By Mike Allen (@mikeallen; mallen@politico.com) and Daniel Lippman (@dlippman; dlippman@politico.com)
Good Monday morning, and welcome to winter! It’s the winter solstice: the shortest day, and longest night, of the year. And Iowa caucuses are six weeks from tonight. Despite the Trump’s campaign pledge to keep at it over the holiday break, the lead of today’s Des Moines Register, “Christmas on Iowa’s campaign trail looks to be quiet,” by Jennifer Jacobs, reports no candidate will be in the state Thursday, Friday or Saturday. Huckabee is there today, Hillary drops in tomorrow, and Bernie wraps up a three-day swing Wednesday. http://dmreg.co/1ZkfP29
FIRST LOOK – Hillary ad debuts today in Iowa: “Building on Hillary Clinton’s successful debate performance Saturday night, Hillary for America will release a new TV ad, ‘Secured,’ which highlights her commitment to keep ‘America safe’ and our ‘economy strong.'” 30-sec. YouTube http://bit.ly/1TYJ8DN
--Boston Globe’s Annie Linskey, a birthday girl today: “[W]hen the debate went to a long commercial break Clinton lost out to Lis Smith, the caffeine-guzzling deputy campaign manager for ... O’Malley ... A top Clinton staffer who was strategically posted outside the bathroom... gave Smith a verbal OK to make a quick pit stop.” http://bit.ly/1ZjORb5
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INSIDE THE CAMPAIGNS – “Cruz supersizes ... It’s not quite the spectacle of the Donald Trump show. But as Ted Cruz barnstorms through the South, he is producing campaign extravaganzas befitting his new status as Trump’s closest rival,” by Katie Glueck: “Heidi Cruz and the senator’s two young daughters accompanied him throughout the Alabama swing, joining him aboard the charter jet, which also housed the senator’s body man, campaign manager, chief strategist and press secretary.” http://politi.co/22kalqE
--“Cruz tackles the Wall Street Journal: The paper’s conservative editorial board says he’s disingenuous and demagogic. The senator says the paper is shilling for Marco Rubio,” by Kyle Cheney and Hadas Gold: “Editorial page editor Paul Gigot, who notes the Journal hasn’t endorsed a presidential candidate since Herbert Hoover, said the paper’s differences with Cruz are rooted in ... substantive policy differences.” http://politi.co/1Yvy2rb
--ERICK ERICKSON declares in email subject line, “Ted Cruz Will Be the Nominee”: “It is ... obvious that Cruz and Rubio are where the race will ultimately be. ... I would give the edge to Ted Cruz right now. ... [H]is path forward is less crowded.” http://bit.ly/1m3xRrB
--“Cruz super PAC tweaks Rubio in new ad,” by Politico’s Katie Glueck: “six-figure digital ad buy targeting voters in the four early ... states, as well as in Mississippi, Georgia and in Alabama ... ‘Trust’ was produced by Keep the Promise I, in collaboration with Keep the Promise PAC.” http://politi.co/1UVMjgC 1-min. YouTube http://bit.ly/1m2O8gf
WASHPOST HITS MARCO on front page for second time in three days -- WashPost A1, at fold, “Rubio’s aloofness on stump unnerves GOP activists: Senator presses the flesh less often than his rivals,” by Sean Sullivan and Karen Tumulty: “Republican activists ... say they are alarmed at his seeming disdain for the day-to-day grind of retail politics. ... That may be ... a sign of overconfidence in his own abilities.” http://wapo.st/1OirVqR
JEB TRUMPETS HIS TRUMP-TRASHING: Web video, “The Only One”: “Voters know where Jeb stands on Trump. ... Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Chris Christie have shown they don’t have the courage to take on the frontrunner Donald Trump.” 75-sec. video http://bit.ly/1OhZ8CE
POWER MOVES – N.Y. Daily News Ken Lovett in Albany: “Melissa DeRosa, ... [Gov.] Cuomo’s communications director since 2013, has been promoted to chief of staff ... DeRosa will be replaced as communications director by James Allen, who once served as then-Newark Mayor Corey Booker’s chief spokesman and most recently has been vice president of communications and strategy at Mic.” http://nydn.us/1QBpNev
RISK ALERT -- “US power grid vulnerable to foreign hacks,” by AP’s Garance Burke and Jon Fahey: “About a dozen times in the last decade, sophisticated foreign hackers have gained enough remote access to control the operations networks that keep the lights on ... Many of the substations and equipment that move power across the U.S. are decrepit and were never built with network security in mind; hooking the plants up to the Internet over the last decade has given hackers new backdoors in.” http://apne.ws/1MqSXVp
