HUFFPOST HILL - Rand Paul Drops Presidential Bid, Settles For Gig With Washington Machine

Rand Paul Suspends 2016 Presidential Campaign

Upset with the results from the caucuses, Donald Trump wants a do over, something that he has considerable previous experience with in bankruptcy court. Having not passed the support threshold to make it into the debates, Rick Santorum is wondering whether he crossed the support threshold to land a Fox News contributing gig. And Rand Paul suspended his presidential campaign, immediately throwing his support behind not losing his Senate seat this November. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Wednesday, February 3rd, 2016:

@gov_gilmore: Started out as 1 of 17 GOP Candidates, now with Rand Paul & Rick Santorum out, 1 or 9. #StillStanding

HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE SO MAD - Members of Congress wanted to get to the bottom of the Flint water crisis, but several key players were missing from an oversight hearing on Wednesday. House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) opted not to call Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) to testify, to the consternation of committee Democrats. And Darnell Earley, one of the emergency managers Snyder had appointed to run Flint, refused to testify even after Chaffetz issued a subpoena Tuesday. "We"re calling on the U.S. Marshals to hunt him down and give him that subpoena," Chaffetz said. Lead poisoned Flint"s water after the city switched its water source in 2014. The state water regulator told Flint not to control for the corrosiveness of the water, and the lack of treatment resulted in the water leaching lead from the city"s pipes. And the federal Environmental Protection Agency dragged its feet last year after it knew there was a problem. "This is the United States of America -- this isn"t supposed to happen here," Chaffetz said. "We are not some Third World country where 100,000 people get poisoned." [w/ HuffPost"s Laura Barron-Lopez]

Darnell Earley"s lawyer, A. Scott Bolden, did not like this proposed hunting down of his client, saying he told the committee they"d cooperate if they"d give him some other dates. "I have not heard back from the committee since then -- other than what I saw on TV, that the chairman indicated that he was going to have to hunt my client down like he was an animal. My client"s not an animal, and neither am I, and neither one of us are running and hiding from the committee. We"re ready, willing and able to participate, just under reasonable circumstances."

RECKLESS OBAMA WANTS FEDERAL EMPLOYEES TO AFFORD MILK - How can you drown the government in a bathtub if it"s out buying groceries with its COLA? Joe Davidson: "President Obama will include an average 1.6 percent pay raise for federal employees in his fiscal 2017 budget proposal. This year, the average raise is 1.3 percent. The 2017 pay increase was announced in a conference call with administration and union officials. The complete budget will be announced next week... the president will propose six weeks of paid parental leave for federal employees, as he has previously. Currently, they may take 12 weeks of unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act, like all workers of many companies." [WaPo]

DELANEY DOWNER - Tyler Tynes: "Gladyes Williamson paced the halls of Congress on Wednesday, armed with a bottle of brown water and clumps of her own hair. She"d traveled with a group from Flint, Michigan, where high lead levels have made the water irritating to the skin and unsafe to drink since 2014. Williamson trekked 14 hours on a packed bus, with no sleep, to remind Washington of whats happening in a poor, embattled, industrial town nearly 75 miles north of Detroit. "Not only do we feel like the Republicans hate us, but now that the Democrats dont care either," Williams, 62, told The Huffington Post. "We just need something tangible to make us believe that politicians care about us. The wards in Flint havent seen any of this federal aid, but we do all the tax paying and all the dying."" [HuffPost]

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HUMBLED DONALD TRUMP BLAMES THE SYSTEM, REASSERTS HIS OWN GREATNESS - What a mild mannered man. Maggie Haberman: "After hinting at it for a day, Donald J. Trump on Wednesday bluntly accused Senator Ted Cruz of "stealing" victory in the Iowa caucuses and demanded a do-over... In typical fashion, Mr. Trump first tested lines about Mr. Cruz committing voter fraud in a speech at a rally in New Hampshire, sprinkling it in with a larger address. Mr. Trump is basing his claim on reports that Mr. Cruzs aides and allies, including Representative Steve King of Iowa, had posted a false report on Twitter that Ben Carson had suspended his campaign while the voting was still going on. The implication is that some of the Carson votes ended up going to Mr. Cruz." [NYT]

CLINTON, SANDERS AGREE TO FOUR DEBATES - Ben Kamisar: "Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have agreed to four more debates beginning with a Thursday night showdown in New Hampshire, the Democratic National Committee confirmed to The Hill. After Thursday"s debate, the campaigns will next square off in Flint, Mich., the city facing a public health crisis due to contaminated water, in March. The DNC adds that there will be two other debates, one in April and one in May, but did not specify the locations. The Washington Post reports that the April debate will take place in Pennsylvania and the May debate will be in California. The partys decision to sanction the debates allows the candidates to appear without triggering a party provision that bars candidates who appear in unsanctioned debates from appearing in future official contests." [The Hill]

