First Read from NBC News – Christie’s big favor to Booker Wednesday, 14 August 2013

Booker cruises to victory — and he can thank Chris Christie for the shortened primary race… Turnout was better than expected, but that’s not saying much… The NYT’s revealing piece on the Clinton Foundation… The nuggets in the article: Perks for celebrities, allegations of mismanagement, worries about financial conflicts of interest… And RNC begins three-day meeting in Boston.

*** Christie’s big favor to Booker: Last night in New Jersey, Newark Mayor Cory Booker — as expected — easily won the special Democratic Senate primary, and he’ll be the overwhelming favorite in the Oct. 16 special general election against conservative activist Steve Lonegan. With 98% of precincts reporting, Booker got 59% of the vote, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) got 20%, Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) got 17%, and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver got 4%. On the GOP side, Lonegan crushed physician Alieta Eck, 79%-21%. But here’s a thought exercise: Does anyone think that Booker’s large margin of victory would have occurred if the race had been a year-plus slog taking place in 2014 instead of a two-month sprint? As Buzzfeed has noted, his opponents had plenty of ammunition. “The weekend before the biggest election of his life, Cory Booker had problems: His digital media company was the subject of two critical articles in The New York Times; his personal finances were under scrutiny; and the Republican he’d be facing in the general was on the warpath before polls had even opened for the primary.” But the opposition didn’t have enough time to erase Booker’s significant money, name ID, and demographic advantages. Bottom line: By scheduling very quick elections, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) did Booker a very big favor. And Cory Booker is now on the fast track to becoming the state’s next senator after Oct. 16…

*** Turnout was better than expected — but that’s not saying much: In the handful of elections this year, turnout has been INCREDIBLY low. Just 23% of registered voters turned out in Los Angeles’ mayoral run-off, and Eric Garcetti won with the lowest raw vote total (222,300) of any incoming mayor since Frank Shaw in 1933 (187,368)!!! In Massachusetts’ special Senate election back in June, turnout was an all-time low of 28%, and winner Ed Markey’s 645,000 votes were significantly less than defeated Martha Coakley’s 1 million-plus in 2010. And check out these headlines and write-ups from primaries earlier this year: The Star Ledger: “Christie, Buono win party nominations; low voter turnout mark 2013 NJ primary elections.” The Washington Post on Virginia’s June 11 primaries: “A sparse crowd of Virginia Democrats turned out to nominate Ralph Northam for lieutenant governor and Mark Herring for attorney general Tuesday.” However, last night’s contest in New Jersey broke the trend — turnout was higher than expected for a mid-August primary. But that’s not saying much. One the one hand, Booker received the most votes since Bill Bradley in 1978 in a non-presidential Democratic primary. And this was the most votes cast in a Democratic non-presidential Senate primary since the contested 1982 election. On the other hand, Booker only got 2,000 more votes than Christie did in the June uncontested primary, and turnout overall was still only 9%, which is pretty dismal.

*** The NYT’s revealing piece on the Clinton Foundation: If you followed the Clinton White House in the 1990s or Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2007-2008, today’s New York Times story about mismanagement and conflicts of interest inside the Clinton Foundation shouldn’t be too surprising. And the theme is a potential problem for Team Clinton should Hillary run in 2016. “For all of its successes, the Clinton Foundation had become a sprawling concern, supervised by a rotating board of old Clinton hands, vulnerable to distraction and threatened by conflicts of interest. It ran multimillion-dollar deficits for several years, despite vast amounts of money flowing in,” the Times reports.

*** Perks for celebrities, allegations of mismanagement, worries about financial conflicts of interest: Some of the nuggets inside the New York Times story: Despite its budget shortcomings, “the foundation purchased a first-class ticket for the actress Natalie Portman, a special guest, who brought her beloved Yorkie” to a 2009 Clinton Global Initiative gathering at the University of Texas. Also: “But others criticized [Ira] Magaziner, who is widely seen within the foundation as impulsive and lacking organizational skills. On one occasion, Mr. Magaziner dispatched a team of employees to fly around the world for months gathering ideas for a climate change proposal that never got off the ground.” And the story singled out the firm, Teneo, founded by Clinton Foundation big-wig Doug Band. “Its marketing materials highlighted Mr. Band’s relationship with Mr. Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative, where Mr. Band sat on the board of directors through 2011 and remains an adviser. Some Clinton aides and foundation employees began to wonder where the foundation ended and Teneo began.”

*** RNC meets in Boston: Finally, the Republican National Committee today begins holding its three-day summer meeting in Boston. On today’s agenda: A noon ET workshop by Newt Gingrich and RNC Chair Reince Priebus on discussing new ways to lead. On Thursday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) addresses the RNC members (though it’s closed to the press). And on Friday, the RNC holds its general session, as well as a political and technology background briefing. In fact, the thrust of the meeting — the theme is “Making it Happen” — is to highlight how the RNC is changing its approach to technology and voter outreach. “There is no doubt the Obama campaign was ahead of Romney in 2012. That was built around one candidate for one candidate who isn’t running in 2014 or 2016,” an RNC official tells First Read. “The RNC is building a permanent campaign to help Republicans up and down the ticket for cycles to come.”

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*** Wednesday’s “Jansing & Co.” line-up: The program covers the latest on the unrest in Egypt, RNC Communications Director Sean Spicer talks about the GOP, the party’s rising stars and what they are considering to bring in the women and minority vote. And will Oprah’s golden trumpet influence 2016? Craig Garthwaite with the Kellogg School of Mgmt./Northwestern Assistant Prof. of Management and Strategy & Christopher Witherspoon, theGrio.com Entertainment Editor join us to talk about the “O-Factor” in politics. Plus, why does Costco pay employees as much as THREE TIMES as much as other box discount stories and STILL turn a hefty profit? We’ll deep dive into this strategy with Dorian Warren from Columbia University.

