Republicans Who Have Opposed Leadership See Committee Assignments Stripped

Perhaps presaging a year in which revolts by rank-and-file members will be less tolerated, Republican leaders on Monday removed members with obstinate voting patterns from key committees.

Most notably, Representative Tim Huelskamp, Republican of Kansas, one of the most conservative members of the House, was removed from the budget committee as well as the agriculture committee. Joining Mr.Huelskamp, a second-term representative, on the budget committee bye-bye list was Representative Justin Amash of Michigan.

Both members have a history of voting against party leaders on bills, both in committee and on the floor, and it seemed Speaker John A. Boehner and the committee chairmen had had enough. Mr. Huelskamp and Mr. Amash both rejected the so-called Ryan budget, proposed by Representati ve Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, because its cuts were not deep enough.

Other members also felt some heat. Representative David Schweikert of Arizona, who bested Representative Ben Quayle in a member-on-member election fight this year, was removed from the financial services committee, as was Representative Walter B. Jones of North Carolina.

While voting against leadership too often appeared to be the biggest factor, various factors can lead to committee changes. However, the changes are generally done at the request of, or at least with the acquiescence of committee chairmen. Mr. Ryan is in charge of the budget committee; the incoming financial services committee chairman is Representative Jeb Hensarling of Texas, who is leaving his post as Republican Conference chairman.

A spokesman for Mr. Amash said he had not yet learned of his new committee assignments.

Romney Campaign Manager Says He Regrets Immigration Stance

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. â€" Mitt Romney and his team are not eager to dwell on regrets.

But his campaign manager now admits that the forceful posture taken against immigration in the Republican primary inflicted lingering damage with Latino voters in the general election.

The Romney campaign chief, Matt Rhoades, acknowledged that point during a forum here at the Harvard University Institute of Politics, where advisers to all candidates in the 2012 campaign gathered to discuss the race.

When asked directly whether Mr. Romney regretted tacking to the right on immigration to appeal to conservative primary voters, the room fell silent.

Stuart Stevens, a senior strategist to Mr. Romney shook his head no. But after pausing for several seconds, Mr. Rhoades said: “I regret that.”

He went on to explain that the campaign, in hindsight, had been too worried abo ut a potential threat from Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, who jumped into the race to challenge Mr. Romney as the jobs-and-economy candidate. For weeks last fall, Mr. Romney hammered Mr. Perry on Social Security, particularly calling the program a “Ponzi scheme” that should be overtaken by state governments.

In retrospect,” Mr. Rhoades said, “I believe that we could have probably just beaten Governor Perry with the Social Security hit.”

One month after Election Day, advisers in both parties are still studying President Obama's victory by an Electoral College margin of 336 to 206. One of the examinations took place last week at Harvard University, where strategists gathered for a conference that has been held after every presidential election since 1972.

The remarks were released on Monday, when organizers published a recording of the forum. Th e future of the Republican Party was a subtext of the discussion, including how the party can broaden its appeal to Hispanic voters, a group Mr. Romney lost by a wide margin to Mr. Obama.

A few other nuggets from the conversation included:

• A low point for the Romney campaign came in September when Mr. Romney's remarks at a fund-raiser were disclosed, revealing his blunt suggestion that 47 percent of Americans saw themselves as victims who are dependent on the government. With reports of turmoil inside campaign headquarters in Boston, Mr. Rhoades said the candidate took the blame.
  “There was a lot of negativity about our campaign as a whole, but he's a person who takes personal responsibility,” Mr. Rhoades said. “He would tell me, ‘You didn't say 47 percent, Matt. Stuart didn't say 47 percent. I did.'”

• At the Obama headquarters in Chicago, advisers ranked Republican candidates. Mr. Romney was always seen as the likely Republ ican nominee, even as he struggled to defeat Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, and Rick Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator.

  “Every Friday we rated them,” said Jim Messina, the president's campaign manager. “Romney was always at the top.”

• In February, the president eased his long-standing objection to “super PACs,” and signaled to wealthy Democratic donors that he would be at deep financial disadvantage. The decision was too late, aides to Mr. Obama said.

  “We waited too long to jump into “Super pac” world,” Mr. Messina said. “When we did it, it looked like a flip-flop.”

