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01/29/2016 07:33 AM EDT


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

FIGHT NIGHT - Let's get it out of the way. The debate was cool and all, but Maryland's win over Iowa was the news of the night. As for the Iowa GOP debate, it was entertaining to see the beef between Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio revived. They went at it over and over again over immigration, and Rand Paul got in some jabs as well. Paul was walking with a skip in his step this week after making the debate stage, and he was in a good enough mood last night to use his sarcastic voice when answering questions -- always a good sign. The gulf between senators and the rest was emphasized even more by Donald Trump's absence: More votes being litigated between the senators, which people like Chris
Christie can't stand. Also Ben Carson was on fire; I laughed out loud at the "Putin is a one-horse country" line.

But oh, the montages: The highlight reel of Rubio and Cruz's past immigration statements made for great TV, and Rubio seemed legitimately mad about getting hit like that seemingly out of nowhere. Equally awkward: Cruz had another moment with Chris Wallace reminiscent of when he just talked over a past debate moderator. He's still not used to getting interrupted; his scrums on Capitol Hill are legendary for his filibustering. Time to switch that strategy up.

THE GOP RACE IS IN SESSIONS: It was really just coincidence that I interviewed Sen. Jeff Sessions for 12 minutes about the presidential race yesterday, but the timing was great as Cruz name-dropped Sessions five times on the debate stage in defense on his immigration stances. The problem for Cruz is that Sessions is legitimately split between the Texas senator and Trump, and he said that he's not yet close to deciding between them. "I don't have any plans. I have no agenda to make any announcement any time soon. I don't know if I can help or might hurt a candidate," the Alabama Republican said in an interview Thursday. "But fundamentally I think Trump and Cruz are at the top of the heap."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e3f2945f9c00124827e8402789b658e31597c0a0abf1d7b9f2a421bffa25e09e

WARREN BACK BASHING BANKS: Sen. Elizabeth Warren is out this a.m. with a new report whacking the lax treatment of corporate criminals, called "Rigged Justice." "The failure to punish big corporations or their executives when they break the law undermines the foundations of this great country: If justice means a prison sentence for a teenager who steals a car, but it means nothing more than a sideways glance at a CEO who quietly engineers the theft of billions of dollars, then the promise of equal justice under the law has turned into a lie," Warren writes in her report. Historically her outrage has been about the 2008 financial crisis, but the point of her Friday drop is that there was a
lot to be mad about in 2015 too. Read it: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e3f2945f9c001248438befff1847d22bc5be1909b819ed684c061d52cb893447

CHARM CITY REPORT -- Obama goes partisan: Just as the debate buzz was rising, President Obama was lacing into Republicans at the House Democratic retreat in Baltimore. "I'm not worried about this party staying united. The other side may have some stuff to work but our trajectory is clear. Everyone is scouring my every word to find some deeper meaning to see if I'm trying to put my fingers on the scales," Obama said. "Let me simplify things: Tonight I have an announcement about the presidential race. Democrats will win in November. The reason I can say that with confidence is because we focus on the things that matter in the lives of the American people." Lauren French:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e3f2945f9c001248c986a4801dcd043d318c2f50b005797ebac87a5a1522a9fb

Vice president and he's being vice presidential: Lauren's also got the report on Vice President Biden, who told Democrats to tout their wins and made the, ahem, interesting prediction that Democrats could take back the House this year. "I'm confident we'll win back the Senate, and I'm confident we can make great inroads and maybe win back the House," Biden said. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e3f2945f9c001248553d74a8ca47827f4d71bc1f6a9efed6eb5642c0261340f6

$$$$$$$$$$$$$: And in your French finale, our intrepid Baltimore correspondent reports that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi raised $40 million last year. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e3f2945f9c001248d10303cc6dfa7a21e223939cacc7a65c963bc5bc4ec594cd

The most well-deserved of Fridays. And welcome to the Huddle, your play-by-play guide to everything Capitol Hill, where I never would made it if not for great Politicos like Danielle Jones, who hired me more than five years as a web producer. Please send tips to beverett@politico.com and follow along on Twitter @burgessev. Rachael Bade is taking over on Monday, get at her rbade@politico.com.

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The Senate is gone, and though it will be back Monday, no votes until the Iowa caucuses are over. House still on recess.