--WSJ 1-col. lead, “Iranian Hackers Infiltrated New York Dam in 2013,” by Danny Yadron: “Iranian hackers infiltrated the control system of a small dam less than 20 miles from New York City two years ago, sparking concerns that reached to the White House ... America’s power grid, factories, pipelines, bridges and dams—all prime targets for digital armies—are sitting largely unprotected on the Internet.” http://on.wsj.com/1NGmfRU
EVELYN LIEBERMAN tributes by Playbookers, including Tony Blinken, Evan Ryan, Madeleine Albright, Julie Mason, Lisa Caputo, Minyon Moore, Ginny Terzano, Kiki McLean, Tara Sonenshine, Mike McCurry, Mary Ellen Glynn, and many more. http://on.fb.me/1OhCJ27
** A message from Abbott: We asked a million people what it looks like to really live life fully. What we found is as interesting and diverse as the world itself. Come see what the world thinks. http://abbo.tt/PL01 **
ARE YOU A FRIEND OF MITT? Invites to his yearly pow-wow went out Thursday: “Friend, I would like to invite you to join me in Deer Valley, Utah this June for my Experts and Enthusiasts Summit, or E2 Summit ... [W]e will once again gather influential politicians, business and industry leaders and innovators from across the globe for two days of discussions. ... The dates for the 2016 E2 Summit are June 9-11, 2016 and the Stein Eriksen Lodge, in Deer Valley, Utah, will once again be our host.”
NPR’s STEVE INSKEEP interviewed POTUS on-camera at the White House on Thursday. On ISIS: “[I]t is also important for us to keep things in perspective, and this is not an organization that can destroy the United States. This is not a huge industrial power that can pose great risks to us institutionally or in a systematic way. But they can hurt us, and they can hurt our people and our families. So I understand why people are worried.” Audio, video, transcript http://n.pr/1O3e067
MEDIAWATCH –WSJ, bottom of B1, “Bezos Is Hands-on Boss At the Washington Post,” by Lukas Alpert and Jack Marshall: “[H]e holds a one-hour teleconference with the paper’s top managers once every two weeks. ... He primarily focuses on improvements to the paper’s digital products, particularly its mobile apps ... Analytics dashboards will soon be added to reporters’ computers, and traffic figures will eventually be looked at as part of performance reviews, [executive editor Marty] Baron said.” http://on.wsj.com/1UTS9zj
BROTHERLY BYLINE: Today’s N.Y. Times front page (p. A20 in National Edition) includes “Cuomo’s Focus In Pardon Push: Youth Offenses,” by Jesse McKinley and James C. McKinley Jr. -- a rare double byline by a pair of siblings. Jesse is an Albany reporter who will take over a bureau chief on Feb. 1, and Jim covers Manhattan courts and legal issues. Even though the two have been at the paper together for 27 years, this is only their second co-byline: The first was Dec. 1, on p. A24, “Cuomo Nominates Prosecutor for Chief Judge.”
Jim, who’s eight years older, got Jesse a job as a copyboy when he first got to NYC in '88. Metro editor Wendell Jamieson wrote last week in a memo, posted by Politico’s Jimmy Vielkind, announcing the Albany promotion: “Jesse has been working at The Times since he was 18, when brother Jim — then Tom Wicker’s clerk – told him he needed to get a ‘real job’ while attending acting school at N.Y.U.”
--SUE CRAIG, a Wall Street Journal alumnus who has been Albany bureau chief, moves to City Hall bureau chief. See the memo. http://politi.co/1QB7RjZ
WASHINGTON, INC. – N.Y. Times 1-col. lead, “LOBBYISTS SHIELD A TAX LOOPHOLE WORTH $1 BILLION: LATE EXCEPTIONS IN BILL -- Rule Change Is Delayed for Casino, Hotel and Wall St. Interests,” by Eric Lipton and Liz Moyer: “The small changes, and the enormous windfall they generated, show the power of connected corporate lobbyists to alter a huge bill ... with little time for lawmakers to consider. ... [T]here were thousands of other add-ons and hard to decipher tax changes.” http://nyti.ms/1Tc6W7d
--NYT Quotation of the Day – Chad Saylor, a Coast Guard spokesman, on financing secured by lobbyists and lawmakers in a tax and spending bill approved by Congress: “If we are funded for it and Congress says you are going to have a ninth cutter, I guess that is how it goes. But we are good with eight.”
