By Mike Allen (@mikeallen; mallen@politico.com) and Daniel Lippman (@dlippman; dlippman@politico.com)
SIREN -- “GOP mega-donors frozen in frustration: Big money stops flowing as donors question its effectiveness, worry about Trump,” by Ken Vogel: “Many of the donors are urging the deep-pocketed groups they’ve already funded [including Koch network] to begin spending against Trump, even as some recognize the potential for such spending to backfire, and are increasingly questioning the efficacy of big-money advertising campaigns more generally.” http://politi.co/1ThDyzu
--Club for Growth action ad hits Trump -- Titled “There’s Nothing Conservative about Donald Trump”: “There’s nothing conservative about proposing the largest tax hike in history ... supporting socialized single-payer health care ... abusing eminent domain for personal gain ... four bankruptcies ... giving money to the Clintons.” http://bit.ly/20sTdLF
--WashPost A1, top of col. 1, “Ramping up financial firepower for Clinton,” by Matea Gold, Tom Hamburger and Paul Kane: “Priorities USA Action ... unleashed a $5 million infusion of spending on her behalf, upending plans to hold its fire until the general election. ... [The DNC] announced that it had rolled back restrictions introduced by presidential candidate Barack Obama in 2008 that banned donations from federal lobbyists and political action committees. ...
“[Both moves] could backfire. ... Sanders ... issued a news release ... ‘Clinton Wall Street-Funded Super PAC Enters Democratic Primary Against Sanders.’” http://wapo.st/1ocONgi
--Drudge banner: “DNC DIRTY: RULE CHANGE BOOSTS CLINTON CA$H.”
Good Saturday morning – Valentine’s Day is tomorrow. Today is NBA All-Star Saturday. DASHBOARD: 7 days to S.C. GOP primary and Nevada Democratic caucuses (Feb. 20) ... 10 days to Nevada GOP caucuses (Feb. 23) ... 14 days to S.C. Democratic primary (Feb. 27).
BLOCK THAT METAPHOR! Email from Team Marco, with subject line, “Fighting tooth and nail”: “They say politics is a contact sport, but Marco had made it this far in the campaign without any physical injuries ... until this week, when he chipped his tooth while eating a frozen Twix bar. ... [T]he media may have bitten off more than they can chew here: Marco’s been to the dentist and he’s ready to sink his teeth back into the policy questions voters care about.”
TOP TWEETS: @murphymike: “Source I trust sends these SC tracking numbers from a non-Jeb campaign; Trump 34, Cruz 17, Jeb 12, Rubio 10. Kasich in single digits” ... @jonathanalter: “Hillary is right. Bernie trashed Obama’s policies routinely to me and other reporters, especially in 2011-2013 period” ...@JuddLegum: “If you could force Donald Trump to read one book, what would it be?”
SHOTS FIRED -- @realDonaldTrump: “If @TedCruz doesn’t clean up his act, stop cheating, & doing negative ads, I have standing to sue him for not being a natural born citizen.”
DRIVING TONIGHT: GOP Presidential Debate on CBS from 9 to 11 p.m., from the Peace Center in Greenville, S.C., with six candidates: Trump, Cruz, Rubio, Bush, Carson and Kasich. John Dickerson is principal moderator, joined by two panelists: CBS News Chief White House Correspondent Major Garrett and The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberley Strassel.
--“Cruz and Trump poised for the ugliest debate yet: These rivals are itching for a fight as South Carolina settles into a two-man race,” by Katie Glueck and Ben Schreckinger: “According to the Real Clear Politics average, Trump is running a solid first in South Carolina with 37 percent, followed by Cruz at 20 percent. (Marco Rubio sits a distant third at 14 percent.)” http://politi.co/20RLQmo
--JOHN DICKERSON PROFILE on cover of N.Y. Times Business Day, “Molded by News Legends, Honing His Skills at CBS”: “Though much younger [now 47], he shared Mr. Schieffer’s calm and cool demeanor (‘There was this quality of . . . call it, avuncular,’ said David Rhodes, the president of CBS News) ...
