Correct The Record Saturday November 15, 2014 Roundup

podesta-emails 5,520 words email

P17 D6 V11 P22 P20

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- mQQBBGBjDtIBH6DJa80zDBgR+VqlYGaXu5bEJg9HEgAtJeCLuThdhXfl5Zs32RyB I1QjIlttvngepHQozmglBDmi2FZ4S+wWhZv10bZCoyXPIPwwq6TylwPv8+buxuff B6tYil3VAB9XKGPyPjKrlXn1fz76VMpuTOs7OGYR8xDidw9EHfBvmb+sQyrU1FOW aPHxba5lK6hAo/KYFpTnimsmsz0Cvo1sZAV/EFIkfagiGTL2J/NhINfGPScpj8LB bYelVN/NU4c6Ws1ivWbfcGvqU4lymoJgJo/l9HiV6X2bdVyuB24O3xeyhTnD7laf epykwxODVfAt4qLC3J478MSSmTXS8zMumaQMNR1tUUYtHCJC0xAKbsFukzbfoRDv m2zFCCVxeYHvByxstuzg0SurlPyuiFiy2cENek5+W8Sjt95nEiQ4suBldswpz1Kv n71t7vd7zst49xxExB+tD+vmY7GXIds43Rb05dqksQuo2yCeuCbY5RBiMHX3d4nU 041jHBsv5wY24j0N6bpAsm/s0T0Mt7IO6UaN33I712oPlclTweYTAesW3jDpeQ7A ioi0CMjWZnRpUxorcFmzL/Cc/fPqgAtnAL5GIUuEOqUf8AlKmzsKcnKZ7L2d8mxG QqN16nlAiUuUpchQNMr+tAa1L5S1uK/fu6thVlSSk7KMQyJfVpwLy6068a1WmNj4 yxo9HaSeQNXh3cui+61qb9wlrkwlaiouw9+bpCmR0V8+XpWma/D/TEz9tg5vkfNo eG4t+FUQ7QgrrvIkDNFcRyTUO9cJHB+kcp2NgCcpCwan3wnuzKka9AWFAitpoAwx L6BX0L8kg/LzRPhkQnMOrj/tuu9hZrui4woqURhWLiYi2aZe7WCkuoqR/qMGP6qP EQRcvndTWkQo6K9BdCH4ZjRqcGbY1wFt/qgAxhi+uSo2IWiM1fRI4eRCGifpBtYK Dw44W9uPAu4cgVnAUzESEeW0bft5XXxAqpvyMBIdv3YqfVfOElZdKbteEu4YuOao FLpbk4ajCxO4Fzc9AugJ8iQOAoaekJWA7TjWJ6CbJe8w3thpznP0w6jNG8ZleZ6a jHckyGlx5wzQTRLVT5+wK6edFlxKmSd93jkLWWCbrc0Dsa39OkSTDmZPoZgKGRhp Yc0C4jePYreTGI6p7/H3AFv84o0fjHt5fn4GpT1Xgfg+1X/wmIv7iNQtljCjAqhD 6XN+QiOAYAloAym8lOm9zOoCDv1TSDpmeyeP0rNV95OozsmFAUaKSUcUFBUfq9FL uyr+rJZQw2DPfq2wE75PtOyJiZH7zljCh12fp5yrNx6L7HSqwwuG7vGO4f0ltYOZ dPKzaEhCOO7o108RexdNABEBAAG0Rldpa2lMZWFrcyBFZGl0b3JpYWwgT2ZmaWNl IEhpZ2ggU2VjdXJpdHkgQ29tbXVuaWNhdGlvbiBLZXkgKDIwMjEtMjAyNCmJBDEE EwEKACcFAmBjDtICGwMFCQWjmoAFCwkIBwMFFQoJCAsFFgIDAQACHgECF4AACgkQ nG3NFyg+RUzRbh+eMSKgMYOdoz70u4RKTvev4KyqCAlwji+1RomnW7qsAK+l1s6b ugOhOs8zYv2ZSy6lv5JgWITRZogvB69JP94+Juphol6LIImC9X3P/bcBLw7VCdNA mP0XQ4OlleLZWXUEW9EqR4QyM0RkPMoxXObfRgtGHKIkjZYXyGhUOd7MxRM8DBzN yieFf3CjZNADQnNBk/ZWRdJrpq8J1W0dNKI7IUW2yCyfdgnPAkX/lyIqw4ht5UxF VGrva3PoepPir0TeKP3M0BMxpsxYSVOdwcsnkMzMlQ7TOJlsEdtKQwxjV6a1vH+t k4TpR4aG8fS7ZtGzxcxPylhndiiRVwdYitr5nKeBP69aWH9uLcpIzplXm4DcusUc Bo8KHz+qlIjs03k8hRfqYhUGB96nK6TJ0xS7tN83WUFQXk29fWkXjQSp1Z5dNCcT sWQBTxWxwYyEI8iGErH2xnok3HTyMItdCGEVBBhGOs1uCHX3W3yW2CooWLC/8Pia qgss3V7m4SHSfl4pDeZJcAPiH3Fm00wlGUslVSziatXW3499f2QdSyNDw6Qc+chK hUFflmAaavtpTqXPk+Lzvtw5SSW+iRGmEQICKzD2chpy05mW5v6QUy+G29nchGDD rrfpId2Gy1VoyBx8FAto4+6BOWVijrOj9Boz7098huotDQgNoEnidvVdsqP+P1RR QJekr97idAV28i7iEOLd99d6qI5xRqc3/QsV+y2ZnnyKB10uQNVPLgUkQljqN0wP XmdVer+0X+aeTHUd1d64fcc6M0cpYefNNRCsTsgbnWD+x0rjS9RMo+Uosy41+IxJ 6qIBhNrMK6fEmQoZG3qTRPYYrDoaJdDJERN2E5yLxP2SPI0rWNjMSoPEA/gk5L91 m6bToM/0VkEJNJkpxU5fq5834s3PleW39ZdpI0HpBDGeEypo/t9oGDY3Pd7JrMOF zOTohxTyu4w2Ql7jgs+7KbO9PH0Fx5dTDmDq66jKIkkC7DI0QtMQclnmWWtn14BS KTSZoZekWESVYhORwmPEf32EPiC9t8zDRglXzPGmJAPISSQz+Cc9o1ipoSIkoCCh 2MWoSbn3KFA53vgsYd0vS/+Nw5aUksSleorFns2yFgp/w5Ygv0D007k6u3DqyRLB W5y6tJLvbC1ME7jCBoLW6nFEVxgDo727pqOpMVjGGx5zcEokPIRDMkW/lXjw+fTy c6misESDCAWbgzniG/iyt77Kz711unpOhw5aemI9LpOq17AiIbjzSZYt6b1Aq7Wr aB+C1yws2ivIl9ZYK911A1m69yuUg0DPK+uyL7Z86XC7hI8B0IY1MM/MbmFiDo6H dkfwUckE74sxxeJrFZKkBbkEAQRgYw7SAR+gvktRnaUrj/84Pu0oYVe49nPEcy/7 5Fs6LvAwAj+JcAQPW3uy7D7fuGFEQguasfRrhWY5R87+g5ria6qQT2/Sf19Tpngs d0Dd9DJ1MMTaA1pc5F7PQgoOVKo68fDXfjr76n1NchfCzQbozS1HoM8ys3WnKAw+ Neae9oymp2t9FB3B+To4nsvsOM9KM06ZfBILO9NtzbWhzaAyWwSrMOFFJfpyxZAQ 8VbucNDHkPJjhxuafreC9q2f316RlwdS+XjDggRY6xD77fHtzYea04UWuZidc5zL VpsuZR1nObXOgE+4s8LU5p6fo7jL0CRxvfFnDhSQg2Z617flsdjYAJ2JR4apg3Es G46xWl8xf7t227/0nXaCIMJI7g09FeOOsfCmBaf/ebfiXXnQbK2zCbbDYXbrYgw6 ESkSTt940lHtynnVmQBvZqSXY93MeKjSaQk1VKyobngqaDAIIzHxNCR941McGD7F qHHM2YMTgi6XXaDThNC6u5msI1l/24PPvrxkJxjPSGsNlCbXL2wqaDgrP6LvCP9O uooR9dVRxaZXcKQjeVGxrcRtoTSSyZimfjEercwi9RKHt42O5akPsXaOzeVjmvD9 EB5jrKBe/aAOHgHJEIgJhUNARJ9+dXm7GofpvtN/5RE6qlx11QGvoENHIgawGjGX Jy5oyRBS+e+KHcgVqbmV9bvIXdwiC4BDGxkXtjc75hTaGhnDpu69+Cq016cfsh+0 XaRnHRdh0SZfcYdEqqjn9CTILfNuiEpZm6hYOlrfgYQe1I13rgrnSV+EfVCOLF4L P9ejcf3eCvNhIhEjsBNEUDOFAA6J5+YqZvFYtjk3efpM2jCg6XTLZWaI8kCuADMu yrQxGrM8yIGvBndrlmmljUqlc8/Nq9rcLVFDsVqb9wOZjrCIJ7GEUD6bRuolmRPE SLrpP5mDS+wetdhLn5ME1e9JeVkiSVSFIGsumZTNUaT0a90L4yNj5gBE40dvFplW 7TLeNE/ewDQk5LiIrfWuTUn3CqpjIOXxsZFLjieNgofX1nSeLjy3tnJwuTYQlVJO 3CbqH1k6cOIvE9XShnnuxmiSoav4uZIXnLZFQRT9v8UPIuedp7TO8Vjl0xRTajCL PdTk21e7fYriax62IssYcsbbo5G5auEdPO04H/+v/hxmRsGIr3XYvSi4ZWXKASxy a/jHFu9zEqmy0EBzFzpmSx+FrzpMKPkoU7RbxzMgZwIYEBk66Hh6gxllL0JmWjV0 iqmJMtOERE4NgYgumQT3dTxKuFtywmFxBTe80BhGlfUbjBtiSrULq59np4ztwlRT wDEAVDoZbN57aEXhQ8jjF2RlHtqGXhFMrg9fALHaRQARAQABiQQZBBgBCgAPBQJg Yw7SAhsMBQkFo5qAAAoJEJxtzRcoPkVMdigfoK4oBYoxVoWUBCUekCg/alVGyEHa ekvFmd3LYSKX/WklAY7cAgL/1UlLIFXbq9jpGXJUmLZBkzXkOylF9FIXNNTFAmBM 3TRjfPv91D8EhrHJW0SlECN+riBLtfIQV9Y1BUlQthxFPtB1G1fGrv4XR9Y4TsRj VSo78cNMQY6/89Kc00ip7tdLeFUHtKcJs+5EfDQgagf8pSfF/TWnYZOMN2mAPRRf fh3SkFXeuM7PU/X0B6FJNXefGJbmfJBOXFbaSRnkacTOE9caftRKN1LHBAr8/RPk pc9p6y9RBc/+6rLuLRZpn2W3m3kwzb4scDtHHFXXQBNC1ytrqdwxU7kcaJEPOFfC XIdKfXw9AQll620qPFmVIPH5qfoZzjk4iTH06Yiq7PI4OgDis6bZKHKyyzFisOkh DXiTuuDnzgcu0U4gzL+bkxJ2QRdiyZdKJJMswbm5JDpX6PLsrzPmN314lKIHQx3t NNXkbfHL/PxuoUtWLKg7/I3PNnOgNnDqCgqpHJuhU1AZeIkvewHsYu+urT67tnpJ AK1Z4CgRxpgbYA4YEV1rWVAPHX1u1okcg85rc5FHK8zh46zQY1wzUTWubAcxqp9K 