HUFFPOST HILL, >presented by Shell< - Axelrod Freaked Out By Tea Party Majority.. PCCC Freaked Out By Mayor Rahm.. Santorum's Google Problem.. Nico Pitney's SHOCKING Life Decision

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From: HuffPost Hill

Sent: September 07, 2010 04:54 PM

Subject: HUFFPOST HILL, presented by Shell - Axelrod Freaked Out By Tea Party Majority.. PCCC Freaked Out By Mayor Rahm.. Santorum's Google Problem.. Nico Pitney's SHOCKING Life Decision

By Eliot Nelson, Ryan Grim & Nico Pitney

Midwesterners really held their own in the news cycle today, even without the help of that outspoken, community organizing, surreptitious Muslim, mom jeans-wearing Windy City politician. David Axelrod voiced concern about the prospect of a Tea Party-influenced Republican majority, Richard Daley announced that he will not seek reelection, paving the way for the most profane Chi-Town mayor since Richard Daley. And Michele Bachmann is engaged in a never ending game of fundraising H-O-R-S-E. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Tuesday, September 7th, 2010:

DAVID AXELROD NOT LIKING THE IDEA OF A REPUBLICAN CONGRESS - File alongside "Girl From Jurassic Park Worried About Rippling Water In Glass" or, alternately, "Ragtag Militia Concerned By Thunderous Sound Of Horses And Rising Dust Cloud On Horizon." In an interview with HuffPost's Sam Stein, the president's top aide predicted that a Republican-controlled 112th Congress would pursue an agenda even more conservative than the one promoted during the Bush years : "I saw that [Alaska GOP Senate candidate] Joe Miller said that he would abolish Social Security if he had the chance and he is not alone," Axelrod said. "This is akin to what [Nevada GOP Senate candidate] Sharron Angle has said in Nevada and also a number of these other Republicans. So, this could go one step beyond the policies of the Bush administration to something more extreme than we have seen." http://huff.to/b0rDfZ

CHICAGO MAYOR RICHARD DALEY WON'T SEEK REELECTION, OPENING DOOR FOR POSSIBLE RUN BY HORACE GRANT - Totally kidding! Of course we meant Rahm Emanuel! "Chicago Mayor Richard Daley announced Tuesday that he will not run for reelection in 2011, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. During a short news conference at City Hall, the mayor said he would not run for re-election: 'The truth is I have been thinking about this for the past several months,' Daley said, according to the Chicago Tribune. 'In the end this is a personal decision, no more, no less.' Daley's approval ratings have fallen in recent years. A Tribune poll earlier this summer found only 37 percent of city voters approved of the job Daley was doing as mayor. But his decision not to run is more likely linked to his wife's battle with cancer." http://huff.to/d8qDz9

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, no doubt horrified at the prospect of not having Rahm to kick around anymore, is already gathering signatures among Chicago voters against him. http://bit.ly/9wT7Rs

Emanuel on the decision: "While Mayor Daley surprised me today with his decision to not run for reelection, I have never been surprised by his leadership, dedication and tireless work on behalf of the city and the people of Chicago."

The only thing more volatile than Rahm's temper may be the Gallup's generic congressional tracking poll. That historic ten-point GOP lead last week? Today it's back to zero, with each party garnering 46%: http://bit.ly/aYQNop

VAN HOLLEN FUNDRAISING FOR MARY JO KILROY, PERRIOLLO WITHIN TWO - How bad does DCCC chair Chris Van Hollen feel about the Sunday NYT story suggesting that he was considering cutting off Kilroy, Tom Perriello and other Democrats the party found too far behind? HuffPost Hill is told that Perriello and Van Hollen spoke and the chairman assured him the party was behind him; the DCCC, responding to the story, released a poll today showing Perriello within two of his GOP challenger, a relatively unknown whose negatives have a long way to go. Making further amends, Van Hollen sent out a fundraising email for Kilroy today, calling the Times story "just not true." "I give each of you my word that I am standing with Mary Jo, and that the full strength of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is behind her -- but we can't make it without each one of you committing to stand beside us and fight as well."

The NYT piece that had folks flipping out: http://nyti.ms/chXxwA

Nico Pitney MARRIES Karina Newton (NSFW PHOTOS) - Nico's honeymooning yonder Europe-way, and therefore NOT obnoxiously writing this announcement in the third-person, FYI. If news of his nuptials were posted on the Internet Newspaper he helms, how would it read? Send suggestions to him at nico@huffingtonpost.com. Ignore that honeymoon auto-reply. We're sure he's checking his phone. Our suggestions:

KNOT TIED: HuffPost Editor's WILD Wedding Pics

Nico Pitney Nipple Slips Over The Years (SLIDESHOW)

On The Blogs: Simon Johnson On The Pitney-Newton Wedding Band

PHOTOS: Is Nico's Green Carnation A Hit Or Miss?