“[W]hen CBS’s Washington bureau chief, Christopher Isham, tried to recruit him to be a part-time analyst about eight years ago, Mr. Dickerson, then working at Slate, flatly told him no. ‘He liked new media, but I think he was a little scared that television was not a sincere or deep medium,’ said Walter Isaacson, Mr. Dickerson’s former editor at Time. ‘He was worried about television being trivializing.’” http://nyti.ms/1ThKAnT
--“CBSN (http://www.cbsnews.com/live) will offer a ... stream ... with ... real-time Google Trends data and a curated Twitter stream. ... Nancy Cordes will anchor the pre-debate show beginning at 6:00 PM ... live from the Peace Center and ... post-debate coverage at 11:00 PM.”
--IF YOU’RE IN S.C.: Across the street from the debate site, “Frank Underwood is opening his campaign office. Members of the media can stop by and see Frank’s replica Oval office and get BBQ from Freddy’s BBQ.” Pic http://bit.ly/1PsywMJ
MADELEINE ALBRIGHT on N.Y. Times Op-Ed page, “My Undiplomatic Moment: I should know better than to tell a group of women to go to hell”: “[L]ast Saturday, in the excitement of a campaign event for Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, ... I delivered a line I have uttered a thousand times to applause, nodding heads and laughter: ‘There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other.’ It is a phrase I first used almost 25 years ago, when I was the United States ambassador to the United Nations and worked closely with the six other female U.N. ambassadors. But this time, to my surprise, it went viral. ...
“I understand that I came across as condemning those who disagree with my political preferences. If heaven were open only to those who agreed on politics, I imagine it would be largely unoccupied.” http://nyti.ms/1TYxuLC
THE CONVERSATION – Barron’s cover, “TRUMP, SANDERS: Are they killing the market? The rise of these two extreme candidates has correlated closely with the decline in stocks the past eight months,” by Barrons.com Executive Editor John Kimelman: “Trump ... could ... punish China and other trading partners with tariffs to level the playing field. ... And that’s when he isn’t trying to deport millions of undocumented immigrants—a view that most Republicans view as highly impractical and likely to cause tremendous civil strife. ...
“If ... Sanders ... were to win, ... the U.S. would have a professed democratic socialist at the helm, with a long list of ambitious but expensive goals, such as single-payer national health care, free tuition at public colleges, and a major federal bridge- and highway-construction effort. ...
“Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research and a longtime market commentator, [says] that when investors are in a bearish mood, ‘they keep adding to their worry list. ... [A] nonestablishment figure in the West Wing might not be such a bad thing in the long run ... [I]nvestors ... have long been comfortable with political gridlock.” http://bit.ly/1WiY9BD
--“Investors Have Lost $1.78 Trillion so far this Year” http://for.tn/1LlrQfA
TOP TALKER – “Philippe Reines rips Beltway media, Erik Wemple Blog for ‘hypocrisy,’” by WashPost’s Erik Wemple, who posts this email from Philippe: “Hi Erik ... The media on media violence triggered by the ongoing release of my inbox from the four years I served in the Administration has led me to emerge from my self-imposed hibernation (for one night only). ... [Y]ou can’t throw a dart at the White House Correspondents Dinner without hitting someone who has been involved in quote approval, ground rule negotiation, source obfuscation — and every other routine thing that goes on every day ...