1IqjXDDkMgIX2Z2fOA1plJSwugUCbFjn4sbT0t0YuiEFMPMB42ZCjcCyA1yysfAd DYAmSer1bq47tyTFQwP+2ZnvW/9p3yJ4oYWzwMzadR3T0K4sgXRC2Us9nPL9k2K5 TRwZ07wE2CyMpUv+hZ4ja13A/1ynJZDZGKys+pmBNrO6abxTGohM8LIWjS+YBPIq trxh8jxzgLazKvMGmaA6KaOGwS8vhfPfxZsu2TJaRPrZMa/HpZ2aEHwxXRy4nm9G Kx1eFNJO6Ues5T7KlRtl8gflI5wZCCD/4T5rto3SfG0s0jr3iAVb3NCn9Q73kiph PSwHuRxcm+hWNszjJg3/W+Fr8fdXAh5i0JzMNscuFAQNHgfhLigenq+BpCnZzXya 01kqX24AdoSIbH++vvgE0Bjj6mzuRrH5VJ1Qg9nQ+yMjBWZADljtp3CARUbNkiIg tUJ8IJHCGVwXZBqY4qeJc3h/RiwWM2UIFfBZ+E06QPznmVLSkwvvop3zkr4eYNez cIKUju8vRdW6sxaaxC/GECDlP0Wo6lH0uChpE3NJ1daoXIeymajmYxNt+drz7+pd jMqjDtNA2rgUrjptUgJK8ZLdOQ4WCrPY5pP9ZXAO7+mK7S3u9CTywSJmQpypd8hv 8Bu8jKZdoxOJXxj8CphK951eNOLYxTOxBUNB8J2lgKbmLIyPvBvbS1l1lCM5oHlw WXGlp70pspj3kaX4mOiFaWMKHhOLb+er8yh8jspM184= =5a6T -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- *​**Correct The Record Saturday November 15, 2014 Roundup:* *Headlines:* *New York Times: “Bill Clinton, in Little Rock, Defends His Record With an Eye to Other Chapters” <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/15/us/bill-clinton-in-little-rock-defends-his-record-with-an-eye-to-other-chapters.html>* “In trying to shape public perceptions of his record, Mr. Clinton is effectively establishing the foundation on which his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, may herself run for president in 2016.” *Associated Press: “Clinton alums remember the past, look to future” <http://bigstory.ap.org/article/2dd06a9bc4e44fbe8b9b0e3dec501a4d/clinton-alums-remember-past-look-future>* “Former President Bill Clinton's political family reunited Friday in Arkansas, reminiscing about his two terms in office and relishing the prospect of a first for Hillary Rodham Clinton.” *The Hill blog: Ballot Box: “Podesta leaves open possibility of chairing Clinton campaign” <http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/224228-podesta-leaves-open-possibility-of-chairing-clinton-campaign>* “White House adviser John Podesta left open the possibility of serving as chairman of a Hillary Clinton presidential campaign on Friday, saying he will ‘do whatever she asks me to do.’” *Politico: “Nancy Pelosi: You gotta fight cash with cash” <http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/nancy-pelosi-donors-democracy-alliance-112916.html>* “Asked about efforts to coax Warren into the race, Pelosi, who has signaled support for a likely Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, deflected. ‘She has made her views clear, but you’ll have to talk to her about that,’ Pelosi said of Warren, who declined to talk to POLITICO after her Thursday speech.” *Los Angeles Times column: Doyle McManus: “Sage advice for Hillary Clinton” <http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-mcmanus-hillary-clinton-challenges-20141116-column.html>* “First, don't take the 2016 election for granted; it's wide open, and either party could win. Second, the overriding issue on voters' minds is the economy — specifically, the stagnant lot of middle class workers.” *Roll Call blog: 218: “Benghazi Committee Will Meet During Lame Duck, Chairman Says” <http://blogs.rollcall.com/218/benghazi-committee-will-meet-during-lame-duck-chairman-says/?dcz=>* “Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., told CQ Roll Call Friday the committee will meet ‘in public and in private’ between now and the end of the lame-duck session, which is currently open-ended.” *Bloomberg: “Hillary Clinton's 'Confrontational' Side Illustrated in New Transcripts” <http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2014-11-15/hillary-clintons-confrontational-side-illustrated-in-new-transcripts>* “If insights into Hillary Clinton from her husband's former aides and advisers are what you're looking for, turn instead to the Miller Center at the University of Virginia, which on Friday released a series of transcripts from interviews for its Clinton oral history project.” *The Hill blog: Ballot Box: “Crossroads researching best ways to hit Hillary” <http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/224205-crossroads-researching-best-ways-to-hit-hillary>* “The big-spending conservative super-PAC American Crossroads is still researching the best way to attack likely Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, the group’s president and CEO Steven Law said Friday.” *Articles:* *New York Times: “Bill Clinton, in Little Rock, Defends His Record With an Eye to Other Chapters” <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/15/us/bill-clinton-in-little-rock-defends-his-record-with-an-eye-to-other-chapters.html>* By Amy Chozick and Peter Baker November 14,2014 LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — In front of a crowd of his former White House aides, on a podium set up inside his presidential library, Bill Clinton on Friday defended his legacy as one of policy breakthroughs achieved amid partisan battles, a record that may soon take on fresh relevance. “We made our fair share of mistakes,” Mr. Clinton said in a typically rambling hourlong speech that covered a wide array of events from his tenure. “But in the end, on foreign and domestic policy, economic and social, you can honestly