swong@politico.com
swong@politico.com ) is back on Monday.

My new followers include @Gabe_NM and @dfriedman33.

TODAY IN CONGRESS - Crickets. Take a long lunch, leave early.

AROUND THE HILL - Not much. But lawmakers are keeping busy back in their districts this recess week - like Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), who's flying down to Florida to join GOP Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart for a town hall-style discussion on immigration reform starting at 7 p.m. at the King Jesus Ministry in Miami.

EDWIN EDWARDS FOR CONGRESS? Bloomberg's Al Hunt talks to the colorful ex-governor who did time behind bars: "Edwards acknowledged he faces obstacles -- he is 86 and spent eight years in a federal penitentiary after a conviction for racketeering. But Edwards insisted, 'I'm the only hope the Democrats have here.' Voters who wouldn't support him because of his criminal background, he added, 'wouldn't have voted for me anyway.' As for the age issue, Edwards said: 'I hope that's all they talk about.' There are currently 11 members of Congress who are 80 or older. Edwards is the longest-serving governor in the state's history. He was elected four times. Judging by total votes,
he is the most popular Democrat in modern Louisiana history. He is also a free-wheeling, fun-loving, self-described 'corner-cutting' politician who seems to relish his controversies. In one of his trials, the sequestered jury was accused of stealing towels from the hotel they were in. Edwards concluded that he was truly judged by a jury of his peers."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=01436d919da7703af34d2e0a72f790b927b1bc4cf83df6aa8394757f0859d228
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--But! Edwards's wife, Trina, says he hasn't made up his mind:
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IMMIGRATION ROUNDUP: ROSS BECOMES TARGET FOR ADVOCATES - The Tampa Bay Times's Alex Leary chronicles the wave of pressure that immigration reform backers have unleashed toward Rep. Dennis Ross (R-Fla.): "U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross knows their faces and names. Over the past year, immigration reform activists have shown up at his home, camped on the lawn of his church and visited him in Washington. They spent an entire month demonstrating outside his office and pack every town hall he holds, including one Tuesday in Plant City. 'I want you to look at this room and see the makeup, how many of us are Hispanic,' said a woman named Guadalupe, who arrived in Plant City as an undocumented resident three
decades ago to work in the strawberry fields. 'You can continue to ignore our wishes, you can continue to ignore us. But pretty soon, you won't have a choice.' Ross, R-Lakeland, has become one of the most targeted lawmakers in the country as the struggle over immigration continues. His district, which includes parts of Hillsborough and Polk counties, is rich with agriculture and activists are pushing him to support comprehensive legislation that includes a pathway to citizenship for millions of people.

--"But the onslaught has not swayed Ross, a former state legislator sent to Washington amid the 2010 tea party wave. 'We should all acknowledge that we have a broken system and then we should start taking it one step at a time,' he told Guadalupe. 'A comprehensive approach that we saw does not work in the past is not going to work again.'"
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=340355743aea6b6c08faef13995ec5381313148de9d8f7aea4e35f145378ef91
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--Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) tells an immigration forum in Reno that reform would pass the Republican-led House "today" if it were put up for a floor vote. Heller didn't seem like he was specific on what bill he was referring to, but predicted that the entire Nevada House delegation would back immigration reform "when and if this bill" goes to the House floor. The Reno Gazette-Journal:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=340355743aea6b6cc2f35105822f4448de76f506ceebe26e49818b8cb0f26714
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=340355743aea6b6cc2f35105822f4448de76f506ceebe26e49818b8cb0f26714

--Despite conservative critics and a primary challenge, Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) reaffirms her backing of legal status for undocumented immigrants during a forum she hosted on immigration reform in Cary:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=340355743aea6b6c5981f77d0f1ff496d49ae26f5875d87d527f3d99712f296a
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=340355743aea6b6c5981f77d0f1ff496d49ae26f5875d87d527f3d99712f296a

--I report on a new strategy being deployed by backers of immigration reform: Make it the next round of the so-called 'war on women':
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=340355743aea6b6c59e13ed8d00f1a87821e6aec9bebbaf3066a92e7e810958f
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=340355743aea6b6c59e13ed8d00f1a87821e6aec9bebbaf3066a92e7e810958f

DESSERT, 'HOUSE OF CARDS' EDITION - Rep. Tim Bishop (D-N.Y.) wins the award for "Best use of House of Cards by a real member of Congress" when he denounces comments from the fictional House majority whip on the show, who said Long Island wine "tastes like piss." Bishop, who represents Long Island, said in a statement to the Suffolk Times that he took exception to any criticisms of wine produced in the East End and adds: "I invite the individuals involved in the show to visit New York's First Congressional district to join me at some of our vineyards." The statement (and a video of the scene in question from "House of Cards" - small spoiler alert!):
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=340355743aea6b6cefabb8ec653355ac814846cf4c6bebdaac255dbffa6d35ca
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=340355743aea6b6cefabb8ec653355ac814846cf4c6bebdaac255dbffa6d35ca

--A close runner-up is Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), who proudly touted her work on military sex assault prevention that was featured in the fifth episode of the second season:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=340355743aea6b6c8c6da32916ce3367963355a6d3f266fca00f109710bee01f
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=340355743aea6b6c8c6da32916ce3367963355a6d3f266fca00f109710bee01f

WEDNESDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Howard Bauleke was the first to respond that it was Sen. Howell Heflin of Alabama who began two Judiciary hearing Supreme Court nominee opposition speeches with "When in doubt, don't." He was opposing Clarence Thomas and Robert Bork.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Bauleke has today's question: Jill Docking, who lost a Senate race to Sam Brownback in 1996, is the likely Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in Kansas this year.What is her familial relationship to two former KS governors and one former KS lieutenant governor? The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. Email me at
mailto:skim@politico.com
skim@politico.com .

GET HUDDLE emailed to your Blackberry, iPhone or other mobile device each morning. Just enter your email address where it says 'Sign Up.'
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