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By James Hohmann (
mailto:jhohmann@politico.com
jhohmann@politico.com ; Twitter: @jameshohmann)

SENATE RETIREMENTS LIKELY TO HURT DEMS: "Sen. Jay Rockefeller won't talk about it. Neither will his fellow Democratic Sens. Tom Harkin, Carl Levin, Tim Johnson and Frank Lautenberg. None of these senior senators will give a definitive answer about whether they're running for re-election in 2014," Manu Raju reports. "On the Democratic side the concern over retirements is more acute - the senators most likely to leave come from red states like West Virginia and South Dakota or swing states like Iowa. On the Republican side, perhaps the most likely retirement centers on Thad Cochran, who presumably would be replaced by another GOP senator in deep-red Mississippi." Even Kay Hagan in North
Carolina does not sound 100 percent!
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6a266a394d595f7a36d09d5409ec3ed33c9b351bf32a617f8537f45ce9da3d95
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6a266a394d595f7a36d09d5409ec3ed33c9b351bf32a617f8537f45ce9da3d95

QUINNIPIAC POLL GIVES CHRIS CHRISTIE 72 PERCENT FAVORABLE RATING: New Jersey voters also approve 84-12 of their governor's praise for Obama, including 69-28 among Garden State Republicans:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2e3b1b5e9ba54a2d17110cbed8bd2906e90386f419ae8ce5163bfbb08d0d7d05
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2e3b1b5e9ba54a2d17110cbed8bd2906e90386f419ae8ce5163bfbb08d0d7d05 . Yesterday, he announced that he will run for reelection while visiting a town ravaged by Sandy. He cited recovery efforts as one reason for seeking a second-term. "It would be wrong for me to leave now," the governor said, per the Philly Inquirer. "I don't want to leave now. We have a job to do."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2e3b1b5e9ba54a2d97974c4ff48fe747ebec3a2690b39fda41a55ba4a54ac50f
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2e3b1b5e9ba54a2d97974c4ff48fe747ebec3a2690b39fda41a55ba4a54ac50f

IN DC, JEB HUDDLES WITH ALUMNI: "Former Florida governor Jeb Bush met Monday with a group of his former staffers at the J. W. Marriott hotel," National Review's Bob Costa reports. "Bush...spent an hour in the hotel's Cannon room, reminiscing and entertaining questions about his political future. In an interview with NRO, Bush did not rule out a presidential run. 'I am here to catch up with folks and promote education reform,' he said, smiling. When asked again whether he will issue a Sherman-type statement about his future, Bush remained coy...Neil Newhouse, Mitt Romney's campaign pollster, was at the meeting, as were several veteran Florida operatives." Spotted at Jeb's cocktail party:
Justin Sayfie, Reginald Brown, Kathleen Shanahan, Jill Bratina Kermes, Raquel Rodriguez, Mark Kaplan and Nina Oviedo.
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2e3b1b5e9ba54a2dc65e0b3f48f459613be9bd5ff52f41114af9154de0651e4c
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2e3b1b5e9ba54a2dc65e0b3f48f459613be9bd5ff52f41114af9154de0651e4c [He's hosting an education summit in town today. Condi, Mitch Daniels and Arne Duncan will speak.]

MEANWHILE-"THE GEORGE W. BUSH FOUNDATONreceived nearly $77 million last year from undisclosed donors," according to today's Dallas Morning News. "That brings the foundation's five-year fundraising total to about $415 million, well beyond officials' stated goal of raising $300 million to build and launch the library, museum and George W. Bush Policy Institute on the Southern Methodist University campus. Mark Langdale, the foundation's president, said the haul would allow the building to be fully paid off when it opens in April and would secure the center's endowments created in connection with SMU and the National Archives and Records Administration. Now the focus turns to supporting and
expanding the Bush Policy Institute, which already has a robust staff and programs in everything from global health to education reform to economic growth."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2e3b1b5e9ba54a2d0f873aab30525f097a1db5ef8d23dbba7ee34457e8574809
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2e3b1b5e9ba54a2d0f873aab30525f097a1db5ef8d23dbba7ee34457e8574809