RAND PAUL OUT - The invisible hand pointed him to the exit. Paul Kane and Dave Weigel: "Sen. Rand Paul will now pivot from battling other Republicans in the presidential race to beating a Democrat in what could be a competitive race to hold his Kentucky Senate seat in November. After exiting the presidential contest on Wednesday morning, Pauls campaign leadership said the senator was turning his attention fully to his Senate reelection bid, arguing that his steady voting record had shored him up at home. "His national race transfers to the state level in terms of fundraising," said Paul strategist Doug Stafford. Still, Pauls fundraising suffered from the Kentucky Republicans decision to simultaneously pursue the White House and Senate reelection in 2016." [WaPo]

SANTORUM OUT - Just couldn"t get things frothy. John King and Jeremy Diamond: "Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is ending his presidential bid, two Republican sources told CNN. He is expected to make the announcement Wednesday night and will endorse a candidate. Santorum won the 2012 Iowa caucuses and ended that race with the second-most number of delegates to eventually GOP nominee Mitt Romney. But he was unable to capture any momentum this year, despite extensive barnstorming efforts in Iowa. He is the third Republican presidential candidate to drop out after Monday"s caucuses. Mike Huckabee ended his campaign that night, and Rand Paul suspended his campaign Wednesday morning. The Santorum sources did not say whom Santorum would endorse. When asked about a possible endorsement, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said he hasn"t spoken to the former Pennsylvania senator on Wednesday." [CNN]

AWKWARD - Josh Gerstein: "President Bill Clinton once had the opportunity to save his daughter"s future father-in-law from spending five years behind bars, according to never-before-revealed White House files. But the asked-for reprieve never came. In the waning days of Clinton"s presidency, federal prosecutors and the FBI were bearing down on former Rep. Ed Mezvinsky (D-Iowa), who had fallen for a series of Ponzi schemes and pulled in nearly $10 million money from other investors to cover his losses. Mezvinsky would not be formally indicted until March of 2001, but records released last week by the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock and obtained by POLITICO show Mezvinsky and his then-wife ex-Rep. Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky (D-Pa.) pleaded with the former president for a presidential pardon to head off the looming federal case." [Politico]

Um, ok?: "A new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report recommends that women of childbearing age who are sexually active and not using birth control stop drinking alcohol altogether. "The risk is real. Why take the chance?" the CDCs principal deputy director says in the press release accompanying the report." [Slate]

BECAUSE YOU"VE READ THIS FAR - Here"s an adorable magic trick.

OBAMA ALL, "HAI MOSQUE," MOSQUE ALL, "HAI OBAMA" - Roberta Rampton: "U.S. President Barack Obama visited a U.S. mosque on Wednesday and declared that attacks on Islam were an attack on all faiths in a move to counter rhetoric from Donald Trump and other Republican presidential candidates that have alienated Muslims. "We have to understand that an attack on one faith is an attack on all our faiths," Obama said at amosque outside Baltimore. "When any religious group is targeted we all have a responsibility to speak up."" [Reuters]

COMFORT FOOD

- French words hidden in English.

- Orangutans playing Xbox.

- A very large freezer.

TWITTERAMA

@embeedub: I wish that whenever someone quits a presidential campaign there could be a goodbye montage like they do on Idol.

@SimonMaloy: [inside the National Press Club]

CARSON: Thank you for coming. There comes a time in every candidate"s life when he needs new pants, and

@ThePlumLineGS: Sure, Trump is unconventional, but is there any precedent for writing off someone as buffoonish loser for finishing second in Iowa?

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2016/02/03/huffpost-hill_n_9154034.html

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How Ted Cruz may benefit from Rand Paul dropping out

Rand Paul suspending presidential campaign

This post has been updated.

HENNIKER, N.H. For months, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) has tried to poach libertarian-leaning voters here away from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). Now, with Paul"s exit from the race, Cruz has even moreof an opening to make inroads with supporters of the Kentucky Republican.

Cruz is running as a tea-party darling and evangelical Christian, constituencies that helped propel him to victory in the Iowa caucuses. But he is also attempting to expand that base, particularly with libertarian-leaning supporters. Here in New Hampshire, Cruz speaks of limited government, gun rights and privacy.

"But part of the reason were more competitive in New Hampshire than a typical conservative is weve got enough support on the libertarian side that it backfills. Thats fairly unusual," Cruz told reporters on his plane as it traveled from a rally in Greenville, S.C., to Manchester, N.H. "Right now were second. It will be interesting to see how Iowa impacts New Hampshire."

