Archive for December 28th, 2012

Top ten political winners of 2012

Friday, December 28, 2012 by:richard.dunham@chron.com (Richard Dunham)
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Most of the biggest political winners of 2012 didn’t even win an election this year: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards among them.

But it didn’t hurt if you won an election. Ask President Obama, who won a surprisingly large victory in the Electoral College. Or Texas Sen.-elect Ted Cruz, whose win was simply a huge surprise.

Here are our nominees for top political winners of the past year:

1. Barack Obama

No incumbent president with an unemployment rate as high as it is right now had won re-election since Franklin D. Roosevelt. Now we can add Barack Obama to that list. The 44th president made history. Again. Instead of being the 21st century reincarnation of Jimmy Carter, the symbol of failed Democratic incumbents, Obama ended up as Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.

2. Chris Christie

Superstorm Sandy caused a massive amount of damage in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. But the aggressive, nonpartisan response of each state’s governor caused their popularity to soar. And nobody gained more than New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, whose approval rate now tops 70 percent and is expected to breeze to re-election next year. He instantly became a top-tier presidential candidate for 2016. But we’re getting waaaaaay ahead of ourselves.

3. Hillary Clinton

Even the continuing controversy over the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi hasn’t done serious damage to the most p0pular member of President Obama’s Cabinet. Hillary Clinton insists she’s retiring after four years as Secretary of State, but political pundits have almost universally anointed her as the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee.

4. Rand Paul

After just two years in the Senate, the conservative Republican from Kentucky has become the leader of Tea Party forces and the heir apparent to the libertarian movement long led by his father, retiring Rep. Ron Paul. For his newfound prominence, Rand Paul can thank South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint for resigning from the Senate. We’ll see soon enough if the younger Paul is angling for lasting legislative impact or a path to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

5. Cecile Richards

If the National Rifle Association lost almost every hotly contested race it entered, Planned Parenthood got the best return on its political investment of any interest group in 2012. The organization’s CEO, Cecile Richards, should get most of the credit. Politically savvy and a strong communicator, the daughter of the late Texas Gov. Ann Richards is being touted as a future Democratic candidate in the Lone Star State. Slight problem. She works in New York.

6. Marco Rubio

The Florida freshman’s dynamic speech at the Republican National Convention — capped off by the story of his father, the banquet bartender — thrust him into the upper echelon of Republican rising stars. In reality, it’s a small firmament. With the GOP facing a massive challenge attracting Latino voters, the Cuban-American conservative could well be on the 2016 GOP White House ticket.

7. Julian Castro

Just eight years ago, a young Democratic National Convention keynote speaker made himself a national figure by wowing ‘em as an orator and political philosopher. That guy was Barack Obama. San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, now 38, pulled off the same trick this past September. Rumors abound in Washington of a Clinton-Castro ticket in 2016. Premature? Of course. Plausible? Definitely.

8. Cory Booker

Is New Jersey big enough for two national political stars? Yes, siree! With Gov. Christie cruising to re-election, the popular Newark mayor has set his sights on the Senate seat now held by 88-year-old Democrat Frank Lautenberg. Booker, a master of social media and constituent services, would  be a heavy favorite to win a Senate seat, his next step on the path to … the White House?

9. Barbara Mikulsi

She’s already the longest-serve female senator in American history. Following the recent death of Hawaii Sen. Daniel Inouye, Maryland legend Barbara Mikulski also became the most powerful woman in Senate history when she became chair of the (powerful) Senate Appropriations Committee. There’s not as much to spend as there used to be. But as the blue-collar pol from inner city Baltimore told TV station WJZ, “I’m that Highlandtown girl, I know how to shop for the bargains. We’re going to get a big bang for our buck.”

10. Ted Cruz

The 42-year-old lawyer from Houston went from national obscurity (except in constitutional conservative circles) to toast of the Right. He graced the cover of National Review en route to a stunning Republican runoff upset over well-financed (and well-known) Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. His path to prominence went through Tampa, where he delivered a highly praised speech to the Republican National Convention. He’ll arrive in Washington as a history-making figure: the first Hispanic senator in Texas history.