RYAN PICK SURPRISED AXE: "Speaking to students at the University of Chicago Monday, senior strategist David Axelrod said by choosing Congressman Paul Ryan, Romney played to his base at a time when he needed to be broadening his appeal," the AP reports. "Axelrod says he expected Romney to choose either Ohio Gov. Rob Portman or former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty. But Axelrod says Ryan's selection wasn't nearly as big of a surprise as 2008, when John McCain picked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2e3b1b5e9ba54a2db26b9ba5cc99656f7b830c7e24d26dd461359843766bfb2b
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2e3b1b5e9ba54a2db26b9ba5cc99656f7b830c7e24d26dd461359843766bfb2b

STAT DU JOUR: More than 60 percent of the 1,091 super PACs ever created have never raised a dime, notes Dave Levinthal.
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2e3b1b5e9ba54a2d195650d4c4ed4e91672fd7d44b1b2a9343936228104714dc
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2e3b1b5e9ba54a2d195650d4c4ed4e91672fd7d44b1b2a9343936228104714dc

As the House Ethics Committee puts its Grimm investigation on hold (which is bad news for him), Ralph Reed defends social conservatives and Capito's Senate run exposes fissures on the right, here's POLITICO's Morning Score: your daily guide to the permanent campaign.

DAYBOOK-OBAMA AND BIDEN IN DC: They're staying in the White House for a bilateral meeting with the Mexican president, lunch with each other and a sit-down with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Jay Carney briefs at 12:30.

FISCAL CLIFF ROAD SHOW: "Obama will visit a manufacturing plant of the Rodon Group in Hatfield, Pa. on Friday - a toy company that makes Tinkertoy, K'NEX Building Sets and Angry Bird Building Sets, among other things," Byron Tau reports. "According to a White House official, Obama will make the case that the uncertainty over the fiscal cliff standoff will impact consumer spending this holiday season and will cause a plunge in retail sales if taxes go up next year."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2e3b1b5e9ba54a2d19a9f3cd50e3548745032c8f9a90434b6f6352f33f3c3ace
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2e3b1b5e9ba54a2d19a9f3cd50e3548745032c8f9a90434b6f6352f33f3c3ace

RICE MEETING WITH 3 SENATE CRITICS THIS MORNING: "GOP Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire have agreed to a joint meeting with Rice so that she can answer questions about why she incorrectly described the assault as something that originated with a spontaneous demonstration, rather than being a deliberate terrorist attack," Scott Wong reports. "Rice made those remarks on five Sunday talk shows."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2e3b1b5e9ba54a2d57ab0d90f40433c23b0f0a08ae8f2e8591a5442dca75fbe6
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2e3b1b5e9ba54a2d57ab0d90f40433c23b0f0a08ae8f2e8591a5442dca75fbe6

POLLING-

CNN/ORC: 54% dissatisfied with Obama's response to Libya. 48% believe the embassy attack was preventable. 44% think the Petraeus resignation was handled appropriately. 44% don't.
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2e3b1b5e9ba54a2daf844b17389315b18a70b30f57590960c659b60f5c575786
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2e3b1b5e9ba54a2daf844b17389315b18a70b30f57590960c659b60f5c575786

CNN: 2/3 say a fiscal cliff agreement should include a mix of spending cuts and tax increases, with just under one in three saying a deal should only include spending cuts. "Democrats questioned in the survey overwhelmingly support an agreement that has both, and six out of ten independents feel the same way. By a 52%-44% margin, Republicans also favor a mixture of spending cuts and tax increases instead of a deal that only includes spending cuts."

GOP IMAGE PROBLEM: "53% hold an unfavorable view of the Republican Party; only 42% want to see congressional Republican have more influence than the president over the direction the nation takes in the next two years. And seven in ten say the GOP has not done enough to cooperate with Obama."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2e3b1b5e9ba54a2d994838ff36e1999a7684250c8211651f0a169754ca107f89
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2e3b1b5e9ba54a2d994838ff36e1999a7684250c8211651f0a169754ca107f89

GALLUP-Congress approval rating is at 18 percent.
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2ad650c527c79ce9be95c70cd1c5e137697182e2346dfa83a3feafa4706c4c14
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2ad650c527c79ce9be95c70cd1c5e137697182e2346dfa83a3feafa4706c4c14

