Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) on Sunday called the specter of a government shutdown because Congress can't agree to another short-term spending bill "embarrassing" and blamed tea party-affiliated Republicans for the stalemate. 
 
 "Yes, it is embarrassing," Warner said on CNN's "State of the Union." "The Senate is saying, 'Why should we build schools in Iraq on the credit card but expect that rebuilding schools in Joplin, Mo., at this moment in time have to be paid for in a way that's never been in any of the previous disaster assistance that we've done before.'" 
 
 Asked in more explicit terms if the tea party is to blame for the crisis, Warner said: "There is a group, and I do believe it is more centered in the House, in terms of some of these tea party Republicans, who say on every issue, 'We're going to make this a make-or-break.'" 
 
 Appearing on the same program, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) blamed Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) for holding up the bill. 
 
 Reid, Alexander said, "manufactured a crisis all week about disaster aid when there is no crisis." 
 
 "Everybody knows we're going to favor every single penny of disaster relief that the president declared and FEMA certifies," Alexander said. "The House settled for a bill that does that, and the Senate should have approved it." ||||| Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who considered a White House run himself, says fellow Republicans should forgive Texas Gov. Rick Perry's uneven debate performances as the GOP presidential campaign goes forward. 
 
 "It's way too early to know, or to issue, to pronounce last rites over one performance," Daniels said on CNN's "State of the Union." "There's still many of these [debates], too many maybe. ... I'd cut him some slack and give him a little time." 
 
 Daniels, who is making a round of interviews to push his new book, "Keeping the Republic," also offered some unsolicited praise for Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) for his work earlier this year with the Gang of Six senators who were working to cut spending from the federal budget. 
 
 "It's very encouraging, by the way, to hear a guy like Sen. Warner speak to it as clearly as he just did," Daniels said. "I wish he were president." ||||| Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus mocked President Barack Obama's 2008 election slogan Sunday, arguing it won't pass the smell test with voters in 2012. 
 
 "It sounds like the new slogan is no longer 'hope and change'," Priebus said on CBS's "Face the Nation." "It's, 'Hey, it could've been worse'. Great bumper sticker, Debbie. I hope it works for you." 
 
 Priebus was speaking to his counterpart at the Democratic National Committee, Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who was with him in the joint interview. 
 
 An aggressive Priebus also said Wasserman Schultz's talking points had already been proved false, referring to the recent GOP victory in New York's special House election. 
 
 "This has already been tested in a Democratic district. These talking points have been tested, and they're losing. They're imploding," he said during their animated exchange. ||||| With time running out, Congress returns Monday to try to pass a short-term funding measure to avert a government shutdown and avoid yet another market-rattling showdown over the federal budget. 
 
 The Democratic-led Senate, which on Friday blocked a GOP House measure to fund the government through Nov. 18, will vote late Monday on its own version of the bill. 
 
 The Senate bill includes dollars for disaster relief without an offsetting spending cut elsewhere that the House GOP demands. 
 
 It is not clear how the dispute will be resolved. A spokesman for House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said Sunday that leaders have been in touch, but other congressional aides said there was no progress toward a compromise over the weekend. 
 
 And members of Congress who appeared on Sunday talk shows gave little sign that they would move quickly from their parties’ positions on disaster relief. 
 
 “The Senate is saying . . . why should we, in effect, rebuild schools in Iraq on the credit card but expect that rebuilding schools in Joplin, Missouri, at this moment in time have to be paid for in a way that has never been in any of the previous disaster assistance that we’ve put out before?” Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” He blamed the dispute on tea-party-affiliated Republicans in the House who demanded the spending cut. 
 
 Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said on the same program: “Everybody knows we’re going to pay for every single penny of disaster aid that the president declares and that FEMA certifies. And the House sent over a bill that does that and the Senate should have approved it.” 
 
 He blamed Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) for manufacturing a crisis over funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 
 
 But Warner and Alexander, who have been pushing for more bipartisan cooperation over the far more difficult and consequential task of deficit reduction, appeared weary over the mess. Warner called it “embarrassing.” 
 
 “I don’t like this business of sitting around blaming each other over such small potatoes,” Alexander said. 
 
 But the small potatoes are part of a much larger and ongoing fight about debt and deficit spending in Washington. 
 
 Last week, Boehner lost a vote on how to fund the federal government, sending Washington bumbling into its third shutdown showdown in the past six months. 
 
 His problem was the same as in the previous spending battles — roughly 50 of the most conservative Republicans who mutinied in the name of deeper spending cuts. 
 
 But Boehner may have strengthened his hand in the fight by persuading his fractious team to rally around his leadership. 
 