say that people were better off.” Mr. Clinton’s speech came after a day of panel discussions at the William J. Clinton Presidential Center in which former White House aides discussed the former president’s foreign policy, domestic and economic agendas. The discussions, which mostly celebrated the Clinton years, were timed to preview the release of a trove of oral histories assembled by the Miller Center at the University of Virginia that paints a more nuanced view of his administration. All of that might be of academic interest if it concerned any other former president, but for this one, it bears rather profoundly on the future as well as the past. In trying to shape public perceptions of his record, Mr. Clinton is effectively establishing the foundation on which his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, may herself run for president in 2016. The Miller Center interviews were conducted with White House officials, cabinet secretaries, generals, congressional leaders and foreign heads of state in the years after Mr. Clinton left office. The first batch of 47 oral histories posted online on Friday capture the administration’s struggles over whether deficit reduction would prove effective, what the United States should stand for after the end of the Cold War and how to deal with the rise of a Republican Congress. They touched on some of the scandals that afflicted the Clinton administration. “The president always had an eye for attractive women,” Leon E. Panetta, who served as White House chief of staff, said in his interview before recounting how he noticed an intern named Monica Lewinsky and had her banished to the Pentagon. Mickey Kantor, the former commerce secretary, called the president’s last-minute pardon of the financier Marc Rich “the single most inexplicable, devastating thing he did.” The oral histories also underscored how the Clinton administration operated with a series of feuding fiefs and recalled some of the fierce personal enmities. Dick Morris, the president’s Republican political adviser, for instance, was not popular with his colleagues. “A double spy,” Mr. Panetta called him. “Our resident madman,” offered Bruce Reed, the domestic policy adviser. “The oral histories provide a thesaurus for fragmentation,” said Andy Rudalevige, a professor at Bowdoin College. The initial oral histories released Friday offer a glimpse into Mrs. Clinton’s role in her husband’s administration. Mr. Panetta recalled that one of the conditions he laid out when Mr. Clinton asked him to be chief of staff was that “I need to have the first lady’s trust.” He said he “went out of my way to make sure I briefed her on what was going on” and praised her intelligence. But she was tough. Mr. Panetta recalled a time when other Clinton aides emerged from a meeting during which Mrs. Clinton berated them for advocating the release of Whitewater documents. “She just let everybody have it,” he recalled. Both Clintons could be “screamers,” he said, but the president’s faded quickly. “She had much more sustained velocity for a longer period of time.” And yet Mrs. Clinton engendered more devotion from her staff than her husband did from his, another former official recalled. “There’s an interesting difference that always has struck everybody who’s watched it up close, which is that she inspires fierce loyalty and he doesn’t,” observed Roger Altman, who served as deputy Treasury secretary. “She wears her heart on her sleeve much more than he does,” he added. “Less and less now that she’s her own public figure, but that’s her nature.” In his speech, Mr. Clinton encouraged the friends and former aides who gathered in Little Rock to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Clinton Center to participate in the Miller Center project. “If anyone gets approached, for God’s sake, do it, it’s important,” Mr. Clinton said, although he himself has yet to give an interview for the project. But he touched on topics that he felt were left out from the day’s discussions, including defending the controversial North American Free Trade Agreement (“people will thank me for it in 20 years”), the failed effort at health care reform and even Vice President Al Gore (who was “much funnier than he got credit for”). Speaking on an economic panel, Gene Sperling, former director of the National Economic Council, described the uncertainty around Mr. Clinton’s efforts to reduce the deficit, which was ultimately, though temporarily, wiped out by the time he left office. “Anybody who tells you we had a master plan at that point is smoking something,” he said, referring to Mr. Clinton’s decision to allow the government to shut down during a spending dispute with Republicans. “We were scared.” *Associated Press: “Clinton alums remember the past, look to future” <http://bigstory.ap.org/article/2dd06a9bc4e44fbe8b9b0e3dec501a4d/clinton-alums-remember-past-look-future>* By Ken Thomas November 14, 2014, 5:59 p.m. EST LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton's political family reunited Friday in Arkansas, reminiscing about his two terms in office and relishing the prospect of a first for Hillary Rodham