DAILY TRUMP -- JEFF GREENFIELD on Politico, “Will the GOP Mount a Third-Party Challenge to Trump?”: “[A]Trump nomination represents ... a victory that leaves significant slices of the party unwilling or unable to accept the outcome. ... [T]he odds on massive defections are very high.” http://politi.co/1QAqtk9
--@BillKristol: “Crowd-sourcing: Name of the new party we'll have to start if Trump wins the GOP nomination? Suggestions welcome at editor@weeklystandard.com.”
--“Trump Trademarked ‘Make America Great Again’ Right After Romney Lost,” by The Daily Beast’s Michael Daly: “The Donald started to run for president six days after President Obama won a second term, and he did it by ripping off Ronald Reagan. Records show that Donald Trump applied to trademark the phrase ‘Make America Great Again’ six days after President Obama was elected to a second term.” http://thebea.st/1mvo4KT
OK, WE GET IT! WSJ, last night, “GOP Mainstream Lacks Concerted, Well-Funded Anti-Trump Plan” http://on.wsj.com/1meyCxr ... NYT, Dec. 2, “Wary of Donald Trump, G.O.P. Leaders Are Caught in a Standoff” http://nyti.ms/1N2StGK ... WashPost, Nov. 25, “Plan A for GOP donors: Wait for Trump to fall. (There is no Plan B.)” http://wapo.st/1NdNyWM ... WashPost, Nov. 13, “Time for GOP panic? Establishment worried Carson or Trump might win.” http://wapo.st/1meyFJJ ... AP, Oct. 21. “Trump’s Republican critics pushing for GOP-backed takedown” http://apne.ws/1TYDJwt
TOP TALKER -- “College Students are Renting Out Their Dorm Rooms on Airbnb. What Could Go Wrong?” by Fast Company’s Sarah Kessler http://bit.ly/1OhOhJ7 (h/t NYT Now)
MIKE BARNICLE on The Daily Beast, “My Christmas Wish: Stop Warmongering for Political Gain”: “[T]he heaviest load of a larger war will not be carried by any senator’s son. No, that task will fall ... to the ordinary among us, to men and women who are not heading to an Ivy League college, business school, Wall Street, or Silicon Valley.” http://thebea.st/1J1nTAU
JULEANNA GLOVER on WSJ A23, “Stingy Baghdad Harms the ISIS Fight”: “The [Kurdish] Peshmerga, who are holding the front line in the global effort to defeat ... ISIS, ... have now gone without paychecks for three months. ... Much of the blame lies with the Iraqi central government.” http://on.wsj.com/1IiT2zL
HOLLYWOODLAND – “‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Opens to Record $238M for Cosmic $517M Global Launch,” by The Hollywood Reporter’s Pamela McClintock: “‘Force Awakens’ stunning performance sets a new standard for how much the North American box office can expand when the right movie comes along, and puts even more pressure on Hollywood studios to eventize their tentpoles.” http://bit.ly/1UTSfGU
WELCOME TO THE WORLD – Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.) became a grandfather for the first time on Friday: “Our son, Michael and his wife Jillian welcomed Aidan Broadway McNerney... Aidan’s parents are both veterans ... Perhaps we have another service member in the family... or a mathematician, like his grandfather. We couldn’t have received a better gift this holiday season!” Michael is the CEO of a cyber security start up, and Jillian is a manager in Silicon Valley. Pics http://bit.ly/1TYE4iJ ... http://bit.ly/1PfkAVZ
ENGAGEMENTS – Jim VandeHei emails the global Politico staff, with subject line, “Winning the Weekend”: “We have a POLITICO engagement to celebrate: Bobby Moran and Becca Smith, both awesome people and terrific success stories here ... Bobby gave me a heads-up at our Holiday party and then pulled the trigger [Saturday] night.” Bobby is Politico Pro’s VP of Strategy and Business Development, and Becca is a technical project manager.” Pic by Katie Abbott of Bobby and Becca with their dog, Kunu http://bit.ly/1QEUgb3
--POOL REPORT by Bobby: “I told her earlier this week that I thought it would be nice if Saturday night was just kind of a low key evening before we drove up to her parents’ house early Sunday morning. ... While we were ... at ... Ghibellina on 14th St., Jennifer Carignan (a POLITICO friend) and her husband came over to our house and decorated our living room with lights, champagne, chocolate covered strawberries, and roses. When we got back from dinner, ... I dropped to one knee ... I sent a text to about 15 friends who had gathered at Shaw Tavern just a few blocks from our house, and they surprised Becca (again) by showing up to celebrate.”
