First Read from NBC News : Christie takes on Rand Paul : Friday, 26 July 2013

Christie takes on Rand Paul on national security… No unified GOP strategy in the upcoming budget/debt ceiling debate… Rubio tries to get his conservative mojo back… Negative stories touching Clinton World begin to surface… Paul Ryan talks immigration… Would Democrats accept a Dream Act-like compromise?… And other nuggets from our NBC/WSJ poll.

*** Christie takes on Rand Paul: Just a day after a band of House libertarian Republicans — joining forces with civil-libertarian Democrats — nearly passed an amendment to defund the NSA’s data-gathering program, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie fired back. “This strain of libertarianism that’s going through parties right now and making big headlines I think is a very dangerous thought,” Mr. Christie said yesterday on a panel with other GOP governors in Aspen, CO, per the New York Times’ Martin. Asked if he were referring to Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Christie answered, “You can name any number of people and he’s one of them,” he said. “These esoteric, intellectual debates — I want them to come to New Jersey and sit across from the widows and the orphans and have that conversation. And they won’t, because that’s a much tougher conversation to have.” Christie added, “The next attack that comes, that kills thousands of Americans as a result, people are going to be looking back on the people having this intellectual debate and wondering whether they put. …” — and then cut himself off.

*** Why Christie’s comments are noteworthy: Christie’s remarks are striking for three reasons. First, they reflect the traditional GOP playbook since World War II when it comes to national security politics: Never let the opposition appear tougher (on terrorism, communism) than you are. Yet the ascendancy of Rand Paul in the Republican Party — remember Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio joining Paul’s filibuster on drones? — raises the possibility that the traditional GOP playbook wouldn’t be operable in 2016, especially if the Democratic nominee is Hillary Clinton. Second, Christie spreading his hawk’s wings allows him to go to the right on national security at a time when he’s perceived as too moderate on other issues (cozying up to Obama, supporting some gun control). And third, some of Christie’s top advisers and aides worked for Rudy Giuliani in 2008, so this is familiar terrain for them. Bottom line: We saw this anti-Paul hit from Rep. Peter King (R-NY) last week as he made the rounds talking about 2016. And now it’s coming from someone MUCH more recognizable in the Republican Party.

*** No unified GOP strategy in the upcoming budget/debt ceiling debate: Speaking of playbooks, we now know what the Obama/Democratic one will be in the looming fall battle over the budget and the debt ceiling — look like the side that doesn’t want to damage the slowly-but-surely growing economy. A new TV ad from Obama’s Organizing for Action (which will air on national cable) features Obama speaking from Wednesday. “Thanks to the grit, resilience, and determination of the American people, we have been able to clear away the rubble from the financial crisis. We have started to lay the foundation for stronger, more durable economic growth.” By comparison, Republicans look to be all over the place. Some are vowing to shut down the government if Obamacare is funded, while others oppose such a move. Some are threatening another showdown over the debt ceiling, while others think that would be a mistake. And here’s something else to consider: 2014 already looks very positive for Republicans: It’s going to be VERY difficult for Democrats to take back the House, and the GOP has a doable (though still narrow) path to take back the Senate. But could a government shutdown or protracted battle over the debt ceiling upend that 2014 apple cart?

*** Rubio tries to get his conservative mojo back: One of the Republicans who is advocating a possible government shutdown if Obamacare isn’t defunded in Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). “Mr. President, it’s not that Washington has taken its eye off the ball; it’s that you refuse to see Obamacare’s failings,” he says in a new web video his office produced after the president visited Jacksonville, FL yesterday. “Several of my colleagues and I have made it clear that we won’t fund Obamacare as part of the short-term spending bill that’s going to be considered in Congress in September.” One reason why Rubio might be making this challenge? He’s trying to get his conservative mojo back after his support and authorship of the Senate’s “Gang of 8” immigration bill. Indeed, our new NBC/WSJ poll shows a decline in his numbers, especially among key conservative groups. Here are the numbers that show the noticeable — though not irreparable — hit he’s taken:

