podesta_email_20106.txt

podesta-emails 6,163 words email

P17 P22 V11 D6 V9

-----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 Sunday December 14, 2014 Roundup:* *Headlines:* *The Hill: “Schumer: I bet Hillary's running” <http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/227074-schumer-i-bet-hillarys-running>* “Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wants to make you a bet: Hillary Clinton will run for president.” *New York Times: “G.O.P. Hopefuls Honing Attacks Against Hillary Clinton” <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/14/us/politics/gop-hopefuls-honing-attacks-against-hillary-clinton.html>* “The closed-door appraisals from Republicans eyeing the White House in 2016 capture an unseen but intense phase in the emerging presidential campaign: auditions for the job of Clinton slayer.” *New York Times: “Battle Over Spending Bill Exposes Democratic Rift” <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/14/us/politics/battle-over-spending-bill-exposes-democratic-rift.html>* “Hillary Rodham Clinton is considered such a prohibitive favorite in the Democratic race — if she runs — that she has almost cleared the field of strong challengers. And that has created a vacuum on the left that many liberals, who believe the party is not being sufficiently bold or aggressive in its efforts to connect with middle-class America, are desperate to fill.” *Wall Street Journal blog: Washington Wire: “MoveOn to Host ‘Draft Warren’ Rally in Iowa” <http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/12/13/moveon-to-host-draft-warren-rally-in-iowa/>* “The overwhelming frontrunner for the Democratic nomination is former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is widely expected to announce her candidacy next year.” *MSNBC: “Warren and Clinton allies debate” <http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/elizabeth-warren-and-hillary-clinton-allies-debate>* “Democrats in either of the emerging camps aligned with Hillary Clinton and Sen. Elizabeth Warren are not quite ready to fight, as a mini-debate moderated by msnbc’s Steve Kornacki Sunday demonstrated.” *MSNBC: “It’s good to be Ready for Warren – just don’t mention Clinton” <http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/its-good-be-ready-warren-just-dont-mention-clinton>* “As they build enthusiasm for Warren, her supporters still seem unsure how to talk about the proverbial donkey in the room (these are Democrats, after all): Hillary Clinton. The presence of the presumed front-runner for the Democratic nomination could be felt, even if her name was hardly mentioned.” *New York Times column: Frank Bruni: “The Many Faces of Jeb” <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/14/opinion/sunday/frank-bruni-jeb-bush-chris-christie-and-the-2016-presidential-campaign.html>* “Hillary Clinton: liberal or moderate? Depends on which point in her past you choose.” *NBC News: “Meet the Press Transcript - December 14, 2014” [PARTIAL] <http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-press-transcript-december-14-2014-n268181>* DICK CHENEY: “I'm comfortable with my own views. And I've been very forthright about them. And frankly I don't support either Hillary Clinton or Rand Paul.” *Washington Post blog: Post Politics: “Jeb Bush to write e-book and release 250,000 e-mails” <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/12/13/jeb-bush-to-write-e-book-and-release-250000-e-mails/>* "As he prepares for a possible 2016 presidential campaign, Jeb Bush said Saturday that he is writing an e-book and plans to release roughly 250,000 e-mails from his tenure as governor of Florida." *Articles:* *The Hill: “Schumer: I bet Hillary's running” <http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/227074-schumer-i-bet-hillarys-running>* By Scott Wong December 14, 2014, 9:47 a.m. EST Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wants to make you a bet: Hillary Clinton will run for president. "Hillary hasn't told me, and I haven't dared ask her," Schumer said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union." "But I'll bet she's running, I'll bet she'll be a great candidate, I'll bet she'll win by a large majority. And then Democrats can help the middle class whose incomes have been declining for 15 years in a very united way." Schumer, who served alongside Clinton when she was a New York senator, said the economic program Clinton will put together as a presidential candidate "will have the support of every wing in the Democratic party." *New York Times: “G.O.P. Hopefuls Honing Attacks Against Hillary Clinton” <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/14/us/politics/gop-hopefuls-honing-attacks-against-hillary-clinton.html>* By Michael Barbaro December 13, 2014 Gov. Chris Christie offered a cutting assessment of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s electoral weaknesses recently, telling a group of energy executives that she lacked her husband’s