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By Scott Wong (
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OBAMA TAKES FIGHTS TO HILL - Glenn Thrush and Reid Epstein write for the hometown paper: "Barack Obama ... the same president who campaigned twice on breaking the cycle of conflict in Washington, sees the utility - even the necessity - of rattling Republican cages as he plunges into a succession of upcoming battles over the nomination of Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense, the debt ceiling, $1 trillion in automatic budget cuts, immigration reform and gun control. Obama's willingness to take a more overtly adversarial stance is, in part, a nod to the reality that he's about to start his second term with solid approval numbers - 'Hit now, as hard as you can, because your power starts to die
in six, eight months,' according to a top aide to a Senate Republican who has often locked horns with the White House.

-- "That entails taking a tough line with the Hill GOP on Hagel - who has vowed to battle 'distortions' of his record on Iran and Israel - and stiff-arming the GOP at the start of negotiations over the debt ceiling and across-the-board spending cuts. It's less clear whether Obama will be quite as bellicose on issues that require a more subtle approach, like immigration, guns and climate change, although his aides are talking tough. ...

-- "There's also a long-term strategy: Two months after a decisive presidential win, Obama and his party already are eyeing the 2014 midterms. Highlighting the contrasts between the White House and congressional Republicans could flip the House back to Democrats, giving Obama a final two-year governing majority that bookends the one he enjoyed during his first two years in office."
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SENATE VS. OBAMA - Senate Republicans' beef isn't just with Hagel. They likely won't give an inch as Obama tries to fill out the rest of his second-term Cabinet, POLITICO's Manu Raju reports. "Jack Lew, the White House chief of staff and front-runner to become Obama's treasury secretary, has a contentious relationship with some Senate Republicans who are scoffing at reports that he's poised to get the nomination for one of the most important posts in government. Whoever Obama chooses to run the Environmental Protection Agency or the Energy Department is certain to run into a buzz saw of opposition from Republicans angry at the administration's environmental policies. Several looming
judicial nominations, including for the crucial D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, are already giving the GOP fits. And senior Republicans are seeking to delay the nomination of John Brennan to head the CIA until their questions are answered over the Benghazi attacks and accusations that the administration leaked classified information to boost the president's political standing."
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--Obama is facing criticism for nominating three white men in top slots in his Cabinet. The New York Times has a handy graphic of the gender breakdown of Obama's political appointees across the administration. Fifty-nine percent of HHS's appointees are women, while just 32 percent are women at Justice.
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3b1f6ba650cae7d2bf56aecb959c6b8ab23919f4cfc5ff0fc7bf2adf6386a49c
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=3b1f6ba650cae7d2bf56aecb959c6b8ab23919f4cfc5ff0fc7bf2adf6386a49c The White House knows the optics are bad. See photo:
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TRANSITIONS: MANCHIN AIDE TO DCCC - Emily Bittner, communications director for Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), has been named national press secretary and communications advisor at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. She starts Jan. 15. 'With Emily leaving our office, I'm sad and proud at the same time. Any time a key member of our staff has an opportunity, you're proud that others see their value - but sad that they're leaving the nest,' Senator Manchin said in a statement. 'Emily has done great work serving the people of West Virginia, and she's been especially effective in helping me deliver my commonsense message in Washington.' Bittner, a former newspaper
colleague of your Huddle host out in Arizona, formerly headed communications for the Arizona Democratic Party and Democratic Governors Association.

WARREN RAPS AIG - The subject line of an email from Sen. Elizabeth Warren to supporters: Don't bite the hand that fed you. "AIG made reckless bets that nearly crashed our entire economy. Beginning in 2008, the government poured billions of your taxpayer dollars into the insurance giant to save it from bankruptcy after it gambled on mortgage-backed securities. And the bailout worked -- earlier this year, AIG reported making billions in profit," Warren writes. "But AIG has a funny way of showing its gratitude. This morning, reports indicated that AIG is considering joining a lawsuit against the federal government because the terms of the bailout weren't generous enough. Can you believe
it? AIG should thank American taxpayers for their help -- not bite the hand that fed them."

CORKER: HILLARY TO TESTIFY JAN. 22 - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will likely testify on the deadly Benghazi attack on Jan. 22, Bob Corker, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on MSNBC Tuesday. Corker said that "he has spoken with Clinton's chief of staff and said she seems 'anxious' to testify on the Hill, following weeks of hospital visits after a concussion," writes Bobby Cervantes.
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HARKIN SIGNALS REELECTION BID? - Jeff Patch reports for the Iowa Republican: "Need more evidence that Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) is preparing to run for a sixth term? The Cumming resident's campaign committee, Citizens for Harkin, will hold its second Lady Gaga-related fundraiser next month. Harkin plans to groove to Gaga's music with lobbyists, Democratic donors and others who can afford at least $1,500 for a VIP ticket to Harkin's suite at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. The concert fundraiser, scheduled for Feb. 25, at 7 p.m., was reported by politicalpartytime.org, a project of the Sunlight Foundation, which tracks fundraising events by politicians. Two tickets and a VIP reception
costs $3,500 for a Political Action Committee donor or $3,000 for an individual. One ticket will set a PAC back $2,000 or an individual $1,500. In 2011, Harkin charged $500 less per ticket. Inflation plagues even lobbyists. ... Harkin's 2011 event made national news, as TIME Magazine's headline read, 'Tom Harkin and Lady Gaga, Together at Last.' As POLITICO noted, '[a] ticket to see the pop star perform costs $52 on the low end, but if you buy your seats through Harkin, they will put you back $1,000 a pop.'"
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POLL: CONGRESS LESS POPULAR THAN HEAD LICE, COLONOSCOPIES, THE DONALD - Matt Peckham writes for TIME: "It takes real skill to be less appreciated than one of the most phobia-inducing insects on the planet, but somehow Congress managed, hitting new lows in a recent Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey that found even cockroaches more appealing. Also more popular than Congress: root canals, NFL replacement referees, head lice, Canadian rock band Nickelback, colonoscopies, carnies (that is, carnival employees), traffic jams, Donald Trump, France, Genghis Khan, used-car salesmen, Washington political pundits and brussels sprouts.

