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01/28/2016 07:35 AM EDT


By Burgess Everett (@burgessev or beverett@politico.com)

MANCHIN'S NEUTRALITY PLEDGE - Sen. Joe Manchin flirted with giving money to a couple Republicans in 2014, but he's not doing so this time around. No, instead Manchin says he will refuse to campaign against a sitting senator, depriving any Democratic challenger that's looking for a moderate boost from the West Virginian. "I will not campaign against, raise money against ... any sitting colleague. I think it's ethically wrong, it's morally wrong. I don't know how in the world you build a relationship if you actively know I'm coming in your state campaigning against you." Manchin said in addition, he'd advocate for an ethics rule that would bar campaigning against a sitting colleague.

Hard as granite: I followed up with him before heading to Concord, N.H., last week for my interview with Gov. Maggie Hassan, who's running against Sen. Kelly Ayotte. "It was wrong when Kelly campaigned against Jeanne Shaheen. I mean, I understand but where's it stop? Where does it stop and how do we get to a dialogue here where we have trust between us and we can move things forward?" Manchin still smarts at being reminded of 2012, when Sen. Rand Paul laced into Sen. Lindsey Graham for defending Manchin's record (http://goo.gl/wpHoKO).

SPEAKING OF RAND AND THE SENATE: Today's a big day for the junior senator for Kentucky. After all, he's back on the main debate stage. But back at home he's got a big bummer: The wealthy construction tycoon Jim Gray is running against him for his Senate seat in Kentucky, which at the very least is going to turn into a major financial headache for the GOP. "Party insiders give Paul a few more weeks before things become truly worrisome. Their concern is less money and more about 'making sure that folks back home don't hate you for it,' said one national Republican strategist. 'When does it get really embarrassing?' the strategist asked with exasperation. 'Gray's done a great job as mayor and
is without question a very credible opponent. Rand suddenly has a very serious race on his hands,' said a GOP operative in Kentucky.

As for Rand: "The question is how much longer can he run a seemingly quixotic campaign for president when he's got a race at home? Paul answered with a theatrical shrug and a 'we'll see' in a brief interview Wednesday night but sounded positively sure that Gray is no threat." Myself and Daniel Strauss: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=84f70099a8a39b40d08f97ad160519b1516e579947f3b107b6c9b4c6c71eea23

BERNIE GETS PRESIDENTIAL: Vermont independent. Insurgent Democratic presidential candidate. And now, the type of guy to get a private meeting with the president. "Emerging from a 45-minute meeting with President Obama, Sanders said the session provided a chance to talk about both foreign and domestic policy and 'occasionally a little bit of politics.' Sanders said he didn't seek or receive Obama's endorsement in the race for the nomination against Hillary Clinton. 'I enjoyed the meeting, and I thought it was a very positive and constructive meeting,' he said, speaking to reporters for seven minutes outside the White House." WaPo: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=84f70099a8a39b40e85aeca1009cf88dbba6af456269bc0b8c2eb63989c405c5

Picture this: Hillary Clinton doing a seven-minute gaggle with press outside the White House after meeting with the president. You can't.

CHARM CITY REPORT -- Drawing fun: Lauren writes that Washington Post cartoonist Tom Toles spoke to House Dems at their retreat in Baltimore, complete with a presentation of critical cartoons of Hillary Clinton. Lawmakers were taken aback but not especially upset. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=84f70099a8a39b40684c2d996789e227c74bc4e3199b3c3c32be9f84e321f55e

Pelosi seeks distance from Sanders: House Democrats are not on board with hiking taxes to pay for single-payer health insurance as Sanders has proposed, per Mike Lillis of The Hill. "'We're not running on any platform of raising taxes,' [House Minority Leader Nancy] Pelosi said during a press briefing to launch the Democrats' yearly issues conference in Baltimore, Md. 'We do want to have a fairer tax system, and ... we hope that we can do that this year.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=84f70099a8a39b404f9d8d4a10cd832336d07ad249105acf0431c6e0696fb973

In Baltimore? Please get out of Harbor East/Inner Harbor and go to Fells Point or Canton.

HILL JOURNALISTS ARE IN THE WRONG BIZ: Former Boehner Chief of Staff Mike Sommers is off to to lobbying races, joining the Private Equity Growth Capital Council next month. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=84f70099a8a39b402752566f3dd092a76063df164d85d96afacfd8c14838ceb7

CLOSE SHAVE: Sen. Tom Cotton is rocking a surprising beard. It's not Movember, Arkansas doesn't have a team in the post-season...what gives? The chamber's youngest member explained that he's not trying to look older, but instead is covering up three stitches he got after falling onto ice over the weekend. Elsewhere in the Senate, Thom Tillis's Carolina Panthers playoff beard is holding strong.