Clinton. "In the world of Clinton, there is not an end. There is always tomorrow," said Skip Rutherford, dean of the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service. He first met Bill Clinton in 1973. What the future might mean for the couple depends heavily on Hillary Clinton's decision on whether to make a second bid for president and if so, the degree to which she would defend or distance herself from President Barack Obama and her husband's terms in office. Presidential politics in 2016 swirled around the reunion. In an hourlong address capping the first day, Bill Clinton made no mention of the possibility of another Hillary Clinton campaign but said his two terms had accomplished the goals that it had set. "At the end, on foreign and domestic policy, economic and social, you could honestly say that people were better off when we quit," Clinton said. Even as the Clinton alumni streamed to Little Rock, the former first couple took a touch of friendly fire from Vice President Joe Biden, a potential Clinton presidential rival, on her husband's record of creating jobs during the 1990s. The Clintons often speak of having created 23 million jobs and cutting the poverty rate during Bill Clinton's presidency. But in a speech Thursday, Biden highlighted that how that period is remembered will be important to Hillary Clinton's ambitions. The "middle class started to get into trouble in the late '80s," Biden said. "All through the '90s ... the middle class was declining except the last two years." Republicans, still giddy about their midterm election triumph that handed them complete control of Congress, are busily preparing for 2016. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul assembled his political team at a Washington hotel this week for strategy sessions while former President George W. Bush has encouraged his brother, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, to run. Govs. Chris Christie of New Jersey, Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana will head to Florida next week for an annual Republican Governors Association meeting replete with presidential overtones. The activity signaled that while the Clintonites insisted on an upbeat focus on Bill Clinton's presidential stewardship two decades ago, the 2016 presidential race has effectively begun. Even in the Clintons' orbit, unnamed former campaign operatives were reportedly trying to shape Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign staff even before she has any such campaign. ABC News reported Friday that a Democrat on a private distribution list of ex-campaign staffers leaked bravado-filled emails between two former operatives the source does not support for senior roles in a potential Clinton campaign. In an interview with PBS' Charlie Rose, former Clinton chief of staff John Podesta briefly responded to reports that he would serve as chairman of a Hillary Clinton campaign, saying, "If she runs, as I hope she will, I will do whatever she asks me to do." The Clinton homecoming offered a window into one of the most extensive networks in American politics. In Little Rock, where Bill Clinton served as governor for more than a decade, the couple's wide-ranging array of political allies was on full display, starting with a symposium Friday exploring the former president's legacy in foreign and domestic policy. *The Hill blog: Ballot Box: “Podesta leaves open possibility of chairing Clinton campaign” <http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/224228-podesta-leaves-open-possibility-of-chairing-clinton-campaign>* By Peter Sullivan November 14, 2014, 3:25 p.m. EST White House adviser John Podesta left open the possibility of serving as chairman of a Hillary Clinton presidential campaign on Friday, saying he will "do whatever she asks me to do." Podesta has been thought to be in line to chair Clinton's campaign, and he was asked about the possibility on "Charlie Rose" in a video posted Friday. "If she runs, as I hope she will, I’ll do whatever she asks me to do, but right now she hasn’t made a decision to run and so I’m expecting to return to what I was doing before, which is teaching law at Georgetown Law School and working at a think tank," Podesta said. Podesta is a longtime Clinton adviser, and served as White House Chief of Staff under President Bill Clinton. He founded the liberal-leaning think tank the Center for American Progress. He joined the Obama administration at the end of last year to serve for a year, and he said Friday he will mostly stick to that timeline. “I might stay a little bit longer, through the State of the Union," he said. A departure then would allow him to join a Clinton campaign as it is ramping up. Asked if he had had conversations with Clinton about his role, Podesta said, "You know, I talk to her from time to time." "She hasn’t made a decision, so she’s structured no campaign," he added. While he is expected to have a top job on the campaign, he ended the discussion with a joke. “Maybe I’ll be going door to door," he said. *Politico: “Nancy Pelosi: You gotta fight cash with cash” <http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/nancy-pelosi-donors-democracy-alliance-112916.html>* By