The queen of conservative talk radio, Laura Ingraham, is eyeing a Senate run in Virginia and a challenge to Hillary Clinton’s running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine.
Knowledgeable sources said that several party insiders have approached the media giant to run and that she is considering it.
In preparation for a bid, her business partner, Peter Anthony, has begun buying website domains for Ingraham to use should she decide to move forward. It includes: ingrahamsenate.net, ingrahamsenate.com, ingrahamforvirginia.com and ingraham2018.com.
Ingraham wouldn’t comment on any run.
While it would be considered an uphill fight, Ingraham brings her well-known personality and several influential backers to a race that could translate into immediate media and fundraising opportunities.
Ingraham also would come to the race with a powerful media enterprise behind her. Besides her popular radio show, she also heads the website Lifezette.com.
What’s more, she is close to President-elect Trump and was even rumored to be in the running for White House press secretary, a job given to Trump adviser and longtime Republican spokesman Sean Spicer. He is also the incoming White House communications director.
The Republican primary could be crowded. Both Reps. Barbara Comstock and Dave Brat are considering a bid, and Brat has already been singled out by Kaine as a top challenger. And there are reports that former Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, a 2010 California Senate candidate, also wants to run in Virginia.
Ingraham, a Fox News contributor and former Supreme Court clerk, is also a New York Times bestselling author who has earned a reputation for delivering zingers. In fact, one of her books is titled Of Thee I Zing.
Trump seeks 10 percent cut in spending, 20 percent fewer federal workers
Making good on a promise to slash government, President-elect Trump has asked his incoming team to pursue spending cuts of about 10 percent and staff reductions of up to 20 percent, numbers that would rock Washington if he follows through.
At least two so-called “landing teams” in Cabinet agencies have relayed the call for cuts as part of their marching orders to shrink the flab in government.
The cuts would target discretionary spending, not mandated programs such as Medicare or Social Security, the sources said.
The spending reductions are expected to be used to help pay for Trump’s plan to boost the Pentagon’s budget and some pet projects, potentially including the anti-immigration wall on the nation’s southern border.
The teams also are looking at staffing cuts of up to 20 percent through attrition, a hiring freeze and reorganization.
The plan is winning cheers in conservative, anti-tax and anti-spending corners in Washington that have long sought massive cuts in the bureaucracy.
Presidents rarely cut spending, choosing freezes instead. In the meantime, federal spending has reached historic levels. Trump has picked a budget hawk, Rep. Mick Mulvaney, to head the Office of Management and Budget, a clear sign that spending cuts are a top priority.
Still, Trump is likely to face a wall of opposition from Democrats and federal unions who consider much of the federal workforce on their side.
Obama golfed 333 times, most since Eisenhower
President Obama earned his title as “golfer in chief” over eight years, becoming the first duffer who spent the most time on the greens since former President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
CBS White House reporter Mark Knoller, who keeps an accurate database on presidential movements and actions, said Obama has golfed 333 times during his eight years, the last few outings in Hawaii during the first family’s Christmas vacation last month.
While many presidents since Eisenhower have golfed a lot, only Obama has come close to the estimated 800 times the World War II hero hit the links.
Obama can take more than four hours for a round of golf, and friends said that he always kept an accurate score, refusing do-over shots, or mulligans, that former President Bill Clinton often took when his balls flew off course.
President-elect Trump is also an avid golfer and, of course, owns may world-class courses. The PGA had planned to make a stop at his Miami course, but pulled out after concerns were raised about Trump’s derogatory comments about Mexico and Mexicans.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