Good Thursday. And welcome to the Huddle, your play-by-play guide to everything Capitol Hill, where the most interesting parlor game is figuring out if the Senate will be in on Fridays. I'll be subbing for Lauren tomorrow too: Please send tips to beverett@politico.com and follow along on Twitter @burgessev.

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The House is out; Lauren is with House Democrats at their retreat in Baltimore. The Senate is in at 9:45 a.m. and will vote at noon and 1:45 p.m. on amendments to the energy bill the chamber is working on. But wait, the suspense doesn't end there: "Additional votes are possible during Thursday's session," says the whip's office.

AROUND THE HILL IN SPIRIT - A conservative coalition will do a conference call at 2:30 p.m. organized by the U.S. Justice Action Network on criminal justice reform. Think FreedomWorks, Faith & Freedom Coalition and Grover Norquist. Dial-in: 1-877-331-7677.

GOP'S FIVE STAGES OF PRESIDENTIAL GRIEF: Some Republicans are in denial. Others are mad, or clinging to hope that voters will defy the polls. Still others are gloomy over the race. For the rest, there's acceptance that it might be Donald Trump or Ted Cruz. "'I think that's a possibility,' Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.) said when asked whether Republicans were finally accepting that Trump could be their standard-bearer. 'Everybody is waiting to see whether or not the polls coincide with the voters.' A Trump or Cruz nomination 'certainly could be the result,' said Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a member of leadership facing reelection. 'I just think things are likely to look significantly different than
they do right now. They almost always do.'"

Denial, Madness: The two most entertaining stages of political grief are denial and anger. Denial is what we find with Jeb Bush's supporters on the Hill: They still think Jeb can win. "'Iowa and New Hampshire are going to tell us a lot, and I don't think it's over,' said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). "I support Jeb Bush, and I think he's going to come through' ... fellow Bush backer Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) refused to admit defeat: 'You just never know.'" Then there's the anger. Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) took his frustrations to Iowa for a last ditch anti-Trump campaign, while Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) is more angry with the media. "'I'm not answering any presidential questions,' Burr told
a reporter who asked him Wednesday who he'd prefer to run with at the top of the ticket. 'Journalists can't get it right.'" SMK and I do our best to get it right: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=84f70099a8a39b4084e87ebdd2a7cffd5bf7a8d64721d110a98191e5c561d8e5

Living history: Trump is the frontrunner, and HuffPo's Matt Fuller notes something that we are all taking for granted: Not a single member of Congress has endorsed Trump. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=84f70099a8a39b407875c010468dd2d27caab723265ab1cf958d281533132b5e

BECAUSE OF COURSE: Trey Radel was in Congress for a year before leaving in scandal after a cocaine buy in Dupont Circle. And now comes the tell-all book about "how Congress works - and sometimes doesn't work- for the American people." Buzzfeed: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=84f70099a8a39b4093f2515a60b8416205c222560286e9752e0618991dc9eb5c

TOUGH HIT ON PORTMAN: The Plain Dealer goes hard after incumbent Sen. Rob Portman for touting anti-opioid measures in a spending bill that he voted against. "Portman wants to fight the heroin scourge -- the one killing more than 120 Americans a day from overdoses, a deadlier toll than from either car crashes or firearms. But he voted against the very bill that would pay for his proposed solutions ... This puts the Ohio Republican in an awkward position. [Wednesday], he hosted an Ohio mother, Tonda DaRe of Carrollton, at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing called to bring attention to the heroin epidemic. DaRe's daughter, 21-year-old Holly, died in 2012 of a heroin overdose."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=84f70099a8a39b4046efe6e5a98e4652ccdc6e057d40d93a88ef2dc5519956de

Fighting back: "While the hearing was still going on, the Ohio Democratic Party sent out a press release accusing Portman of "D.C. double speak," on the issue ... 'I think it's really sad. Really sad,' Portman said of that statement." Roll Call: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=84f70099a8a39b4037f3706568e12c15e78373799db6a49847be6baafda02a23

But wait, there's more! Bragging about stuff in a bill you voted against is a classic of the genre. I was talking to Sen. John McCain about Sen. Paul on Wednesday and he kept calling Paul the senator from Alabama. Why? He's still mad at Sen. Richard Shelby, a senior appropriations lawmaker that voted against his own spending bill. "Shelby's on my mind. In the defense appropriations bill, [he] added another ship, made in Mobile, Ala. $225 million, nobody wants it. Just stuffed it in a 2000 page appropriations bill. I am hot. And then he didn't vote for it."

SWALWELL'S THAT ENDS WELL: Allison Bormel is off from Rep. Eric Swalwell's comms shop to USAID.

WEDNESDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Walton Cheney was the first to answer that the big T-Rex in Montana was originally called The Wankel T. Rex.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Walton has today's question to get us back on topic here: Over the last few decades, the percentage of veterans in Congress has been declining. What year saw the highest percentage? And what was the total percentage? The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. Email me at beverett@politico.com.

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