Overall fav/unfav:
Feb. 2013: 24%-17%
April 2013: 28%-16%
July 2013: 23%-20%

Republicans:
Feb. 2013: 47%-7%
April 2013: 49%-6%
July 2013: 42%-11%

Conservatives:
Feb. 2013: 41%-7%
April 2013: 45%-6%
July 2013: 35%-13%

Tea Party voters:
Feb. 2013: 52%-8%
April 2013: N/A
July 2013: 47%-15%

*** Negative stories touching Clinton World begin to surface: As the political world follows one Huma Abedin story (about her husband and his lewd sexting behavior), another Huma story catches our eye. The Daily Beast’s Josh Rogin: “Huma Abedin … is facing an ongoing Senate investigation into the consulting fees she earned while also working as a State Department employee for then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.” More: “In June, 2012, Abedin changed her employment status at the State Department from being a full time employee with the title of deputy chief of staff to being a ‘special government employee,’ a type of contractor that allowed her to take on private clients in addition to her government job that included Hillary Clinton’s post-State Department transition team, the William J. Clinton Foundation, and Teneo Holdings, a firm run by Clinton confidante Doug Band.” When you combine this story with the recent news that a DHS nominee is facing an investigation involving a company run by Hillary Clinton’s brother, Tony Rodham, we’ve got to ask: What would these stories look like in 2015? Fair or not, Clinton World always seems to attract these kinds of stories.

*** Paul Ryan talks immigration: House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) sat down for an interview with NBC’s Frank Thorp. Here were some of Ryan’s comments on immigration. “I do see a path forward. One of the roles I say is being an honest broker and helping our party to achieve a consensus so that we can act on it. We’re going to go with a piecemeal, step-by-step approach. We don’t think legislating a big mess of 1000 page bills is the way to go. And so what we intend to do is bring different bills to the floor and deal with them in stages. Border security, interior security, legal immigration reform, making sure we don’t just leave it to the winds and at the discretion of the administration which quite frankly we just don’t trust.” More from Ryan: “But making sure we actually get border enforcement, we actually get interior enforcement and with respect to the undocumented immigrant, I think there’s a way of fixing this problem without rewarding them for cutting in line.”

*** Would Democrats accept a DREAM Act compromise? Staying with the topic of immigration, political analyst Charlie Cook wonders if Democrats would accept a DREAM Act-like compromise, if a comprehensive immigration bill is unattainable from the GOP-led House. “In the end, the critical question may be whether Democrats would go along in conference with a ‘Dream Lite’ measure—a Republican baby step toward immigration reform, representing all that is possible in the realities of internal GOP politics today—or whether they would prefer to use immigration and, specifically, failure to pass a comprehensive reform law as a club to beat Republicans in 2014 and 2016. My bet is, Democrats will demand far more than House Republicans can possibly deliver.” But here’s the potential complication here: Due to Obama’s executive action from last year, the Dream Act already pretty much exists for young undocumented immigrants. What would Obama and the Democrats be getting here?

*** Other noteworthy nuggets from our NBC/WSJ poll: In this polarized nation, this consensus is striking — 81% of Democrats, 84% of independents, and 86% of Republicans disapprove of Congress… A plurality of Tea Party Republicans (48%) believe their party is too quick to give into President Obama, while a combined 67% of non-Tea Party Republicans believe that the GOP is either too inflexible (36%) or striking the right balance (31%)… George W. Bush’s fav/unfav rating has improved to 38% positive/39% negative; the last time Bush had a net-positive rating was back in July 2005 (47% positive, 43% negative)… And get this: Despite Edward Snowden being in the news for almost two months, 31% of respondents don’t know who he is, and another 24% have neutral feelings about him.

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*** Friday’s “Daily Rundown” line-up with guest host Luke Russert: Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL) on today’s CBC violence summit in Chicago… Rep. Scott Rigell (R-VA) on his call to his colleagues to stay in DC to work instead of heading home for August…. NBC’s Michael Isikoff on the dust-up over the DHS nominee with Clinton and McAuliffe ties… One of us (!!!) with a 2016 round-up… NBC’s Mark Potter on the latest Zimmerman juror to speak out and NBC’s Kevin Tibbles with a preview of today’s court appearance for Ariel Castro… author Daniel Silva on his latest book… Plus National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru, Democratic strategist Steve McMahon and Politico’s M.J. Lee join the Gaggle.

*** Friday’s “Jansing & Co.” line-up: Lisa Bloom/NBC News Legal Analyst on 10am hearing where plea deal is expected to be announced for Ariel Castro – the man accused of keeping three women hostage for years in a Cleveland home, Lisa Bloom will also discuss the first interview from Juror B29 in the George Zimmerman trial who says Zimmerman got away with murder, Nia-Malika Henderson/The Washington Post and Lynn Sweet/Chicago Sun-Times on Attorney General Eric Holder’s plans to get involved in voting rights issues in Texas and other states, Jennifer Fermino/City Hall Bureau Chief for the New York Daily News on the latest revelations in Anthony Weiner sexting scandal, Angela Rye and Brent Littlefield on GOP vs. GOP with revelations that a secret group of prominent Republicans is planning to go after Karl Rove and Jim Obergefell who won a battle to get his marriage to his dying partner recognized in Ohio – a state that has not legalized gay marriage – a decision Ohio’s Attorney General is now appealing.

