1. MITT BOWS OUT, AND JEB MOVES IN
With Mitt Romney now officially out of the 2016 GOP nomination chase, New Hampshire becomes a more wide-open race, and the Jeb Bush camp is hoping to make fast inroads.
Jonathan Martin of The New York Times notes with a crowded field, Iowa’s vote likely will be splintered and the state is known for its strong evangelical base. South Carolina, stop three on the calendar, could be influenced by the possible candidacy of home state senator Lindsey Graham.
Romney would have been the early New Hampshire favorite. But now?
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5. BEST WAY TO CAVE? GOP LOOKS TO ESCAPE BORDER FUNDING FIGHT
Republicans won big in 2014, and came to Washington full of energy to start 2015.
So one might find it hard to believe the party’s theme for the looming Department of Homeland Security spending fight might be best described as searching for the best way — and time — for the GOP establishment to cave.
Jackie Kucinich of The Daily Beast laid out the calculations: “And whether that means letting it go off the cliff or what — whether it means letting it go off the cliff and then coming back… They all kind of think they’re going to cave, they just have to find the best way to do it.”
