Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof



Obama Campaign Team Renamed "Organizing For Action" - as, I reported earlier, in a move similar to the Howard Dean camnpaign, which reorganized into the nonprofit "Democracy for America", the Obama campaign will officially become a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization.  The website will be activated on Sunday.

The president's 2012 campaign manager, Jim Messina, will serve as the group's national chairman, and White House official Jon Carson is leaving the administration to become its executive director.

Officials said the group will be separate from the Democratic National Committee and advocate on key policy issues such as gun control and immigration, train future leaders and devote attention to local issues around the nation.  You can read more here.

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56% Want Stricter Gun Laws - in a poll released last night, by NBC News/Wall Street Journal, Fifty-six percent of Americans believe that the country's laws on the sale of firearms should be made more strict. You can read details of the poll here.

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Details Continue to Emerge on Algerian Hostage Situation - The Algerian military is continuing to search the vast gas facility seized by militants on Wednesday in hopes of finding of hostages — possibly including Americans — and their captors, officials said. 

A senior French official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to allow him to address sensitive issues, said Algerian soldiers are making their way through the complex’s many buildings and other hiding places to make sure the last of the hostage-takers and their victims have been discovered and dealt with. The Washington Post has more here.

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GOP Considers Short Term Extension of Debt Limit - House Republicans are discussing the prospect of a short-term extension in the nation's debt limit to avoid fault and give negotiations between lawmakers and the White House more time to succeed.

Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman and erstwhile GOP vice presidential candidate, told reporters at House Republicans' retreat that members were "discussing the virtue of a short term debt limit extension."

Ryan elaborated that the idea would be to raise the nation’s borrowing authority for a few months and tie the matter into discussions with the White House and Senate on the other fiscal issues facing the country, such as the automatic spending cuts associated with the sequester and how to fund the government in the next fiscal year. MSNBC.com has more here.

Don't look for the White House to agree.

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House Republicans Meet To Resurrect Battered Political Brand - At their annual retreat, House members said there is general fretting about the damage done to the party’s image by the strident tone adopted by some candidates and officials.

“This is about tone. It’s about messaging and it’s about showing people what we’re for instead of what we’re against,” said Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R), describing his message to House Republicans at a lunch-time session Thursday.

“Rape is a four-letter word — don’t say it,” the group was advised by a Republican pollster in another session, said one person familiar with the discussion. That was a reference to controversies about rape and abortion that were partly to blame for the GOP losing two Senate seats — in Indiana and Missouri — in November. 

“The big takeaway that will be discussed during the week and championed by Priebus is that the party needs more voters and needs to do a better job of reaching out to minority communities and not just six months before the election,” said a Republican official.

Obama won 93% of the black vote, 71% of the Hispanic vote and 73% of the Asian vote in the 2012 election.

You can read more here.

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