Hotline Sort: King and His Court
Welcome back to Hotline Sort. Warner would be the favorite if he race for governor of Virginia, Moran seems poised to take over NRSC chairmanship, Angus King has a press conference this morning, and don't ask Salazar about wild horses.
8) Interior Secretary Ken Salazar reportedly threatened to punch a reporter in Colorado after the reporter asked him a question about the Bureau of Land Management's wild horses program.
7) The 2014 Nebraska gubernatorial race is shaping up, at least on the Republican side: While GOP Speaker of the Legislature Mike Flood entered the race earlier this week, current GOP Gov. Dave Heineman (who is term-limited) said he supports and will help Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy's 2014 gubernatorial bid.
Meanwhile, Heineman also weighed in on former Sen. Bob Kerrey's loss in the Senate race, saying that if he'd moved back to Nebraska from New York a year earlier, the carpetbagger narrative wouldn't have dogged him.
6) New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie isn't giving a timetable on deciding whether to run for reelection, citing his focus on Hurricane Sandy. At a Tuesday briefing, Christie said he'll seriously think about give the race soon.
5) Independent Maine Sen. Angus King has scheduled a press conference for 9:15 this morning, and is expected to reveal which party he'll caucus with. It's expected that he's chosen to caucus with Democrats.
4) Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet has been offered the job of Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman and talked about it with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Politico reports.
3) And over at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran appears likely to get the chairmanship now that Ohio Sen. Rob Portman has passed on the race. Roll Call reports on some grumbling about his qualifications and fundraising abilities.
2) Democratic Sen. Mark Warner would be a heavy favorite if he were to launch a gubernatorial campaign in Virginia again in 2013, according to a Quinnipiac University poll. If Warner doesn't run, former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe would start the race with a slight advantage: He holds early, modest leads over the two declared Republican candidates, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.
The poll shows Warner with wide leads over both, outpacing Bolling by 20 points, 53 percent to 33 percent, and Cuccinelli by 18 points, 52 percent to 34 percent.
1) President Obama is starting fiscal cliff negotiations with his recent budget proposal, which would raise taxes on corporations and the rich by $1.6 trillion in the next decade.
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