*** Friday’s “MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts” line-up: Guests include Time’s Zeke Miller, The New Yorker’s Amy Davidson, Bill Scher from Liberal Oasis, Amanda Terkel from Huffington Post, and Trymaine Lee & Benjy Sarlin from msnbc.com.

*** Friday’s “NOW with Alex Wagner” line-up: Alex Wagner’s guests include Huffington Post’s Sam Stein, Time’s Michael Crowley, MSNBC’s Melissa Harris Perry, Business Insider’s Josh Barro, and GOP strategist Steve Schmidt.

*** Friday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews New York City mayoral candidate Christine Quinn, New York Magazine’s Dan Amira, NBC’s Jenna Bush Hager, Ayman Mohyeldin, Kelly O’Donnell and Anne Thompson, the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza and National Journal’s Chris Frates.

*** Friday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: MSNBC’s Alex Witt, filling in for Tamron Hall, interviews Rep. Bobby Rush, former State Dept. official Joel Rubin on Egypt, and Michael Smerconish.

“A group backing President Barack Obama’s agenda will air a national television ad bolstering Obama’s economic vision just as the president strives for an edge in looming fiscal fights this fall,” the AP writes. “Organizing for Action, a group formed out of Obama’s re-election campaign, is launching the ad on Friday and says it will air on cable TV stations for about two weeks.” More: “Although the group is officially independent of the White House, Obama is the sole speaker in the ad, which uses clips from his economic speech Wednesday in Galesburg, Ill.”

AP: “Attorney General Eric Holder announced Thursday that the Justice Department is opening a new front in the battle for voter protections, a response to the Supreme Court ruling that he said dealt a major setback to the Voting Rights Act. In a speech to the National Urban League in Philadelphia, Holder said that as its first move, the department is asking a federal court in San Antonio to require the state of Texas to obtain advance approval before putting future political redistricting changes in place.”

More: “The move in Texas is the Justice Department’s first action to further safeguard voting rights following the Supreme Court decision on June 25, said Holder, ‘but it will not be our last.’ ‘Even as Congress considers updates to the Voting Rights Act in light of the court’s ruling, we plan, in the meantime, to fully utilize the law’s remaining sections to ensure that the voting rights of all American citizens are protected,’ Holder said.”

The Austin American Statesman: “U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder infuriated Texas Republican leaders when he directed the Justice Department to step into a San Antonio federal court case in which groups representing African-Americans and Latinos are suing the state. The organizations — including the Mexican American Legislative Caucus and the NAACP — claimed the Legislature’s 2011 redistricting maps would have discriminated against minorities and hindered their right to vote.”

Politico: “They might as well put a ‘Mess with Texas’ bumper sticker on the presidential limo.”

Ron Brownstein: “Like a lightning flash in a stormy sky, the Trayvon Martin case has illuminated the depth of the impasse between white and nonwhite America. But a similar dynamic looms less visibly behind Washington’s standoff between a Democratic coalition that relies on overwhelming support from minorities and a Republican coalition still almost entirely dependent on the votes of whites, especially older ones. Both developments tell the same challenging story: Even as America experiences its most profound demographic change in more than a century, our society is increasingly fracturing along overlapping racial, generational, and partisan lines. The diversity remaking America could be a source of rejuvenation and innovation, but today it is reinforcing our ferocious partisan polarization.”

And for fresh evidence of that… Pew: “The Supreme Court’s favorability rating has edged below 50% for the first time in nearly three decades of Pew Research Center polling. Currently, 48% have a favorable opinion of the court while 38% have an unfavorable opinion.” Race is a major factor: “In March, 61% of blacks viewed the court favorably while 24% had an unfavorable opinion. Today, their opinions are divided (44% favorable vs. 41% unfavorable). This is among the lowest favorable ratings for the Supreme Court among blacks in polling dating to 1985.”

Obama meets with his full cabinet at Camp David today.

The Asbury Park Press: “FEMA denies aid to religious groups hard hit by Sandy.”

