Subject: POLITICO Huddle: RYAN'S SPRINT TO SAVE THE HOUSE -- Should Dems avoid immigration? -- CONGRESS' MOST COVETED COMMITTEE -- Senator snatches student's cellphone
From: "POLITICO Huddle" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2018 06:00:58 -0600
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10/15/2018 07:59 AM EDT

By Nolan D. McCaskill ([email-masked] or @NolanDMcCaskill)
 
RYAN'S FINAL SPRINT -- House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) will visit a dozen states to campaign for 25 vulnerable Republicans in the final three-week sprint to Election Day. "Ryan will be appearing at various campaign events, including fundraisers, rallies and business tours, depending on the district," USA Today's Eliza Collins reports. "The majority of candidates he will be campaigning for are current members of the House, but Ryan will help out a handful of Republicans hoping to fill open red seats. Ryan's team says that these candidates were chosen because they are in competitive races and the speaker has not yet visited the district." 
 
The list of candidates includes House Freedom Caucus members Dave Brat (R-Va.), Rod Blum (R-Iowa) and Ted Budd (R-N.C.). "Ryan's campaign tour will zigzag from New York to Kansas to North Carolina, with stops in between. He'll end the campaign cycle back home in Wisconsin with a bus tour touting GOP candidates up and down the ballot," Collins adds. "Some of the members on Ryan's list have been all but counted out by race handicappers, but Ryan's team says they wouldn't be wasting the speaker's time if they didn't think the races were winnable." Much more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4ab31817e4fc18131185be71bb7028cc65240cca63e731acb5f0f49d97accae6d75939fdfd9f8024114adfc27f8a059d 
 
Related: "GOP plays blame game while fighting to save House majority," by The Associated Press' Steve Peoples: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4ab31817e4fc1813cab22e09d5167e6b72ff2f2c222ef20e32759b27e0ed42112a50b6c001ef9865833aed693a69cbec 
 
MEMO URGES DEMS TO AVOID IMMIGRATION -- Republicans' sanctuary city attacks on Democrats "pack a punch," reads a memo from the liberal Center for American Progress and Third Way, a centrist think tank. "Many of the Republican attacks use misleading language and employ overblown claims about the dangers of immigrants," The New York Times' Julie Hirschfeld Davis writes. "But the fear-based appeal demonstrates how Mr. Trump has overcome months of negative headlines about his hard-edge immigration policies to make the issue a potentially profitable one as Republicans try to preserve their slim Senate majority and defy projections that they will lose the House."
 
The memo says Democrats could counter the attacks by responding head-on. But Democratic candidates are advised to "spend as little time as possible" talking about immigration. "It is very difficult to win on immigration with vulnerable voters in the states Trump carried in 2016," the memo says. "The strategists worry that Republicans' foreboding immigration message is far more personal to most voters than the more modulated position of Democrats, whose push to protect the young immigrants known as Dreamers and to ensure humane treatment of undocumented people does not, in many cases, affect voters themselves," she adds. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4ab31817e4fc1813555a15a236350a184179b367e6015f3fa5df7a076a559420157eb0961ff6832dfaa61fef7f56d76e 
 
Related read: "'We've got a Latino problem': Dems fret midterm turnout in key House districts," from Elena Schneider: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4ab31817e4fc1813d69cdae6702aa8891ade8e1144ec79dc224aadff5ae02464b9581fa645fff2046fdc589f975a17ab 
 
LAWMAKERS LINE UP FOR SEATS ON INTEL PANEL -- Dozens of Republican and Democratic lawmakers want to join the House Intelligence Committee in the next session of Congress "for a chance to be part of a panel at the vanguard of the partisan brawl over Russian interference in the 2016 election," Kyle reports. "The interest has veterans of the committee worried that a new class of lawmakers will reinforce the partisan impulses that drove the committee toward dysfunction the past two years. The politicization of the once sober, above-the-fray panel has undermined what some lawmakers and national security officials say has been a decades-long partnership with the intelligence community."
 
The committee "will be crippled" and "this country will suffer" if the panel remains politicized, Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) warned. "It has to revert back to the way that it was, sort of like the sleepy little classified committee that nobody ever hears about," Rooney said. Congressional leaders have compiled a list of members who want to join the committee. Current members, however, "suspect that hard-liners in both parties may look to the committee's unique relationship with the intelligence community to protect or punish Trump," Kyle writes. "And it'll be up to congressional leaders, they say, to ensure that the posts go to members prepared to keep partisanship out of the panel's work."
 More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4ab31817e4fc1813ada4feed50a0dda3cd82d5d807852e6cece2ab0b6627e90652ce6655e51d594d27807c03695b0b0d 
 
Related: "Mueller is everywhere, except the midterms," via Darren Samuelsohn: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4ab31817e4fc1813c05cfa97a02f457fbd0350372916cd3166dd30d04f6deaeabd418fcc46093c469a79c9699d29056e 
 
GOOD MORNING! Thanks for reading Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Monday, Oct. 15.
 