“While it will take until late 2018 or even 2019 for all of my 80,000+ email to be out there, I have a well informed source who already knows what’s in my email: Me. I wrote them. I read them. And right or wrong, this is the norm. It’s the norm in every newsroom — including your own — and every communications shop in the city. So anyone shocked by the gambling going on in the casino is being disingenuous at best. And they are setting themselves up for a fall when their email is outed. ... Best, Philippe.” http://wapo.st/1TYwUxJ
PETER HAMBY in the news -- NYT A13, “Capturing the Campaign In 10-Second Increments: Snapchat places a big bet as it enters the news business, by Nick Corasaniti in Bedford, N.H.: “Hamby, a former CNN reporter, was the first splashy hire. He brought on Katy Byron, a former CNBC producer and two-time Peabody Award winner, as his managing editor. They hired from CBS, ABC, cable networks and colleges for a team of roughly six journalists. ... [T]hey are already finding an audience, with more than one million viewers on every political story that they have produced.” http://nyti.ms/1RwSI2F
MOOD MUSIC -- MICHAEL GRUNWALD, “Clinton Backs Into a New Corner: If she thinks America is such a mess, why wouldn’t we want something different?”: “[O]nly one quarter of Americans believe the country is on the right track. Still, it was striking that after a record 71 months of employment growth that have created 14 million new jobs, at a time when gasoline is cheap and health care inflation is at the lowest level in half a century and the federal deficit has dropped by more than two thirds, the party in power was essentially embracing the Republican view of America as a dumpster fire.” http://politi.co/1Wi1fWw
--“GOP Oppo Firm Gearing Up For A Possible Sanders Nomination,” by BuzzFeed’s Andrew Kaczynski: “America Rising sent a batch of routine [FOIA] requests this week asking for correspondence between Sanders’ Senate office and federal government departments.” http://bzfd.it/1QwUIDb
WHAT S.C. IS READING – The (Columbia) State banner, “Trump targeted ahead of SC Republican debate: Opponents question GOP front-runner’s conservative credibility,” by Andrew Shain in Greenville: “Donald Trump better buckle up. ... Some conservative groups ... are asking voters to avoid Trump when they go to the S.C. polls Feb. 20. The pro-life advocacy group Susan B. Anthony List ... said Trump cannot be trusted.” http://bit.ly/1QdDock
--The (Columbia) State front page, above fold, “Clinton in SC touts plan for poor, rural communities,” by Jamie Self in Denmark: “Invoking the names of President Barack Obama and U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, Clinton pitched pitch herself as a better candidate than Sanders, a Vermont independent who has not been to South Carolina since the Martin Luther King weekend. ‘(Sanders) does not support, the way I do, building on the progress that the president has made, and that includes building on the Affordable Care Act.’” http://bit.ly/1ThDsYN
WORTH THE CLICK -- “Watch The Funniest Ad Of The 2016 Campaign,” by HuffPost’s Christina Willkie: “On Friday, the Cruz campaign ... releas[ed] a spoof of the iconic printer beating scene from the 1990s cult classic movie ‘Office Space.’ Originally set to the Geto Boys’ ‘Damn It Feels Good to be a Gangsta,’ the Cruz version of the scene borrows the music and changes the lyrics to ‘Damn it feels good to be a Clinton.’” http://huff.to/1Ps4itf ... The original 90-sec. scene http://bit.ly/1PsgBWt ... Trailer http://bit.ly/1TXz14I
--@TheGetoBoys: “We don’t support @tedcruz or his super lame ad using our music.”
NEW CONSERVATIVE SOLUTIONS PAC ad, “Different,” has its stern narrator say: “Ted Cruz voted to undermine our National Defense and weaken our ability to track terrorists. Marco Rubio is different. He knows how to keep us safe.” http://bit.ly/1oblT06
THE NEW GILDED AGE – N.Y. Times A1, above fold, “Disparity in Life Spans of the Rich and the Poor Is Growing,” by Sabrina Tavernise: “Looking at the extreme ends of the income spectrum, economists at the Brookings Institution found that for men born in 1920, there was a six-year difference in life expectancy between the top 10 percent of earners and the bottom 10 percent. For men born in 1950, that difference had more than doubled, to 14 years. For women, the gap grew to 13 years, from 4.7 years.” http://nyti.ms/1KL7tNK
POLITICAL EMAIL SUBJECT LINE DU JOUR – From Joe Biden: “I want you to get your Official Membership Card, Daniel”.
