Gallup:
Majority in U.S. Want Wealth More Evenly Distributed
Wealth distribution is a key polarizing issue in contemporary U.S. politics. Partisan reactions to this question reflect that polarization, with more than eight in 10 Democrats saying money and wealth need to be more evenly distributed, compared with 28% of Republicans. There is a similar, although less extreme, divide between the views of liberals -- 79% of whom say money and wealth should be more evenly distributed -- and those of conservatives (41%).
Note once again that independent ≠ moderate.
The Guardian:
Two Norwegian politicians say they have jointly nominated the former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden for the 2014 Nobel peace prize.
The Socialist Left party politicians Baard Vegar Solhjell, a former environment minister, and Snorre Valen said the public debate and policy changes in the wake of Snowden's whistleblowing had "contributed to a more stable and peaceful world order".
Being nominated means Snowden will be one of scores of names that the Nobel committee will consider for the prestigious award.
In case you were wondering, most people have not been nominated for a Nobel peace prize, and fewer have won. I don't remember Nixon winning (but Henry Kissinger did in 1973). Or either Bush. Or Reagan. But past winners include Mandela (1993), Carter (2002) and Obama (2009), MLK (1964) and Mother Theresa (1979). Hmmmm.
BIG: Morgan Stanley analysts say fully two-thirds of drop in labor force participation rate since 2007 is result of aging population.
— @morningmoneyben
More politics and policy below the fold.
UNH/WMUR on NH: 32% say they are less likely
to vote for Christie because of Bridgegate, only 2% say they are more likely to vote for him
— @DemFromCT
Link for UNH/WMUR poll is
here (.pdf), with Rand Paul leading at 16% and Christie in fourth at 9%.
MT @pollreport: NEW HAMPSHIRE D prez preference: Clinton 74% / Biden 10% / (UNH/WMUR, Dem primary voters, 1/21-26) || statistical tie
— @DemFromCT
And from
ABC/WaPo, more of the same nationally, with 6:1 Clinton lead (a statistical dead heat, Wolf) and
The new survey puts Christie in third place — with the support of 13 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents — behind Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.) with 20 percent and former Florida governor Jeb Bush at 18 percent. The rest of the scattered pack includes Sens. Ted Cruz (Tex.), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Marco Rubio (Fla.), who are at 12, 11 and 10 percent, respectively.
NY Times:
Intense rainfall and extreme heat combined with predation and starvation have led to an increase in mortality among Magellanic penguins chicks, according to a study.
NY Times:
To Representative Steve Daines, Republican of Montana, his vote this month against a 1,582-page, $1.1 trillion spending bill was at once a stand for fiscal sanity and a protest against spending cuts to rural communities, a “constructive no,” as he put it last week.
His opponents in the race for Montana’s open Senate seat quickly labeled it a vote against increased funding for the Indian Health Service, Pell Grants for low-income college students, mental health benefits for veterans and traumatic brain injury assistance for those who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as an effort to dry up the clean water supplies of rural Montanans.
The attacks on that one vote from Montana Democrats, including a possible challenger in Lt. Gov. John Walsh, highlighted a vulnerability to the Republicans’ quest for control of the Senate: They draw heavily from the unpopular House for candidates.
Austin Frakt:
These two tweets [by Avik Roy] tell you all you need to know about the politics of health reform
This is precisely why I’ve responded to journalists’ inquiries about the Patient CARE Act by pointing out, among other things, that it’s clearly designed to serve the objectives of the campaign(s)—2014 and then, perhaps, 2016—not as an effort to engage in good faith negotiation with Democrats on health policy.
I have said on multiple occasions it's always worth reading Avik, but don't think for a minute it's about policy when it's about politics.
Jonathan Bernstein:
Which is pretty much the lesson for other bills. If mainstream Senate Democrats (and the White House) and mainstream House Republicans want something to pass, it will happen. But that usually requires those mainstream Republicans to expose the distance between themselves and the radical Republicans. That works for the radicals, who desperately want to differentiate themselves from their more mainstream colleagues in order to show that they are “real” conservatives.
Greg Sargent:
One last point: Obama cast the need for robust government action to restore economic mobility for the middle class as integral to “who we are.” This is an implicit rebuke of Tea Party dogma, and on the substance, Obama has the big story right. As economic historian Michael Lind has put it: “The middle class in America, outside of the South, has always been in part a creation of economic engineering by means of laws and public policies…middle classes are made in part by enlightened public policy.”
Dana Milbank:
These developments are all good news for House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who has been struggling for three years to corral his caucus. And they are good news for the country because they hint at the possibility that Washington is beginning to function again. But it’s a delicate spot to be in for Republican lawmakers because the conservative activists who brought them to power — and who still dominate the party’s grass roots — feel betrayed.