Honorable mentions:

Elizabeth Warren, who ousted Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown to regain the Senate.

Tim Scott, who will become the first African American senator from the former Confederacy since Reconstruction.

Joaquin Castro, who will bring the San Antonio twins’ political mojo to DC.

Bill Clinton, perhaps the best presidential campaign surrogate of all time.

Dianne Feinstein, who used her post as Senate Intelligence Committee chair to stay in the headlines and will be at the center of 2013 gun-control debates.

Top ten political losers of 2012

Friday, December 28, 2012 by:richard.dunham@chron.com (Richard Dunham)
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So, after all the clichés about a close presidential election (too-close-to-call, dead heat, photo finish, neck-and-neck, razor-thin, toss-up), it wasn’t that close. John Kerry came closer to the presidency in 2004 — a lot closer — than Mitt Romney did in 2012. That makes the failed Republican presidential candidate the year’s biggest political loser.

But who joins him on the top ten list of losers? Here are our choices:

1. Mitt Romney

The economy was lousy. The president wasn’t particularly popular. Washington was particularly unpopular. Voters were ready for a change. Still, Mitt Romney managed to lose the election. This is not the place to list all of his faults (from failing to connect with average Americans to saying the wrong thing at the wrong time). Let’s just say he lost the 2012 election the old-fashioned way: He earned it. And he’s the presidential loser most likely to vanish from the national political scene since Michael Dukakis.

2. John Boehner

The Speaker of the House is second in line to the presidency behind Vice President Biden. But on Capitol Hill, he’s a paper tiger. The Ohio Republican can’t even control his own rowdy conservative caucus. Governing? Well, we’ve all seen: He can’t.

3. David Petraueus

War hero. Revered general. Future president. Stop there. The Petraueus path to the presidency took a permanent detour this year when he admitted to an affair with his biographer and unceremoniously resigned as CIA director.

4. Sheldon Adelson

Never has so much money been spent in politics with so little effect. The Las Vegas casino billionaire wasted at least half a billion trying to (a) elect Newt Gingrich as president and (b) to defeat Barack Obama. He’d have done better to play his own slot machines.

5. Karl Rove

Never has so much money been raised in politics with so little payoff. The Republican operative managed to convince a bunch of billionaires to part with millions and millions (and more millions). Then he managed to lose just about every key contest. (Well, he did manage to win in the Nevada Senate race.) To cap it off, his televised meltdown on Election Night became one of the YouTube moments of 2012.

6. Richard Mourdock

At the beginning of the year, almost no pundit would have predicted that Democrat Joe Donnelly would be the next senator from Indiana. After all, six-term Republican Richard Lugar was a political legend in the Hoosier State with strong Democratic support. But Lugar lost his primary race to hard-right Republican Richard Mourdock, who then managed to blow the general election with extreme comments and serial gaffes. His worst? A debate remark that if a rape results in creation of a fetus, it “is something intended by God.” For losing a race that can’t be lost (think Todd Akin, too) Richard Mourdock makes our top ten list.

7. Rick Perry

The 1988 Democratic presidential field, led by the aforementioned Dukakis, was called “the seven dwarfs.” Yet it included such future powers as Al Gore, Joe Biden and Dick Gephardt. This year’s Republican presidential field was compared to the kooky patrons in the famous bar scene in the original Star Wars movie. But one of the candidates had the résumé, fund-raising skill and record of accomplishment beyond the Beltway to, as Rush Limbaugh gushed, make Barack Obama nervous. That man? Texas Gov. Rick Perry. But his 2012 presidential campaign was a disaster and lasted only 19 days into 2012. To top it off, Perry isn’t ruling out a return run in 2016. Let’s just say that Chris Christie is not quaking in his boots.