ELECTION FALLOUT, CONT.-

DONALD TRUMP HITS ROMNEY OVER "SELF DEPORTATION": He told NewsMax yesterday that Mitt Romney's "maniacal" and "crazy" policy of "self-deportation" alienated Asian and Hispanic voters and helped cost him the election. "It sounded as bad as it was, and he lost all of the Latino vote," Trump said. "He lost the Asian vote. He lost everybody who is inspired to come into this country...Republicans didn't have anything going for them with respect to Latinos and with respect to Asians...The Democrats didn't have a policy for dealing with illegal immigrants, but what they did have going for them is they weren't mean-spirited about it. They didn't know what the policy was, but what they were is they
were kind."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2ad650c527c79ce9604e9a873d4bfea809b75c6b6145bb8a514304c26e4e3fd6
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2ad650c527c79ce9604e9a873d4bfea809b75c6b6145bb8a514304c26e4e3fd6

RALPH REED SAYS OPPOISITION TO ABORTION IS POLITICAL WINNER: "When Republicans lose, the chattering class always blames religious folk," he wrote in yesterday's Wall Street Journal. "Conservative evangelicals are arguably the largest single constituency in the electorate...To be sure, the Republicans need to build bridges to Hispanics and minorities, women and younger voters. But unlike the conventional wisdom, social issues properly framed are one of the keys to a stronger, more diverse Republican coalition. According to Gallup, a majority of Americans now consider themselves pro-life, including one-third of Democrats. Younger voters are one of the most pro-life segments of the electorate,
with 51% of college-age 'millennials' stating that having an abortion is morally wrong. A 2012 survey of voters 30 years or younger by Naral Pro-Choice America found that pro-life voters were twice as likely as their pro-choice peers to say abortion is an important issue in determining their vote."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2ad650c527c79ce903025ce083a65ff50c9565951e920bdbd42f2e582e811ebd
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2ad650c527c79ce903025ce083a65ff50c9565951e920bdbd42f2e582e811ebd

PEW: "Obama won a majority of white non-Hispanics under 30 in 2008, but lost this group to Romney this year. In contrast, Obama won young African Americans and Hispanics by margins that were about as large as in 2008. His losses among young voters since 2008 might have been even greater, but for the fact that the under 30s are by far the most racially and ethnically diverse age group. Just 58% are white non-Hispanic, compared with 76% of voters older than 30."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2ad650c527c79ce98c46bd2101b0e71c0c7029df4eb8bf3f62983b39fbb390a0
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2ad650c527c79ce98c46bd2101b0e71c0c7029df4eb8bf3f62983b39fbb390a0

TAXES-

BOOM-GROVER'S NEW ZINGER FOR PLEDGE BREAKERS: "The pledge is not for life, but everybody who signed the pledge including Peter King, and tried to weasel out of it, shame on him," Norquist said on Piers Morgan last night. "I hope his wife understands that commitments last a little longer than two years or something."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2ad650c527c79ce952e7a4bc4c6686faf9a94a6e39cb045fa76e7509ab6ac574
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2ad650c527c79ce952e7a4bc4c6686faf9a94a6e39cb045fa76e7509ab6ac574

WSJ EDITORIAL DEFENDS THE PLEDGE: "The one thing Republicans shouldn't do is join the media and Democratic chorus that Mr. Norquist and his pledge are the root of our political and economic woes. The real problems are a political class that won't control its spending and economic policies that are retarding growth...Mr. Norquist's tax pledge has been one of the few restraints over the years against those bad Beltway appetites. Democrats demonize Grover because they know this. They want to pit Mr. Norquist against other Republicans precisely so they can dispirit the tea party grass-roots and take away the tax issue as a GOP advantage. Republican voters know that elections have
consequences and that Mitt Romney's defeat means there will be policy defeats too. But they will give the House and Senate GOP credit if it fights for its principles and drives a hard bargain."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2ad650c527c79ce94006c273c1ebfc14e77942648c30d6664acde47a32f0cc26
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2ad650c527c79ce94006c273c1ebfc14e77942648c30d6664acde47a32f0cc26

ICYMI-BOB CORKER BROKE WITH GROVER YESTERDAY: "I'm not obligated on the pledge," he said on CBS yesterday. "I made Tennesseans aware, I was just elected, the only thing I'm honoring is the oath I take when I serve, when I'm sworn in this January."

