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‘All Politics Is Transactional’

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Punchbowl News: “Here’s the truth — not all politics is local in the Trump era. The new adage should be ‘all politics is transactional.'”

“Collins, who made her reelection bid official on Tuesday, needs Trump as much as he does her, although in vastly different ways. Collins justified her Oval Office appearance by noting it’s ‘just a fact’ that she needs Trump’s signature for the appropriations bills.”

“The two are trying to coexist in a way that allows Collins to win a sixth term in November. Collins is the only Republican who can win a Senate race in Maine. Trump and the Senate GOP need to keep Maine red to protect their majority.”

Maxine Waters Is Newest Target in Generational War

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“Rep. Maxine Waters, an institution of Los Angeles Democratic politics, is facing an upstart challenger from her party seeking to capitalize on the national wave of generational change-seekers,” Politico reports.

“Myla Rahman, a nonprofit executive, hopes to turn Waters’ 35 years in Congress — and 50 years overall as an elected official — against her, arguing the 87-year-old incumbent has lost touch with her district.”

From our partner: Ground News

The News Has Blind Spots. Most of Us Never See Them.

You already know the problem: the same story can look completely different depending on where you read it — and some stories barely show up at all because algorithms often decide what you see in the first place.

My goal for Political Wire is to help you get outside those filters — to understand not just what happened, but how it’s being covered and who might be missing it. That’s why I use and recommend Ground News.

They're an app and website that brings together global news from across the political spectrum, showing each source’s bias, factuality, and ownership.

What I find especially useful is the Blindspot Feed. It highlights stories that are getting heavy coverage on one side of the political spectrum but little to none on the other. It’s a quick way to see what your usual news diet — and its algorithms — may be leaving out.

For a limited time, get 40% off a Ground News Vantage subscription —- the same one I use —- by going to www.groundnews.com/political.



Clinton Didn’t Win Because He Moved to the Center

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G. Elliot Morris: “An alternative theory of the 1992 election is that Bill Clinton won because the economy was terrible and voters blamed the incumbent, not because he moved to the right on crime, welfare, and race.”

“If that’s true, then almost any Democrat could have won in 1992. Perhaps the Democrats could do more for their constituents if they stop looking in the rear mirror.”

Trump’s Affordability Ideas Would Probably All Backfire

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Rogé Karma: “Trump’s signature idea is simply to give people money. In November, he promised to send out a “tariff dividend” of $2,000 to all but the highest-earning Americans sometime in 2026. This plan, which he has continued to promote, would almost certainly require an act of Congress, meaning that it’s unlikely to happen.”

“That’s a good thing. Handing out free money would make voters happy in the short term but would ultimately backfire. This is because a massive one-time influx of cash is likely to create far more demand than the economy can possibly meet. Consumer spending is already strong, unemployment is already low, and inflation is still too high.”

Please, Not Another Kennedy

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Jonathan Chait: “One lesson that can be drawn from the second Trump administration is that being a member of the Kennedy family does not qualify you for public service. Yet many Camelot-besotted Democrats remain stubbornly immune to this conclusion.”

“One of them appears to be Nancy Pelosi, the normally shrewd former House speaker, who reportedly plans to endorse Jack Schlossberg, John F. Kennedy’s grandson, for an open seat in New York’s Twelfth Congressional District.”

Texas Has the Wildest Senate Race in the Country

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Philip Elliot: “No candidate on the ballot this year made a bigger splash simply by entering a race than Ken Paxton. The firebrand Texas Attorney General is giving U.S. Sen. John Cornyn a serious run for his money in the GOP primary, which in turn has launched an increasingly nasty fight among Democrats who view Paxton as beatable. Now, with early voting for the March 3 primary set to start next week, the mudslinging in both races is expected to soar, according to insiders with both parties watching with skittishness from Texas and Washington…”

“The fulcrum for both parties’ chaos is Paxton, a polarizing figure whose potential strength among MAGA die-hards has triggered Cornyn’s allies to dump $50 million and counting on ads to prop up the incumbent.”

Democratic Candidate Broke His ‘No Negativity’ Pledge

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“Brian Varela, a businessperson running for the Democratic nomination in New Jersey’s most competitive House race, recently announced a ‘no negativity’ pledge in which he would focus on issues, not attacks against fellow Democrats,” Politico reports.

“But despite the pledge, Varela approached several of his opponents’ campaigns with a proposition: Pool their money to dig up dirt on rival Rebecca Bennett, who’s seen as the closest thing there is to a frontrunner in this field of eight candidates seeking to take on Republican Tom Kean Jr. in the 7th Congressional District in November.”

“All of them rejected the offer.”

Conservative Media Stopped Covering Epstein Scandal

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A Marquette University Law School poll conducted shortly before the latest Jeffrey Epstein document release showed just 50% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said they had heard or read “a lot” about the Epstein files.

That’s compared to 72% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters.

Aaron Blake: “And it appears news coverage could be a major reason why.”

“The poll found that just 49% of people who relied on conservative TV news for their news had heard ‘a lot’ about Epstein, versus 75% who relied on other network TV news.”

Kid Rock’s Comments About Underage Girls Go Viral

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“Kid Rock’s alternative Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday night resulted in increased scrutiny surrounding some of the rock star’s past comments,” Mediaite reports.

“Many users online pointed to a 2001 song Kid Rock released called Cool, Daddy Cool. In the song, Kid Rock, whose real name is Robert James Ritchie, sings about liking underage girls.”

One of the lyrics in the song: “Young ladies, young ladies, I like ’em underage, see. Some say that’s statutory (But I say it’s mandatory).”

GOP Lawmaker Wants Investigation Into Bad Bunny

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Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) called for an investigation into Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime performance, citing concerns about its alleged “explicit and indecent content,” the Daily Beast reports.

Said Ogles: “The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show was pure smut, brazenly aired on national television for every American family to witness. Children were forced to endure explicit displays of gay sexual acts, women gyrating provocatively, and Bad Bunny shamelessly grabbing his crotch while dry-humping the air.”

He added: “And if that weren’t outrageous enough, the performance’s lyrics openly glorified sodomy and countless other unspeakable depravities. These flagrant, indecent acts are illegal to be displayed on public airways.”

Republicans Push Massive Changes to Voting

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“As President Donald Trump calls for sweeping changes to election law — including saying that Republicans should ‘take over the voting’ — Republicans in Congress are planning to vote this week on the SAVE America Act, which would make massive changes to how Americans vote ahead of November’s midterms,” the Washington Post reports.

“They want to require all Americans to prove they are citizens when registering to vote, and to show an ID when voting in person or by mail, as well as make mail voting more difficult.”

Texas GOP Turns to an Old Enemy

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“Republican officials and candidates in Texas have shifted their rhetorical attack lines from the border fears that dominated recent elections to the state’s growing Muslim population, with language that echoes the aftermath of the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001,” the New York Times reports.

“The rise of anti-Muslim rhetoric has unnerved many in the state’s Islamic community while sending signals to Republicans outside Texas who might be searching for rhetorical targets now that the nation’s southwestern border has grown quiet.”

About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

Praise for Political Wire

“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”

— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”

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— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report

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— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report

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— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia

“Political Wire is a great, great site.”

— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”

“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”

— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post

“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”

— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit

“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”

— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.