OBAMA AGENDA:Signing Day
Obama’s going to Michigan State where he’ll sign the Farm Bill and “tour the Michigan Biotechnology Institute in Lansing, where the White House says the president will review ‘what institutions are doing to create jobs and drive innovation that benefits farmers, ranchers, our rural communities, and our nation as a whole,’” USA Today notes.
“Anti-union forces funded by anti-tax activist Grover Norquist are renting as many as 13 billboards in Chattanooga, Tenn., as Volkswagen workers prepare to vote next week to accept or reject representation by the UAW,” USA Today writes. “The rhetoric has moved from the plant floor to city streets. The first of the billboards went up earlier this week. One shows Detroit's crumbling Packard Plant ruins that have been shuttered for 55 years. The copy reads: ‘Detroit. Brought to you by the UAW.’ Another has a red X through the second word of United Auto Workers, with a crudely lettered Obama just beneath it. Beneath it in small print it reads: ‘The UAW spends millions to elect liberal politicans including Barack Obama.’ — workerfreedom.org. (Note: Politicians is misspelled on the billboard.)”
If I was richer, I’d still be with her… American officials implied Russians were to blame for the leaked audio of a State Department official saying, “F--- you, E.U.”
NBC’s Chuck Todd with an ode to Jay Leno, looking at the top 5 politicians he has taken swipes at over the years. In all, he’s told more than 43,000 jokes, half of which were politically related. The majority were aimed at Democrats, but Republicans weren’t all that far behind. Coming in at No. 1 was Bill Clinton, followed by George W. Bush, Al Gore, President Obama, and Hillary Clinton.
You don’t see this every day… Here’s a picture of John Kerry dropping the puck at a Caps game.
Apparently, Americans are renouncing their citizenship at a record pace.
CONGRESS: Senate Republicans filibuster unemployment-benefits bill
Washington Post: “In a largely party-line vote, Democrats came a single vote shy of the 60-vote hurdle to break a filibuster by Republicans, who complained that the latest proposal did not have a proper offsetting spending cut to lessen the impact on the federal deficit. Additionally, the two sides continued to squabble over procedural matters related to how many amendments the Republicans would be allowed to offer.”
If at first you don’t succeed in passing a jobless benefits extension, try, try again, say Democrats.
Carl Hulse: “Speaker John A. Boehner would sorely like to help engineer an overhaul of immigration policy to bolster his legacy, help his party politically and address a difficult social and economic problem. He just cannot seem to persuade other Republicans, who see the immigration debate as a major threat to their drive to win the Senate and increase their House majority in November. The tension between Mr. Boehner’s desire to forge ahead on immigration and a Republican sense that staying focused on the new health care law is the path to victory in the midterm elections contributed to the speaker’s sharp retreat on Thursday from his new push for an immigration consensus.”
Ron Wyden’s now in charge of the Senate Finance Committee.
OFF TO THE RACES: Would Hillary get a primary challenger?
Matt Bai with this conclusion: “Let’s be clear about this much: no matter what the soothsayers on cable TV tell you, Hillary Clinton is no more likely to clear the Democratic field and avoid a primary in 2016 than Dennis Rodman is to become her secretary of state.”
(The question, however, is if Hillary would receive a CREDIBLE challenge. And if you think she will, just who will that person be????)
Biden 2016… "There may be reasons I don't run, but there's no obvious reason for me why I think I should not run,” Biden tells CNN.
Beth Reinhard notes that Jeb Bush is hot again.
KENTUCKY: Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes leads Mitch McConnell, 46%-42%, in a new Herald-Leader/WKYT Bluegrass Poll (conducted by Survey USA). McConnell lead 55%-29% in the primary.
WYOMING: Steven Shephard reports that Liz Cheney exaggerated her fundraising.
PROGRAMMING NOTES.
*** Friday’s “The Daily Rundown” line-up: It’s jobs day. Chuck will talk to Chief Economist for Moody’s Analytics, Mark Zandi and Chair of the White House Council on Economic Advisors Jason Furman. Plus, former Florida Governor Charlie Crist joins us to discuss his new book “The Party’s Over.” Then, we’ll speak with former Congressman Bob Barr who is making another run for Congress. All that plus a jam-packed data bank, Chuck’s Friday Takeaway and a look back on the life of Marty Plissner.
*** Friday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews NBC’s Anne Thompson, NBC Olympics security expert Andrew Weiss, the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and Robert Kennedy Jr.
*** Friday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: MSNBC’s Craig Melvin, filling in for Tamron Hall, interviews Reuters columnist Zachary Karabell, criminal defense attorney John Burris on the Dunn stand your ground trial.
*** Saturday’s and Sunday’s “Weekends with Alex Witt”: As part of her weekly “Office Politics” segment, MSNBC’s Alex Witt interviews former Clinton White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers.
*** Saturday's “Disrupt with Karen Finney”: MSNBC’s Karen Finney interviews Nia-Malika Henderson and Joe Madison. Also, how Moral Mondays are going nationwide, with Reverend William Barber and 12 year old activist Madison Kimrey.
*** Saturday’s “MSNBC Live Weekends” line-up at 2pmET: Milissa Rehberger fills in and her guests include Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY); Fmr. Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA); NASA’s Gavin Schmidt; TheGrio’s Chris Witherspoon, The New Republic’s David Dayen; Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN); Share Our Strength’s Josh Wachs; Anton Gunn, former Director of External Affairs for HHS.
*** Sunday’s “MSNBC Live Weekends” line-up at 3pmET: Milissa Rehberger fills in and her guests include Washington Post’s Sarah Kliff and Jackie Kucinich; The Daily Beast’s Michael Tomasky, Lehigh University Prof. James Peterson, TheGrio’s Goldie Taylor; and Monique Morris, author of “Black Stats: African Americans by the Numbers”