political talents and personal appeal. To punctuate the point, the New Jersey governor mischievously quoted President Obama from a 2008 campaign debate. “You’re likable enough, Hillary,” Mr. Christie said, according to two participants. Gov. Rick Perry of Texas was unsparing in his critique, citing lackluster sales of Mrs. Clinton’s latest memoir as evidence that Americans have tired of her. “She’s had a hard time selling books and filling auditoriums,” he observed to a table of campaign contributors, recalled a guest who heard him. And Senator Ted Cruz of Texas has mocked the wealthy Mrs. Clinton as out of touch with working-class voters, calling a country music video produced on her behalf recently so contrived that “I almost fell out of the chair laughing.” The closed-door appraisals from Republicans eyeing the White House in 2016 capture an unseen but intense phase in the emerging presidential campaign: auditions for the job of Clinton slayer. At political fund-raisers and party conferences, over intimate dinners and in casual telephone calls, top contenders for the Republican presidential nomination are constructing an image of Mrs. Clinton that is relentlessly unappealing: as rusty and unloved, out of step and out of date, damaged and vulnerable. To win the party’s nomination in a contest over which Mrs. Clinton looms so large, likely candidates are now jockeying to appeal to several overlapping constituencies, including Republican activists who loathe her, donors who respect and fear her fund-raising prowess and party leaders who view her candidacy as a test of their attempts to modernize the Republican brand. For a candidate to be taken seriously, said Rick Wilson, a Republican consultant, “party leaders need to know that you have a game plan and a path to victory against Hillary.” So to an unusual degree, given that she holds no office, Republican White House hopefuls are pitching their potential candidacies in relation to Mrs. Clinton’s, building their message around her strengths and weaknesses and making the case for why they are best suited to challenge her, according to those who have spoken to them. These people — donors, operatives and advisers — talked on the condition of anonymity to avoid publicly betraying the confidence of powerful officials who may seek the presidency. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, for example, has argued that his noninterventionist outlook on foreign policy would offer unique advantages in a head-to-head race against Mrs. Clinton. His argument: by 2016, Mrs. Clinton will be viewed as a champion of American military action abroad, alienating younger voters of both parties exhausted by a decade of wars. Given the hawkishness of his likely Republican rivals, he alone, Mr. Paul says, can appeal to such disaffected youth. It is a message Mr. Paul has delivered repeatedly, to the likes of David and Charles Koch, the billionaire conservative industrialists, according to a person familiar with their conversations. Mr. Cruz takes an entirely different approach, telling donors that Mrs. Clinton’s reputation as a moderate, and one who can appeal to elements of the Republican Party, necessitates the selection of a true conservative like himself. He says his brand of raw, unapologetic right-wing politics and policy can excite conservative voters long frustrated, in his telling, by the Republican Party’s tendency to nominate ideologically bland, watered-down figures, like former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Senator John McCain of Arizona. His argument: moderate Republicans rarely win the White House, and their chances would diminish still further in a race against Mrs. Clinton. Republicans eyeing the White House are eager to diagnose Mrs. Clinton’s liabilities and shortcomings, however real or imagined. The biggest of them, they contend, is her deep connection to the Obama administration as secretary of state. At a dinner for wealthy donors last week in Texas, a guest said, Mr. Perry predicted that Mrs. Clinton would become ensnared in the “Barack Triangle” — a play on the Bermuda Triangle — and was indelibly linked to what Mr. Perry said was the president’s mixed economic record, foreign policy struggles and detached governing style. Mr. Cruz, latching on to the same theme, has begun referring to the “Clinton-Obama” agenda. Asked about the Republicans’ remarks, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, Nick Merrill said, “It’s no secret they attack what they fear.” There may be fear on both sides. American Bridge, a Democratic organization staffed with Clinton loyalists, published a book this week that compiles unflattering research about her possible Republican rivals, including Mr. Christie (“notorious temper,” it notes), Senator Marco Rubio (“flip-flop on immigration”), and Mr. Cruz (“controversial Tea Party senator.”) In conversations, the Republican leaders predict a long and messy struggle for Mrs. Clinton to win over