 The fact that a resolution now hinges on action in the Senate is a sign that Boehner is in stronger position politically than he was a week ago — that he can now sometimes harness the power of his majority, despite nine months of often chaotic rule. 
 
 Rather than working with Democrats, he worked on Republicans, persuading enough to switch their votes. The House passed an almost identical version of the spending bill Thursday and forced the issue to the Senate. 
 
 Boehner has had to rely on temporary and unstable coalitions to achieve victories, often won with bluffs and brinkmanship against a deadline of impending doom. 
 
 Last week, he built one with Republicans. This week, he may be forced to turn to Democrats. Without the full strength of his majority behind him, that has been Boehner’s go-to in the past — tricky arrangements that have required him to win three-quarters of the votes of Republicans but still keep nearly half of Democrats on board. 
 
 What appeared in the end to persuade the reluctant GOP members who switched last week was not arm twisting or legislative pressure tactics that were once famous in the House, but something else entirely: logic. 
 
 Leaders argued that if members wanted to cut spending, voting for the measure was their only viable option. 
 
 The alternative was to require Boehner to negotiate with Democrats on a bill that would not offset any of the $3.65 billion Republicans had agreed to set aside for FEMA and other disaster relief efforts. 
 
 In other words, voting against the bill in hopes of forcing government to spend less would actually result in spending more. 
 
 “He said you have to pick — and they picked,” said Rep. Steven C. LaTourette (R-Ohio), a close ally of Boehner’s. “It’s too bad we had to have the vote and lose, but I think people came to the right conclusion pretty quickly.” 
 
 One key moment came in a closed-door meeting Thursday for House Republicans, when Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) rose to his feet and acknowledged that he had planned to support the bill the night before but decided to vote against it when he saw it was headed for defeat. 
 
 It was cowardly, he said. If given another opportunity, he promised to stick by Boehner and vote “yes.” 
 
 “That helped,” said Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.). “It defused things and made it so it wasn’t like a test of wills.” 
 
 King said people laughed. Then others acknowledged they had done the same. 
 
 “He saw it was going to go down anyway, so he could take the easy vote and vote ‘no’ and be a hero to the people back home to people who wanted more cuts,” King said. 
 
 Slowly but surely, Republican leaders are persuading freshman elected last year on promises to remake Washington that there’s more to being an effective congressman than heroics for the folks back home. 
 
 “I think the speaker and the leader are trying to get that across,” King said. “I think it is starting to sink in.” 
 
 The message worked on some. 
 
 Rep. Jeffrey M. Landry (R-La.), who had voted against the bill Wednesday, said he was persuaded to support the bill a day later by the argument that his “no” vote would help produce a bill with higher spending. 
 
 “That would have been a bill that I wouldn’t have supported but Americans would likely have had to live with,” he said. 
 
 Boehner found a way to entice conservatives, including Landry. Rather than eliminating the spending offset as Democrats wanted, he added a new cut — $100 million from the program that had loaned money to the now-bankrupt Solyndra solar-panel manufacturer that had been championed by the Obama administration. 
 
 Though a minor cut, it gave Republicans an opportunity to bash the administration over a loan to the failed company. 
 
 Despite the hard sell from Boehner, a bloc of 24 Republicans still defied the speaker on Thursday. 
 
 “I represent 600,000 people,” said Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.), one of the “no” votes. “I think I know them. I think I know what they want me to do.” 
 
 Read more on PostPolitics.com 
 
 Government Shutdown 2011 
 
 Pessimism grows after new congressional feud 
 
 Fact Checker: Obama’s strained symbolism at an Ohio River bridge ||||| By MICHAEL FALCONE ( @michaelpfalcone ) and AMY WALTER ( @amyewalter ) 
 
 NOTABLES: 
 
 WILL MORTGAGE DEDUCTIONS FALL OFF THE CLIFF? ABC will take a look at a handful of specific revenue sources as fiscal-cliff talks continue, and today ABC's Shushannah Walshe reports on the home-mortgage deduction: The mortgage deduction has been fiercely guarded until now, although it costs the government over $100 billion a year by most estimates, because of the sentimental attachment to it and the idea that it helps middle class families afford homes. While those who benefit from the deduction, including homeowners and people in the real estate industry, are passionate about keeping the deduction in place, others say it should be eliminated because it overwhelmingly helps the wealthy and those who can afford to buy a home already. http://abcn.ws/SG8Gal 
 