-- "It wasn't all bad news for Congress, however; the elected body still managed to beat out John Edwards, lobbyists, telemarketers, the Kardashians, North Korea, Lindsay Lohan, playground bullies, Fidel Castro, meth labs, communism, gonorrhea and the Ebola virus."
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GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING, JANUARY 9, 2013, and welcome to The Huddle, your play-by-play preview of the day's congressional news. Send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints and corrections to
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My new followers include but are not limited to @PatrickRAnderso and @RepAndyHarrisMD.

TODAY IN CONGRESS - Both the House and Senate are out this week.

CONSERVATIVE ADS TARGET McCONNELL - Ginger Gibson writes for POLITICO: ForAmerica, a conservative advocacy group, "is targeting Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell with a series of online ads in his home state for helping to negotiate the fiscal cliff deal. ... The ad buy is 'five figures' and will be distributed through Google display ads and Facebook in Kentucky and also run on The Daily Caller and Drudge Report in Washington, D.C. McConnell is up for reelection in 2014 and is hoping to fend off a conservative primary challenger."
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GUN CONTROL PUTS IMMIGRATION ON HOLD - Anna Palmer writes for the hometown paper: "President Barack Obama promised immigration reform leaders that their cause would top his second-term agenda, making January their month. But immigration advocates are beginning to worry that their fight could slip behind a cause that wasn't even an issue during the election: gun control.This month the White House was supposed to begin its push in earnest for immigration reform. Instead, after a gunman killed 20 school children in Newtown, Conn., Obama tapped Vice President Joe Biden to lead a group that will release a reform proposal in mid-January - just when immigration activists had hoped all eyes would
be on their issue. ...

--"The White House announced Tuesday that Biden will meet with the NRA on Thursday. He's already held meetings with law enforcement and gun control advocates. The administration is also reaching out to major philanthropic organizations not typically associated with gun reform asking for their support. Former Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot by a gunman in 2011, launched a new anti-gun violence website this week with her husband and published an op-ed in USA Today, urging reform. And long-time advocates are pushing hard on Capitol Hill. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), along with other gun control advocates, introduced legislation the first day of the 113th Congress that would
ban high capacity ammunition magazines. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has also pledged to reintroduce the assault rifle ban legislation."
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-- Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said Tuesday he plans to introduce a bill to toughen requirements for purchasing ammunition, Scott Wong reports. The proposal would require retailers to use an FBI database to conduct background checks on anyone who buys bullets and report to law enforcement when someone purchases more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition. Background checks are currently only required for the sale of firearms.
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PELOSI: CONGRESS MUST ACT ON GUN CONTROL - The New York Times' Carl Hulse caught up with the minority leader. "As she begins her second Congress as leader of the opposition in the House, Representative Nancy Pelosi of California is confident that Democrats will get behind President Obama on the big clashes with Republicans. But she thinks the president should aggressively line up much wider support for raising the federal debt limit and enacting new gun rules. ... If lawmakers balk, she said, take the issue to the public. 'There has to be a national conversation,' said Ms. Pelosi, who was active in the House in 1994 when Congress passed an assault-weapons ban that has since expired. 'The
safety of our country cannot go as slow as the slowest ship in the House of Representatives or even the United States Senate.' 'If we come out of the Newtown experience and all we do is talk about it and not have a result,' she added, 'that would be a dereliction of duty on the part of us in public office. We must find a place where we can come to agreement on this.'"
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WHO HAS THEWORST WEB PRESENCE IN POLITICS? - POLITICO's Steve Freiss runs down politicians who lack any sort of campaign online, including many on Capitol Hill: "The most recent update on Sen. Kay Hagan's site was on Election Day 2008, while Sen. Tim Johnson's site has his plans for the 112th Congress. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) has links to his MySpace and Facebook accounts - but no link to Twitter. ... The site for Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), jackreed2014.com, is a blank page, which might make visitors think there's a problem with their browsers. A Google search for 'Jim Risch' yields as the top result a paid search ad for the Idaho Republican's campaign website, which, however, has a
notice indicating a new version is 'coming soon.' Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) also has an 'under development' notice.

--"There are, at least according to the first several pages of Google results, no nongovernment sites for Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.), all of whom are up for reelection next year."
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NEW CONGRESS INTRODUCES BILLS ODD AND OLD - Paul Singer writes for USA Today: "In a kind of legislative throat-clearing, lawmakers kicked off the new Congress last week by introducing dozens of oddball bills that have no chance of becoming law -- they are merely intended to get our attention.Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., proposed eliminating presidential term limits; Republican Rep. Paul Broun of Georgia offered a bill to return the United States to a currency tied to gold; and a handful of bills were proposed to cut congressional pay, pensions and other benefits. Many of the 200 or so bills introduced in the first two days of the 113th Congress are simply new versions of old legislation that
went nowhere in previous sessions of Congress. Most of these bills generally appear intended to make a political point, not make new law."
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TUESDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Jon Deuser was first to correctly answer that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office four times.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Varun Anand has today's question: When was the first time five former presidents were alive at the same time? First to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. Email me at
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