WEST VIRGINIA - CONSERVATIVES SIGNAL THEY WON'T GO ALONG: "Not even three weeks since the election, Capito's challenge to Democrat Sen. Jay Rockefeller is already shaping up as test case of whether Republicans can overcome deep fissures within the party and produce palatable general-election candidates who aren't fatally wounded by bruising primary battles," Dave Catanese reports. "Within an hour of Capito's campaign kickoff in Charleston, the anti-tax Club for Growth fired the first warning shot. Fresh off winning a seventh term in the House, Capito was deemed too 'establishment' and not conservative enough by the Washington-based group, which most recently assisted in the takedown of
Indiana Sen. Dick Lugar. The Senate Conservatives Fund, which was founded by South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, also signaled outright opposition. Another conservative group, FreedomWorks, cited Capito's mediocre 61 percent rating in its vote rankings in saying an endorsement would not be 'automatic.'"
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2ad650c527c79ce9b8f4767409f7ded4ad747d550d4bd577415f9710bec89d3e
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2ad650c527c79ce9b8f4767409f7ded4ad747d550d4bd577415f9710bec89d3e

ILLINOIS PRIMARY TO REPLACE JACKSON IS FEB. 26: "The special primary election to replace former Democratic Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. will take place on Feb. 26, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn announced Monday," Alex Isenstadt reports. "The general election is temporarily slated for March 19, though Quinn said he will work with state officials to have it moved to April 9. Cook County officials have requested the April date, along with the Feb. 26 date, because they correspond with when local elections will be held...A host of local Democrats are considering running. On Monday, former Democratic Rep. Debbie Halvorson, who unsuccessfully challenged Jackson in 2012, announced that she would be running."

NEW YORK SPECIAL? - HOUSE ETHICS PUTS GRIMM PROBE ON HOLD: "The Justice Department has asked the House Ethics Committee to hold off on its probe of Rep. Michael Grimm while federal investigators conduct a criminal investigation of the New York Republican over alleged campaign-finance violations," John Bresnahan reports. "DOJ is looking into Grimm's relationship with Ofer Biton, an Israeli citizen with close ties to Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto, who has a large following in New York. Grimm - with Biton's help - raised more than $500,000 from Pinto's followers, including alleged improper cash donations or contributions from non-U.S. citizens. Biton reportedly sought help from Grimm in
obtaining a green card."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2ad650c527c79ce99583e27fb5013445aa985e6def0863b0b98c931ce4a9dd6b
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2ad650c527c79ce99583e27fb5013445aa985e6def0863b0b98c931ce4a9dd6b

2016-

NATIONAL REVIEW SUPPORTS KILLING THE IOWA STRAW POLL: "The media as much as anyone have imbued the story of Ames with an import that the reality of Ames has not justified - and cannot justify," says an editorial. "And they help sell the fiction that the straw poll highlights the divergent preferences of the "grassroots" and the "establishment," and not the divergent preferences of a hand-picked, bused-in sample and the Republican electorate nationwide. This fiction now infects the debate about Ames's future, because the Ames we read about is not the non-predictive, distortive Ames of reality, but a mythic creature in a story. And like so many mythic creatures, this one needs slaying."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2ad650c527c79ce95bc24c399591376c8744c7f6f5b4bc7bb93087739a9b7eac
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2ad650c527c79ce95bc24c399591376c8744c7f6f5b4bc7bb93087739a9b7eac

NARROW MAJORITY OF IOWA GOP CENTRAL COMMITTEE WANTS TO KEEP IT: "As much as Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad and Republicans outside Iowa might want to kill it or to create a new signature event, it's the Republican state central committee that's the final decision-maker. And right now, a slim majority of members leans toward retaining it, they said in phone interviews with The Des Moines Register," Jennifer Jacobs reports this morning. "The fate of the August 2015 straw poll will turn on which faction of the Iowa GOP can stack enough of its members onto the central committee that's elected in April 2014 at district conventions...Many of the committee's staunchest straw poll defenders are Ron Paul
followers...Branstad on Monday told reporters at his weekly news conference that he favors a series of regional events that would still raise money for the Iowa GOP and raise visibility for presidential candidates." Great list of the central committee members and what each one thinks:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2ad650c527c79ce9ec1898ddd962a3db808c9a89ea697268483d2172308a80fb
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2ad650c527c79ce9ec1898ddd962a3db808c9a89ea697268483d2172308a80fb .