CLICKERS -- “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,” edited by Matt Wuerker – 12 keepers http://politi.co/1RwOWGw
A NEW “SNOWFALL”: “The Waypoint -- A visual journey through Lesbos, the gateway to Europe” -- WashPost http://wapo.st/20QusP0
GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman, filing from NYC, where he’s seeing “Hamilton” tonight:
--“We Are Hopelessly Hooked,” by Jacob Weisberg in the N.Y. Review of Books: “Once out of bed, we check our phones 221 times a day—an average of every 4.3 minutes ... What does it mean to shift overnight from a society in which people walk down the street looking around to one in which people walk down the street looking at machines?” http://bit.ly/1TgAdka
--“How America Is Putting Itself Back Together,” by James Fallows on the cover of March’s Atlantic: “Most people in the U.S. believe their country is going to hell. But they’re wrong. What a three-year journey by single-engine plane reveals about reinvention and renewal.” http://theatln.tc/1Xof2Mm ... See the cover. http://bit.ly/1objORU
--“A Country Breaking Down,” by Elizabeth Drew in the N.Y. Review of Books: “The near-total failure of our political institutions to invest for the future ... has left us with hopelessly clogged traffic, at risk of being on a bridge that collapses, or on a train that flies off defective rails, or with rusted pipes carrying our drinking water.” http://bit.ly/1oaVFdX
--“Can This Man Save U.S. Soccer?” by Amanda Ripley in the March issue of The Atlantic: “How one teacher is attempting to train a generation of globally competitive players--starting with their coaches.” http://theatln.tc/1PHWMIG
--“American Pharoah’s Second Life as a $200-K-A-Night Stud,” by Monte Reel in Bloomberg Businessweek: “The world’s fastest horse could earn more in the shed than he made on the track.” http://bloom.bg/1SmgWxD
--“Could You Stomach the Horrors of ‘Halftime’ in Ancient Rome?” by Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz in LiveScience.com: “With a flourish, trapdoors in the floor of the arena were opened, and lions, bears, wild boars and leopards rushed into the arena. The starved animals bounded toward the terrified criminals, who attempted to leap away from the beasts’ snapping jaws.” http://bit.ly/241nMg4
--“The Killing of Warren Weinstein,” by Daniel Bergner in tomorrow’s N.Y. Times Magazine: “After the American aid worker was abducted in Pakistan, his family undertook a delicate negotiation in hopes of securing his release. But then they got word that he had died — in a United States drone strike.” http://nyti.ms/1R0ax8g
--“Why anti-intellectualism is the real snobbery,” by Steven Poole in The Guardian, reviewing “Pretentiousness: Why It Matters” by Dan Fox: “Calling something pretentious is lazy, vacuous and smug – after all, it’s good at times for our ambition to outstrip our abilities. Those who invoke bluff ‘common sense’ are the actual snobs.” http://bit.ly/1Lln5T9 ... Pre-order -- $15.95 on Amazon http://amzn.to/1Wi9S3x (h/t ALDaily.com)
FIRST LOOK – “Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions Unveils New TV Ad”: “will air in South Carolina and Washington ... during [tonight’s] GOP debate. It highlights Governor Nikki Haley’s leadership on renewable energy.” http://bit.ly/1TXkXs5
ROMNEY ALUMNI -- Sarah Pompei, most recently at HP who was deputy comms. director on Romney 2012, is starting with Lyft on Tuesday on the Public Affairs team under David Mack. She’ll be the Senior Public Affairs Manager working with the Government Relations team to bring Lyft to new markets around the country.
#GrammysSoWhite? -- L.A. Times Calendar front, #OscarsSoWhite, Grammys style: With Taylor Swift nominated for seven awards [in Monday’s show], the music industry could be facing a backlash over diversity,” by Mikael Wood: Swift is nominated for seven prizes, including ... album of the year for ‘1989,’ ... widely tipped as the favorite in that category, which ... includes ... ‘To Pimp a Butterfly,’ the searing, proudly African American masterpiece by the Los Angeles rapper Kendrick Lamar ... If she ... beats Lamar[,] she risks being seen as a happy beneficiary (or perhaps even an agent) of show-biz prejudice.” http://lat.ms/1XpvoEB
HOLLYWOODLAND -- “Dr. Dre Filming Apple’s First Scripted Television Series,” by The Hollywood Reporter’s Michael O’Connell and Lesley Goldberg: “Beats co-founder and rap legend Dr. Dre ... is starring in and executive producing his own six-episode vehicle, dubbed Vital Signs, and the production is being bankrolled by Apple. The series likely will be distributed via Apple Music.” http://bit.ly/1SmlvIf
DEADLINE MONDAY – “Editor & Publisher wants to recognize the next generation of newspaper publishing leaders [35 and younger] ... Please help us by nominating a newspaper up-and-comer (or yourself) for our ‘Publishing Leaders — 25 Under 35’ feature article that will appear in E&P's April issue. ... Candidates may be publishers, editors, advertising executives, circulation managers or other newspaper leaders.” http://bit.ly/241sQkA
OBAMA’S WEEK AHEAD: “On Saturday and Sunday, the President will remain in the Palm Springs, California area and has no public events scheduled. ... On Monday, and Tuesday, the President will host a summit with leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage, CA to continue important conversations about the Asia-Pacific region. Following the conclusion of the summit, the President will return to Washington ...