Kenneth P. Vogel November 14, 2014, 7:16 p.m. EST House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi appeared behind closed doors at Washington’s Mandarin Oriental hotel to thank major donors for their recent efforts on behalf of liberal and Democratic causes — and ask them not to stop. Despite the results of last week’s midterm elections – a blow-out win for Republicans – Pelosi praised the Democracy Alliance club of wealthy donors for helping shape the political landscape. She specifically mentioned the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act, as well as the 2020 redrawing of congressional district boundaries, in imploring donors to continue supporting efforts to mobilize Democratic voters, according to a source present at the speech. Like the rest of the annual winter meeting of the Democracy Alliance, Pelosi’s speech was closed to the press. Pelosi’s appearance was not on the conference schedule, and came during a panel focused partly on “getting big money out of politics,” according to an agenda. Afterwards, POLITICO asked Pelosi about the irony of major donors meeting behind closed doors to discuss ways to rid the political process of secretive big money spending of the sort many Democracy Alliance members have engaged in. “Well, I think that, for the moment, it will take money to win the election to get people there who believe in taking the money out,” she said, stopping to hug Democracy Alliance donor Wayne Jordan, a real estate developer from her hometown of San Francisco. “People really know that this has to happen – that you just can’t go down this path of secret, undisclosed dark money then attracting other kinds of money,” Pelosi said. “It just builds the skepticism and the cynicism that people have about politics that their voice is less important.” She asserted that campaign finance reform, “has to happen. And, what else has to happen, is we have to get our people on the field to vote. And money is a suppressor of the vote. I have always said that. We suffocate the airwaves with just so much stuff that people just give up and then they don’t vote.” Pelosi acknowledged, though, that with Republicans controlling Congress, there’s little hope of tightening campaign finance rules legislatively. And she conceded the slim prospects of a reform proposal supported by some Democracy Alliance members – a constitutional amendment to reverse the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision striking down campaign spending restrictions as unconstitutional infringements on free speech. Yet she asserted the issue is a winning one for Democrats. “We know that on amending the Constitution — that seems like a big tall order. It is. But you get a standing ovation any place you mention it,” said Pelosi, a voracious fundraiser who has appeared at many Democracy Alliance events. Her speech on Friday was well-received, but not as well-received as the one delivered Thursday evening by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, said the donor. “No one got as good a response as Elizabeth. She’s the overwhelming favorite of the Democracy Alliance.” Some of the donors urged Warren to rethink her opposition to running for president in 2016. Asked about efforts to coax Warren into the race, Pelosi, who has signaled support for a likely Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, deflected. “She has made her views clear, but you’ll have to talk to her about that,” Pelosi said of Warren, who declined to talk to POLITICO after her Thursday speech. *Los Angeles Times column: Doyle McManus: “Sage advice for Hillary Clinton” <http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-mcmanus-hillary-clinton-challenges-20141116-column.html>* By Doyle McManus November 15, 2014, 5:00 a.m. EST It's been almost two weeks since their stinging defeat in midterm elections, but Democrats are still licking their wounds and trying to figure out where they went wrong. They don't have much time to extract the right lessons: The 2016 presidential campaign will begin in earnest any minute now. So I consulted two Democratic sages, each of whom played a central role in electing the last two Democratic presidents: David Axelrod, who worked for Barack Obama in 2008, and James Carville, who worked for Bill Clinton in 1992. Their advice — aimed primarily at Hillary Rodham Clinton, who they both assume will run — boiled down to two basic precepts. First, don't take the 2016 election for granted; it's wide open, and either party could win. Second, the overriding issue on voters' minds is the economy — specifically, the stagnant lot of middle class workers. The candidate with the most convincing remedy for that problem is likely to win. Let's take them in turn. It may seem obvious that you should never take a presidential election for granted. But some Democrats have suggested their party has a virtual lock on the electoral college because more minority voters and young people will turn out in a presidential year. Wrong, Axelrod said at a panel sponsored by the Wall Street Journal. Take no comfort in the demographics, he