$250m for GOP House majority bid
Possible Speaker McCarthy seen by Trump as ally
WASHINGTON, April 14, (AP): The Republican National Committee has committed $250 million to a midterm election strategy that has one goal above all else: Preserve the party's House majority for the rest of President Donald Trump's first term.
Facing the prospect of a blue wave this fall, the White House's political arm is devoting unprecedented resources to building an army of paid staff and trained volunteers across more than two dozen states. The RNC is taking the fight to Senate Democrats in Republican-leaning states, but much of the national GOP's resources are focused on protecting Republican-held House seats in states including Florida, California and New York.
"Our No. 1 priority is keeping the House. We have to win the House," RNC political director Juston Johnson said. "That is the approach we took to put the budget together."
RNC officials shared details of their midterm spending plan with The Associated Press just as several hundred volunteers and staff held a day of action on Saturday in competitive regions across the country. The weekend show of force, which comes as Democrats have shown a significant enthusiasm advantage in the age of President Donald Trump, was designed to train 1,600 new volunteers in more than 200 events nationwide.
There were more than three dozen events in Florida alone, a state that features competitive races for the Senate, the governorship and a half dozen House races.
Seven months before Election Day, there are already 300 state-based staff on the RNC's payroll. The committee expects to have 900 total paid staff around the country – excluding its Washington headquarters – before November's election, Johnson said. The number of trained volunteers, he said, has already surpassed 10,000.
The strategy is expensive. And it carries risk.
The RNC's focus on a sophisticated
Manager Mega millions winner:
The winner of a $533 million lottery jackpot wasn't sure he could believe his eyes. So, when his mother called to say someone in his new home state had won it, his response was: It wasn't me
Forty-seven-year-old Richard Wahl, of Vernon, New Jersey, was introduced Friday during a news conference at lottery field operation designed to identify and turn out key voters, an approach favored by former chairman Reince Priebus and expanded by Trump's hand-picked chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel, leaves the RNC with no additional resources to run advertising on television or the internet. It also puts tremendous pressure on the president and senior party leaders to raise money to fund the massive operation.
And few believe that even the best field operation could wholly neutralize the surge of Democratic enthusiasm on display in recent special elections, which has some Republican strategists fearing that the House majority may be lost already.
Democrats need to pick up at least 24 seats to take control of the House for the last two years of Trump's first term. They need just two seats to claim the Senate majority, though the map makes a Democratic Senate takeover much less likely.
Fundraising
An optimistic McDaniel said strong Republican fundraising has allowed the aggressive strategy. During the first year of Trump's presidency, the GOP set a fundraising record by raising more than $132 million.
"Our sweeping infrastructure, combined with on-the-ground enthusiasm for President Trump and Republican policies, puts us in prime position to defend our majorities in 2018," McDaniel said.
The $250 million price tag for what she described as a "permanent datadriven field program" is the committee's largest ground-game investment in any election season. The resources are focused in some unfamiliar territory, including several House districts in Southern California, which Johnson described as "a huge focus."
Meanwhile as President Donald Trump and top Republicans dined on filet mignon at the White House this week, just hours after House Speaker Paul Ryan announced his stunning retirement,
headquarters after winning the half-billion March Mega Millions drawing, the largest single jackpot in state history.
Wahl, a production manager at a food services company in the northern part of the state, said he plans to retire and take the cash payout over the annuity, totaling $220.7 million after taxes.
He described finding out he had the winning
Hector Barajas (right), shows his US citizen document with Nathan Fletcher and Congressman Mark Takano (left), after a swear-in ceremony at the immigration office in Downtown San Diego, California on April 13. Barajas, a US Army veteran, has been living in Tijuana Mexico and seeking US residency after being deported eight years ago. He is the first known deported veteran to be naturalized as a US citizen due to his honorable wartime service. He has been living in Mexico the last eight years. (AFP)
Trump and Ryan's top lieutenant found themselves with a moment alone.
Do you really want to be the next speaker of the House, Trump asked Kevin McCarthy, one of his closest allies in Congress. The Californian — the leading but undeclared contender — told the president he wants the job, according to two sources familiar with the conversation.
McCarthy emerged from the Wednesday evening chat confident he had Trump's backing to succeed Ryan, said one of the sources, a GOP operative. Trump tried not to explicitly endorse McCarthy, said the other source, but it was clear the president would be "very happy" for McCarthy to ascend to the post.
Both people spoke anonymously about the conversation because they weren't authorized to relay details of a politically sensitive but possibly critical exchange. Trump's embrace could be crucial for McCarthy, the No. 2 House Republican leader, if he wants to nail down support from conservative lawmakers who have been leery of his GOP establishment ties and could sink his bid.
But even in a contest of Republican lawmakers, a Trump endorsement is a double-edged sword. The president is unpopular in many suburban and other swing districts, and many Republicans don't want their leader to be viewed as beholden to the whims of the unpredictable president. Others bristle at the idea of presidential meddling in their contest.
"This is a matter to be decided by the legislative branch of government, not the executive branch," Rep. Leonard Lance, R-N.J., said of Trump supporting a candidate.
Still, the Trump factor will be hard to avoid. With Ryan's departure slated for January, Republicans will lose another establishment force who, at times, pushed back at Trump.
It's far from clear McCarthy intends to play the same role.
ticket late at night:
"It was truly amazing. Some of my family members were sleeping so I didn't go and scream out. I walked upstairs. I saw my wife ... and said, 'Baby, we get to go on vacation.' She said, 'What are you talking about? Don't be an idiot.'"
He said he checked the numbers 15 times, kept the ticket in a fireproof safe and wanted to be sure the win was for real before he told other family members. (AP)
Canadian pharmacy fined $34m:
An online pharmacy that bills itself as Canada's largest was fined $34 million Friday for importing counterfeit cancer drugs and other unapproved pharmaceuticals into the United States, a sentence that one advocacy group called too light for such a heinous crime.
Canada Drugs has filled millions of prescriptions by offering itself as a safe alternative for patients to save money on expensive drugs, and its founder, Kris Thorkelson, has been hailed as an industry pioneer for starting the company in 2001.
But US prosecutors say Canada Drugs' business model is based entirely on illegally importing unapproved and misbranded drugs not just from Canada, but from all over the world. The company has made at least $78 million through illegal imports, including two that were counterfeit versions of the cancer drugs Avastin and Altuzan that had no active ingredient, prosecutors said.
After more than two years of struggling to get the international company to appear in US court to face the felony charges, Canada Drugs and Thorkelson, struck a plea deal with prosecutors late last year. (AP)