Democrats, casting aside the conventional wisdom that the nomination is hers for the taking. During the meeting with energy executives, held inside a wood-paneled clubhouse in Calgary, Alberta, a few weeks ago, Mr. Christie recalled that 2008 was “supposed to be a coronation” for Mrs. Clinton, too. Of course, it was not, he said. A recurring message in their conversations with donors, despite polls that show her defeating potential Republican rivals, is the myth of Mrs. Clinton’s invincibility. After Democrats suffered widespread losses in November’s midterm elections, including of a number of candidates endorsed by Mrs. Clinton, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who is exploring a White House run, described it as a referendum on Mrs. Clinton. Mr. Paul took to Facebook, posting images of defeated candidates emblazoned with the label “Hillary’s Losers.” Some of the critiques have taken on a strikingly personal dimension. Mr. Rubio, among the youngest potential candidates in the Republican field, takes a generational swipe, arguing that Mrs. Clinton is a relic from a different era. In a meeting with donors recently, he wryly observed that when the Clintons arrived in Washington two decades ago, “cellphones were the size of bricks,” said a person told of the conversation. In his forthcoming book, to be published in January, Mr. Rubio refers to Mrs. Clinton as a “20th century politician.” In dissecting Mrs. Clinton’s personal appeal, or lack thereof, Mr. Christie has posited that the more likable candidate almost always prevails in a general election. The implication: his swaggering New Jersey personality would outshine hers. Still, by laying out a plan of attack against Mrs. Clinton, the Republicans have revealed just how eager they are to elevate themselves onto the same stage as her: globe-trotting diplomat, sought-after speaker, nominee all-but-in-waiting. Mr. Wilson, the Republican consultant, recalled a candidate who warned donors that Mrs. Clinton could raise $1 billion in a presidential campaign. “It’s a viable case,” Mr. Wilson said. “There is only one or two people who can pull off that kind of financial lift against Hillary.” Two years before the election, some Republicans have already tired of the topic. Fred V. Malek, a major Republican donor and fund-raiser, said that after eight years of Democratic reign at the White House, his party should be drawing up elaborate plans for taking the country in a new direction. “They shouldn’t,” he said, “be thinking about running against Hillary.” *New York Times: “Battle Over Spending Bill Exposes Democratic Rift” <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/14/us/politics/battle-over-spending-bill-exposes-democratic-rift.html>* By Ashley Parker and Jeremy W. Peters December 13, 2014 WASHINGTON — Senator Elizabeth Warren once famously said that she was willing to see “plenty of blood and teeth left on the floor” in her fight against Wall Street excess. And the Massachusetts Democrat finally found the perfect moment to throw a punch. Ms. Warren, who entered Congress with a liberal halo of anti-Wall Street credibility, took her most high-profile and tenacious Senate stand last week over a single provision in a $1.1 trillion spending bill, one that would roll back portions of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, the financial industry regulatory law. Taking to the Senate floor, Ms. Warren implored her Democratic colleagues not to support the deal — and in the process threatened the entire bipartisan spending package that would avert a government shutdown. Though the bill narrowly passed the House on Thursday evening and appeared headed for passage in the Senate, Ms. Warren’s relentless fight to defeat it elevated her status as the leader of her party’s liberal base. Her effort to lead that revolt exposed emerging rifts between the progressive wing and the centrist middle in a Democratic Party struggling to find its footing after losing its majority in the Senate and falling further into the minority in the House in the midterm elections. It also put Ms. Warren at odds with President Obama, who supports the compromise bill despite his criticism of the provision, and other Democrats, including Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader. Many in the party believe that their losses in November can be attributed to the lack of a muscular, coherent message about how Democrats would address economic anxieties, particularly among working-class whites. That void offers new opportunity for Ms. Warren, whose populist leanings and fiery, us-versus-them speeches resonate well with organized labor and other workers left struggling since the financial crisis. The groundswell that Ms. Warren helped stoke last week offered an early glimpse of the complicated 2016 presidential dynamics that the Democratic Party is now facing. Hillary Rodham Clinton is considered such a prohibitive favorite in the Democratic race — if she runs — that she has almost cleared the field of strong challengers. And that has created a vacuum on the left that many liberals, who believe the party is not being sufficiently bold or aggressive in its efforts to connect with middle-class America, are desperate to fill. Ms. Warren has repeatedly said she is not planning to run for president. Her goal, said an aide, is to influence policy debates and negotiations on any Dodd-Frank rollbacks, and to show that the party’s base will fight to protect Wall Street regulation. But she is also proudly claiming what Howard Dean once called “the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party” — a left-leaning constituency that many politicians are nervous to cultivate. And the affection is mutual. The liberal group MoveOn.org is preparing to spend $1 million to persuade Ms. Warren to enter the presidential race. And more than 300 former Obama campaign staff members Friday released a letter calling on Ms. Warren to run. “Rising income inequality is the challenge of our times, and we want someone who will stand up for working families and take on the Wall Street banks and special interests that took down our economy,” the letter reads. However, some Democrats said that the party had always fought against the scaling back of big bank regulation and that the recent fight was more indicative of the current governing climate than any new progressive wave. “I’m not sure this creates an enormous amount of precedent for next year,” said Senator Christopher S. Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut. The government spending bill, with its rollback of some provisions of the Dodd-Frank law, would let big banks trade in certain risky financial instruments while having access to federal assistance if something goes wrong. Similar conditions several years ago helped create the recession, when the government was forced to bail out Wall Street banks seen as “too big to fail.” As she denounced the bill last week, Ms. Warren warned that a vote for it “is a vote for future taxpayer bailouts of Wall Street.” “This is about preventing another financial collapse that could again wipe out millions of jobs and take down our whole economy,” Ms. Warren said. One of the ways senior Democrats tried to placate some of their restless colleagues after the elections was to install Ms. Warren to a newly created position within Senate leadership, a perch from which she will be able to help shape policy and messaging. In an interview, Mr. Reid said that one of the lessons of the midterm elections was that voters wanted to know that officials were listening to them. And from his new but shrunken position as the minority leader in the next Congress, he said he planned to take the fight to Republicans on issues like Wall Street regulation and health care. “It’s pretty obvious to me what the fights are going to be about,” Mr. Reid said. “We feel it’s time that middle America gets a little help here.” The simple math of where Democrats on Capitol Hill stand today versus six years ago, when they had commanding majorities, is something many liberals see as a startling reminder of the need to make more enduring connections with voters. Democrats held 257 seats in the House after Mr. Obama’s 2008 election. When the new Congress convenes in January, they will have 187. (One race in Arizona is still in a recount.) The Senate picture is just as stark. In 2009, Democrats controlled 60 seats — a filibuster-proof majority. In the next Congress they will have 46. Representative James P. Moran, Democrat of Virginia, said that in the wake of the recent elections, some of his colleagues were especially skittish and were “not going to let Elizabeth Warren get to the left of them necessarily.” And a senior Democratic aide, speaking anonymously in order to offer a more candid assessment, warned, “If this party can’t accommodate both its Clinton-era folks and its Warren-ites, we’re headed for trouble.” *Wall Street Journal blog: Washington Wire: “MoveOn to Host ‘Draft Warren’ Rally in Iowa” <http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/12/13/moveon-to-host-draft-warren-rally-in-iowa/>* By Peter Nicholas December 13, 2014, 6:13 p.m. EST Hoping to draw Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren into the 2016 presidential race, MoveOn.org will host a rally in Iowa on Wednesday aimed at demonstrating she enjoys grassroots support that would make her a viable candidate. The event is set for 5:30 p.m. CST at a coffee shop in Des Moines, capital of the state that holds the nation’s first presidential nominating contest. The overwhelming frontrunner for the Democratic nomination is former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is widely expected to announce her candidacy next year. But many Democrats want to see a contested primary, hoping to trigger a debate over pressing issues such as wage stagnation, income inequality, government surveillance and climate change. The