8. Allen West

He was the embodiment of the bold Tea Party freshman elected to Congress in 2010. Brash, bold, outspoken. He called Barack Obama a socialist. He said there were scores of Communists in Congress. When it came to government spending, he voted no, no, hell no. Then his Florida constituents tossed him out after a single term.

9. Jan Brewer

Two years ago, the Arizona governor was the toast of the conservative movement. She had won a comfortable re-election after signing into law a tough immigration enforcement bill. But the Arizona immigration bill became a national symbol — fairly or not — of Republican hostility toward Latinos. A massive Latino turnout helped President Obama win an Electoral College landslide. And it cost Republicans three congressional seats in Arizona that they had expected to win in 2012. Brewer? She went on a secretive, post-election trip outside of Arizona. Her staff, according to The Hill, “refused to disclose her location or the nature of the trip.” In response, Arizona Republican Sen. Jon Kyl asked : “Where is she? I don’t know.”

10. Bev Perdue

North Carolina’s Democratic governor decided not to seek re-election rather than face almost certain defeat. A Public Policy Polling survey found that Perdue was the nation’s least popular governor, with a 30 percent rating at mid-year. (She had some competition from Florida’s Rick Scott and Hawaii’s Neal Abercrombie.) Perdue will be replaced by Republican Pat McCrory, who took 55 percent of the vote in the 2012 governor’s race.

‘Put the harps back in the closet,’ says George H.W. Bush aide

Friday, December 28, 2012 by:jana.kasperka@chron.com (Jana Kasperkevic)
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The national media has been keeping a close eye on the former President George H. W. Bush as he has spent over a month in a Houston hospital. The 41st president was initially hospitalized day after Thanksgiving due to a persistent cough that was later diagnosed as bronchitis.

The doctors hoped that Bush would recover and be on his way home in time for the holidays, but instead after suffering set backs such as persistent fever, the former president was admitted into the intensive care unit on Sunday, days before Christmas.

After the nation has taken to the internet to pray and express their support for the Bush family, his chief of staff Jean Becker has asked that they “put the harps back in the closet” as the former president plans to stick around.

Here is Becker’s full message, as it first appeared in POLITICO:

Someday President George H.W. Bush might realize how beloved he is, but of course one of the reasons why he is so beloved is because he has no idea.

Most of the civilized world emailed/called/texted yesterday after we released this statement to the media:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 26, 2012

STATEMENT ON PRESIDENT BUSH’S CONDITION

HOUSTON — Following is a statement by Bush family spokesman Jim McGrath.

“Following a series of setbacks including a persistent fever, President Bush was admitted to the intensive care unit at Methodist Hospital on Sunday where he remains in guarded condition. Doctors at Methodist continue to be cautiously optimistic about the current course of treatment. The President is alert and conversing with medical staff, and is surrounded by family.”

We had been resisting putting out a statement for a couple of reasons: 1) Out of respect for President Bush and the Bush family who, like most of us, prefer to deal with health issues in privacy; and 2) because he is so beloved we knew everyone would overreact.

I am reminded of the line in the movie “A Few Good Men,” when Jack Nicholson yells at Tom Cruise: “You can’t handle the truth.” (That was supposed to make you laugh …)

So here is what you need to know:

• Yes, President Bush is in ICU where he is getting the best medical care in the world. We know you all have great doctors/hospitals where you live, but I can assure you that the healthcare he is getting at Methodist Hospital in Texas Medical is unequaled anywhere.
• Is he sick? Yes. Does he plan on going anywhere soon? No. He has every intention of staying put. He would ask me to tell you to please “put the harps back in the closet.”
• Will he be in the hospital for a while? Yes. He is 88 years old, he had a terrible case of bronchitis which then triggered a series of complications.
• Is there anything you can do? Yes, of course. Keep him and the family in your prayers. I am thinking heaven has not seen such a barrage of prayer intentions since “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

I hope you all know how much your love, concern, and support are appreciated.

Last but not least: The other thing you can do for President Bush is laugh, since he is the funniest person we’ll ever know…