“On Thursday, the President will welcome the Chicago Blackhawks ... to honor the team on their 2015 Stanley Cup victory. ... Afterward, President and the First Lady will host a reception celebrating Black History Month in the East Room. On Friday, the President will meet with Democratic Governors at the White House. On Sunday, the President will deliver remarks at the National Governors Association Dinner and Reception at the White House.”
BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): ABC alum Yunji de Nies, now an anchor/reporter for KITV in Hawaii
BIRTHDAYS: Chip Smith, managing director and CEO of Glover Park Group (h/ts Michael, Carter, Joe, Joel) ... Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) ... Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon … Jerry Springer ... Politico’s Chris Conway ... Politico New York’s Production Editor Peter Lettre ... Alex Burgos of Rubio Senate office … Bloomberg’s Stacie Sherman ... Raven Reeder, chief of staff to DC Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (h/t Kiara Pesante) ... Lila Nieves-Lee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee (h/t HFAC & DCYRs) ... Danielle Baussan, CAP’s managing director of energy policy, currently on maternity leave with #2 (h/t DJW) … Brian Szmytke, a Republican political operative from Michigan now, on the Nevada staff of Rubio campaign ... Mae Stevens, an environment LA in the U.S. Senate ... Lauren Hammond, Sen. John Thune’s Senate Commerce Committee press secretary (h/t Fred Hill) ... Jill Barclay of Harbinger Outreach and a RNC and Romney alum (h/t Ryan Williams) ... Les Francis, former exec. director of DNC and DCCC (h/t Jon Haber) ...
... Camille Johnston of Siemens (h/t Jo) ... Politico alum Sunny Mehta, now an associate at Clyde Group ... Stephen Bauer … Diane Ward ... George Kundanis … Simone White … Jeff Stein ... Mark Cohen, senior speechwriter for Treasury Secretary Lew … J.R. Claeys, Kansas state representative ... Unjin Lee ... Mary Tiffany Cownie, director of the Iowa Dept. of Cultural Affairs and a Bush 43 WH alum ... Bill McCarren, executive director of National Press Club (h/t Andrea) ... Ryan Cunningham ... WSJ autos reporter Mike Spector is 35 ... Maruffe S. Oliveira ... Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life (h/t Kevin McVicker) ... U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager (ret.) is 93 ... Bo Svenson is 75 ... Stockard Channing is 72 ... Jerry Springer is 72 ... Peter Gabriel is 66 ... actress Katie Volding is 27 ... Michael Joseph Jackson Jr. (also known as Prince Michael Jackson I) is 19 (h/ts AP)
THE SHOWS, from @MattMackowiak, filing from Greenville, S.C.:
--NBC’s “Meet the Press”: Donald Trump (live from Florida); Marco Rubio; John Kasich; roundtable: Chris Cillizza, Ron Fournier, Gwen Ifill, Kathleen Parker and Al Sharpton
--ABC’s “This Week”: John Kasich; Marco Rubio; Bernie Sanders; roundtable: Matt Bai, LZ Granderson, Bill Kristol and Ana Navarro
--CBS’s “Face the Nation”: Donald Trump; Marco Rubio; Bernie Sanders; roundtable: Jamelle Bouie, Peggy Noonan, Dan Balz and Kimberley Strassel; new results from the CBS News 2016 Battleground Tracker Poll with Anthony Salvanto (airing live from Greenville, SC)
--“Fox News Sunday”: Marco Rubio; Bernie Sanders; roundtable: George Will, David Gregory, Kristen Soltis Anderson and Juan Williams