Today is the first (work)day of the post-Micheal Falcone era. Our dearly beloved politics editor has departed for ABC News, where he's taking over for Rick Klein. Video of his farewell speech: http://bit.ly/BrYK

Spotted: Susan Collins, Henry Waxman at wedding of Keith Byrd and Katie Phillips, daughter of superlawyer John Phillips and Atlantic Media's Linda Douglass.

TODAY'S TERKEL TAKEDOWN - Amanda Terkel does her homework so you don't have to: The NRCC is out with its first ad of the season, going after Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) for voting for the "Obama-Pelosi health care plan," "Wall Street bailout," and the "$800 billion stimulus that failed." The problem with this line of attack: 91 Republicans, including Minority Leader John Boehner (Ohio) also voted for the Wall Street bailout, which was proposed by President Bush. Remember that on Sept. 29, 2008, Boehner made an emotional appeal on the floor, saying, "I believe what's in the best interest of our country, as I stand here today, is to vote for this bill. Still, somehow, Democrats own the bailout. Maybe bringing Wall Street guys in as top White House advisers had something to do with it. http://huff.to/9VZqcP

Republicans are relishing the fact that they can plausibly call Democrats the party of Wall Street while banks transitions giving back to the GOP. OpenSecrets is out with a report today showing the shift began in February. http://bit.ly/bAna4G

DAILY DELANEY DOWNER - From Arthur Delaney: "That guy indicted for threatening Jim Bunning for filibustering unemployment benefits, but we didn't know what the threat was? Now that he's pleaded guilty, we know -- turns out he wrote to Bunning, 'MY 2 CHILDREN WILL NOT HAVE FOOD AND CAN SURVIVE ONLY - O N L Y WITH THE EXTENDED BENEFITS WHICH YOU STOPPED FUNDING FOR ON 2/25 AND 2/26. WITHOUT THE EXTENSION - I LOOSE MY HEALTH CARE COVERAGE AND THAT MEANS NO - NO TREATMENT - MEANING THE CANCER WILL KILL ME....I AM GOING TO COME TO YOUR OFFICE AND I WILL TAKE THE LOUSY 387 OUT OF YOUR HIDE....YOU WILL SUFFER A SLOW .......D......TH.... YOU ARE FUKKING WITH MY LIFE - FUKING WITH MY KIDS AND I U WILL SEE JESUS.' Shore doesn't have kids or cancer." http://huff.to/atkBgA

TOMORROW'S PAPER

S TODAY - The Hill: Shane D'Aprile and Bob Cusack on how Democrats are focusing less on issues and more on the possibility of a "Tea Party Congress" to generate turnout this November.

Don't be bashful: Send tips/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to huffposthill@huffingtonpost.com. Follow us on Twitter - @HuffPostHill

U.S. ALL OVER GERMAN BANK WITH ALLEGED TIES TO IRAN NUKE PROGRAM LIKE WHITE ON ROGGENMISCHBROT - In a press release circulated today, the Treasury Department announced that it would hereafter target Europäisch­-Iranische Handelsbank which it claimed is "one of the few remaining European banks actively facilitating business with Iranian banks and handling billions of dollars worth of transactions on their behalf." "EIH has acted as a key financial lifeline for Iran. As one of Iran's few remaining access points to the European financial system, EIH has facilitated a tremendous volume of transactions for Iranian banks previously designated for proliferation," said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey.

A HuffPost Hill shout-out to anyone who sends us unedited audio of them saying "Europäisch­-Iranische Handelsbank" five times in ten seconds.