RICK SANTORUM SAYS HE'S "OPEN" TO 2016 BID: 'I'm open to that possibility,' the former senator told Piers Morgan on CNN last night. 'But we're a long way...I'm focused right now on trying to stay involved in the fray and make sure that we do the right thing up on Capitol Hill right now.'
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=72ad1247b8bcd1d88a89e078ad7a23c2bba996bb96acb5b35061fcf390ce8a63
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=72ad1247b8bcd1d88a89e078ad7a23c2bba996bb96acb5b35061fcf390ce8a63

SCOTT WALKER CONFIDENT HE WON'T BE INDICTED: "Walker tells The Associated Press in a Monday interview that he is focused on putting together the next state budget and working as governor...Walker says he has talked with Ryan about pheasant hunting and going to Mass, but he has not talked with him about anything presidential. Walker says, 'I've worked far too hard to become the governor and governor again to worry about anything else after that.'" What's more, Walker said he is "absolutely" confident that he is not a subject of a criminal investigation involving former aides in his Milwaukee County office:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=72ad1247b8bcd1d86a01068e724727e0f5cfbddf0e4ea59ce8e8208af34b24c9
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=72ad1247b8bcd1d86a01068e724727e0f5cfbddf0e4ea59ce8e8208af34b24c9 .

RICK PERRY NAMES CHIEF OF STAFF TO SUPREME COURT: Jeffrey S. Boyd will fill a vacancy on the Texas Supreme Court. "Boyd, a 21-year lawyer who also has served as general counsel in the governor's office, will join the court Dec. 3 and must be confirmed by the Texas Senate during the legislative session that begins in January," the Austin American-Statesman reports. "Perry praised Boyd as a respected lawyer who has excelled in private practice and in government. Boyd's appointed term will expire in 2014, when he would face election to remain on the court. He will replace Dale Wainwright, who resigned from the nine-member, all-Republican court Sept. 30 and joined the Austin office of Bracewell
and Guiliani."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=72ad1247b8bcd1d894e0365ae99c76d70daaa334f3326a9e0396ca93c58ca927
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=72ad1247b8bcd1d894e0365ae99c76d70daaa334f3326a9e0396ca93c58ca927

MIKE PENCE TAPS A DANIELS GUY TO BE BUDGET CHIEF: "Gov.-elect Mike Pence will appoint a former budget adviser to outgoing Gov. Mitch Daniels as state budget director," the Indianapolis Star reports. "Chris Atkins will lead the Pence administration's efforts to put together the state's next two-year budget as director of the Indiana Office of Management and Budget. He previously served in the budget office as general counsel and policy director under Daniels. Atkins left the administration to serve as policy director for Pence's gubernatorial campaign, which credited him in a news release for writing policy memos and developing Pence's 'Roadmap for Indiana' plan. That platform included a 10
percent cut in the state income tax rate, ideas to spur job creation, and initiatives focused on education and workforce development. The appointment is the Republican governor-elect's first major personnel announcement."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=72ad1247b8bcd1d8f8afc4fef708024d2fa8ac98c915e981f98683d98f051790
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=72ad1247b8bcd1d8f8afc4fef708024d2fa8ac98c915e981f98683d98f051790

NIKKI HALEY TAKES HEAT FOR EXPENSIVE FOREIGN JUNKETS: "Taxpayers paid out $134,000 for a pair of overseas economic-development trips to England and Japan this year attended by Gov. Nikki Haley, according to records released Monday," The State reports. "The Commerce Department, which had officials joining the governor on the trips, said the trips have not yet produced any jobs or new or expanded plants. The two trips combined cost less than the $158,000 that taxpayers spent on the trip to a Paris air show by Haley and others in 2011, which generated some public outcry."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=72ad1247b8bcd1d86b84a94f89f711b8ae2ef28face4676eba65e3bd2ba17ae3
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=72ad1247b8bcd1d86b84a94f89f711b8ae2ef28face4676eba65e3bd2ba17ae3