--Adam Sedgewick, senior policy advisor on cyber security at The National Institute of Standards and Technology and the pride of Princeton, to Mandy Hovland, program officer at Baltimore health non-profit Jhpiego and the pride of Norfolk, VA. They met through friends in DC, and Adam proposed with a special Christmas present under the tree on Saturday evening, followed by a fun night in Old Town, including a great performance by Diplomatic Immunity at The Light Horse. Pic http://bit.ly/1Pfn72w (h/t The Buttered Blazers)
--Annah Backstrom, content strategist for politics at the Des Moines Register, to Joel Aschbrenner, the Register’s business reporter and columnist, who is covering Chris Christie in the caucuses. The two met in the newsroom at the Klamath Falls Herald and News in Oregon. Annah moved to Des Moines in 2012, and Joel joined her a few months later. He proposed outside the old Register building in downtown Des Moines on Friday, which was the first place they saw each other after being reunited in Iowa. Pic http://bit.ly/1TYJmuO
BIRTHDAYS: John Coale (h/t Tammy Haddad) ... Rich Galen ... Joe Gaylord … Annie Linskey, national politics reporter for The Boston Globe (h/ts Steve Saleeba and Matt Viser) ... Brian Goldsmith (h/t Katie Couric) ... Jeffrey Katzenberg is 65... Phil Donahue is 80 ... Jane Fonda is 78 ... Dave Stroup, director of email and social media at Rising Tide Interactive and a DSCC, Mark Warner and Sierra Club alum … NGA press secretary Elena Waskey ... WashPost’s Karen Heller ... Michael Negron, chief of policy in Mayor Emanuel’s office ... Swopa Needlenose ... Julia Mellon, account director at Bliss Integrated Communication ... CNN’s Kelly Wallace ... Sarah Bufkin, a postgraduate student in political theory at Oxford and a NAACP and HuffPost alum ... Josh Scheinblum, reporter at WTNH News 8 ... Alejandra Lopez-Fernadini ... Benjamin Sendejas, son of Ray Sendejas, and Erika Poethig …
... Brian Heindl, formerly Sen. Herb Kohl’s legislative director, now Kimberly Clark’s director of gov’t relations … Patrick Sims of Hamilton Place Strategies … Lesley Russell, ex-senior policy advisor to former Surgeon General Regina Benjamin ... Boston Globe’s Josh Miller, a Roll Call alum … Gary Lee, former OFA and Obama White House Staffer, Fulbright Fellow, and USC Trojan ... Jessica Brady, press secretary for the Senate Judiciary Committee and a Roll Call and NJ alum … Carl Gray, tri-state finance associate at Hillary for America and a State protocol office alum … Nicole Hudzinski … Carl Zingale … Sarah Leonard … Sari Bourne (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) ...
... Beth LaMontagne Hall ... Sally Armbruster of Grosvenor Holdings and an Obama WH alum ... Bush 43 WH alum Tracy Young, now director of education reform at the Bush Institute ... actor Samuel L. Jackson is 67 ... International Tennis Hall-of-Famer Chris Evert is 61 ... actor-comedian Andy Dick is 50 ... Kiefer Sutherland is 49 ... actress Kaitlyn Dever is 19 (h/ts AP)
DESSERT -- HOWARD WOLFSON on Daily Beast, “My Favorite Albums of 2015”: “Hamilton — Soundtrack ... Kathryn Joseph – Bones You Have Thrown Me and Blood I’ve Spilled ... Sleater-Kinney – No Cities to Love ... Alabama Shakes – Sound and Color ... Andy Shauf — Bearer of Bad News ... Florence and the Machine – How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful ... Los Hijos de la Montana – Los Hijos de la Montana.” With videos of all the music http://thebea.st/1ZjOBc3
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