THURSDAY'S MOST CLICKED: Andrew K's story on Trey Radel's new book.

FRIDAY'S MOST CLICKED: It's clearly going to be this story about the theft of Sen. Chris Coon's car. I know this move, being from Maine and all, but Coons's wife was doing the ol' car warm up and it backfired big time. She came back outside and the car wasn't there, but it has a Coons bumper sticker on it so it didn't stay stolen for long. From the News Journal.

@ChrisCoons: Dude, where's my car? http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e3f2945f9c0012481f7586c9ab53e889d5d194766c6ad292e56e40caff3381ff

RAMPELL HITS SENATE ON WAGES: Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell says all the self-congratulations for Senate workers' wage raise is coming a bit early. "It appears some workers were shortchanged, right under the noses of their Senate champions. Days after the new contract was signed, a cafeteria manager quietly began calling some workers into his office. He demanded they sign paperwork acknowledging new job titles. 'I'm a cook, and I've always been a cook,' said 45-year-old Bertrand Olotara. 'Now suddenly he's telling me I'm a 'food service worker' ... Rather than getting the big raise Olotara expected as a cook - which would have upped his pay to $17.45 - he was entitled to just
$13.80 as a 'food service worker.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e3f2945f9c001248e8feec560a2f4a5ce8c3a7d7714a8fc6033aea6210606440

HIGH-ENERGY ENERGY BILL: Things had been going smoothly for the Senate's energy bill, but the Flint water crisis issue could derail the amendment process. Democrats are pushing for inclusion of $600 million dollars for Flint's lead pipes; Republicans say that the right place for that is the appropriations bill, and also that there are places all across the country that could apply for such cash infusions. Niels Lesniewski has more: "GOP senators raised the Flint issue during a weekly conference lunch on Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the conversation. Sources said the takeaway was a concern about providing federal dollars to Flint that might not be available to other
jurisdictions facing trouble with infrastructure like water supplies and sewage systems. That lunch came a day before the Senate Democratic Policy and Communications Center circulated details of the amendment." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e3f2945f9c001248840ada5776864b2e8af14bfa17ef5fd78349570e356e228a

Central player: National Journal's Alex Brown has a nice story on Rep. Dan Kildee, who I have called Dale in Huddle by accident multiple times. Dan Kildee has been involved in several of the biggest stories over the past year, including the imprisonment of Amir Hekmati, a constituent, and now the water crisis in his hometown of Flint. "While both stories dominated national news last week, Kildee has been talking about both issues long be­fore many people were paying attention.

'Being a voice for people is something that I've always taken seriously,' Kildee said. 'Sometimes nobody's listening but a few people. Sometimes it seems like the whole world ends up listening." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e3f2945f9c00124812d7f9d31f8a8f79ea526259561f7b1ab6f71fb21467905e

HANGIN' WITH MR. RYAN: House Speaker Paul Ryan got together with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Sen. Lindsey Graham and former GOP nominee Mitt Romney at a fundraising retreat in Palm Beach, per Alex Isenstadt. Sounds like Miller Light was probably served. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e3f2945f9c0012483476bad603efcb739644a40557e9e9ff1ca6ff8aafbb73ae

SANDERS THE SPRY: 74-year-old Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, running as Hillary Clinton's chief Democratic rival, "is in very good health," per his longtime Capitol Hill doctor. "Anyone who follows me on the campaign trail knows that I have a lot of endurance. My health is good," Sanders told ABC's Jonathan Karl. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e3f2945f9c001248cafddf1e9120efd30636eca707cf02c9369718b2e5e612b8

ON MESSAGE ABOUT OFF MESSAGE: POLITICO's podcast, Off Message, has relaunched for the 2016 Election. Listen to this week's episode-Glenn Thrush's exclusive interview with President Barack Obama-here: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e3f2945f9c0012484f78b741893f6613c63ea8818d5f04f1b60c48ba4fafcf71 . Subscribe to Off Message on iTunes or Soundcloud to get next week's episode as soon as it lands.

THURSDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Andrew Smith and James Casto were the ONLY people to answer that Congress had the highest percentage of veterans in 1977.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - James has today's question, and it's Joe Manchin related: Before joining the Senate, he was West Virginia governor. What three other West Virginia offices was he elected to? And what year was he first elected to office? 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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