CHARLIE CRIST INAUGURATES GENERAL ELECTION WITH GIANT GAME OF PATRIOTIC SCRABBLE -The Florida governor's new ad is the first of the campaign and an attempt to bring his independent affiliation and sloppy anagramming to the forefront. Flanked by the words "REPUBLICAN" and "DEMOCRAT" -- colored red and blue respectively -- the Sunshine State governor rhetorically asks, "How do we get results for Florida?" to which he self-responds, "By putting aside our differences and putting people ahead of politics." Rather than seriously elaborating on this nuanced policy prescription, Crist proceeds to fuss about with the letters, rearranging them to read "AMERICANS" while tossing the unused ones on a pile. While the shots of Crist sporting a furrowed brow are meant to convey his concern about partisan gridlock and determination to find a remedy, the viewer is left with the sense that he spent WAY to much time on this project. "Is the governor in?" a hypothetical call to his office begins. "I'm sorry, Governor Crist isn't available," the receptionist responds. "He's busy perfecting the feng shui of his hermetically-sealed alphabet chamber of solitude." The 30-second spot, entitled "Oh, this will absolutely NOT do" "Best of Both," is airing statewide. http://bit.ly/b8zfBH

(The OCD exhibited by the all-white room and Crist's tidying suggests the unruly letter-heap will be dealt with at a later date, perhaps in his second ad: "What Americans Need Now Is Trjrgd." We'll keep you posted.)

CASTLE SHYING AWAY FROM TEA PARTY, DELAWARE GOP ISN'T - As the once and future Washington Post company employee Dave Weigel notes in Slate, Delaware congressman and Senate candidate Mike Castle is distancing himself from the movement backing his primary opponent Christine O'Donnell even as the GOP is attacking her qualifications and agenda: "The Delaware Republican Party started issuing brutal theses about O'Donnell's 2008 campaign debts, her gaffes, and the fact that she still hadn't gotten her college degree after paying off loans for 13 years (She got it last week.)...The state GOP called her "delusional." The National Republican Senatorial Committee made sure that Beltway politicos were watching all of this. The News Journal, the Wilmington newspaper that serves most of the state, has run story after story on the front page about O'Donnell's troubles." http://bit.ly/aiQ9nB

SCHMEAR CAMPAIGN: JEWS NOT EXACTLY CRAZY ABOUT SARAH PALIN - Alternate titles: Is It Good For The Jews?: You Betcha' Edition, Sarah's Lox On The Electorate No Sure Thing, etc. The Jerusalem Post this weekend published an article on the former Alaska governor's standing among America's chosen people. "IS PALIN, THE BUTT OF SO MANY jokes, really the key to pulling the Jewish community away from its traditional support for Democrats? Says Jonathan Sarna, professor of American Jewish history at Brandeis University, 'My sense is that there's no outpouring of support for Palin, just against Obama.' Palin, Sarna tells The Report in a telephone interview from Jerusalem, will have a difficult challenge to get support from the American Jewish community. According to Jacques Berlinerblau, associate professor of Jewish civilization at Georgetown University, there had been a slight progression of Jews towards the Republican Party but Palin's candidacy put the brakes on the trend. 'Palin harkened back to American small-town populism, like anti-Semitic Father Charles Coughlin in the 1940s and 50s, and that makes American Jews uncomfortable,' he tells The Report. 'This rhetorically rings flight or fight bells from previous times. Lines like 'Christian America,' which Palin used as a candidate, are never going to make inroads in the American Jewish community.'" http://bit.ly/9ItcZo

TALK ABOUT ANALYTICS: RICK SANTORUM'S GOOGLE PROBLEM - MoJo's Stephanie Mencimer chronicles the movement that has led former Pennsylvania senator and 2012 aspirant Rick Santorum's surname to become synonymous with "the frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex." The effort to reduce generations of Santorums into a slang word for this cocktail has become so popular that the top Google search result for "santorum" isn't the politician's own Internet portal but sex columnist Dan Savage's website that seeks to popularize the term. "Santorum's problem got its start back in 2003, when the then-senator from Pennsylvania compared homosexuality to bestiality and pedophilia, saying the 'definition of marriage' has never included 'man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be.' The ensuing controversy prompted syndicated sex columnist Dan Savage, who's gay, to start a contest, soliciting reader suggestions for slang terms to 'memorialize the scandal.' The winner came up with the 'frothy mixture' idea, Savage launched a website, and a meme was born." http://bit.ly/aLYUhv

A Peter Sellers plot for these modern times: A Washington Post blogger had to retract a story about a congressman's Tweet attack after it was discovered that the congressman in question doesn't...what is the mot juste...exist. "Washington Post writer Jonathan Capehart fell for a fake congressional Twitter account Monday night, writing a story based on the hoax @RepJackKimble account (via New York Observer). 'Rep. Jack Kimble' is a fake Republican congressman from California's nonexistent 54th district. Capehart wrote an article based on a tweet the account sent last week...The Kimble account mocked the Washington Post for falling for its hoax. 'Washington Post unjustly attacks Congressman Kimble on war costs. Real journalists can read a budget,' it tweeted." http://huff.to/dw8NFe