told the audience, because “history suggests it's very difficult for a party to win after an eight-year run.” There have been seven presidential elections in the last 60 years when voters could extend a party's hold on the White House beyond eight years. They declined to do so six out of seven times. The sole exception was in 1988, when George H.W. Bush defeated a weak Democratic candidate to succeed Ronald Reagan. “Of course people are going to want some kind of change,” said Carville. “No one is going to say: ‘I want the next four years to look like the last eight.'” Lesson 2: the economy. “We have to have a stronger message around economics,” Axelrod said. “The danger for Secretary Clinton is that, as was the case in 2007, her candidacy is out in front of the rationale for it. She needs to jump on that message and stay on that message.” Carville thinks the former secretary of State has already figured that out: She just “needs to talk about it more. We have a lot of work to do. But there's time.” Indeed, Clinton has been talking about the economy — and sounding distinctly populist notes. In May she compared income inequality today to the “age of the robber barons.” Stumping in Boston during the midterm campaign with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), one of the Democrats' toughest critics of Wall Street, Clinton said: “I love watching Elizabeth give it to those who deserve it.” “Don't let anybody tell you that ... it's corporations and businesses that create jobs,” she added. (After Republicans howled, she said she had unduly “shorthanded” a more complex argument.) It's fair to wonder whether Clinton is thinking partly about fending off a primary challenge from candidates to her left, such as Warren. Her speeches have been long on empathy for the struggling middle class, but short on policy proposals to fix their problems. She talks up a basic Democratic wish list — a higher minimum wage, paid sick leave, pay equity for women, pre-kindergarten education — but hasn't added any new ideas. She hasn't endorsed any of the reforms liberal economists have been batting around for reshaping the tax code, such as a hike on upper-bracket earners to pay for tax cuts at the lower end. Of course, it's unfair to expect a non-candidate to roll out a detailed economic platform. Even Clinton should be allowed to decide to run on her own timetable, no matter how desperate her supporters are to see her in the race. But she still faces the challenge of meeting voters' appetite for change: showing how she would be different from an incumbent most voters say they're tired of, especially when her policies aren't all that different from his. How does Clinton turn into a fresh new face? “Simple,” said Carville. “She's not Obama. She can say, ‘Look, I ran against Barack in 2008.' “ Axelrod suggested that Clinton accentuate stylistic differences: less nuance, more bluntness. She did that to great effect, he noted, in the later stages of her 2008 primary campaign. “She was much more visceral. She was closer to the ground. If she can be that candidate in 2016, she will be a much stronger candidate…. She has to throw caution to the wind.” They almost make it sound easy. But Hillary Clinton, despite her supposed advantages, may soon face an unexpectedly difficult challenge: turning a familiar message into one that looks like change voters can once again believe in. *Roll Call blog: 218: “Benghazi Committee Will Meet During Lame Duck, Chairman Says” <http://blogs.rollcall.com/218/benghazi-committee-will-meet-during-lame-duck-chairman-says/?dcz=>* By Emma Dumain November 14, 2014, 3:52 p.m. EST Remember the Select Committee on Benghazi? The panel convened to probe the 2012 attacks on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya, was created in the spring and had its first public hearing in September — but otherwise has been quiet. Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., told CQ Roll Call Friday the committee will meet “in public and in private” between now and the end of the lame-duck session, which is currently open-ended. “I can’t give you any more specifics,” he said as he exited the House chamber following votes on Friday, “but Mr. [Elijah E.] Cummings and I were just chatting about it.” Cummings, a Maryland Democrat, is the Benghazi committee’s ranking member. House GOP leaders said they established the committee because they wanted to restore seriousness to the process that had become hyper-partisan — especially under the jurisdiction of Rep. Darrell Issa’s Oversight and Government Reform Committee — but Democrats countered that it was just an excuse to continue pointing fingers at the Obama administration and a likely 2016 presidential nominee, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was, at the time of the attacks, the secretary of state. And while it may be true that House Republicans really did want to see Congress investigate the incident through a centralized committee, it didn’t hurt them politically, either, to be able to remind constituents that they were the party determined to get to the bottom of the tragic incident. Meanwhile, Democrats