Democratic bench is thin, with few serious candidates showing a willingness to challenge Mrs. Clinton. Ms. Warren is the darling of the party’s liberal wing and while she has said she will serve out her term as senator of Massachusetts, liberals hope she will change her mind if popular support for a Draft Warren movement starts to mushroom. MoveOn, a liberal advocacy group, plans to sink $1 million into Iowa and New Hampshire, hiring campaign organizers to begin rallying support for a Warren candidacy. Earlier this week, MoveOn polled its eight million members and found that 81% wanted the group to launch a Draft Warren movement, now dubbed “Run Warren Run,” group officials said. “The kickoff on Wednesday is the beginning of the effort to organize Iowans in a way that shows Sen. Warren that if she jumps into this race she’ll be a serious candidate in that state from Day One,” said Ben Wikler, Washington director of MoveOn. MoveOn adds organizational muscle to a fledgling Draft Warren movement. Of late, the pro-Warren forces seem to have picked up steam. Earlier this week, a group of 300 former Obama campaign staffers signed a letter urging Ms. Warren to jump in the race. A few ex-Obama campaign staffers attended a pro-Warren panel discussion Saturday at a liberal campaign organizing event called RootsCamp. At the front of the room was a cardboard cutout – Ms. Warren’s head superimposed atop the body of the actress Jennifer Lawrence in the movie, “The Hunger Games.” “Run, Liz, Run!” the crowd chanted at the start of the meeting. If she complies, Ms. Warren would have a tough time toppling Mrs. Clinton. Under the direction of an outside super PAC called “Ready for Hillary,” Clinton supporters have been organizing volunteers in Iowa over the past year. The Ready for Hillary group has raised more than $11 million. Another pro-Clinton group, a super PAC called Priorities USA Action, hasn’t ruled out running negative ads against Democrats who might challenge Mrs. Clinton. That would pose another obstacle for Ms. Warren, whose name recognition and national support lags far behind that of Mrs. Clinton. *MSNBC: “Warren and Clinton allies debate” <http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/elizabeth-warren-and-hillary-clinton-allies-debate>* By Alex Seitz-Wald December 14, 2014, 1:11 p.m. EST Democrats in either of the emerging camps aligned with Hillary Clinton and Sen. Elizabeth Warren are not quite ready to fight, as a mini-debate moderated by msnbc’s Steve Kornacki Sunday demonstrated. Kornacki hosted former Gov. Howard Dean, who this week wrote an op-ed in Politico explaining why he’s supporting Clinton in 2016, and Ben Wikler, director of MoveOn.org, which recently launched a campaign to draft Warren into the 2016 president race. Despite Kornacki’s nudge to engage in battle, Dean, who pioneered online progressive organizing when he ran for president in 2004, went out of his way to praise Warren – and Wikler – even while reiterating his support for Clinton. “What Elizabeth Warren just did is great for the country,” Dean said of Warren’s high-profile fight this week against a government funding bill that included a provision to roll back the Dodd-Fank Wall Street reform law. “I wouldn’t agree with her rhetoric, but I absolutely agree with her position.” “I’m just delighted to have Elizabeth Warren take this role,” he continued. “This is not a choice between the lesser of two evils – I’ve made my choice because I’ve known Hillary for 25 years, she’s incredibly experienced, we need strong leadership at the top … I think Elizabeth Warren in the race or not in the race is good for the country, but I am steadfast in supporting Hillary because I think she would make a great president.” For his part, Wikler too praised Dean and Clinton, the former secretary of state and presumed frontrunner for the Democratic nomination. “MoveOn members have enormous respect for Hillary Clinton,” he said. “The thing about Elizabeth Warren is that she embodies the fighting spirit of the Democratic base that resonates with the entire country.” In case it wasn’t clear, Dean went out of his way to praise Wikler as well. “I appreciate you trying to pick a fight between Ben and I. I happen to know Ben, and he’s one of the smartest people under 35 in the entire country,” the former Democratic National Committee chairman said to Kornacki with a laugh. “You’re not going to get us in a big ugly fight here,” Dead said. Supporters of the effort to draft Warren gathered in Washington this weekend at RootsCamp, a conference of progressive organizers and techies, where they saw momentum on their side but also declined to say anything negative about Clinton. Of course, neither Clinton nor Warren are candidates for any office at the moment. Warren has repeatedly said she is not running for president, and she disavowed another draft group through her lawyer. Clinton, meanwhile, has said she will make a decision next year, but has scheduled