Politico: “A brewing Republican versus Republican fight over whether to use a government funding measure to choke off Obamacare is splitting the party ahead of this fall’s budget battles. … The debate is happening behind closed doors and over Senate lunches, as well as during a frank meeting Wednesday with House leaders in Speaker John Boehner’s suite where fresh concerns were aired about the party’s strategy. On Thursday, the dispute began to spill into public view, most notably when three Senate Republicans — including Minority Whip John Cornyn — withdrew their signatures from a conservative letter demanding defunding Obamacare as a condition for supporting the government funding measure.”

The Hill: “A push to defund ObamaCare using the threat of a government shutdown is gaining momentum among House and Senate conservatives. On Thursday, a group of 12 senators sent a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) stating that none would support a measure to fund the government if it includes resources for the healthcare law. And on the House side, 66 Republicans have backed an effort by Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) to discourage GOP leadership from bringing any bill to the floor that includes ObamaCare money.”

Roll Call: “Sen. Richard M. Burr on Thursday took aim at conservatives who have threatened to shut down the federal government if the 2010 health care law is not defunded, calling it the ‘dumbest idea I’ve ever heard.’ In an audio recording posted by Public Radio International’s Washington correspondent Todd Zwillich, the North Carolina Republican was asked by reporters if he was supportive of the efforts led by GOP Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Marco Rubio of Florida. ‘That’s the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard of,’ Burr said. ‘As long as Barack Obama is president, the Affordable Care Act is going to be the law.’”

The Hill: “House Republicans are fretting over the looming fiscal battles this fall. They claim there has been a lack of communication from GOP leaders on the government shutdown and debt-limit showdowns that lurk after the August recess.”

National Journal: “GOP lawmakers and aides say Boehner plans to assume a more aggressive posture in the upcoming fights to fund the government and raise the debt limit than he’s displayed so far on immigration. Deadlines, politics, and the enormous consequences of inaction all make the stakes much higher in the coming fiscal battles.”

Speaking of immigration… Charlie Cook: “It’s hard to be optimistic about the prospects for comprehensive immigration reform when you talk to House Republicans. My conversations suggest that if anything passes the House, it will most likely be small, bite-sized morsels of largely noncontroversial ideas—lowest-common-denominator items that bear little resemblance to the sweeping immigration measure that passed the Senate on June 27.” More: “[A]ll of this high-minded stuff—that Republicans need to get the immigration issue off the table if they want to win and hold a Senate majority or win the White House—matters little to many GOP House lawmakers who sit in very white, very conservative congressional districts and who have much more to fear from a conservative primary challenger than from a Democrat.”

And Steve King kept calling immigrant children “drug smugglers.”

Evidence of Democrat vs. Democrat infighting… The Hill: “Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) is closing in on winning a majority of senators to back legislation to remove sexual assault cases from the chain of command — sparking a scramble from her opponents to blunt her offensive. Gillibrand has secured support from 44 senators who have co-sponsored her measure or publicly backed it, this week adding Sens. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Michael Bennett (D-Colo.). Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) — the chief authors of an alternative proposal — both fired back against Gillibrand’s bill.”

In a bizarre moment, Roll Call reports Mark Sanford didn’t know votes had been moved up Thursday, and no one knew where he was. He showed up in exercise gear – t-shirt, shorts, and sneakers – and borrowed a blazer. It prompted this from Rep. Duncan Hunter: “Where have you been? Hiking?”

The importance of state-legislative races… Glenn Thrush: “Barack Obama has spent well over $1 billion on his political campaigns, but it’s the $20 million to $30 million Democrats didn’t shell out three years ago that is costing the White House as he slogs through the first six months of his second term. The GOP’s wildly successful, low-key and stunningly cheap campaign to seize state capitals in 2010 has come back to haunt Obama and his fellow Democrats. It’s now clear that the party’s loss of 20 state legislative chambers and critical Midwestern governorships represents an ongoing threat every bit as dangerous as the more publicized Republican takeback of the House that same year.”

“Fans attending a major NASCAR race this weekend will see a most unlikely video posted on a giant video screen shortly before entering the track: a pro-marijuana legalization ad,” USA Today writes. “Outside the NASCAR Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis, the same track that hosts the famed Indianapolis 500, Marijuana Policy Project, the nation’s largest pro-marijuana legalization advocacy group, has purchased space to air – dozens of times over the weekend – a video that pushes the theme that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol. It marks the first time a pro-marijuana legalization ad will appear so close to an entrance gate of a major sporting event.”