say they have been pleasantly surprised by Gowdy’s even-keeled leadership approach, and the September hearing took place with minimal fireworks. *Bloomberg: “Hillary Clinton's 'Confrontational' Side Illustrated in New Transcripts” <http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2014-11-15/hillary-clintons-confrontational-side-illustrated-in-new-transcripts>* By Margaret Talev November 15, 2014, 10:40 a.m. EST [Subtitle:] You don't have to be in Little Rock this weekend to glean insights on Hillary Clinton from Bill's former aides. Hillary Clinton “just tore everybody a new a--hole.” That's how Leon Panetta recalled former White House legislative affairs director Pat Griffin describing how the former first lady responded when she wasn't pleased with the staff in her husband Bill Clinton's presidential administration. Little Rock, Ark., is abuzz this weekend with Bill and Hillary Clinton holding court at a 10th anniversary celebration for the Clinton Presidential Center that's also a sort of pre-union for Hillary Clinton's anticipated 2016 run. But if insights into Hillary Clinton from her husband's former aides and advisers are what you're looking for, turn instead to the Miller Center at the University of Virginia, which on Friday released a series of transcripts from interviews for its Clinton oral history project. Panetta, who was Bill Clinton's chief of staff long before his stints in the Obama administration, offers some of the more colorful observations in his interview, which was conducted in 2003: “There’s no question that she was smart, she was dedicated, she understood the issue and people were a little intimidated by her. There were several meetings where she basically walked in and let everybody have it, very different from what the president would do. If she thought something was going wrong, she’d say it. She was much more confrontational in that sense. “I’ll never forget, Pat Griffin came out of that meeting and his eyes were that wide and he said, 'You will not believe what I’ve just been through.' I said, 'What are you talking about?' I had been at another staff meeting. He said, 'I can’t believe it, I can’t believe what I’ve just been through.' I said, 'What’s the matter?' He said, 'The first lady just tore everybody a new a--hole.' I said, 'Really?' It was that first experience. “When I became chief of staff, recognizing that she was an important factor, I went out of my way to make sure I briefed her on what was going on as chief of staff. But if she ultimately believed that you had the capacity to do a job, she backed off. She served as what I would call a chief of staff-in-waiting, in the sense that if she felt the chief of staff or whoever was not doing the job, she was prepared to protect the president. And she was very good at that.” Marjorie Margolies, the former Pennsylvania congresswoman and Chelsea Clinton's mother-in-law, in a 2007 interview talking about her own experiences as a woman in politics: “I’m doing women’s leadership around the world. You don’t fold in that if you run as an outsider and you do something that they think is folding to the politics, as opposed to sticking up for what you believe in, you hope that that makes sense. But with women especially, the pedestal is then pulled out precipitously. 'She’s just like all the rest of them.' There’s also something that I’ve gotten into because we do a lot of polling in the classes that I teach and some stuff around the world. In polling, there is the minority factor. The one thing that you can’t measure is jealousy. It’s a very difficult thing for women. It never entered my mind that that would be a problem. But there is a lot of, 'Who does she think she is?' When you look at Hillary, too, there is this.” Alan Simpson, the former Republican senator from Wyoming, in 2005, recalling his and his wife Ann's early interactions after talking to Hillary Clinton at the 1993 inauguration. “About two weeks, three weeks later, we were invited to the White House. I don’t remember what it was; it wasn’t a large group, maybe 50, 40. I watched Hillary as she began to visit with Ann. Hillary never turns her head when she’s talking to someone. She is absolutely riveted. She doesn’t look around like, 'Oh, hi there Tilly; how are you?'—or divert her attention from the person she’s talking to. That’s a gift. You have to have that in politics. There were people around—it was adulation: 'We want to talk to Hillary.' She must have spent about 15 or 20 minutes with Ann on mental health issues. . . Anyway, I thought that was fascinating.” Alan Blinder, the economist, who served on Bill Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers, talking about Hillary Clinton in a 2003 interview: “I think she’s much more politically astute now than she was in early 1993. I think she learned. She’s really smart. She learns, and she knows she made mistakes. She’s said it herself. I know she was not as politically astute then as she is now because there were a lot of these—I mentioned a couple of these—these alleged political ideas. How we were going to get the small-business lobby? How we were going to get the old-line