speeches later in the spring, which raise questions about her timing. *MSNBC: “It’s good to be Ready for Warren – just don’t mention Clinton” <http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/its-good-be-ready-warren-just-dont-mention-clinton>* By Alex Seitz-Wald December 14, 2014, 12:39 p.m. EST It’s a good time to be Ready for Warren – just don’t mention Hillary Clinton. When the extended network of activists hoping to draft Sen. Elizabeth Warren into the 2016 presidential race gathered in Washington, D.C. on Saturday for a lefty organizing conference, they felt confident – “electric,” as one put it. Just a week ago, even some involved in Ready for Warren saw it as a fun, if modest, project. But on Tuesday, two of the biggest liberal grassroots groups in the country, MoveOn.org and Democracy for America, joined the effort to draft the Massachusetts senator. On Friday, more than 300 Obama campaign alumni signed a letter urging Warren to get in the race. And over the course of the week, Warren’s star power reached new highs as she led the (ultimately doomed) progressive revolt against a government funding bill that included pro-Wall Street provisions. At a panel Saturday organized by the groups involved in the draft Warren effort at the Roots Camp conference, a summit of 2,000 liberal political organizers and techies, anything seemed possible. “If you would like to go to Iowa and change the world, we will find you a futon and feed you pizza three meals a day!” said Ben Wikler,the MoveOn organizer who is leading the group’s new $1 million campaign to draft the senator. They’re hiring people in key presidential states and plan a big kickoff event in Des Moines on Wednesday. Ready for Warren brought a life-sized cutout of the populist senator as Katniss Everdeen, the symbolic leader of the rebels in the “Hunger Games” film series. Warren is “catching fire,” they joked. But as they build enthusiasm for Warren, her supporters still seem unsure how to talk about the proverbial donkey in the room (these are Democrats, after all): Hillary Clinton. The presence of the presumed front-runner for the Democratic nomination could be felt, even if her name was hardly mentioned. No one on the panel dared speak the words “Hillary Clinton,” and she came up only in a question from a member of the audience. Erica Sagrans, the campaign manager of Ready for Warren, referred to Clinton as “that other candidate.” The same was true at a panel earlier in the day organized by climate activists. Despite being titled “#HillaryProblems,” problems with Hillary Clinton were mentioned only in two, fleeting moments. Asked about the lack of mention of Clinton after the Warren panel, Wikler declined to utter the name of the former secretary of state. “We’re running a pro-Warren campaign. This is a campaign to get her in the race. It’s not an anti-anyone campaign,” he said. Pressed again, he repeated: “It’s a pro-Warren campaign.” “We’re thinking in a Warren-centric way,” added Robel Tekleab, a Iowa-based veteran of Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign who is now Ready for Warren’s point person in the state. During the panel, Chuck Rocha, a Democratic strategist who worked on John Edwards’ 2008 presidential campaign, said most Democratic politicians have failed to connect emotionally with people like him – he’s a Southern Latino with working class roots who talks “like a redneck.” But not Warren. “There’s a populist message out there that was not being spoken about until Elizabeth Warren got on the Senate floor and talked about it,” he said. Even though she’s talking about obscure financial regulations, she’s makes people feel like she can “speak to them,” said Rocha, something he said he’s rarely seen since Clinton’s husband was president. Sagrans said the pro-Warren movement was inspired in part by Occupy Wall Street and the protests movement against Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s cuts to public sector worker pensions in 2011. But even if the panelists avoided Clinton, attendees did not. One, a local organizer, said, “I think we need to be not just ready for Warren, but also need to be ready for unity.” *New York Times column: Frank Bruni: “The Many Faces of Jeb” <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/14/opinion/sunday/frank-bruni-jeb-bush-chris-christie-and-the-2016-presidential-campaign.html>* By Frank Bruni December 13, 2014 As brothers who governed large states at the same time, each Bush was bound to be defined in terms of the other. George was the impulsive one who’d stumbled and then swaggered toward success. Jeb was the cogitator, the toiler. George was the extrovert: He worked the room. Jeb was the introvert: He read the books. That was how they were discussed back in 1999 and 2000, and the word on their ideological differences was that George was perhaps a bit more moderate, while Jeb was the truer conservative. What a difference a decade and a half make. How the sands of