Subject: POLITICO Huddle: Conservatives plan for aggressive comeback agenda – one that will surely prompt a veto – Walden faces backlash as NRCC chair – Five House races to watch on Election night
From: "POLITICO Huddle" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 06:28:05 -0600

By Lauren French (
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[email-masked]  & @laurennfrench)

CONSERVATIVES WANT THEIR SEAT AT THE TABLE - RIGHT NOW. From your Huddle author and Anna Palmer, "Interviews with more than a dozen conservative lawmakers and senior aides found a consensus among the right wing of the Republican Party: If Republicans take the Senate, they want to push an agenda they believe was hamstrung by the Democratic-controlled chamber, even if their bills end up getting vetoed by President Barack Obama... Their plan is to pressure Boehner and McConnell into taking up bills designed to force the Obama administration to defend some of its most unpopular policies, including the 2010 health care law. And they want to increase border security without any legislative
 sweeteners like increases in visas for high-tech workers or allowing a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Conservative Republicans also want to create work requirements for welfare recipients and force Obama to veto the Keystone XL pipeline." 
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WALDEN IN TROUBLE AS NRCC HEAD. The dynamic duo Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan write, "Rep. Greg Walden, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, could face challenges from either Rep. Roger Williams, a Texas Republican, or Rep. Aaron Schock of Illinois. Both have sent signals they're interested in a potential bid. Walden's detractors say there's no case to keep the Oregonian around. House Republicans have been consistently outraised by their Democratic counterparts, despite the GOP being in the majority. Their strategy and tactics have been called into question during the final weeks of campaigning. Pockets of the NRCC's staff are deeply unhappy." 
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THE SUSPENSE IS ON: FIVE HOUSE RACES TO TRACK. Alex Isenstadt details which House races - a general snooze fest during this election cycle - you should watch on Election night: The Arizona 2nd race between Democratic Rep. Ron Barber and Republican Martha McSally because it will be a photo finish; the California 52nd contest between Democratic Rep. Scott Peters and Republican Carl DeMaio, who has been accused of sexual harassment; and the Nebraska 2nd race that was put on the map because an explosive Willie Horton-style ad ran by Republican Rep. Lee Terry against Brad Ashford, a Democrat. Alex also says to keep an eye on the race between GOP Rep. Michael Grimm and Democrat Domenic Recchia in
 New York's 11th and the West Virginia 3rd race between Democratic Rep. Nick Rahall and Republican Evan Jenkins. 
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HAPPY WEDNESDAY MORNING, OCT. 29, 2014 and welcome to The Huddle, your play-by-play preview of all the action on Capitol Hill. We're only a few days from Halloween so get your political-themed costumes ready. Please send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints and corrections to 
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AROUND THE HILL. Zzzzzzzz.

MICHAEL STEEL: A HILL FASHIONISTA. Staffers take note because this Huddle author is tired of seeing untailored suits and mismatched shirts and ties. 
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SECRET SERVICE INVESTIGATOR NABBED IN PROSTITUTION SCANDAL. From the New York Times' Michael S. Schmidt, "The investigator who led the Department of Homeland Security's internal review of the Secret Service's 2012 prostitution scandal quietly resigned in August after he was implicated in his own incident involving a prostitute, according to current and former department officials... [David] Nieland resigned after he refused to answer a series of questions from the Department of Homeland Security inspector general about the incident, the officials said."
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K STREET HOPES SENATE FLIP WITH BRING IN CASH MONEY. Anna Palmer reports, "GOP lobbyists and consultants are strategizing about landing new business and looking forward to advising clients if Republicans take control of the Senate - setting off rapid change in the political dynamics of Capitol Hill. Several lobbyists said they expect a bump in business in the first half of 2015 when companies look to recalibrate their outside rosters to engage more heavily with Senate Republicans... GOP staffers and lobbyists have already been working behind the scenes to game out how they'll approach putting together a budget and how the budget reconciliation process would work. Those efforts will be
 complicated by funding cliffs in the spring that the Congress will also have to deal with at the same time." 
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BULK OF HOUSE SPENDING IN JUST 25 SEATS. Derek Willis writes, "The Cook Political Report rates 38 seats either as tossups or leaning toward one party or the other, but among groups operating outside the district like super PACs, the concentration is even tighter: Half of all independent spending reported to the Federal Election Commission for general election races has gone to just a dozen seats, with two apiece in Arizona and Illinois... The bulk of House contests have seen virtually no outside spending this year, with 193 having less than $10,000 spent. You could form a slim majority with the 220 races that have had less than $25,000 in independent spending for the general election."
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VA CHIEF IN SENATE CROSSHAIRS. "Republican senators are having some buyer's remorse when it comes to new Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert McDonald, who was confirmed unanimously this summer. Three GOP senators publicly blasted McDonald on Tuesday for not moving to dismiss Phoenix VA Health Care System Director Sharon Helman, who, along with two other staffers, was put on paid leave in May when revelations about patient backlogs, records falsification and long wait times for appointments swamped former VA Secretary Eric Shinseki." 
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DEMS PRESSURE OBAMA ON DETENTIONS. Via POLITICO's Seung Min Kim, "The Obama administration is facing increased pressure from congressional Democrats over the planned expansion of detention centers to hold undocumented immigrant mothers and children in response to this summer's border crisis. More than 30 House Democrats wrote to President Barack Obama on Tuesday, expressing several concerns about how immigrant mothers and children are being detained and the administration's plans to expand the practice." 
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TUESDAY'S TRIVIA. Edelman's Sean Neary was the first to correctly answer that the White House had its inaugural fence jumper in 1912.

TODAY'S TRIVIA. Sean has today's question: Which former Senator and future cabinet member, made a habit of dressing up like his colleagues for Halloween? A bonus point if you can name two of the senators he dressed up as. The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. Email 
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