Subject: POLITICO Huddle: RYAN FREEZES SPEAKER RACE -- Gets criticized from right -- All eyes on Bernie -- REID DISSES IOWA, N.H.
From: "POLITICO Huddle" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 2015 05:31:49 -0600

By Burgess Everett | 10/13/2015 07:30 AM EDT

Featuring Seung Min Kim

SPEAKER RACE ON CHILL: Rep. Bill Flores made a splash on Monday, beginning to lay the groundwork for a run for a speaker. Well, kinda. The Republican Study Committee chairman used an increasingly common caveat to launch his candidacy: He will run, but only if Paul Ryan doesn't. Indeed, the race for speaker is more shadow boxing than anything else until Ryan makes a decision, and his office indicated one isn't coming anytime soon. "Until [Ryan] flatly rules it out, the other potential candidates for the chamber's top job - a list nearly two dozen names long and growing - are forced to proceed gingerly. With one breath they're gauging support, with the next they're letting would-be backers
 know their interest could be temporary if the Ways and Means Committee chairman gets in ... The race for speaker is practically frozen until Congress returns on Oct. 20 from a weeklong recess. The fact is it's impossible for the election to unfold with lawmakers fanned out across the country." Jake Sherman: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=49f984f17a79fc41f452ffcdac85f9b72e6e34236c3303c6588dcf614c270c78

NEW CONSERVATIVE MEME -- LIBERAL PAUL RYAN: Perhaps the clearest sign that Ryan's candidacy is viewed seriously? The budding criticism from the right. "He is being criticized on issues ranging from a 2008 vote to bail out large banks to his longstanding interest in immigration reform to his work on a bipartisan budget measure. On Sunday night, the Drudge Report - a prime driver of conservative commentary - dedicated separate headlines to bashing Mr. Ryan on policy positions ... 'Anyone who attacks Paul Ryan as being insufficiently conservative is either woefully misinformed or maliciously destructive,' said Representative Tom Cole, Republican of Oklahoma." NYT: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=49f984f17a79fc418a4ee2e429183de52252b978e80107d84b0c7706737b6dfb

Pic: The photo that accompanies this story has WSJ's Kristina Peterson and AP's Alan Fram trudging after Ryan, with POLITICO's Anna Palmer and it appears, Jake, lurking. And is that Billy House all the way to the back? Definitely an all star lineup. 

http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=49f984f17a79fc41369e5d0d85aa9ef7ac73f2dcb30cae93f2eafbc7d2539d9e (No, I couldn't shorten this link for some reason)

RYAN'S HOME TURF: You just knew this story was coming with all the Ryan speculation. "As the nation's most powerful Republicans lean on the conservative, wonkish Ryan to run for House speaker, his hesitance, in his own portrayal, lies in an inner conflict between the demands of the role and his devotion to his family life back home. Ryan's attachment to Janesville has been central to his political narrative since he was first elected to Congress at age 28, but there is also an ideological tension that courses through his relationship with his home town. As Janesville's most famous native son, Ryan is widely admired as a good guy, a smart man, a caring father and a member of a sprawling and
 prominent family. But many in town dislike his politics." Washington Post: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=49f984f17a79fc418a0e74e839afa4ffa527531d9c9c6c3a72c54b0495d5883c

DEBATE DAY! HOW WILL BERNIE DO? The debate is being cast as a major opportunity for Sen. Bernie Sanders to introduce himself to the world with a massive TV audience, standing next to Hillary Clinton. The Vermonter has said all along that he won't attack Hillary Clinton or run a negative campaign -- and Jim Webb, Martin O'Malley and Lincoln Chafee may take care of that for him. But with the perception that Clinton has co-opted many liberal positions, it's up to Sanders to find a creative way to ding Clinton for being late to the progressive party. Of note: Sanders will be the only current officeholder on stage and has released a slew of liberal proposals this year on unions and
 infrastructure, allowing him to say that he's not just talking, he's doin' it. 

$ander$ $urge: Oh yeah, it's a pretty good fundraising opportunity for Sanders, as well, reports Ken Vogel and Annie Karni: "Hillary Clinton's major donors want her to show more 'fire' in Tuesday night's Democratic presidential debate to halt Bernie Sander's grass-roots momentum and populist fundraising appeal. But the Vermont senator's campaign sees the debate as a major opportunity to cash in, campaign sources tell POLITICO, and, if recent precedent holds, it could yield a multimillion-dollar surge from activists giving $10 or $20 each." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=49f984f17a79fc41ac856f77d093a8abb9e61dba494525e179b6f77176c635c4

Newest Bernie endorser: Rep. Keith Ellison. The Hill: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=49f984f17a79fc414a6eb7b813361cf501886be209eb690b2c112173a663ed3e

Tuesday is terrific. Welcome to the Huddle, your play-by-play guide to everything Capitol Hill, where everyone is squeezing out the last bit of summer as long as it hangs onto Washington. Please send tips to [email-masked] and follow along on Twitter @burgessev. 

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The House is in for a pro forma at 2 p.m., as is the Senate at 10:30 a.m.