See if you can follow this: A little while back the progressive organization Democracy for America raised $22,000 for Michele Bachmann's opponent Tarryl Clark by attacking Bachmann's record in an e-mail to supporters. Citing that e-mail, Bachmann wrote to her base, hoping to raise $22,000 of her own. Now, citing Bachmann's e-mail citing their first e-mail, Democracy for America is circulating another e-mail asking for more donations to the Clark campaign. So -- minus hotboxing a hotel bathroom -- this might be the most confusing instance of aggressive mirroring ever, no doubt portending the tragic conclusion of the race in a dizzying maelstrom of e-mail replies, each one squeezed closer and closer into the margins by increasing layers of >>>>>>>>>>>s. The best part: It's working for both of them.

JEREMY THE INTERN'S WEATHER REPORT - Tonight: High pressure dominates the East coast, making for a beautiful night. Tomorrow: It will be a bit warmer, hitting the 90s, but won't be too humid. There's a small chance of pop-up showers. Extremely small chance. Thanks, JB!

Also, a note about that pathetic excuse for a hurricane that was Earl. I went out east on Long Island, and it was pathetic! That storm died so fast and came apart at the seams. Bo-ring. :-(, JB!

COMFORT FOOD

- Forget the innocence of a child's face or the majesty of the Mojave at sunset...or even the details. God is in this ticklish camel: http://bit.ly/c37DxU
- Here's some video coffee to get you going tomorrow: http://bit.ly/amDchW

- The most intense pairing of an electric violinist and a sax man since the Dave Matthews Band's meth period. Thank you, Eurovision. http://bit.ly/aBl6q0

- Speaking of things on drugs, here's an anti-abortion ad on ecstasy. http://bit.ly/9g7qRB

- Still more efficient than the Metro. http://bit.ly/UkGTT

- To each (her) own: the 106-year-old virgin. http://bit.ly/aFIVfy

- Who doesn't like a collection of Jack Russell terrier videos? http://bit.ly/dvig7N

- At 27 inches, meet the world's shortest man. http://bit.ly/ao7cSD

TWITTERAMA

@bdomenech: Review of Meghan McCain's Dirty Sexy Politics: It is as if millions of English teachers cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

@pourmecoffee: Mayor Daley won't seek re-election. I believe this means Roland Burris gets it for a couple of years, then an election.

@kingsthings: Why do singers sing their own names in their songs now?

@TommyWells: Arthur Delaney Huff Post said u do ur own tweets don't u? Told him of course, i would fire a staffer for my tweets.

THE TUBE

TONIGHT: Elijah Cummings talks to Ed Schultz. Our own Amanda Terkel appears on Countdown. TOMORROW: Ed Rendell and David Axelrod drop by Morning Joe.

ON TAP

TONIGHT

7:00 pm: In case your quest to meet cute girls in thick-framed glasses and striped black-and-gray sweaters at the Department of the Interior cafeteria hasn't borne much fruit, try heading to the 9:30 Club where the Dirty Projectors will be playing. Might be more of the crowd you're looking for [9:30 Club, 815 V Street NW].

7:00 pm: Lady Gaga descends on Washington, D.C., mirror-speckled, shark-finned jumpsuits and all. In commemoration, here's the D.C. intern "Alejandro" spoof, "On the Metro:" http://bit.ly/aSu4C4 [Verizon Center, 601 F Street NW].

8:00 pm: "A young man returns to his rich family's estate after a stay in a mental hospital. He finds that his father has married his deceased wife's nurse, who is secretly plotting with her lover, the chauffeur, to murder the father and take his fortune." <--- See that movie ("Cat In The Cage") tonight. It's apparently atrocious [The Passenger, 1021 7th Sreet NW].

TOMORROW

8:00 pm: Did you meet that hipster girl yet? Soak in some Pitchfork in a Rolling Stone MTV Entertainment Weekly city. Best Coast serves up a fresh batch of noise rock [Rock and Roll Hotel, 1353 H St NE].

8:00 pm: A 2000s upgrade of the '90s liberal arts college, Dispatch-y bands, Akron/Family takes its psychedelic hacky sack brand of rock to the Black Cat [Black Cat, 1811 14th Street NW].

Got something to add? Send tips/quotes/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to Eliot Nelson (eliot@huffingtonpost.com), Ryan Grim (ryan@huffingtonpost.com) or Nico Pitney (nico@huffingtonpost.com). Follow us on Twitter @HuffPostHill (twitter.com/HuffPostHill). Sign up here: http://huff.to/an2k2e

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