Today in Politics
Senators Have Holder in Mind as They Prepare Questions for Lynch
Good Wednesday morning from Washington, where Loretta E. Lynch has to prove to the Senate Judiciary Committee that she’s no Eric H. Holder Jr., and Speaker John A. Boehner admits that his leadership team has suffered surprises in the first month of the new Congress. We look at the significance of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s recent retreat from the spotlight. And the turmoil continues in Albany, where the embattled Sheldon Silver is suddenly no longer the Assembly speaker.
Loretta E. Lynch faces the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday as the panel considers her nomination for attorney general. But the proceedings might be as much about Eric H. Holder Jr., the man she would replace, as Ms. Lynch herself.
Republican anger at Mr. Holder runs deep, and lawmakers seem determined to make Ms. Lynch, a career prosecutor, prove that she is the anti-Holder. They especially want to be assured that she won’t intrude in political affairs, as they say Mr. Holder has often done, or show disdain for Congress.
“The Justice Department has devolved into being more political than it should be,” Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said. “The next person has to clean this mess up.”
On Thursday, the second day of hearings, Republicans have summoned witnesses to address what amounts to a greatest hits of their grievances against Mr. Holder. The testimony will address the gun-running operation Fast and Furious, voter identification laws and the Internal Revenue Service scrutiny of conservative groups. Mr. Holder appears to be in for one last bashing on Capitol Hill.
It might not trouble him much. The attorney general has pledged to stay in the job until a replacement is approved. If Ms. Lynch can win confirmation, even at Mr. Holder’s expense, it will free him to step aside.
— Carl Hulse
All Quiet on the Clinton Front, but Not for Long
What’s that we hear from Hillary Rodham Clinton’s camp? That’s right — nothing.
Her normally chatty circle of advisers is being exceptionally quiet as she builds a campaign team and drafts a unified message before a likely 2016 run for the presidency.
Mrs. Clinton — who had a characteristically hectic schedule since leaving the secretary of state’s office in 2013 — has herself been keeping a low profile in anticipation of an expected campaign announcement, most likely in April.
She has lined up two paid speeches in the coming months: the keynote address at the Watermark Silicon Valley Conference for Women and a talk to summer-camp professionals in Atlantic City.
Mrs. Clinton is also set to speak in Washington on March 23 when the Toner Prize — named in honor of Robin Toner, the first woman to be The New York Times’s national political correspondent, who died in 2008 — is handed out.
“She is a vivid example, like Robin, of a pioneering woman at the top of her profession,” Lorraine Branham, the dean of the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, which sponsors the Toner Prize.
Ready for Hillary, the “super PAC” that has been drumming up support for Mrs. Clinton, has been on a fund-raising blitz, including events in London and New York, before it is to close up shop to make way to an official campaign.
It’s also a critical time for the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, whose donors may shift their focus to a Clinton campaign.
The foundation, which has built up an endowment worth roughly $250 million, will hold its annual gala in New York on March 4 with a special performance by Carole King.
— Amy Chozick
Boehner Admits Republican Leaders Have Been Caught Off Guard
Speaker John A. Boehner was candid on Tuesday in admitting that House Republicans have “had a couple of stumbles” out of the gate this year while trying to show the strength of the party’s new majority on Capitol Hill.
Bills to restrict abortions and bolster border security — issues usually heartily embraced by House Republicans — have been tabled after support wavered. Many Republicans admit privately that it was a political mistake to approve a Homeland Security bill amendment ending deportation protection for immigrants living in the country illegally who were brought over as children.
Republicans say they were caught off guard by the opposition to the abortion and border security bills, which had been approved easily in the past. But it’s evidence of how quickly the political atmosphere can shift.
It is also a reminder that Mr. Boehner’s leadership team is relatively new and is learning on the job.
— Carl Hulse
So When Is the ‘Bush 2016’ App Coming Out?
Jeb Bush was famously addicted to his BlackBerry when he was Florida’s governor, so much so that he included his smartphone in his official portrait.
“It was a symbol of how I worked,” Mr. Bush said in 2008. “I received 550,000 personal e-mails when I was governor.”
But at a recent event in San Francisco, First Draft noticed that Mr. Bush appeared to be sporting a Pebble smartwatch on his wrist. Slick and stylish, it is popular among tech workers but is not officially compatible with (what’s left of) modern BlackBerrys.
So we decided to investigate. Turns out Mr. Bush ditched his beloved BlackBerry a few years back for an iPhone.
Mr. Bush has been embracing social media as he prepares for 2016 and a likely presidential campaign, so his switch over to the app-friendly iPhone isn’t a surprise.
Still, as far as we know, an iPhone has never made it into any official government portrait.
— Nick Corasaniti
What We’re Watching Today
President Obama is back from Saudi Arabia and will host an Armed Forces Farewell tribute for Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.
The Senate is holding hearings on the budget, cybersecurity and efforts to protect senior citizens from marketing scams.
Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana is expected to hold a news briefing on his new state-run news agency.
Former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts heads to Mississippi State University, where he will give a speech and take questions in part of its Global Lecture Series.
The Federal Reserve Board finishes up its interest rate meeting and will release its policy statement at 2 p.m.
An Actor at Home in Hollywood, Bollywood and Washington
Now playing near you: “Barack and Kumar Go to India.”
Tagging along with President Obama on his trip to India this week was Kal Penn, the actor-turned-White House aide-turned-actor.
Mr. Penn, star of movies like “Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay” and, more soberly, “Bhopal,” has been close to the Obama team for years, at one point giving up Hollywood to work as a midlevel aide. Now as a cultural ambassador of sorts, he proved to be one of the most head-turning members of the president’s delegation, recognized almost everywhere he went in New Delhi.
He filmed a two-and-a-half-minute video for the White House website about Mr. Obama’s visit, complete with a cartoon from Indian television showing Mr. Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi dancing. Mr. Penn also posted photos to his personal Instagram account, including a selfie with Mr. Modi and a food shot from a restaurant.
“All in all, a really busy week for President Obama here in India,” Mr. Penn said in the video. And for Mr. Penn as well.
— Peter Baker
Our Favorites From Today’s Times
The latest developments in the Sheldon Silver saga: Did he resign as Assembly speaker, or was he pushed?
Rupert Murdoch’s contempt for Mitt Romney could influence the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
President Obama, bowing to protests from his allies as well as his opponents, will drop his proposal to effectively end the popular college savings accounts known as 529s.
Officials say the drone crash on the White House lawn was a “drunken misadventure.”
Advice from The Upshot: Pay no attention to those early 2016 presidential polls.
What We’re Reading Elsewhere
The New Yorker applies business metaphors to the 2016 presidential race: Republicans are in a bubble economy, and the Democrats are fighting stagflation.
After the weekend’s Iowa Freedom Summit, The Atlantic has put together a “cheat sheet” on how the Republican race in 2016 is shaping up.
Is Mitt Romney putting his “car elevator” house on the market? The Boston Globe says it looks that way.
Gov. Bruce Rauner of Illinois may have been studying up on Scott Walker’s career as the governor of neighboring Wisconsin. The Chicago Tribune reports Mr. Rauner is blaming unions for the state’s “unfriendly” business climate.
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