Hotline Sort: Wrangling Over Rangel

By Sean Sullivan  //  June 29, 2012 | 8:39 a.m.

Welcome back to Hotline Sort. The high court's health care ruling was a defeat for Republicans, but not for Mitt Romney's campaign coffers. Meanwhile, 17 House Democrats cross over to vote with the GOP to hold Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, John Tierney's brother-in-law makes some surprising remarks about the congressman, Ron DeSantis hits the airwaves in Florida and Sheldon Adelson keeps writing checks. Here's today's rundown:

9) Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., may not have won his re-election bid over state Sen. Adriano Espaillat, after all. The congressman's lead has been shrinking as more ballots have come in (it's now down to 1,032 votes), and there are thousands of votes that haven't been counted yet.

The state election board's Tuesday night tally listed 79 precincts-- 15% of Rangel's entire congressional district -- as recording no votes, the New York Daily News reported.

Making things even murkier, election officials won't begin counting the remaining ballots, including affidavit and absentee ballots, until July 5.

8) Strong words from South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley at testimony before the state House Ethics Committee. The AP:

In surprise testimony before the House Ethics Committee, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on Thursday night called the man accusing her of ethics violations a "racist, sexist bigot" for comments he made about terrorism to her during her 2010 gubernatorial bid.

The Republican governor told the six-member committee that Republican activist John Rainey insulted her family when he said during a meeting he didn't want to back her for governor, only to discover later that she was related to terrorists.



7) Fresh off an endorsement earlier this week from the Club For Growth, Ron DeSantis is up with his first TV ad in Florida's 6th District GOP primary. "Politicians play by their own set of rules; we pay the tab," says DeSantis in the 30-second introductory spot that also underscores his military background.

6) Despite Thursday's ruling by the Supreme Court largely upholding the federal health care law, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal remained defiant in an interview with Fox News, saying, "We're not moving forward with the exchanges, we're not going to be implementing ObamaCare here in the state of Louisiana." For a politician in the mix to be Romney's running mate, its exactly the kind of tough rhetoric that can be expected.

5) Upon being sentenced on gambling and racketeering charges, the Boston Globe reports that the brother-in-law of Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass., said the congressman was aware of the family's gambling operation. Tierney's office denied the allegation. 4) Sheldon Adelson pledged $10 million to the Koch brothers' 2012 efforts. 3) The House voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress on Thursday, by a vote of 255-67 on a criminal measure and 258-95 on a civil measure. Politically, the most interesting thing about the vote is looking at which members bucked their party. Seventeen Democrats voted for contempt and two Republicans voted against it. The NRA's decision to score the vote played a big role. The Democrats who voted with the GOP were largely from swing areas where the NRA's influence can be felt. 2) Many other Democrats made it a point to show publicly that they disagreed with the vote in the first place. Led by Congressional Black Caucus members, more than 100 Democrats quietly left the House chamber during the voting, the New York Times reports 1) As we wrote on Thursday, the historic Supreme Court decision to uphold much of the federal health care law was a clear major victory for President Obama and Democrats who supported the measure. But it was also a catalyst for further Republican outrage -- outrage that many in the GOP will try to seize on in the coming days. On Thursday alone, after the court announced the decision, Mitt Romney's campaign said it raised over $4.2 million.

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