industries? They were complete flops.” Roger Altman, the investment banker and former deputy treasury secretary, in a 2003 interview, on differences between Bill and Hillary Clinton: “There’s an interesting difference that always has struck everybody who’s watched it up close, which is that she inspires fierce loyalty and he doesn’t. You look at the turnover that she had—or in her case did not have—on her staff, and the turnover that he had. You look at the relationships he ended up having with a lot of people that he was initially close to and were central to his administration, whether it’s George Stephanopoulos or whoever else it may be. “She inspired, continues to inspire, fierce loyalty, and he doesn’t. It’s quite a difference and I ascribe it to the fact that she does not look at the world as, or at least in my experience, as solely and only politically. She wears her heart on her sleeve much more than he does. Less and less now that she’s her own public figure, but that’s her nature.” *The Hill blog: Ballot Box: “Crossroads researching best ways to hit Hillary” <http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/224205-crossroads-researching-best-ways-to-hit-hillary>* By Jonathan Easley November 14, 2014, 1:34 p.m. EST The big-spending conservative super-PAC American Crossroads is still researching the best way to attack likely Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, the group’s president and CEO Steven Law said Friday. “I think there is an optimal time to engage any of the potential Democratic nominees, with Hillary obviously being at the top of that list,” Law said on Bloomberg TV’s With All Due Respect. “I expect we will start to focus on her. I think there needs to be a lot more research done, a lot more analysis, to understand the best way to talk about who she is and the kind of president she would be for the country.” Law said the research phase should be complete in early 2015, and that the group’s attack strategy would play out publicly beginning shortly after that. “We’re going to do a lot of studying, a lot of deep analysis and then start to enter that conversation in a pretty public way,” he said, adding that they’re going through the same process for other potential Democratic candidates, like former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley (D) Law heads American Crossroads and its sister organization, Crossroads GPS, which together spent more than $170 million in the 2012 campaign cycle, and an estimated $47 million in the 2014 midterm elections, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis. He said that while the primary focus remains on Clinton, that he wouldn’t be surprised to see Democrats move in a different direction. “I think [Clinton] is more likely than not the Democratic nominee,” he said. “But one of the things I’ve observed about the Democratic nominating process is that they’re always looking for the new flavor, and she certainly isn’t that.” “As I look at the Democratic Party right now they seem to be involved in a very intense dialogue about what the post-Obama Democratic Party looks like, and it’s hard to imagine going back to pre-Obama is going to be a very satisfactory answer,” he added. “They may just decide that’s the default position but they could also decide to look elsewhere.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) could be at the top of that list for Democrats. She’s been a fundraising powerhouse and gained momentum recently among some on the left who are seeking a liberal alternative to Clinton. *Calendar:* *Sec. Clinton's upcoming appearances as reported online. Not an official schedule.* · November 15 – Little Rock, AR: Sec. Clinton hosts No Ceilings event (NYT <http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2014/10/17/?entry=2674&_php=true&_type=blogs&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&_r=0> ) · November 19 – New York, NY: Sec. Clinton is honored by the National Breast Cancer Coalition (Breast Cancer Deadline <http://www.breastcancerdeadline2020.org/donate/fundraising-events/2014-NY-Gala-Evite.html> ) · November 21 – New York, NY: Sec. Clinton presides over meeting of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (Bloomberg <http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2014-11-02/clinton-aides-resist-calls-to-jump-early-into-2016-race> ) · November 21 – New York, NY: Sec. Clinton is honored by the New York Historical Society (Bloomberg <http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2014-11-02/clinton-aides-resist-calls-to-jump-early-into-2016-race> ) · December 1 – New York, NY: Sec. Clinton keynotes a League of Conservation Voters dinner (Politico <http://www.politico.com/story/2014/09/hillary-clinton-green-groups-las-vegas-111430.html?hp=l11> ) · December 4 – Boston, MA: Sec. Clinton speaks at the Massachusetts Conference for Women (MCFW <http://www.maconferenceforwomen.org/speakers/>) · December 16 – New York, NY: Sec. Clinton honored by Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights (Politico <http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/hillary-clinton-ripple-of-hope-award-112478.html> )