AROUND THE HILL - Zip.

MONDAY'S MOST CLICKED: Alex Bolton's story on the GOP's continued struggle with the filibuster won the day. 

HASTERT'S CHOICE: Josh Gerstein reports that former House Speaker Dennis Hastert faces a crossroads in court. "A federal court deadline Tuesday will be a pivotal turning point in his felony case, signaling whether the former House speaker will plead guilty to a deal that has been under negotiation since at least late September with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago. A plea deal would give Hastert his best hope of averting a full public reckoning of allegations and rumors about his alleged misconduct as a teacher and coach, stories that POLITICO found have circulated for decades in political circles in and around Yorkville, Illinois." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=49f984f17a79fc4158402071c0ee2cd9c5b166a8100f78f9506fd6de036e242e

REID DISSES EARLY STATES: It's no surprise coming from the proud Nevadan, but Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said Monday that Iowa and New Hampshire should not kick off the presidential nominating season. "I have been a student of government for a long, long time. I was terribly upset about how we were choosing our presidents," Reid told Paul Kane of the Washington Post at the Post's pre-debate politics forum in Las Vegas. "You go to New Hampshire, there're not any minorities there. Nobody lives there. You go to Iowa, and there are a few people there. But again, it's a place that does not demonstrate what America's all about." Instead, Reid - who played a pivotal role in pushing up
 Nevada's presidential caucuses earlier in the 2008 campaign season -- argued that Nevada was more illustrative of the United States as a whole: "We are a state that is representative of what America's all about ... I don't mean to denigrate New Hampshire or Iowa, but they shouldn't be the ones choosing who's going to be president."

RUBIO HOOKS THE BIG ONE: Sen. Marco Rubio is close to getting an endorsement from casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, our crack political reporter Alex Isenstadt reports. "Last week, during a campaign swing through Las Vegas, Rubio held a meeting in Adelson's offices at the Venetian Las Vegas, one of a number of five-star luxury casinos the billionaire mogul owns ... Those close to Adelson - who spent more than $100 million on Republican candidates and causes during the 2012 campaign and has been aggressively courted by most would-be Republican nominees - stressed that the 82-year-old gambling magnate had made no final decision on whom he'd support but said that momentum had strongly shifted to
 the Florida senator. A formal endorsement, they said, could come as soon as the end of the month - and with it, the potential for a multimillion dollar contribution." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=49f984f17a79fc41b9dfe074d20a6b976f66ee15ff606955e69a73e4bfb5d83a

CRUELLA McCASKILL? Somehow I missed this tweet from Sen. Claire McCaskill over the weekend, which her office would not expound upon for me. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=49f984f17a79fc41ff21dc0e67c624b3cd6f7736ef6b18f011ce6dccfe7fe7e8

HOUSE Ds AIM TO STOP CIRCULAR FIRING SQUAD: The minority of congressional Democrats that supported fast-tracking trade deals have found themselves under the gun from progressives for months. So as the Hill prepares to vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership sometime next year, Democrats are hoping to stop the intraparty feud, Alex Brown of National Journal reports. "'We have to stop the fratricide,' said Rep. Steve Is&shy;rael, the former chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. 'It's hard enough to go up against Sheldon Adelson and the Koch brothers. Our members shouldn't have to go up against Sheldon Adelson, the Koch brothers-and [members'] friends.'" 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=49f984f17a79fc41c9fddd5d006eb59701e746783a025aee2aa72132faab3182

MONDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER: Joe Bookman was the first to answer that D.C. has five public high schools named after presidents: Coolidge, McKinley, Roosevelt, Wilson and Washington Center Special Education. There was some dispute over this question, but the parliamentarian (me) has ruled the answer is five. 

TODAY'S TRIVIA - I've got today's question, continuing the local D.C. trivia: Who now occupies the historic (and awesome) Capitol Hill office of former Sen. Ted Kennedy, and what is the address of the office? The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. Email me at [email-masked]

GET HUDDLE emailed to your Blackberry, iPhone or other mobile device each morning. Just enter your email address where it says "Sign Up." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=49f984f17a79fc4174e313d15b119685366cdb6f03738d6b352c1333879c9fde

To view online:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=49f984f17a79fc419c9296357107d2fc6de3891bf61d83867209ab8ac9bce6e0
 To change your alert settings, please go to http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=49f984f17a79fc4154ec781c5f34360b8eac1237af814a5e6908a73555416d63 or http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=49f984f17a79fc41c4d7121459f7b68f4f3d70a3e264cac07b7dc75f644119c4This email was sent to [email-masked] by: POLITICO, LLC 1000 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA, 22209, USA

To unsubscribe,http://www.politico.com/_unsubscribe?e=00000150-60f7-d430-a17e-e0ff0ff10000&u=0000014e-f0fe-dd93-ad7f-f8fffbc40000&s=6c6b6414eae612b17aa454d8f930ca3f34cf9cc1cd60a02aff6ab4086373348fed383a4f859d159e67b61d6d33616b5b64ecb29f8aca8a767bdbfe41634fd02a