 CABINET SHUFFLE - GEITHNER ON HIS REPLACEMENT: With Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner wrapping up his time in President Obama's cabinet, ABC's George Stephanopoulos asked him if banking executive Jamie Dimon - who has billionaire Warren Buffett's endorsement - should be named the next treasury secretary, but Geithner declined to answer directly. "The president's going choose somebody very talented to lead the Treasury for his next four years. And - I'm very fortunate I've been able to work with him to help solve these problems in the country over this period of time. And I'm very confident he's going have somebody in place - in January to succeed me," he said. http://abcn.ws/SDY0Jw 
 
 SEEKING ADELSON'S MILLIONS: Politico's Ken Vogel reports that the 2016 fundraising landscape is already taking shape: "A week after Election Day, three Republican governors mentioned as 2016 presidential candidates - Bobby Jindal, John Kasich and Bob McDonnell - each stopped by the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino to meet privately with its owner Sheldon Adelson, a man who could single-handedly underwrite their White House ambitions. Planning a presidential campaign used to mean having coffee with county party chairs in their Iowa or New Hampshire living rooms. The courting of Adelson, a full four years out from 2016, demonstrates how super PAC sugar daddies have become the new must-have feature for White House wannabes. … Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley is meeting with big donors in Los Angeles this week and has a fundraiser scheduled for next Monday in the Washington suburbs. Vice President Joe Biden, Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) have been meeting with big donors, leaving the impression that they're ready to run." http://politi.co/TCHafq 
 
 WHITE HOUSE WATCH: Here's what's on the president's agenda today, courtesy of ABC's Mary Bruce: This afternoon President Obama meets with Prime Minister Boyko Borissov of Bulgaria. Later, at 4 p.m. the president delivers on-camera remarks to the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction symposium. On the 20th anniversary of the CTR program, the president will note the progress that's been made in securing nuclear material, and thank Senators Nunn and Lugar for their leadership on these issues, according to the White House. 
 
 THE NOTE: 
 
 After a week when both Republicans and Democrats dug in in their heels on the fiscal cliff negotiations, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told ABC's George Stephanopoulos that the ball is "absolutely" in the GOP's court. 
 
 "We think we have a very good plan, a very good mix of tax reforms that raise a modest amount of revenue on the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans, combined with very comprehensive, very well designed, very detailed savings that get us back to the point where our debt is stable and sustainable," Geithner said of the proposal he presented to Republican leaders on Capitol Hill last week in a "This Week" interview. 
 
 Only problem is, Republicans say the Obama administration's proposal is about as far away from a "good plan" as you can get. 
 
 "I would say we're nowhere. Period," House Speaker John Boehner said in an interview on "Fox News Sunday." "We've put a serious offer on the table by putting revenues up there to try to get this question resolved. But the White House has responded with virtually nothing." http://abcn.ws/VpplQj 
 
 So it may not be surprising that the GOP is considering what ABC's Jon Karl is calling a "Doomsday Plan" if fiscal cliff talks collapse entirely. 
 
 Here's Karl's latest reporting: 
 
 It's quite simple: House Republicans would allow a vote on extending the Bush middle class tax cuts (the bill passed in August by the Senate) and offer the president nothing more - no extension of the debt ceiling, nothing on unemployment, nothing on closing loopholes. Congress would recess for the holidays and the president would face a big battle early in the year over the debt ceiling. Two senior Republican elected officials say this Doomsday Plan is becoming the most likely scenario. A top GOP House leadership aide confirms the plan is under consideration, but says Speaker Boehner has made no decision on whether to pursue it. Under one variation of the plan, House Republicans would allow a vote on extending only the middle class tax cuts and Republicans, to express disapproval at the failure to extend all tax cuts, would vote "present" on the bill, allowing it to pass entirely on Democratic votes. By doing this, Republicans avoid taking blame for tax increases on 98 percent of income tax payers. As one senior Republican in Congress told me, "You don't take a hostage you aren't willing to shoot." Republicans aren't willing to kill the middle class tax cuts, even if extending them alone will make it harder to later extend tax cuts on the wealthy. Still unclear under this plan is what would happen to the automatic defense cuts - "sequestration" - scheduled to go into effect on January 1 without a deficit deal. During the campaign, the President promised the cuts would not happen. As part of the deal to allow the House vote on taxes, those automatic defense cuts could be put off for a year. 
 
 Watch Karl's "Good Morning America" report: http://abcn.ws/R0Y60R 
 
 PREDICTIONS: 
 
 -TIM GEITHNER ON 'THIS WEEK': "I actually think that we're going get there. I mean, you know, just inevitably going be a little political theater in this context," Geithner said, when asked whether Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell laughed after hearing President Obama's plan to avert the fiscal cliff. "Sometimes that's a sign of progress. Think we're actually making a little bit of progress, but we're still some distance apart." 
 
