Subject: POLITICO Huddle, presented by the Center for Audit Quality: Russia’s man in Congress -- Senate Conservatives Fund is gearing up for 2016 and beyond
From: "POLITICO Huddle" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 06:52:06 -0600

By Lauren French (
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[email-masked]  & 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b2d5a2dbeff08ff2893b569292df74cd4b5cd600c115420b67be891dedaae546 
@laurennfrench )

With help from Burgess Everett.

RUSSIA'S MAN IN CONGRESS. Peter Duffy writes in POLITICO Magazine, "At a time when Joseph McCarthy was still an unknown lawyer in Wisconsin, [Samuel] Dickstein invented the modern practice of naming names-broadcasting the identities of suspected subversives without the slightest pretense of due process. If anyone can be credited (or blamed) with introducing the phrase "un-American activities" into the nation's lexicon, it is he....That is, until 1999, when Allen Weinstein and Alexander Vassiliev published The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America-the Stalin Era, which through the use of previously unavailable KGB records ...revealed that Stalin had a spy in Congress, an exasperating
 character who once "blazed up very much, claiming that if we didn't give him money he would break with us," according to his Soviet contact. To this day, Sam Dickstein is the only known U.S. representative to have served as a covert agent for a foreign power. His codename was Crook." 
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2016 REPUBLICAN PRIMARY IS GOING TO BE A BLOODY AS EVER. Maggie Haberman and Jake Sherman write, "[I]nterviews with more than a dozen party strategists, elected officials and potential candidates a month out from the unofficial start of the 2016 election lay bare a stark reality: Despite the national party's best efforts, the likelihood of a bloody primary process remains as strong as ever. The sprawling, kaleidoscope-like field that's taking shape is already prompting Republican presidential hopefuls to knock their likely rivals in private and, at times, publicly. The fact that several candidates' prospects hinge in part on whether others run only exacerbates that dynamic. Ultimately, the
 large pack won't be whittled for many months: Republicans have no idea who will end up running, and insiders don't expect the field will gel in any way until at least the spring of next year." 
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GEARING UP: Senate Conservatives Fund President Ken Cuccinelli tells us that while his group is focused on supporting its four House and four Senate candidates in the November election, they are already surveying the Senate map in 2016 ... and 2018. "We've started looking at the next two election cycles. One of the things I wanted to do is look at things" over a longer time period, Cuccinelli said. SCF, the perennial thorn in the side of the "establishment," began talking to folks in states up for reelection in the next two cycles this summer to begin weighing where the group should oppose incumbents or jump into open seat races - a process that continues today, Cuccinelli said.

HAPPY TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7 and welcome to The Huddle, your play-by-play preview of all the action on Capitol Hill. It's still a slow week on Capitol Hill so make sure you're enjoying the first few days of fall. Send tips, scoops, complements and complaints to 
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@laurennfrench .

AROUND THE HILL: Nada.

** The Center for Audit Quality (CAQ) is an autonomous public policy organization dedicated to enhancing investor confidence and public trust in global capital markets. Learn more about our efforts to foster high quality performance by public company auditors at 
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SURF'S UP. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is catching flack for missing a field hearing on veteran's issues in Hawaii to go surfing. The freshman congresswoman was being profiled by Yahoo's Chris Moody and the interview and photo shoot of Gabbard surfing went long - causing her to miss a hearing chaired by Sen. Mazie Hirono. Her office told Civil Beat that they are reviewing scheduling practices to make sure that it doesn't happen again. 
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HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN CREATES SCORECARD FOR GAY RIGHTS VOTE. Maggie Haberman has the story, "The pro-gay rights Human Rights Campaign is set to add a new category to its congressional scorecard - gay marriage....The scorecard will be released this week - coincidentally the same week the U.S. Supreme Court turned down seven petitions seeking a determination as to whether people have a constitutional right to same-sex marriage...There are only eight Republicans - four in the House and four in the Senate - who back same-sex marriage. That's a change from just one Republican in the last Congress. According to the HRC, 90 percent of House Democrats and 95 percent of Senate Democrats - 52
 senators - now support it. That's up to 45 percent of the overall members of Congress, compared to 33 percent in the last Congress." 
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THE MEANEST OF THEM ALL. The Wall Street Journal is giving the award for nastiest ads to Senate Democrats. Here's why: "Analyses of Senate ads over most of September by the Wesleyan Media Project show that negative ads are far outweighing positive ads, and airing at a higher rate than in recent elections. And Democratic groups, fighting to defend more Senate seats and keep control of the chamber, have been more negative than their Republican counterparts, that independent analysis shows. In the two weeks between Aug. 29 and Sept. 11, for example, the researchers at the Wesleyan project found that 55% of ads airing in Senate races were negative, and 17.5% were "contrast" ads that mentioned
 both the candidate being supported and the opponent. By comparison, just 27.5% were positive ads." 
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LEADERSHIP PAC TARGETS DEMS. Sean Sullivan reports for the Washington Post, "A super PAC linked to House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) plans to spend $3.1 million in three Democratic-held districts as it looks to bolster the GOP&#39;s efforts to gain seats in the lower chamber with four weeks left until the midterm election. The Congressional Leadership Fund is targeting Reps. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), Carol Shea-Porter (D-N.H.) and Julia Brownley (D-Calif.), the group told The Washington Post. All three Democrats face competitive reelection contests." 
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MONDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Nobody. Looks like I stumped you with my culinary question on Sen. John Warner's lunchtime favorite.

TODAY'S QUESTION. Let's try this again. From his perch as a member of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, former Sen. John Warner would ask the Senate dining room staff to always have this home-style meal on hand for lunch. What was his favorite dish? HINT: It is not bean soup. The first person to email 
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[email-masked]  with the correct answer gets a mention in tomorrow's Huddle.

** The Center for Audit Quality (CAQ) is an autonomous public policy organization dedicated to enhancing investor confidence and public trust in global capital markets. The CAQ fosters high quality performance by public company auditors, convenes and collaborates with other stakeholders to advance discussion on critical issues requiring action and intervention, and advocates policies and standards that promote public company auditors' objectivity, effectiveness, and responsiveness to dynamic market conditions. Learn more at 
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