NEW HAMPSHIRE-SANTORUM MANAGER WON'T RUN FOR GOP CHAIR: Mike Biundo told the Union Leader yesterday that he will probably set up a consulting business instead of running for the volunteer, unpaid chairmanship. "Current NHGOP Chairman Wayne MacDonald said he has not yet made a decision whether to seek election to a full term. A former party vice chair, he is filling the unexpired term of Jack Kimball, who resigned as chairman just more than a year ago...Nashua activist Jennifer Horn is also still considering whether to run for party chairman. The Status has learned that she had a lengthy meeting with U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte on Sunday."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=72ad1247b8bcd1d8b2055f55e6521cd2d1b1ac79ca580d351317e8c7a4e0f5a4
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=72ad1247b8bcd1d8b2055f55e6521cd2d1b1ac79ca580d351317e8c7a4e0f5a4

GRAB BAG-

INTRADE, which I've proudly NEVER mentioned in Morning Score until today, will close its U.S. accounts next month after regulators finally cracked down:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=72ad1247b8bcd1d817754a22a982bde519c3b35b50f1d8a2e006834b2d2ff235
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=72ad1247b8bcd1d817754a22a982bde519c3b35b50f1d8a2e006834b2d2ff235 .

HEATH SHULER, the North Carolina Democrat who epitomizes the kind of Democrat Rahm recruited for his 2006 House takeover, will run the Duke Energy lobbying shop:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=72ad1247b8bcd1d8e151595e59f8b70109dc040304af3232f87c6679417b536f
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=72ad1247b8bcd1d8e151595e59f8b70109dc040304af3232f87c6679417b536f .

A KENTUCKY HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER wrote 'You can't be a Democrat & go to heaven' on her whiteboard the week after the election. The school says she violated policy, but they're allowing her to continue instructing students:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=72ad1247b8bcd1d83da5959657085e7d9f005236bc01d6ccc74c42e74fca5d45
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=72ad1247b8bcd1d83da5959657085e7d9f005236bc01d6ccc74c42e74fca5d45 .

LIGHTER CLICKS -

JON STEWART made fun of cable's desire to name winners and losers after the Gaza cease fire agreement:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=72ad1247b8bcd1d892faf5525f63dc1711c4d08f841ecbe3849d89a268ce8130
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=72ad1247b8bcd1d892faf5525f63dc1711c4d08f841ecbe3849d89a268ce8130 .

JENNA BUSH will be an editor-at-large of Southern Living magazine:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ea6bdbf8740ee3e9bb0e307aae847b69fd956de59ca8b7803db3bd4d5c1bb04c
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ea6bdbf8740ee3e9bb0e307aae847b69fd956de59ca8b7803db3bd4d5c1bb04c .

SANTA CLAUS finished fifth in presidential balloting in Maryland, pulling 625 votes:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ea6bdbf8740ee3e9461599f09a8fcd829bb798c896a250efa1d6d873ed0c5ef1
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ea6bdbf8740ee3e9461599f09a8fcd829bb798c896a250efa1d6d873ed0c5ef1 . (h/t Kyle Dropp)

LIZA RYAN, Paul's 10-year-old daughter, bagged a deer while hunting in Oklahoma:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ea6bdbf8740ee3e9b14920c11513571ecf894624f322018c94d256124aee0795
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ea6bdbf8740ee3e9b14920c11513571ecf894624f322018c94d256124aee0795 .

TOM RICKS said at the end of an interview on Fox News that the network has operated "as a wing of the Republican Party":
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ea6bdbf8740ee3e9caa0f64d7b2eb4a89f92a249afe0157ea6e07eb21811cd4d
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ea6bdbf8740ee3e9caa0f64d7b2eb4a89f92a249afe0157ea6e07eb21811cd4d .

JAY ROCKEFELLER was excellently profiled by Robin Toner (RIP) as a potential 1992 presidential candidate in the New York Times Magazine. This is a joke he told on himself back then: 'The good news is I have 100 percent name identification in Iowa. The bad news is one-third of the people think I'm the banker who foreclosed on their farm, one-third think I run the oil company that raised the price of gasoline and one-third think I'm the guy who sold Manhattan to the Japanese.' Fun walk down memory lane, via Jonathan Martin:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ea6bdbf8740ee3e9dd087e6a86ccdc134a63109d668622c24fb71815b9c6a53c
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ea6bdbf8740ee3e9dd087e6a86ccdc134a63109d668622c24fb71815b9c6a53c .

CODA - QUOTE OF THE DAY: 'I think that the reality of modern-day Washington is a little different than it was in 1801...The notion that you can solve all problems over a cocktail I think is a little overrated." - White House Press Secretary Jay Carney disses Jon Meacham

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