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By Lauren French (
mailto:lfrench@politico.com
lfrench@politico.com & @laurennfrench)

With an assist from Burgess Everett

GRAHAM: 'WHITE MEN' WILL DO GREAT IN MY WHITE HOUSE. CNN has published a recording of Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican toying with the idea of running for president, saying "white men who are in male-only clubs are going to do great in my presidency" during an all-male meeting of the Hibernian Society of Charleston earlier this month. The South Carolinian was joking about the tax system, saying white men were "f---ed up" by the government. This is yet another reminder for all elected officials that nearly every smartphone and computer has a pretty good microphone.
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SECOND FIRM DROPS REPUBLICAN LAWSUIT. Josh Gerstein and Maggie Haberman report, "For the second time in two months, a major law firm has backed out of an agreement to pursue the case, sources say. Attorney Bill Burck and the Quinn Emanuel firm dropped the case in recent weeks, according to two sources familiar with the situation. Last month, the lawyer originally hired to pursue the case, David Rivkin of Baker Hostetler, made a similar abrupt exit. A spokesman for Boehner declined to discuss the status of the House's relationship with Burck and Quinn Emanuel. However, spokesman Kevin Smith said Wednesday evening that House leaders are considering having the lawsuit filed by lawyers already
on the House payroll."
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THE SENATE WON'T SEE ANOTHER OBAMA. Jennifer Epstein reports, "Despite recurring rumors to the contrary - the freshest of which emerged last week - the first lady is not interested in running for the Senate or any other office. She never has been and she never will be, Obama and people close to her have said repeatedly... Those closest to Obama, however, do have an idea about her future: She will not be seeking office. 'The first lady will be active but not in the United States Senate!,' emailed Anita Dunn, a former White House communications director who's close to the East Wing."
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MCCARTHY GIVES $500K TO NRCC. Cristina Marcos reports for the Hill, "All $500,000 came from McCarthy's fundraising efforts. In total, McCarthy has given the NRCC $4 million, according to an aide... McCarthy has given National Republican Congressional Committee $4 million in total."
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CONGRESS STILL IN DARK ABOUT NSA ACTIVITIES. Conor Friedersdorf writes for the Atlantic, "The truth is that Congress is alarmingly ignorant about NSA spying. Its inadequacy as an overseer isn't entirely attributable to the national security state. There are too many issues for every legislator to master them all; surveillance policy is a particularly complicated; and national security is an area where too many in Congress undermine checks and balances by deferring to the president. Yet even the most diligent, knowledgeable members of the Senate intelligence committee consistently lack basic information that's plainly needed for adequate oversight. This cannot be credibly denied by
anyone who assesses the relevant evidence."
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HAPPY THURSDAY MORNING, OCT. 30, 2014 and welcome to The Huddle, your play-by-play preview of all the action on Capitol Hill. Please send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints and corrections to
mailto:lfrench@politico.com
lfrench@politico.com . If you don't already, please follow me on Twitter @laurennfrench.

AROUND THE HILL. San Francisco Giants' fans celebrating.

SABATO: BET ON A GOP SENATE. The pollster writes in POLITICO Magazine, "While many races remain close, it's just getting harder and harder to envision a plausible path for the Democrats to retain control of the Senate. Ultimately, with just a few days to go before the election, the safe bet would be on Republicans eventually taking control of the upper chamber.We say eventually because there's a decent chance we won't know who wins the Senate on Election Night. Louisiana is guaranteed to go to a runoff, and Georgia seems likelier than not to do the same. The Georgia runoff would be Jan. 6, 2015, three days after the 114th Congress is scheduled to open. Vote-counting in some states, like
Alaska, will take days, and other races are close enough to trigger a recount."
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WELCOME FRESHMAN: A knowledgeable Republican floated the idea to us that one of the incoming class of 2014 Senate Republicans may throw his or her hat in for NRSC chairmanship alongside Sens. Roger Wicker and Dean Heller. There have been a number of first-term NRSC chairmen over the years, but all served at least two years before jumping into the partisan flame wars. Though it would be a longshot, Republicans have so many incumbents defending their seats in 2016 that it may make sense for a battle-tested 2014er to come in and provide some on-the-ground knowledge to the committee's fundraising and grassroots outreach. Democrats seem more likely to pick a (slightly) more seasoned senator --
given that their incoming freshman class is likely to be much smaller than the GOP and that they have so few incumbents up for reelection in 2016. Keep the popcorn handy!

SCHEDULING UPDATE FOR AG VOTE (AKA OUR HOLIDAYS MAY NOT BE TOTALLY SPENT ON THE HILL AFTER ALL). Josh Gerstein writes, "Attorney General Eric Holder predicted Wednesday that the Senate is unlikely to confirm a new attorney general until next year. The timeline Holder laid out during an appearance at the Washington Ideas Forum suggests that the Senate would not hold confirmation hearings for an attorney general nominee until January, when the Senate could be in Republican hands."
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SPOTTED: PAUL IN DETROIT. Click here for photographic evidence:
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MCCAIN FINDS HIS TOUGH SIDE -- AGAIN. Burgess Everett has the story, "This week, the Arizona Republican has harshly attacked two Democrats whom he may have to serve with in 2015: Sens. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Kay Hagan of North Carolina. The women aren't just fellow senators - they also serve on the Armed Services Committee that McCain likely will lead if Republicans take control of the Senate. On Monday, the famously outspoken senator said Shaheen has not been a "serious member" of the panel. And he knocked Hagan in strident terms on Tuesday for missing a briefing about Islamic State militants to raise money in New York in February - six months before the terror network began
beheading Americans."
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BOEHNER SLAMS OBAMA ADMINISTRATION FOR ISRAEL COMMENTS. Your Huddle author reports, "Speaker John Boehner sharply criticized the Obama administration on Wednesday for remarks a senior White House official made disparaging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu...[calling him "a chickens-t."]. The Ohio Republican said the comments, made to The Atlantic, threatens ongoing U.S. security concerns in the region and damages an already tense relationship between the administration and Israel.
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a72d31557a28944b22098a9e032ee3b07105c6e880da9dc33b15fe3aa01bed0c
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a72d31557a28944b22098a9e032ee3b07105c6e880da9dc33b15fe3aa01bed0c . Here is the original Atlantic story:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a72d31557a28944be97cab699197b65f486fe9e11e3ad16cd9ba86cf2c81070b
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a72d31557a28944be97cab699197b65f486fe9e11e3ad16cd9ba86cf2c81070b

DEM DOMINANCE WITH LATINO VOTERS SLIPS - BUT JUST EVER SO SLIGHTLY. The Wall Street Journal's Laura Meckler writes, "Democrats maintain a significant-but shrinking-advantage with the fast-growing bloc of Latino voters, according to a new survey that may hold greater significance for the 2016 elections than for next week's midterm contests.The survey by the Pew Research Center also found more than half of these voters say a candidate's position on immigration is not a deal-breaker in determining their vote, a hopeful sign for Republicans, many of whom do not support the sort of overhaul that is broadly popular in the Hispanic community."
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WEDNESDAY'S TRIVIA. Jared MacCleary was the first to correctly name Sen. Chuck Hagel as the lawmaker who made a tradition out of dressing like his colleagues for Halloween - notably then-Sen. Joe Biden.

TODAY'S TRIVIA. Jared has today's question. Only four presidents have graduated as undergrads from publicly funded universities.Which universities were they? The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. Email
mailto:lfrench@politico.com
lfrench@politico.com .

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