 -SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM: "I think we're going over the cliff," South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said on CBS's ""Face the Nation." On the Democrats' proposal: "This offer doesn't remotely deal with entitlement reform in a way to save Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security from imminent bankruptcy. It raises $1.6 trillion on job creators that will destroy the economy, and there were no spending controls." 
 
 "THIS WEEK" REWIND: 
 
 -GEITHNER: SOCIAL SECURITY OFF THE TABLE IN THESE TALKS. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner also told ABC's George Stephanopoulos that, while Social Security may need reforms, they shouldn't be part of the fiscal-cliff discussion. Geithner: "What the president is willing to do is work with Democrats and Republicans to strengthen Social Security for future generations. … But we think you have to do that in a separate process, so that our seniors aren't-don't face the concern that we're somehow going to find savings in Social Security benefits to help reduce the other deficits. … We are prepared to, in a separate process, look at how to strengthen Social Security, but not as part of a process to reduce the other deficits the country faces." WATCH: http://abcn.ws/YpFVFc 
 
 -COLE: REPUBLICANS DON'T NEED TO OFFER A PLAN YET. Rep. Tom Cole, who broke ranks with his party last week by suggesting House Republicans follow President Obama's proposal to immediately extend only lower-income tax rates, appeared on ABC's "This Week" roundtable, saying his party doesn't need a specific fiscal-cliff plan just yet. Cole: I don't think we need to put a formal proposal out on the table. The speaker has already said revenue is on the table. He has got an idea about how to get there in terms of not raises rates, but finding it in other ways through tax code reform. I think that makes a lot of sense, and that's a doable thing, but beyond that, you know, we'll wait and see how the negotiations go." WATCH: http://abcn.ws/YpHjYD 
 
 PRAISE FOR JAKE TAPPER'S 'THE OUTPOST.' With Republicans and Democrats divided on the fiscal cliff negotiations, one thing both sides seem to agree on is Jake Tapper's book, "The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor. (As a refresher, in the book Tapper explores one of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan - the attack on Combat Outpost Keating by Taliban insurgents on the morning of October 3, 2009. Tapper's exposé closely examines the history of the camp and the heroic stories of these American soldiers and their families through first person accounts, photographs and extensive research.) http://www.tinyurl.com/OutpostBandN MSNBC's Rachel Maddow called it a "…very readable, very impressive, well reported book." Fox News' Sean Hannity said "…I love the book. And it's really terrific. Very well researched. You went to Afghanistan, you talked to all these guys, 250 people. And it's really well done." 
 
 @newtgingrich: Jake tappers the outpost is a remarkable story of modern war. I recommend it highly 
 
 @BeschlossDC: Read Jake Tapper's mesmerizing & important THE OUTPOST-essential to understand the astonishing modern experience of our soldiers in battle. 
 
 @Seth Meyers21: I highly recommend @jaketapper's new book "The Outpost." A great read from a great reporter. 
 
 @MikeBarnicle: Definition of a rewarding time: Spending the evening reading Jake Tapper's book "The Outpost." Buy it. 
 
 @samsteinhp: Just finished @jaketapper's The Outpost. Buy it. Great reporting, fantastic read. 
 
 @jdickerson: Congratulations to @jaketapper for his amazing book The Outpost. 
 
 THE BUZZ: 
 
 with ABC's Chris Good ( @c_good) 
 
 A TOUGHER POTUS. Comparing the president's fiscal-cliff posturing to his past methods in fiscal negotiation, The New York Times' Peter Baker writes: "His approach is born of painful experience. In his first four years in office, Mr. Obama has repeatedly offered what he considered compromises on stimulus spending, health care and deficit reduction to Republicans, who either rejected them as inadequate or pocketed them and insisted on more. Republicans argued that Mr. Obama never made serious efforts at compromise and instead lectured them about what they ought to want rather than listening to what they did want." http://nyti.ms/TD6guO 
 
 OBAMA: GOP HOLDING TAX-CUTS 'HOSTAGE.' In his weekly radio address on Saturday, President Obama warned that it's "unacceptable for some Republicans in Congress to hold middle class tax cuts hostage simply because they refuse to let tax rates go up on the wealthiest Americans," ABC's Mary Bruce reports. http://abcn.ws/TGPIiu 
 
 THE CLIFF SKEPTICS. Bloomberg's Julie Hirschfield Davis reports: "[A] small and potentially influential group of lawmakers in both parties is emerging as fiscal-cliff skeptics, willing-and some even arguing-to take the dive. … Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the fourth-ranking Democrat in the leadership, said her side is willing to push the debate into 2013 if Republicans refuse to raise taxes on high earners as part of the deal. … The doubters' caucus remains small, as most lawmakers are urging Republican leaders and Obama to reach an agreement and avoid sending yet another shock to the fragile economic recovery." http://bloom.bg/UBDag0 
 