--CNN’s “State of the Union” (9am ET / 12pm ET): Jeb Bush; Marco Rubio; roundtable: Donna Brazile, Hugh Hewitt, Kellyanne Conway and Bill Press (substitute anchor: CNN’s Dana Bash)
--CNN’s “Inside Politics” with John King (SUN 8am ET): Roundtable: Julie Pace, Ryan Lizza, Jackie Kucinich and Manu Raju
--Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” (10am ET / 9am CT): Paul Ryan; Marine Corps University’s Dr. Sebastian Gorka; roundtable: Mary Kissel, Ed Rollins and Judith Miller
--Fox News’ “MediaBuzz” (11am ET / 10am CT): Heidi Przybyla; Juleanna Glover; Simon Rosenberg; Trish Regan; Mary Katharine Ham
--CNN’s “Reliable Sources”: (SUN 11am ET): Bob Schieffer; David Zurawik; Ryan Grim; Kathy Kiely and Dennis Kneale; James Fallows and Douglas Brinkley
--CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS”: (SUN 10am ET / 1pm ET): Michael Chertoff and Peter Bergen; Rana Foroohar and Martin Wolf; Harry Belafonte; Alec Ross
--Univision’s “Al Punto” (SUN 10am ET / 1pm PT) Special live episode of Pope Francis’ arrival in Mexico City
--C-SPAN: “The Communicators” (SAT 6:30pm ET): FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn (D), questioned by WSJ’s John McKinnon ...“Newsmakers” (SUN 10am ET): Johnny Isakson, questioned by Politico’s Connor O’Brien and Military Times’ Leo Shane ... “Q&A” (SUN 8pm & 11pm ET): Robert Gates
--MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation with Rev. Al Sharpton”: (SUN 8-9am ET): Bernie Sanders; Hillary Clinton
--MSNBC’s “The Place for Politics”: (SUN 10am-12pm ET): Former SC GOP chairman Katon Dawson; MSNBC contributor Robert Traynham; the University of Maryland’s Janelle Wong; The New York Daily News’ Sarah Ryley; The Nation Magazine’s Ari Berman; NAACP North Carolina president Rev. Dr. William Barber; Vanderbilt University’s Jonathan Metzl; MSNBC’s Trymaine Lee; St. Louis 21st Ward Alderman Antonio French; trans activist Cherno Biko; the University of Pennsylvania’s Salamishah Tillet (MSNBC’s Joy Reid hosts live from South Carolina)
--MSNBC’s “The Place for Politics”: (SUN noon 2pm ET): Charleston Post & Courier’s Gavin Jackson; Gregory Meeks; NYT’s Jeremy Peters; Michael Steele; Larry Sabato (MSNBC’s Alex Witt hosts)
--PBS’s “To the Contrary” with Bonnie Erbé: Smith College’s Riche Barnes; Roundtable: Exceptional Leadership Institute for Women founder Avis Jones DeWeever, Eleanor Holmes Norton, conservative commentator Dana White and Independent Women’s Forum senior fellow and Generation Opportunity national spokeswoman Patrice Lee
--WUSA 9 “Capital Download” with Derek McGinty and Susan Page: (SUN 8:30am ET): Jim Clyburn; roundtable: Dana Milbank and Margaret Talev; Center for Public Integrity’s Dave Levinthal
--SiriusXM's “No Labels Radio” (SUN 6am ET & 9pm ET): Special best-of broadcast featuring host Jon Huntsman discussing the prospects of a 3rd party candidate with No Labels vice chair Charlie Black, Roll Call’s Melinda Henneberger and former Clinton adviser and The Stagwell Group founder Mark Penn. Interviews with The Goldwater Institute’s Clint Bolick on immigration reform and Alan Simpson on the 2016 election. Available for download at http://www.nolabels.org
--Sinclair’s “Full Measure” with Sharyl Attkisson (SUN 9:30am ET on WJLA and airing on Sinclair stations nationwide): Correspondent Scott Thuman visits Paris three months after the terror attacks. Roundtable: Jim Messina and Karl Rove; report on President Obama’s last budget; segment on how the Navy once camouflaged ships.