*** Wednesday’s “MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts” line-up: MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts will have a live report from Cairo on the deadly clashes in Egypt… Buzzfeed Political Editor McKay Coppins will discuss the New York City Mayoral slugfest… Publicist Marvet Britto and The Washington Post’s Nia-Malika Henderson will join on the politics of Oprah…  MSNBC co-host of “The Cycle” Ari Melber will have another piece in his series “Presumed Guilty” looking at the impact of profit prisons… NBC’s Luke Russert will discuss Hooters’ rejection of San Diego Mayor Bob Filner… Today’s Agenda Panel includes Salon.com’s Joan Walsh, The Wise Latina Club’s Viviana Hurtado and MSNBC.com’s Benjy Sarlin and will discuss the RNC’s summer meeting & Biden vs. Hillary in 2016.

*** Wednesday’s “NOW with Alex Wagner” line-up: Alex Wagner’s guests include economist Jared Bernstein, Huffington Post’s Ryan Grim, and former RNC Chair Michael Steele.

*** Wednesday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Peter Alexander, filling in for Andrea Mitchell, interviews “The Butler: A Witness to History” Author Wil Haygood, Ambassador Nicholas Burns, MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki, The Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson and Chris Cillizza, Politico’s Maggie Haberman and NBC’s Ayman Mohyeldin, Jim Miklaszewski and Luke Russert.

*** Wednesday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts, filling in for Tamron Hall, interviews Lehigh University director of Africana studies James Peterson on Egypt, National action against obesity president Meme Roth on Coca Cola’s new ads defending Diet drinks, and Jeri Lacks Whye, the grandaugher of Henrietta Lacks on the NIH’s recognition of Lack’s contribution to scientific research.

*** Wednesday’s “Jansing & Co.” line-up: The program covers the latest on the unrest in Egypt, RNC Communications Director Sean Spicer talks about the GOP, the party’s rising stars and what they are considering to bring in the women and minority vote. And will Oprah’s golden trumpet influence 2016? Craig Garthwaite with the Kellogg School of Mgmt./Northwestern Assistant Prof. of Management and Strategy & Christopher Witherspoon, theGrio.com Entertainment Editor join us to talk about the “O-Factor” in politics. Plus, why does Costco pay employees as much as THREE TIMES as much as other box discount stories and STILL turn a hefty profit? We’ll deep dive into this strategy with Dorian Warren from Columbia University.

*** Wednesday’s “MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts” line-up: MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts will have a live report from Cairo on the deadly clashes in Egypt… Buzzfeed Political Editor McKay Coppins will discuss the New York City Mayoral slugfest… Publicist Marvet Britto and The Washington Post’s Nia-Malika Henderson will join on the politics of Oprah…  MSNBC co-host of “The Cycle” Ari Melber will have another piece in his series “Presumed Guilty” looking at the impact of profit prisons… NBC’s Luke Russert will discuss Hooters’ rejection of San Diego Mayor Bob Filner… Today’s Agenda Panel includes Salon.com’s Joan Walsh, The Wise Latina Club’s Viviana Hurtado and MSNBC.com’s Benjy Sarlin and will discuss the RNC’s summer meeting & Biden vs. Hillary in 2016.

*** Wednesday’s “NOW with Alex Wagner” line-up: Alex Wagner’s guests include economist Jared Bernstein, Huffington Post’s Ryan Grim, and former RNC Chair Michael Steele.

*** Wednesday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Peter Alexander, filling in for Andrea Mitchell, interviews “The Butler: A Witness to History” Author Wil Haygood, Ambassador Nicholas Burns, MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki, The Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson and Chris Cillizza, Politico’s Maggie Haberman and NBC’s Ayman Mohyeldin, Jim Miklaszewski and Luke Russert.

*** Wednesday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts, filling in for Tamron Hall, interviews Lehigh University director of Africana studies James Peterson on Egypt, National action against obesity president Meme Roth on Coca Cola’s new ads defending Diet drinks, and Jeri Lacks Whye, the grandaugher of Henrietta Lacks on the NIH’s recognition of Lack’s contribution to scientific research.

“It’s date night for President Barack Obama and his first lady,” AP writes. “With their daughters yet to join them on vacation, the Obamas went out for dinner Tuesday night at the Beach Plum Inn, voted the most romantic getaway on Martha’s Vineyard by Martha’s Vineyard magazine.”

Politico: “A terror threat has embassies on high alert. Hurricane season is about to pick up. And over at the Department of Homeland Security, the No. 3 person is about to be left in charge. Not because he was nominated for the top job. But with Janet Napolitano’s upcoming departure Sept. 6, and President Barack Obama’s nominee for deputy secretary tangled in corruption allegations, the undersecretary of homeland security for national protection and programs is the highest confirmed official at the critical agency.”

NBC’s Michael O’Brien reports that “a prominent conservative group marshaled new polling data on Wednesday to try and convince reluctant Republicans that forcing a government shutdown over ‘Obamacare’ wouldn’t necessarily harm the GOP, or cost the party control of the House of Representatives. Heritage Action for America – one of the conservative groups leading the charge to pressure Republican lawmakers against voting to continue government spending unless they can defund President Barack Obama’s health care law – said its new poll of likely voters in 10 relatively competitive congressional districts showed that forcing such a shutdown would not be fatal for the GOP in 2014.”