 WHY GROVER NORQUIST STILL CONTROLS THE GOP. The Washington Post's Peter Wallsten reports: "Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), for example, might have seemed a perfect illustration of the trend away from Norquist's hard-line views when he said recently that policies backed by Norquist would lead to more debt. … But five days later, on the phone with Norquist, Chambliss was sounding a conciliatory tone. As Norquist read aloud a transcript of Chambliss's earlier remarks, item by item, Norquist recalled later, the senator repeatedly assured him on each one that he did not mean to imply they had major differences when it came to GOP principles on taxes. 'He said he'd wished he hadn't invoked my name and wished that he'd been clearer,' Norquist recalled from the Monday conversation." http://wapo.st/UkdS3D 
 
 J.C. WATTS FOR RNC CHAIR? With the Republican National Committee set to vote whether to retain chairman Reince Priebus in January, Politico's John Bresnahan reports: Former GOP Rep. J.C. Watts says he is being "encouraged" by supporters to run for chairman of the Republican National Committee, a move he says could broaden the party's appeal to minorities. Watts is not formally entering the race, and he is not critical of current RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, who has already announced he will second term in the post." http://politi.co/VfWbRu 
 
 MORE ON ADELSON'S MILLIONS: WHAT HE SPENT ON 2012. How much did billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, a megadonor to GOP super PACs, spend trying to defeat President Obama in 2012? Peter H. Stone reports at Huffington Post: "Sheldon Adelson vowed to spend as much as $100 million to defeat President Barack Obama and help the GOP take control of Congress. According to two GOP fundraisers with close ties to the Las Vegas billionaire, he made good on that promise - and then some. Adelson ultimately upped the ante, spending closer to a previously unreported $150 million, the fundraisers said." http://huff.to/TD1w8g 
 
 WOMEN IN POWER: TOP STATES. ABC's Jilian Fama reports: This year, 1,773 women will be taking the oath of office to serve in their states' legislative bodies. In January, after they are sworn in, women will make up 24 percent of all state legislatures - and the number may grow because four state legislative races with at least one female candidate in the running remain undecided. Colorado is leading the pack with the highest percentage of female legislators serving. In 2013, Colorado will have 41.5 percent state House representatives who are female (27 female out of 65 total) and 40 percent state Senate members (14 out of 35). Thirty are Democrats and 11 are Republican. Other states leading in female representation are Vermont, Arizona and Hawaii. http://abcn.ws/QBDVFn 
 
 SECOND TIME'S THE CHARM FOR CONGRESSIONAL HOPEFULS? "Running for Congress? The second time might be the charm," Roll Call's Shira Toeplitz reports. "Just ask recent victors such as Reps.-elect Garland "Andy" Barr IV, R-Ky., Ami Bera, D-Calif., and Ann McLane Kuster, D-N.H. They defeated their respective opponents on the second try. There will be an entirely new landscape in 2014, and some November losers believe they might have a better shot in two years. If history is precedent, the midterm elections will provide more opportunities for the party not occupying the White House: Republicans. What's more, in two years, many Democrats won't be able to count on the boost of the president's effective turnout operation. Accordingly, more GOP losers than Democratic candidates are already mulling comeback bids for certain seats. But there are opportunities for Democrats in 2014 as well. Republicans controlled redistricting in most key states during the decennial mapmaking process. The GOP didn't release maps until late in the cycle, forcing last-minute campaigns for otherwise competitive seats." Read Roll Call's list of possible "two-timers": http://bit.ly/R0Si7P 
 
 OBAMA HOSTS KENNEDY CENTER HONOREES AT WHITE HOUSE. ABC's Matthew Larotonda reports on the black-tie event: Seven entertainment icons were hosted at the White House today for their contributions to the performing arts. Actor Dustin Hoffman, blues guitarist Buddy Guy, ballerina Natalia Makarova, and comedian David Letterman were given a reception with the three surviving members of Led Zeppelin before the annual Kennedy Center Honors gala this evening. President Obama welcomed the performers before they were presented their awards at the event later in the evening. The president joked that the motley crew's presence continued "a tradition at the White house by honoring some extraordinary people with no business being on the same stage together." http://abcn.ws/SrHXyD 
 
 HILLARY AND MERYL. A photo of Hillary Clinton and actress Meryl Streep at the awards event is going viral, ABC's David Muir reported for "World News.' WATCH: http://abcn.ws/SGgngV 
 