politics shift. As Jeb Bush seemingly leans toward a presidential run, many observers are casting him as a centrist. And there are indeed elements of his current message that suggest that if he won “the nomination as well as the presidency, it could reshape Republican politics for a generation,” as Jonathan Martin wrote in The Times late last week. But Martin noted other elements of Bush’s message and record as well, the ones that explain why a separate camp of observers look at him and see someone else. For instance, in Politico Magazine, the journalist S. V. Dáte observed that for him and others “who covered Jeb’s two terms in Tallahassee,” characterizations of Bush as a moderate are “mind-boggling.” Just what kind of Republican is Jeb Bush? That question is being asked with increasing frequency. And the absence of a clear answer, coupled with the insistence on one, is instructive. It speaks to the fact that most successful politicians aren’t fixed in one place forevermore. They’re the products of certain unwavering convictions and certain adaptations to circumstance, and the measures of each are different at different moments in their careers. The futile tussle to define Bush also reflects the way ideological yardsticks change over time. Above all else, it exposes the poverty of our political vocabulary. Left, center, right. Liberal, moderate, conservative. We reach fast for these labels and itch to put pols in these boxes, no matter how untidy or impermanent the fit. Some of the expected candidates for 2016 are great examples. Hillary Clinton: liberal or moderate? Depends on which point in her past you choose. Toward the beginning of Bill’s successful 1992 quest for the presidency, she was part of his decision to steer away from the left, as The Times’s Peter Baker and Amy Chozick recently reported. They noted that in the recollection of Al From, the founder of the Democratic Leadership Council, Hillary pledged, “We’re going to be a different kind of Democrat by the convention.” But there were chapters after Bill’s election when she came across as a familiar kind of Democrat, and then there’s the present, when she’s seen as someone so estranged from some traditional Democratic principles that there’s a movement to draft Elizabeth Warren to challenge her. It apparently gathered steam last week, just as Clinton topped a CNBC poll of 500 millionaires who were asked about their preference for president in 2016. She got 31 percent of the vote, while Bush was second with 18. I await a new “super PAC,” Mills for Hills. The Republican field is almost always broken down into candidates of the right and those of the center: a schematic to which we journalists cling. It’s hugely flawed this time around. Rand Paul evades it so completely that he gets his own adjective — libertarian — even though some of his positions on social issues contradict it. Chris Christie gets the moderate box, because he was twice elected governor of a blue state; signed legislation granting in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants in New Jersey; pushed criminal-justice reforms that stress rehabilitation; outlawed therapy that aims to turn gay teenagers straight; and accepted the Medicaid expansion under Obamacare. And right after Hurricane Sandy, he and President Obama had their soggy, windswept bromance. But Christie also opposes same-sex marriage and abortion rights. He has vetoed some sensible gun-control legislation. And he sidesteps questions about immigration reform. He’s not exactly a paragon of moderation. Marco Rubio, another possible presidential contender, isn’t easily labeled either. Back in 2010, when he won election to the Senate, he was presented as a mascot of the right, a Tea Party darling. But he has endorsed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. And his proposals for making college more affordable and student loans less onerous aren’t just bold. They’re progressive. BUSH’S categorization as a moderate owes much to the passion he brings to the issues of immigration and education and his dissent from hard-line conservatives on both. These rebellions are meaningful. So was his commentary from the sidelines of the 2012 presidential race. After a Republican primary debate in which all eight candidates said that they would refuse a budget deal that included $10 of reduced spending for every $1 in tax increases, he made clear that he didn’t agree with the pack. And he said that his party had drifted rightward enough that someone like Ronald Reagan would have difficulty finding a receptive home in it. That assessment suggested one reason Bush is now deemed a centrist: The poles have moved. But much of his record in Florida is that of the “headbanging conservative” he claimed to be during a first, unsuccessful campaign for governor in 1994. (He won the next time, in 1998.) He slashed taxes. He was a friend to gun owners: Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law was enacted on his