Subject: POLITICO Huddle: SENATE GOP LEADERSHIP QUASHES LAME DUCK SCOTUS RUMOR — Senate Dems to take the court fight home — HOUSE GOP’S VOLDEMORT STRATEGY ON TRUMP — Ryan huddles with GOP donors fretting about Trump — READIES SELF FOR ‘TRIAL BY FIRE’ AT THE CONVENTION
From: "POLITICO Huddle" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2016 06:26:04 -0600

03/18/2016 08:24 AM EDT

By Rachael Bade ([email-masked] or @RachaelMBade) 

SO MUCH FOR THAT RUMOR MILL - "Republican leaders quash talk of Supreme Court vote in lame duck," Alexander Bolton for the Hill: "Senate Republican leaders are tamping down talk in their conference of voting on Merrick Garland's nomination to the Supreme Court in the lame-duck session after the elections. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a senior Republican on the Judiciary Committee, on Wednesday floated the idea of voting on Garland later this year if Hillary Clinton wins the presidency...Behind the scenes, several other Republicans have discussed the lame-duck option and voiced concerns that Clinton might nominate a judge who is even more liberal.... But the talk of eventually confirming
 Garland has agitated GOP leaders because it undercuts their argument that the vacancy should only be filled by the next president." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ea5429bbead1a7956fbff848d16701eddd58336499324a3e46e4816f61699be1 

"Merrick Garland Visits Capitol," David M. Herszenhorn for the N.Y. Times: "Senate Democrats enthusiastically embraced Judge Merrick B. Garland on Thursday in his first visit to the Capitol as a Supreme Court nominee... Judge Garland, in a dark suit and a green tie for St. Patrick's Day, smiled tightly for photographers in the offices of the Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, and Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. Keeping with custom, Judge Garland made no statements as he moved around the Capitol complex with a retinue of White House aides.... 

"Adding to the day's theatrics, Senate Democrats crossed the street and stood outside the Supreme Court building for a news conference where they reiterated the "Do your job!" refrain that has become their battle cry in recent weeks. The unorthodox news conference highlighted the extent to which the battle over Judge Garland's nomination - unlike past confirmation fights such as those involving Justice Clarence Thomas or Judge Robert Bork - will play out not in televised committee hearings or debate on the Senate floor, but in the court of public opinion." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ea5429bbead1a795da6564ea92d54f22388d6f64fe4e205c9df7a44abe46b1dd

FOLLOWING YOU HOME - "How Dems will take court fight to the GOP at home." Burgess Everett and Seung Min Kim report for POLITICO: "Senate Democrats are preparing a national pressure campaign aimed at blunting Republicans' stubborn opposition to Merrick Garland's nomination to the Supreme Court, in a bid to keep the issue red hot as senators scatter across the country for a 17-day recess. The Democratic strategy, described by the party's chief message man, Sen. Chuck Schumer, and sources on and off Capitol Hill, takes aim at Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley and other senators up for reelection. If they start feeling the heat, Democrats say, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell may be
 forced to ease his blockade. But those Republicans have deep-pocketed allies, so Democrats are hoping to flex their national organizational ties to liberal groups and score earned media by garnering coverage back home... Democrats say they have a slogan that will sting the GOP: 'Do your job.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ea5429bbead1a79569fabd421880eb5dea291117930da41d82ddfd94c28910f7 

TGIF. It's March 18, 2016, and you're reading Huddle, your daily inbox round-up of all things Congress. Seung Min will be your host next week, and you can pester her on email: [email-masked] or on Twitter: @seungminkim

TODAY IN CONGRESS. Both chambers are out. The House returns next week; Senate, not 'til April. 

AROUND THE HILL. Pretty much nothing. Sen. Deb Fisher at 9 a.m., down the street, will talk gender pay equity and leave issues at AEI. 