Here’s the ad and script: “If you’re an adult who enjoys a good beer, there’s a similar product you might want to know about – one without all the calories and serious health problems, less toxic, so it doesn’t cause hangovers or overdose deaths and it’s not linked to violence or reckless behavior. Marijuana. Less harmful than alcohol and time to treat it that way.”

CALIFORNIA: The pressure tightened for Democratic San Diego Mayor Bob Filner as four more, prominent, highly successful women, came out to PBS and accused him of “inappropriate touching and sexual innuendo.”

The San Diego Union Tribune: “Four prominent women came forward Thursday to accuse Mayor Bob Filner of unwanted sexual advances, adding their voices to the growing chorus of alleged victims calling for the mayor to step down. The women — San Diego Port Tenants Association President Sharon Bernie-Cloward; retired Navy Rear Adm. Ronne Froman; San Diego State University Dean Joyce Gattas and local businesswoman Patti Roscoe — shared their stories in a joint interview with KPBS. They accused Filner of inappropriate touching and sexual innuendo in multiple incidents during the past few years.”

The county Democratic Party is abandoning him, calling for him to resign. “Support for San Diego Mayor Bob Filner continued to crumble Thursday when the county Democratic Party demanded he resign as the sexual harassment scandal around him intensified,” the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

In total, so far, seven women have come forward accusing the Democrat of “unwanted sexual advances and crude behavior.”

And it’s not just the allegations of sexual harassment. Filner’s now also dealing with an investigation by the Union Tribune into a tax-payer/private-group sponsored trip to Paris he took, in which his expenses aren’t detailed and the high cost of his flights are called into question. “San Diego Mayor Bob Filner made public late Thursday the expenses he and his security detail incurred for his June trip to France,” the Union-Tribune writes. “Filner’s office said the cost for his trip was $31,363, not all of it paid for by taxpayers. Filner said his own $9,839 in travel costs were covered by the Organization of Iranian-American Communities, a group Filner described as a nonprofit organization although it is not listed as such in two national databases checked by U-T Watchdog. …  Filner’s airfare was $8,304. The 9:07 p.m. statement from the mayor’s office did not explain why the trip was booked at the last minute, with less than a week to spare before the June 22 rally for the Iranian resistance. U-T Watchdog checked airfares and found that, with more notice, San Diegans can fly to Paris for about $1,200.”

MASSACHUSETTS: A Republican Harvard nanophysics professor is running for Ed Markey’s (D) House seat.

NEW JERSEY: Chris Christie called Rand Paul’s libertarian national-security ideology “dangerous.” “This strain of libertarianism that’s going through parties right now and making big headlines I think is a very dangerous thought,” the New Jersey governor said on Thursday at a Republican governors forum in Aspen, Colo. “You can name any number of people and (Paul is) one of them.”

NEW YORK: Anthony Weiner says it wasn’t just one woman after he resigned from Congress, it was three. And one of the women was on Inside Edition yesterday, saying she loved him, but now despises him. In all, he says it was about 10 women.

The New York Post says Weiner donors are privately saying the only reason they’re giving to his campaign is because of his wife and won’t abandon him until she does.

“A number of Anthony Weiner’s donors won’t abandon the scandal-scarred mayoral candidate as long as his wife, Huma, a Hillary Rodham Clinton aide, still supports him,” the reports.

And finally, Page Six claims Eliot Spitzer’s wife is planning to leave him.

TENNESSEE: Wonder why Lamar Alexander (R) was running those ads so early? Politico: “When Lamar Alexander joined 13 other Senate Republicans to vote for the Gang of Eight’s immigration bill last month, he was waving a red flag in front of the tea party. Attending a rally in Smyrna, Tenn., last weekend, Alexander was greeted by a crowd of about 300 conservative activists — organizers said — wearing bright red T-shirts that read ‘Beat Lamar’ in big bold letters. They held signs that blared: ‘You betrayed us’ and ‘No more RINOs. Conservatives only.’ And to drive their point home, the activists lugged around a rhino mascot dubbed ‘Lamar.’”

Said Drew Ryun, political director of the conservative Madison Project and a former Republican National Committee deputy director, “Unlike previous cycles, Lamar Alexander is in trouble. Immigration is the big issue, especially given some of the things he’s said in the past. His political doublespeak isn’t going to work this time.”

TEXAS: The Austin American Statesman: “Texas Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, swept through Washington on Thursday with a high-dollar breakfast fundraiser in the morning, and a lower-budget affair in the evening, amid indications that she isn’t considering a run for lieutenant governor as an alternative to a run for governor or re-election to the state Senate.”