watch. In the case of Terri Schiavo, a Florida woman deemed by many physicians to be in a persistent vegetative state, he intervened on the side of her parents — but against the wishes of her husband, who was her legal guardian — to prevent the removal of a feeding tube. And he was an assertive opponent of abortion rights. He still opposes them, and same-sex marriage. But he learned between his 1994 defeat and 1998 victory to reach out to minorities and speak inclusively and hopefully. When he recently told an audience in Washington that a person had to be willing to lose the Republican primary to win the general election, he was in part alluding to that lesson, and he was telegraphing the tone that a Bush campaign would take. He was also signaling a suspicion of labels and boxes. We should be similarly wary of them, because we’ve routinely seen leaders defy our assumptions. Jeb’s brother George, for example, campaigned for the presidency as someone cautious about overextending the American military and adamant about fiscal restraint. And while we took him for an inveterate backslapper, he now spends much of his time alone at an easel. That’s how it goes with so many politicians. We think we’ve figured them out, but we’re hasty and they’re slippery. *NBC News: “Meet the Press Transcript - December 14, 2014” [PARTIAL] <http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-press-transcript-december-14-2014-n268181>* [Transcript] December 14, 2014 CHUCK TODD: Last question, Rand Paul or Hillary Clinton, whose foreign policy are you more comfortable with? DICK CHENEY: Well, I don't think either one of them's going to be president. CHUCK TODD: Okay, but you didn't answer the question. Who's foreign policy would you be more comfortable? DICK CHENEY: I'm comfortable with my own views. And I've been very forthright about them. And frankly I don't support either Hillary Clinton or Rand Paul. *Washington Post blog: Post Politics: “Jeb Bush to write e-book and release 250,000 e-mails” <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/12/13/jeb-bush-to-write-e-book-and-release-250000-e-mails/>* By Philip Rucker December 13, 2014, 11:32 p.m. EST As he prepares for a possible 2016 presidential campaign, Jeb Bush said Saturday that he is writing an e-book and plans to release roughly 250,000 e-mails from his tenure as governor of Florida. Bush, who has been taking steps to prepare for what some of his associates see as a likely presidential campaign, told a Florida television station that he would publish the book and release the e-mails "early next year." "It's been kind of fun to go back and to think about this and remind myself that if you run with big ideas and then you're true to those ideas and get a chance to serve and implement them and do it with passion and conviction, you can move the needle, and that's what we need right now in America," Bush said in a Saturday interview with WPLG-TV, the ABC affiliate in Miami. "BHAGs," Bush added (using an acronym for "Big Hairy Audacious Goals.") "We need a few." Bush said he was releasing the e-mails from his two terms in office, between 1999 and 2007, because he wanted to be transparent. "Part of serving or running, both of them, is transparency, to be totally transparent," he said. "So I'll let people make up their mind. There's some funny ones, there's some sad ones, there's some serious ones." Joking about his use of e-mail, Bush said: "I was digital before digital was cool, I guess. Now it's like, commonplace." As governor, Bush was known to be a prolific e-mailer. In his official portrait, he posed with his Blackberry smartphone displayed prominently atop his bookshelf, next to a photo of his family. *Calendar:* *Sec. Clinton's upcoming appearances as reported online. Not an official schedule.* · December 15 – New York, NY: Sec. Clinton discusses closing gender data gaps with Michael Bloomberg (AP <https://twitter.com/KThomasDC/status/542345675493892096>) · 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> ) · January 21 – Saskatchewan, Canada: Sec. Clinton keynotes the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce’s “Global Perspectives” series (MarketWired <http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/former-us-secretary-state-hillary-rodham-clinton-deliver-keynote-address-saskatoon-1972651.htm> ) · January 21 – Winnipeg, Canada: Sec. Clinton keynotes the Global Perspectives series (Winnipeg Free Press <http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/Clinton-coming-to-Winnipeg--284282491.html> ) · February 24 – Santa Clara, CA: Sec. Clinton to Keynote Address at Inaugural Watermark Conference for Women (PR Newswire <http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hillary-rodham-clinton-to-deliver-keynote-address-at-inaugural-watermark-conference-for-women-283200361.html> ) · March 19 – Atlantic City, NJ: Sec. Clinton keynotes American Camp Association conference (PR Newswire <http://www.sys-con.com/node/3254649>)