HOUSE GOP'S VOLDEMORT STRATEGY - "Endangered House Republicans: Trump who?" Lauren French reports - a story that sounds an awful lot like the way wizards refer to "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" in Harry Potter: "Vulnerable House Republicans are adopting a strategy for campaigning with Donald Trump as their nominee: Bury their heads in the sand and hope for the best. POLITICO interviewed a half-dozen lawmakers in tough reelection races, ones who have perhaps the most to fear about Trump as their general election standard-bearer. Their plan, in a word, is to ignore him. Disregard the racket in the presidential race and keep it local. Whether voters will do the same is another matter, but they're
 playing the hand they've been dealt. Few of the Republican lawmakers were comfortable discussing Trump. Some wouldn't utter his name." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ea5429bbead1a795345f99fe16e3964eaefba017b0b0b6cd35aec9e8f71cb3d7 

RYAN HUDDLES WITH GOP DONORS FRETTING ABT TRUMP. Scoop by Isaac Arnsdorf in Palm Beach, Fla., with Ken Vogel and Jake Sherman: "House Speaker Paul Ryan met Thursday night at a pricey French restaurant here with some of the party's biggest donors to assess a political landscape dominated by one vexing question: what to do about Donald Trump. The dinner was a highlight of a secretive two-day conclave, convened under heavy security by a donor group headed by New York hedge-fund manager Paul Singer, that is being viewed as a pivotal moment for the big-money effort to block Trump from the Republican presidential nomination.... [T]alk was expected in GOP finance circles to turn to whether there
 might be other viable avenues for stopping the anti-establishment billionaire real-estate showman, such as a convention fight, or whether his nomination is a fait accompli, and donors should instead focus their spending on protecting Republicans in other races." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ea5429bbead1a795f5cd5554c094ece3876883c348de50396345b36e29e7151e 

RYAN: CONTESTED CONVENTION MORE LIKELY. Kristina Peterson for the W.S.J.: "House Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday he hoped to be 'Switzerland' and serve in a neutral role if delegates at the Republican convention in Cleveland this summer end up selecting the party's presidential nominee. Mr. Ryan's comments Thursday marked a shift as Republican Party leaders have increasingly acknowledged that they may arrive in Cleveland in July without a nominee, leaving the decision to be hashed out by delegates. Mr. Ryan last month had said his role as convention chairman would be more 'ceremonial' and in January had said it was 'ridiculous' to discuss a contested convention. But on Thursday, Mr. Ryan
 said he planned to read up on the convention's rules so that he could enforce them as needed. 'My goal is to be dispassionate and to be Switzerland... to make sure the rule of law prevails and make sure that the delegates make their decision however the rules require them to do that,' Mr. Ryan said." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ea5429bbead1a7958d6b32b2a3904110ce67f52c28aca838d64cb613b4b21d7b 

His "trial by fire as Republican Convention Chairman." Billy House for Bloomberg: Paul Ryan didn't know until after he became speaker of the House that it meant he'd also be chairing the Republican presidential nominating convention in July. He also wasn't aware that becoming chairman meant he might be walking into a firestorm. The sharply divisive Republican primary contest means that, instead of a largely ceremonial role, Ryan is almost certainly going to end up with the unenviable job of trying to piece back together a shattered Republican Party. Whether that task will mean trying to unite a splintered party behind an unpredictable outsider, Donald Trump, or brokering a contested
 convention where Republicans slug it out over possible alternatives, Ryan will likely be on the hot seat. And everyone will be watching to see whether he is trying to tilt the outcome." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ea5429bbead1a795a1caea758475c665b54d178ad5589d9ba78cd882852e6170 

MEANWHILE, GRAHAM MAKES HIS OWN PLAN B - "Graham to fundraise for Ted Cruz's presidential bid." Given his jabs at Cruz, bet that's a headline you never thought you'd read, right? Dana Bash and Abigail Crutchfield scoop for CNN: "Sen. Lindsey Graham will host a fundraiser on Monday in support of Sen. Ted Cruz's presidential campaign. A draft of the invitation, obtained first by CNN, invites guests to 'honor and support a great friend of Israel and the Jewish people.' Support for the Texas senator is an about face from the South Carolina senator, who compared nominating Donald Trump or Cruz to being shot or poisoned. Graham told CNN that while the Texas senator is not his preferred candidate,
 he's 'the best alternative to Donald Trump,; and he said he will 'help Ted in every way I can.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ea5429bbead1a795584c71f89b8a684f457677bb85d463d4c7e17317770d1b5a 

WELCOME BACK - "An exhausted Marco Rubio returns to Senate, vows not to accept VP or run for governor," Paul Kane for The Washington Post: "Returning to the Senate for the first time in a month, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said he expects to return to life as a private citizen in January with no political goals on the horizon. 'I'm not going to be anybody's vice president. I'm just not gonna - I'm not interested in being vice president. I don't mean that in a disrespectful way. I'm not going to be vice president. I'm not running for governor of Florida,' Rubio said, dismissing speculation about his future... Clearly exhausted from a yearlong bid for the presidency, Rubio, 44, sighed and took
 several deep breaths throughout the seven-minute press briefing outside the meeting room of the Senate Intelligence Committee. 'I'm going to finish out my term in the Senate over the next 10 months.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ea5429bbead1a795503e6c77a4ede287f3c482dfc1d29580f861b32e5eb2acf1 