 CONSTITUTION WAITS FOR NO MAN'S INAUGURATION. Thanks to a calendar quirk, President Obama's second inauguration will come in two parts, ABC's Ann Compton reports: [T]he traditional parade with its bands and floats will not march on January 20th, the day the Constitution requires the President to be sworn in. That falls on a Sunday this time so by tradition there will only be a small Sunday ceremony for the oath-taking at noon. This calendar clash happens every few decades. For Ronald Reagan's second swearing in in 1985, a brief ceremony was held in the Grand Foyer on the state floor of the White House at 12 noon on Jan. 20, with a group of invited guests. It was televised live. But the parties and parades had to wait 24 hours. http://abcn.ws/RwauG7 
 
 OBAMA PLAYS GOLF WITH CLINTON. President Obama sought Bill Clinton's help the last time the Bush tax cuts were set to expire, huddle with the former president at the White House and ultimately handing him the podium at a press briefing in December 2010. ABC's Matthew Larotonda reports, Obama played golf with Clinton, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, and former Clinton aide/current Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe yesterday. 
 
 IN THE NOTE'S INBOX: 
 
 -MOVE ON MEMBERS CHIP IN TO PUT ELIZABETH WARREN IN SENATE BANKING POST. MoveOn.org members have contributed nearly $150,000 since last Wednesday Nov. 28 to stop the banking lobby's attempts to keep Elizabeth Warren off the Senate Banking Committee, according to a spokesperson for the group. Members received an e-mail fundraising petition saying, "Elizabeth Warren hasn't even been sworn in yet. She hasn't hired most of her staff. And already Wall Street lobbyists are scrambling to cut her off at the knees by keeping her off the Senate Banking Committee. According to multiple sources, Wall Street 'has been going nuts' to keep her off the committee.1 And it's not hard to see why. She's an expert on the issues. She has no conflicts of interest. She's PERFECT." Move On plans to use the money raised from what they are calling the "emergency campaign" to rally their members and run ads in support of Warren. Notably, Move On members raised more than $1 million to help elect her, the group said. 
 
 WHO'S TWEETING? 
 
 @edatpost: Welcome to the @twitter: @pontifex, better known as Pope Benedict XVI 
 
 @bethreinhard: Marco Rubio: Climate-change denying, evolution-questioning, Senate Science Committee member http://njour.nl/Ub7U2K 
 
 @HowardKurtz: Obama's Hashtag Army: A look at the president's use of Twitter and #My2K as an organizing tool in fiscal cliff battle http://bit.ly/UBANty 
 
 @ezraklein: . @jeffreygoldberg makes the case for Susan Rice as Secretary of State, and has a very amusing first paragraph: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/11/why-susan-rice-would-be-a-plausible-secretary-of-state/265636/ … 
 
 @brianstelter: NYT publisher announces he's asked newsroom to "identify significant cost savings - including buyouts - throughout The NYT Media Group." ||||| PHILADELPHIA — Hillary Clinton and her team aren’t thrilled that the head of the Democratic National Committee was forced out on the eve of the nominee’s coronation — but they aren’t exactly distraught to see Debbie Wasserman Schultz booted from the tent. 
 
 Several senior Democratic officials with ties to Hillary and Bill Clinton told POLITICO that campaign higher-ups have been trying to replace the oft-off-message Florida congresswoman from the start of Clinton’s campaign late last year. 
 
 Story Continued Below 
 
 John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman — and a former top adviser to Barack Obama — broached the idea of replacing Wasserman Schultz as early as last fall, only to be rebuffed by the president’s team, according to two people with direct knowledge of the conversation. 
 
 “It came down to the fact that the president didn’t want the hassle of getting rid of Debbie,” said a former top Obama adviser. “It’s been a huge problem for the Clintons, but the president just didn’t want the headache of Debbie bad-mouthing him. ... It was a huge pain in the ass.” 
 
 The Obama team — especially 2012 campaign manager Jim Messina — long viewed Wasserman Schultz as a major campaign liability, questioning her fundraising prowess and her tendency to appoint personal aides to positions of authority, prioritizing loyalty over competence and effectiveness as a spokesperson for Democrats. At the time, senior campaign officials leaked details of an internal survey, conducted by pollster David Binder, showing Wasserman Schultz was the least-liked Obama surrogate; she later dismissed the report as “National Enquirer” dross. 
 
 After Obama’s 2012 victory, Messina and longtime political adviser Patrick Gaspard, who worked under Wasserman Schultz at the DNC, pressed the president to push her out, advising that he tap former Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak as her replacement. Obama — who cared little for the party machinations — figured the move would be more trouble than it was worth and told his aides that he was OK having Wasserman Schultz serve as chairwoman until he left office. “It’s embarrassing that Obama left the problem for Hillary,” one former West Wing adviser told POLITICO. 
 