The Texas Republican has also been reminding Granite Statersthat they voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980 in an attempt to sway libertarian-leaning supporters. At a town hall meeting here, Cruz told a skeptical crowd that the state chose Reagan despite the "media saying this guy is too far to the right, hes too conservative," and far behind in the polls.

The Iowa caucus winner said he believes that his strength lies in the breadth of supporters his message can attract.

The outreach to supporters of Paul and his father, Ron, has been meticulous. Cruz dispatched aides earlier this year to meet with activists here, telling them that Paul was floundering and Cruz viable and flush with cash. The Texas Republican crashed what was supposed to be a big libertarian party for Paul in October at the biennial meeting of the Republican Liberty Caucus, where he told the group that he "loves" Paul. Cruz feels that many of those supporters are flocking to his campaign.

[As Rand Paul stalls, Ted Cruz seeks to pick up support among libertarians]

Cruz tells crowds here that he co-sponsored Ron Paul"s "Audit the Fed" bill, invokes the Fourth Amendment, a favorite of Paul, and discusses eminent domain, a contentious subject in much of this state.

[How an obscure legal issue has found its way into the GOP race]

New England, he said, was founded as a new land, where people "weremeant to be free, not have the government dictate our fight."

At a stop in Goffstown, N.H., Cruz said he is "encouraged" by the number of supporters he has from the liberty movement and urged those who supported Paul to come to his campaign.

"Let me say to you and everyone with Rand in the liberty movement: I very much hope I can earn your support. I am asking for your support," Cruz said to Ryan Miner, a partner at a Maryland advertising firm who came here to support Paul and is now looking for another candidate.

Cruz made the pitch.

"I can tell you this: I have spent literally my entire adult life fighting to defend the Constitution. It has been my lifelong commitment," Cruz said.

Milner said Cruz"s entreaty was "average, compelling and staged."Miner said he remains undecided, but is "open" to Cruz.

"I"m candidate shopping," Milner said. "Sen. Cruz hasn"t made the pitch to libertarians like myself on civil asset forfeiture and criminal justice reform."

Leah Wolzcko of Goffstown is a Paul supporter who said she hasn"t yet decided if she can support Cruz - she thinks he is too militaristic with his pledges to "carpet bomb" the Islamic State. She wrote in Paul"s father, Ron, for president in the general election in 2012 but wants to see libertarians consolidate around one candidate this time.

"You"re attractive," she said to Cruz at a stop in Goffstown. The audience laughed.

"Well, thank you," Cruz, laughing, said.

"Intellectually," Wolzcko said.

Katie Zezima is a national political correspondent covering the 2016 presidential election. She previously served as a White House correspondent for The Post.

Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&ct2=us&usg=AFQjCNFVBG8Bz0G6FEGnVCDv9vD7vxQztw&clid=c3a7d30bb8a4878e06b80cf16b898331&cid=52779041185457&ei=eFazVtDbOobN3gGatqCgDw&url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/02/03/how-ted-cruz-may-benefit-from-rand-paul-dropping-out/

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Rand Paul gets testy in NBC interview about foreign policy

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., kicked off his presidential campaign at a Kentucky rally on April 7. (Carolyn Kaster, AP)

A day after declaring his presidential bid, Sen. Rand Paul took issue with a line of questioning over his foreign policy positions.

The Kentucky Republican clashed with NBCs Savannah Guthrie on the Today show when she tried to ask whetherhes changed his positions over the years on issues such as the threat posed by Iran and its nuclear ambitions and foreign aid to Israel.

Pauls foreign policy stance, in which hes generally opposed to U.S. intervention unless there are clear national security interests, could come under fire from more hawkish GOP rivals as the battle for the nomination unfolds. But his interactions with the news media will also be scrutinized, particularly following his February appearance on CNBC in which he got agitatedwith anchor Kelly Evans.

As Paul attempted to speak Wednesday, Guthrie spoke over him and suggested her query would be better phrased as: Have I changed my opinion? That would sort of be a better way to approach an interview.

He began his answer when Guthrie asked if Iran was still a threat. No, no, no, no, no, no. Listen, youve editorialized. Let me answer you ask a question, and you say, Have your views changed? instead of editorializing and saying my views have changed.

In his campaign kickoff speech, Paul said Tuesday that he would insist any deal with Iran about its nuclear weapons program be brought before Congress. He drew applause for saying he would oppose any deal that does not end Irans nuclear ambitions and include strong verification measures.

Paul expressed his skepticism about the framework of the Iran deal during his Today show interview, saying he does believe negotiation is better than war.

foreign policy, Iran, Rand Paul, Savannah Guthrie, Today show, 2016

Source: http://onpolitics.usatoday.com/2015/04/08/rand-paul-iran-savannah-guthrie/

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