EX-BENGHAZI INVESTIGATOR DROPS CLINTON BIAS CLAIM. Your Huddle author reports: "Last October, an ex-GOP Benghazi Committee staffer sued the panel, claiming he was wrongly fired for refusing to center his investigation on Hillary Clinton - an accusation Clinton's defenders held up as proof that the panel had devolved into a political witch hunt. But five months later, Bradley Podliska's lawsuit has quietly dropped all mention of Clinton. Attorneys for the Air Force Reserve major filed an amendment to his original claim in late February, striking the legal clauses that included his accusation that the panel's investigation was increasingly focused on Clinton - and that he was dismissed for
 refusing to go along. It's a significant change from his original assertion." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ea5429bbead1a79525e9df9f33f44bcd9ca92f85a9d69b9a6b9da73223fb816e 

BLAME GAME - "House Members Call for Resignations Over Flint," per Roll Call's Jeremy Dillon: "Michigan's governor and the nation's top environmental official pointed fingers at the other as they testified Thursday on the water crisis in Flint, but they both agreed on one thing: The city's residents were exposed to lead in their drinking water for months because of failures of the government officials charged with protecting them. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy said state officials were 'intransigent, misleading and contentious,' while Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said EPA officials were 'inefficient, ineffective, and unaccountable bureaucrats' who 'allowed this
 disaster to continue unnecessarily.'"

"Both officials were urged to resign during the hearing held by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., told Snyder, a Republican, he should step down because 'plausible deniability only works if it is plausible.' And Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah., told Obama appointee McCarthy to 'do the courageous thing' and resign over EPA's slow response." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ea5429bbead1a795b799fc607a4f26310aecc400f5c75d337f34470bb82b159f 

CLICKABLE - "WARREN: I'M LEIA, NOT VADER." So we may or may not have named two of our cats after Star Wars characters, Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker, so we can't resist putting this in Huddle, per Pro Finance's Zach Warmbrodt: "Elizabeth Warren says she sees herself more as Princess Leia than as Darth Vader. The liberal Massachusetts senator made the distinction clear in a fundraising e-mail this afternoon blasting Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer - the Missouri Republican who yesterday not only compared her to the evil Sith Lord in the Star Wars series but also encouraged a room full of bankers visiting Washington to 'find a way to neuter' her.... In a fundraising e-mail titled, 'I won't be
 neutered,' Warren said, 'The Force is not strong' with Luetkemeyer... said she identifies more with Leia, 'a senator and Resistance general who, unlike the guys, is never even remotely tempted by the dark side." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ea5429bbead1a79586c5d8a8d2f7d8c3b410bcb7d365bafdf61966817a237048 

THURSDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER: Jeremy Berkowitz was the first to answer that Washington and New Hampshire are the only two states that have been simultaneously represented by female governors and two female senators. #Women_Rule. 

TODAY'S TRIVIA: Comes from our winner: Who was the last Republican to win the Ohio Presidential primary without going on to win the nomination, and in what year did it happen? Email me: [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=ea5429bbead1a795216a31fa0715347ef3cea39096074ed0d8a29cf2d11aecd3

To view online:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ea5429bbead1a795114653069018f4c6aecd5a8b233921d1a3ea01273c72c007
 To change your alert settings, please go to http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ea5429bbead1a795c9b12f0044317c16693393ed3211fe79fb5d52863155d414 or http://click.politicoemail.com/profile_center.aspx?qs=c1c81b2ef644fde1dd3c1f6178ef6a8ea3ee660992025bd4397fcb2c26d2350033654e794176fabb7ea86f73fef5193bf34c72cd2d7536f1This email was sent to [email-masked] by: POLITICO, LLC 1000 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA, 22209, USA

To unsubscribe,http://www.politico.com/_unsubscribe?e=00000153-89af-d728-a5ff-cdff40130000&u=0000014e-f0fe-dd93-ad7f-f8fffbc40000&s=3e62e08383070c581e0f02ef64566194db793553e3d79728a740db4fb2310244e57c211253c733189ddd8f3a90a3491a0a9743286613e1aaf56b4bef12c409d6