 Yet the aggregated animosity toward her led to a swift and brutal conclusion to her five-plus year tenure at the helm of the president’s party. Wasserman Schultz resigned less than 24 hours after WikiLeaks posted dozens of emails showing her staff working to undermine the insurgent campaign of Bernie Sanders in order to aid a Clinton organization they often derided as inept and timid. 
 
 “I know that electing Hillary Clinton as our next president is critical for America’s future,” Wasserman Schultz said in a statement issued after a day of back-and-forth with top Democratic officials urging her to step down for the sake of party unity ahead of Clinton's big week. “I look forward to serving as a surrogate for her campaign in Florida and across the country to ensure her victory. ... Going forward, the best way for me to accomplish those goals is to step down as party chair at the end of this convention.” 
 
 The move had to happen on Sunday, said a senior Democrat: Sanders-supporting delegates — without the buy-in of his campaign — had been organizing an effort over the preceding day to have state delegations vote to demand her resignation at the Monday morning caucus breakfasts. Given the number of delegations in which Sanders supporters are the majority, the movement would likely have spread, overtaking any other news on the convention’s opening day. 
 
 Clinton campaign officials declined numerous attempts by phone, email and text to respond to this story. 
 
 But the Clinton campaign was very much involved in the DNC chair’s defenestration. Earlier in the day Sunday, Sanders had again suggested that Wasserman Schultz should resign — and DNC officials announced she would be replaced as convention chair by Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge, an influential member of the Congressional Black Caucus. By sundown — after intense negotiations with senior Clinton campaign officials — the committee tapped longtime Clinton aide, TV surrogate and party vice-chair Donna Brazile as interim chairwoman. 
 
 It was an embarrassing episode — and a sign of discord that Republicans, fresh off their own fractious convention pounced on. “I know firsthand how hard it is being the chair of a national party, but when you rig a system and spread emails around with each other and senior staff in that matter, this outcome is inevitable,” said Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, during a news conference here on Sunday, barely suppressing his glee. “Obviously, the end has come and I don’t think there was any other outcome that was foreseeable. These events show what an uphill climb the Democrats were facing in unifying their party.” 
 
 Wasserman Schultz booed during speech to Florida delegates An excerpt of Debbie Wasserman Schultz address to Florida delegates in Philadelphia. poster="http://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201607/270/1155968404_5049042510001_5049021957001-vs.jpg?pubId=1155968404" true 
 
 But, to senior Democrats, it also represented a clean-up operation that brought Clinton and Sanders — who has demanded her ouster for months — into closer alignment a day before the Vermont senator was due to deliver his opening-night endorsement of an opponent he long accused of rigging the election with the help of the D.C.-based party establishment. 
 
 “Debbie Wasserman Schultz has made the right decision for the future of the Democratic Party," Sanders said in a don’t-let-the-door-hit-you-on-the-way-out statement Sunday afternoon. “While she deserves thanks for her years of service, the party now needs new leadership that will open the doors of the party and welcome in working people and young people. The party leadership must also always remain impartial in the presidential nominating process, something which did not occur in the 2016 race.” 
 
 People around Wasserman Schultz didn’t know it was coming until Sunday morning in Philadelphia, when she finally had a meeting with senior Clinton campaign officials. 
 
 In fact, no one saw it coming: She had introduced Clinton and Kaine at their first joint rally in Miami roughly than 24 hours earlier, and even that was just after she’d spent a week as Democrats' most prominent surrogate at the Republican convention, popping up at event after event in Cleveland. 
 
 But the writing had been on the wall ever since the WikiLeaks email dump — the source of the only disruption at Clinton and Kaine’s entire rally, when a protester carrying a #DNCLEAKS banner heckled the presumptive nominee the second she thanked Wasserman Schultz. 
 
 All weekend, senior Clinton staffers and members of the Sanders brain trust were huddling in Philadelphia. Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver and strategist Mark Longabaugh were in touch with Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook, senior adviser Charlie Baker and lawyer Marc Elias on Friday night and Saturday during the rules committee proceedings. The WikiLeaks emails kept popping up as a topic of conversation, and while the Sanders aides didn’t demand Wasserman Schultz’s ouster, they made their preference — that she exit as soon as possible — known. 
 
 Wasserman Schultz, meanwhile, was largely going dark except for her Clinton/Kaine appearance. Her public events kept coming off her calendar through the weekend, including a scheduled appearance on “Fox News Sunday.” And when Baker didn’t show up at a credentials committee meeting Sunday morning, staffers immediately suspected something was coming. 
 