FRIDAY'S MOST CLICKED: Burgess' report on the deal to confirm 15 federal judges that Senate Democrats agreed to to recess through the midterms was the winner. 
 
President Trump says a red wave is coming on Election Day. Is he right, or will the tide turn blue? Compete against the nation's top political minds in the POLITICO Playbook Election Challenge by correctly picking the winning candidates in some of the most competitive House, Senate and gubernatorial races in the country. Win awesome prizes and eternal bragging rights. Sign up today!
 
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FOR RENT -- President Donald Trump's team started building a database of cellphone numbers and email addresses for up to 20 million supporters shortly after he claimed the GOP nomination in 2016. "Now, consultants close to the Trump campaign are ramping up efforts to put that database -- by far the most sought-after in Republican politics -- to use, offering it for rent to candidates, conservative groups and even businesses," The New York Times' Kenneth P. Vogel and Maggie Haberman report. "It is an arrangement that has the potential to help the Republican Party in key midterm races, while providing a source of revenue for President Trump's campaign and the consultants involved." More: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4ab31817e4fc18131a9ce75408bc8a61079c438862a29b6d1cc8c256c411901eb7fcfef967200d9833fd36285f89a4a5 
 
WARREN'S SHADOW WAR ROOM -- Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has created a shadow war room over the past six months to elect Democrats in the midterms. Warren's effort is "overtaking some of the traditional duties of Democratic Party campaign committees and further positioning herself for an all-but-certain 2020 presidential bid," The Washington Post's Matt Viser reports. It also involves work in every state and close coordination with more than 150 campaigns. And Warren has placed staffers in the early voting states of New Hampshire, Iowa, South Carolina and Nevada, as well as key battlegrounds such as Ohio, Florida, Michigan and Wisconsin. 
 
"I feel the urgency of the moment nationally," Warren said. "It's two parts: It's holding Donald Trump accountable for what he does. It's also trying to push this country toward working better for hard-working families." Warren's war room is housed within her Senate reelection headquarters in Boston. "Every day, about a half-dozen staffers report to work, picking at salads and pecking away on laptops, sending messages to the campaigns across the country to which they are assigned," Viser writes. "Whiteboards on the wall list the various races they are tracking, a map shows the places Warren has visited or where staffers are based, and there's a list of candidates Warren needs to follow up
 with personally." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4ab31817e4fc1813ee0dd325f94fc6af9edf3879414ce67a7be45dd2b9a1bd98f360d2d42c414bcd0f2c7817913f90fa 
 
Related read: "Warren releases results of DNA test," by the Boston Globe's Annie Linskey: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4ab31817e4fc1813bdc2674a492c467ff2b2713a922bce877c06027690a6195e4340b81b8b043427f4f3075da5cb70a9 
 
CRUZ LEANS ON ESTABLISHMENT -- Ted Cruz (R-Texas) rode an anti-Washington wave to the Senate in 2012 and ran against the establishment as a presidential candidate in 2016. Now, as he seeks reelection against Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas), he's taking the inside track. "Cruz has leaned on help from the highest echelons of the Republican Party, campaigning with Vice President Mike Pence and Donald Trump Jr. in Texas recently and getting a commitment from President Donald Trump for a future event," James Arkin notes. "Cruz remains as conservative as ever, but he sanded down some of the sharp edges on his personality and political strategy in the Senate last year... Now, Cruz's insider
 connections are powering his effort to return for a second term." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4ab31817e4fc1813005a6343b49da8ff5560ea2f50e68d1378272a64a19f26738d212165a1d39c3567e5370cffa825b8 
 
SENATE JUDICIARY WOMEN ON FORD-KAVANAUGH -- Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) hopes that one day women who were sexually assaulted can come forward and share their stories without being accused of lying. "But that requires a culture change," she said. "Women have had to put up with this bullsh-- for way too long." Women today are "credible," "believable" and "electable," added Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). "But I don't think the culture's changed to the point where women are respected for what they do to the extent they should be," she said. Additional quotes from Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), via NY Mag's Olivia Nuzzi: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4ab31817e4fc181318df4cb1ff4ee62aefb960e670e3c80a8eb8b3601aed89f935e31a19abd32ba1028f4d042eb3b249 
 
