memeorandum: Booker wins special Senate election in N.J. (CNN)

3:12 AM ET, October 17, 2013

Top Items:

Republicans Back Down, Ending Budget Crisis — WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans conceded defeat on Wednesday in their bitter budget fight with President Obama over the new health care law as the House and Senate approved last-minute legislation ending a disruptive 16-day government shutdown …

Russell Berman / The Hill:

Ryan breaks from Boehner, votes ‘no’ — Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) split with his party's leadership and voted against the Senate fiscal agreement on Wednesday night. — In a statement, Ryan called the legislation to reopen the government and lift the debt ceiling “a missed opportunity” to reduce the federal debt.

Discussion: Politico and The Reality-Based Community

Jonathan Strong / National Review:

The Last Conference — At the last GOP conference meeting of the two-week government shutdown, no lawmakers went to the microphones to give their take. — Instead, after Speaker John Boehner told Republicans they had “fought the good fight,” they all rose up to offer a standing ovation.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Ricochet Conversations Feed

Shane Goldmacher / NationalJournal.com:

GOP Congressman Rips Tea Party Colleagues: 'I'm Not Sure They're Republicans' — Intra-party tensions are running high as end to shutdown nears. — Boustany (right): The tea party's allegiance is to outside interest groups, not conservative values. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Hot Air and Guardian

Dylan Scott / Talking Points Memo:

Senate Votes To Re-Open Government, Raise Debt Limit — In the first step of a two-step process, the Senate voted Wednesday night to re-open the federal government and raise the debt ceiling. — The bill passed 81-18. Among the senators who voted against the bill: Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn …

Discussion: his vorpal sword

The Atlantic Online:

Republicans Shut Down the Government for Nothing — After two weeks of closed government and a debt-limit freakout, a deal is on the horizon—and the GOP has little to show for the crisis caused by its demands. — With a deal to reopen the government apparently imminent Wednesday …

Discussion: ABC News, Connecting.the.Dots, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, Taegan Goddard's …, ThinkProgress, Prairie Weather and DownWithTyranny!

www.700wlw.com:
John Boehner to Willie: 'We Just Didn't Win'

Discussion: The Week, Weasel Zippers, Roll Call and Talking Points Memo

Politico:
House to vote first on Senate plan

Jonathan Strong / National Review:
Boehner Safe — Speaker John Boehner may be preparing to bring …

Discussion: The Hill, Mediaite, FreedomWorks, Hot Air, The Week, The Plum Line, The Federalist and Politico

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:
Matt Drudge Predicts Pelosi Will Be Next Speaker

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette, The Moderate Voice and The Raw Story

David Nakamura / Washington Post:
Congress sends Obama bill to end shutdown

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, PostPartisan, Wonkblog, Post Politics, Business Insider, The Fix and The BLT

Daniel Strauss / Talking Points Memo:
GOP Rep. Mulvaney: Boehner ‘Hundred Percent Stronger’ Now

Discussion: Mediaite

Yahoo! News:
Senate and House pass bill to re-open the government, raise the debt ceiling

Discussion: Weekly Standard and The Gateway Pundit

Matthew Boyle / BREITBART.COM:
CONGRESSMAN: ‘CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS’ IF GOP CAVES ON DEBT CEILING

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and protein wisdom

David Corn / Mother Jones:
House Dems Sent Boehner a Message: Strike a Deal and Maybe We Can Help Protect Your Speakership

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and The Hill

Fox News:
Boehner says House will take up Senate budget plan

Discussion: NBCNews, The PJ Tatler, RIA Novosti, The Gateway Pundit, CNN and American Spectator

Speaker.gov:
Statement on Bipartisan Senate Agreement to Reopen Government, Avoid Default

Discussion: National Review, Washington Monthly, The Hinterland Gazette, No More Mister Nice Blog and Daily Kos

ABC News:
House, Senate Vote Tonight on Fiscal Compromise

Discussion: Politico

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press:

Tea Party's Image Turns More Negative — Ted Cruz's Popularity Soars among Tea Party Republicans — The Tea Party is less popular than ever, with even many Republicans now viewing the movement negatively. Overall, nearly half of the public (49%) has an unfavorable opinion of the Tea Party, while 30% have a favorable opinion.

Discussion: CNN, Mediaite, The Fix, The Hill, Politico, The Moderate Voice, Talking Points Memo, Political Algebra, AMERICAblog News, CANNONFIRE, Yahoo! News, Post Politics and Taegan Goddard's …

Fox News:
Hume: Tea Party pushed budget stand-off because GOP ‘utterly failed’ to restrain bloated gov't

Discussion: Ace of Spades HQ, Mediaite, The Dish and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:
Limbaugh: GOP Most ‘Irrelevant’ Political Party I Can Remember

Discussion: The Raw Story

Elizabeth Titus / Politico:

Cory Booker wins New Jersey Senate seat — Democrat Cory Booker won the special election for New Jersey's Senate seat on Wednesday, The Associated Press reported. The Newark mayor and heavy favorite in the race defeated Republican and former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan.