 It was a striking and telling shift to the DNC staffers monitoring her movements: They had just been laughing about how overexposed she’d been last week, showing up everywhere in Cleveland. 
 
 But they knew for sure that something was up with the chairwoman — who they had, for months, been sure was going to be showered in Ted Cruz-like boos at the convention — when their 2 p.m. senior staff meeting in Philadelphia on Sunday was abruptly canceled. 
 
 “This was the right move. She doesn’t deserve every attack that’s been thrown at her, but her faults have become too big a distraction and she hasn’t deftly managed the internal politics involved in managing a national committee,” said a DNC staffer. “The DNC should be playing a consequential role in the general election and that hasn't been possible as long as she’s been in charge.” 
 
 All the while, state party chairs had been emailing each other in semi-panic, receiving no response from national committee staff as speculation about a move heated up throughout the weekend. The same held true for party fundraisers, even those at a DNC retreat in town on Sunday, who were blindsided by the party’s split-second reorganization. 
 
 TTeam Sanders got no warning either, but they were immediately cheered by the installation of Brazile. Back in May — the last time speculation swirled about Wasserman Schultz's exit — they had been fans of Brazile's, even as Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid floated Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin for the job. 
 
 Inside the White House, aides and lawyers have been poring through the Wikileaks dump all weekend. There’s a lot of flagging of potential problems, but also a lot of eyerolling and disbelief about what Wasserman Schultz and her staff were thinking, and that they were putting it in emails. 
 
 Still, Obama didn’t get involved at all as Wasserman Schultz was at the brink. Whenever the topic of replacing her came up, despite the fact that the president had lost patience with her years ago and generally avoided having to talk to her, he’d always felt that forcing her out wasn't worth the trouble it would bring. 
 
 As the election got underway, he felt the leadership questions should be left to Clinton. And this weekend, as conversations between her Brooklyn headquarters and Wasserman Schultz intensified, neither the president nor his staff was involved. Once the decision was made, Wasserman Schultz called White House political director David Simas to tell him, and Simas then told the president. Obama decided to call to thank her for her work. The conversation was full of platitudes, a source familiar with the discussion said. He didn't go out of his way to say he was sorry to see her go, and certainly didn’t twist her arm to get her to reconsider. 
 
 Shortly before 4 p.m. ET, as word of the impending shakeup began leaking out, the DNC press shop put out its official announcement: Wasserman Schultz would step down. Obama’s statement, thanking her and describing her as a “dear friend,” landed around 20 minutes later, as did Clinton’s naming her the honorary chair of her campaign’s “50-state program.” 
 
 “We all knew this was coming yesterday after the WikiLeaks news, it felt like it had to happen. It was just a question of the timing, to be honest,” said one state party chair. “A lot of us thought this was going to happen a month ago. That would've been a more opportune time to do it. ... You won’t find a lot of fans of hers among state chairs, but this is shitty timing.” 
 
 Annie Karni contributed to this report.
– Mitch Daniels has some advice for those who are writing Rick Perry's political eulogy: Hold your horses. "It's way too early to know, or to issue, to pronounce last rites over one performance," Daniels said today. "There's still many of these (debates), too many maybe. ... I'd cut him some slack and give him a little time." Politico notes that Daniels also had kind words for Democrat Sen. Mark Warner's work on the Gang of Six, saying, "It's very encouraging, by the way, to hear a guy like Sen. Warner speak to it as clearly as he just did. I wish he were president." More fun on your Sunday dial, as per Politico: Michael Bloomberg on President Obama's 2012 chances: "He would be a credible, formidable candidate. You're going to have a real horse race no matter who the Republican nominee is." Reince Priebus to Debbie Wasserman Schultz on 2012: "It sounds like the new slogan is no longer 'hope and change.' It's, 'Hey, it could've been worse.' Great bumper sticker Debbie, I hope it works for you." David Plouffe on a White House shakeup: "I don't expect that." Obama is "confident in his team, in the direction we've laid out here." Warner on Congress' standoff over a short-term spending bill: "It is embarrassing. The Senate is saying, 'Why should we build schools in Iraq on the credit card but expect that rebuilding schools in Joplin, Mo.,'" will be paid for. Warner blames "a group, more centered in the House, in terms of some of these Tea Party Republicans, who say on every issue, 'We're going to make this a make-or-break.'" Lindsey Graham on Pakistan: "We need to put Pakistan on notice. We're going to have to put all options on the table. including defending our troops. It's now a time of choosing, so I hope they choose wisely."