Related: "A Court Victory Heals All Wounds: Trump Calls McConnell 'the Greatest Leader in History,'" from The New York Times' Emily Cochrane: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ed153427931ec0d2d899b70e8b75d78c653fbf1511529f8f963f6d3a5ed10a5e2df2dc20aad403a322a492a1dedc5a49 and "Young Women Aren't Waiting to Seek Political Power," per The Wall Street Journal's Janet Hook: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=4ab31817e4fc181367cdbfe48e19817594d38eef4b4f3db67bb638c25010cd84eafc1bab9f3eb8ef14e3ddc14094c4d8 
 
WHITE HOUSE EXPECTED TO NAME NEW COUNSEL -- The White House may get some much-needed help soon with the expected hiring of veteran Washington lawyer Pat Cipollone as counsel. Cipollone is expected to start as Don McGahn's replacement within two weeks. "The White House counsel's office has been beset by departures, including several of its top deputies, and Trump could be hit with an onslaught of congressional investigations if Democrats take control of the House next year," Lorraine Woellert notes. "Democrats already are planning to hit the Trump administration with a blitz of subpoenas and requests for information and testimony. Cipollone will need to develop the president's political and
 legal response to those investigations at the same time the 2020 presidential campaign kicks into gear." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ed153427931ec0d28e343b86a9b2b1ddcab2b2d962b3812ea411022fef94b6634760252ae2dab506f5b7639610191140 
 
SNATCHED FOR A SELFIE? -- Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) took a student's phone over the weekend because he thought he was being asked to take a picture, his office said. "In this instance, the senator clearly thought he was being asked to take a picture, and he went to take a selfie as he often does," said Casey Black, Perdue's spokeswoman. "When he realized they didn't actually want to take a picture, he gave the phone back." A Georgia Tech student attempted to ask Perdue about voter suppression when the senator snatched the phone. "Hey, so, uh, how can you endorse a candidate -- " is as far as the student got. More on the exchange: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ed153427931ec0d2127f8c2fdd3b01dd6773167d1cd91963b92e8b9bebdd73a8d6b79fc2617041f432dddb7c60cf2e81 
 
Related read: "GOP claims of voter fraud threat fuel worries about ballot access in November," via The Washington Post's Amy Gardner: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ed153427931ec0d2f76139b6ab927c8b8d8ccf93fdf9e831fb52587e720cb5e43240f04722fef231fac0d572fdb97fe2 
 
CANDIDATE ROBBED -- Democrat Greg Stanton, who is running to replace Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), was robbed outside of a restaurant over the weekend by a man wielding a "hatchet-like weapon." Stanton was walking back to his car after eating alone at Thai Rama when he was approached. He said he initially thought the man was "going through a difficult time -- experiencing homelessness -- and was going to ask for money." Once he saw the weapon, Stanton told the man to take his wallet. "The main thing is I'm OK," said Stanton, the former Phoenix mayor. "I'm a public servant so there wasn't much money in my wallet." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ed153427931ec0d228c721d226444c2a060ef76e50aae7baf259869269a2b7097431c962e770ab765b2bb7e1cf2e468e 
 
TRANSITIONS -- Nick Dhimitri has joined Suffolk as national vice president of external affairs. He was previously director of economic development and a legislative assistant to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). 
 
WEEKEND WEDDING -- "Laura Cederberg, Michael Siebenaler" - N.Y. Times: "Ms. Cederberg, 36, is an assistant chief of staff in St. Paul to Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat. She graduated from the University of Michigan. She worked on the first senatorial campaigns for Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken, both Minnesota Democrats; she was the research director in 2012 on the campaign for Senator Mazie Hirono, a Democrat of Hawaii. ... Mr. Siebenaler, 45, is a senior adviser in the Minneapolis office of United States Representative Keith Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat." With a pic. NYT
 
TODAY IN CONGRESS -- The House and Senate are out.
 
AROUND THE HILL -- Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) and others will hold a press call to discuss health care's defining role in the 2018 midterm elections beginning at 1:45 p.m. The call-in number is 888-205-6786, and the password is 313081.
 
FRIDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER -- No one correctly guessed that there are 136 paintings hung in the Capitol building itself.
 
TODAY'S TRIVIA -- Which session of Congress saw the largest freshman class, and how many traditional first-term members were in that class? The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your best guess my way: [email-masked].
 
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