Discussion: Power Line, NewsBusters, Talking Points Memo, OpenSecrets.org and National Review

Alexandra Jaffe / Ballot Box:

Booker wins New Jersey Senate race — Newark Mayor Cory Booker won the New Jersey Senate special election on Wednesday night in an unsurprising finale to a surprisingly contentious race. — The Associated Press called the race for Booker, who led Lonegan 56 percent to 43 percent, with 52 percent of precincts reporting.

CNN:

Booker wins special Senate election in N.J. — (CNN) - Cory Booker is heading to Washington. — The 44-year-old two-term Democratic mayor of Newark, New Jersey defeated his Republican opponent, Steve Lonegan, Wednesday in a special U.S. Senate election. — Follow @politicaltickerFollow @psteinhauserCNN

Discussion: Scared Monkeys and Hot Air

New Jersey Online:
Live coverage: Booker defeats Lonegan in U.S. Senate election

Discussion: Roll Call, Obsidian Wings and Weekly Standard

Maggie Haberman / Politico:
Cory Booker spent less than $1 million on TV

Discussion: Yahoo! News

Senate Conservatives Fund:

McConnell Deal Includes Kentucky Kickback — The Senate Conservatives Fund (SCF) criticized U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Wednesday for allowing a $2 billion Kentucky earmark to be added to the debt deal he negotiated with U.S. Senator Harry Reid (D-NV). SCF Executive Director Matt Hoskins made the following statement:

Discussion: WFPL, The Hill, Talking Points Memo, Politico, Liberaland, Doug Ross, The Gateway Pundit, Pat Dollard, Washington Post, Weasel Zippers, National Review, ThinkProgress and The Other McCain

John Stanton / BuzzFeed:

Shutdown Deal Includes Nearly $3 Billion For Kentucky Dam Project — “According to the Army Corps of Engineers, 160 million taxpayer dollars will be wasted because of canceled contracts if this language is not included,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander, one of the authors of the language.

Discussion: Washington Post, Power Line, The Daily Beast and National Review

Erick Erickson / RedState:
Bridge Burning and Bridge Building

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The New Republic, BillMoyers.com, Hullabaloo, Hot Air, Liberaland, The Dish and A plain blog about politics

Politico:

House stenographer hauled from floor — A House floor stenographer was abruptly hauled out of the chamber after charging the dais and screaming during Wednesday's late night vote on raising the debt ceiling and funding the federal government. — As the bill sailed toward final passage …

Discussion: C-SPAN Video Library

Peter Schroeder / The Hill:

S&P: Shutdown cost economy at least $24B — The government shutdown cost the nation's economy at least $24 billion and shaved 0.6 percent off the nation's economic growth, according to new analysis from Standard & Poor's. — With a deal seemingly headed for the finish line …

Discussion: Econbrowser, PoliticusUSA and The Hinterland Gazette

Steven Perlberg / Business Insider:
S&P: The Shutdown Took $24 Billion Out Of The US Economy

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo and Wonkblog

Houston Chronicle:

Why we miss Kay Bailey Hutchison — Things surely would look far different with Sen. Hutchison in office in the nation's capital — Does anyone else miss Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison? — We're not sure how much difference one person could make in the toxic, chaotic, hyperpartisan atmosphere in Washington …

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:
Ted Cruz Admits Budget Standoff Was All About Building Fundraising Lists

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Gallup, The Huffington Post, The Atlantic Wire, Politico, Taegan Goddard's … and Firedoglake

Lydia DePillis / Wonkblog:

Meet CGI Federal, the company behind the botched launch of HealthCare.gov — Over the past few weeks, if you've been paying attention at all to the unfolding disaster of people trying and failing to sign up for Obamacare online, one name keeps coming up: CGI Federal, the IT contractor …

Discussion: Forbes, Doug Ross, ProPublica and The Daily Caller

Reuters:

U.S. eavesdropping agency chief, top deputy expected to depart soon — (Reuters) - The director of the U.S. National Security Agency and his deputy are expected to depart in the coming months, U.S. officials said on Wednesday, in a development that could give President Barack Obama a chance to reshape the eavesdropping agency.

Discussion: Mediaite, Techdirt and The Verge

Brendan Sasso / The Hill:
NSA chief to step down in spring

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Emily Yoffe / Slate:

College Women: Stop Getting Drunk — It's closely associated with sexual assault. And yet we're reluctant to tell women to stop doing it. — In one awful high-profile case after another—the U.S. Naval Academy; Steubenville, Ohio; now the allegations in Maryville, Mo.—we read about a young woman …