• Heading into Election Day, most advisers to the Romney campaign said they believed they would win. But not Steven J. Law, the president of the conservative group American Crossroads, who declared: “I didn't.” He said he believed Mr. Romney would fall short to Mr. Obama, saying he “could never get over the lip” in Virgini a, Florida and North Carolina.

• The selection of Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin as the Republican vice presidential candidate surprised the Obama campaign, which assumed that Tim Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor, or Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, would be chosen. The decision to pick Mr. Ryan was rooted in a comfort level with Mr. Romney, aides said, not politics.

  “The selection of Congressman Ryan was not a political choice,” Mr. Stevens said.

• Neil Newhouse, the chief pollster for Mr. Romney, said the campaign was taken aback by the composition of the electorate. He said that the “real hidden story from our side” came from the number of white men who did not vote in the election in some key states like Ohio.

  “When you lose, you nitpick the numbers as you go through this stuff,” Mr. Newhouse said. “The number of white men who didn't vote in this election compared to white women compared to four years ago w as extraordinary.”

The explanation from Mr. Newhouse was abruptly cut short last week after a power outage in Cambridge knocked out the lights at the Kennedy School of Government. He and other aides made their remarks while sitting in a dark room until the building was evacuated.

Follow Jeff Zeleny on Twitter at @jeffzeleny.

After Re-Election, Missouri Republican Decides to Leave Congress

The longest-serving member of Missouri's Congressional delegation is leaving the Capitol and is headed to K Street.

Less than a month after winning re-election, Representative Jo Ann Emerson, a Republican, announced on Monday that she would resign from Congress in February to become the president and chief executive of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, a trade group.

“I am not leaving Congress because I have lost my heart for service - to the contrary - I see a new way to serve,” Ms. Emerson said in a statement. “I did not go seeking this opportunity, but I am excited about the new challenge it offers to find ways to promote strong rural policy.”

Ms. Emerson is the second member of the 112th Congress who has decided to resign after winning re-election, following Representative Jesse L. Jackson Jr.

She won her ninth full term last month with almost 72 percent of the vote in Missouri's Eighth Congressional District, a seat she has held since 1996, when she was elected to succeed her husband, Bill Emerson, after his death.

Voters in her district will soon return to the polls to select a new representative.

While it is not uncommon for members of Congress to retire in pursuit of other endeavors or higher office - former Representative Jay Inslee is now the governor of Washington State, for example - most choose not to seek re-election before making a change in their careers.

The electric cooperative, which lobbies f or electric utility companies, spent more than $1.7 million to support candidates, most of them Republicans, in the 2012 Congressional elections, according to federal elections data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. It did not contribute to Ms. Emerson's campaign.

Obama to Ask Wasserman Schultz to Stay On as D.N.C. Chief

President Obama will ask Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz to serve another term as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee and preside over the party as it heads into the next election cycle.

The members of the Democratic National Committee will gather in Washington next month to select a new party leader, but the endorsement from Mr. Obama all but assures the election of Ms. Wasserman Schultz, who also intends to continue to serve in her role as Florida congresswoman.

The president's decision to support Ms. Wasserman Schultz, which was first reported on Monday by Politico, was confirmed by two Democratic officials. It was expected, given the party's success in the presidential campaign last month and for holding control of the Senate.

The 2014 election cycle will be key for the Democratic Party, which will try to maintain control of the Senate, win back the House and try to cut into the Republican Party's dominant hold in governors' of fices across the country.

The midterm election of the president's second term is often challenging for the party in power at the White House, so Ms. Wasserman Schultz and the Democratic National Committee face clear challenges over the next two years, but start in a position of strength from their 2012 achievements.

Follow Jeff Zeleny on Twitter at @jeffzeleny.

Obama to Ask Wasserman Schultz to Stay On as D.N.C. Chief

President Obama will ask Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz to serve another term as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee and preside over the party as it heads into the next election cycle.

The members of the Democratic National Committee will gather in Washington next month to select a new party leader, but the endorsement from Mr. Obama all but assures the election of Ms. Wasserman Schultz, who also intends to continue to serve in her role as Florida congresswoman.

The president's decision to support Ms. Wasserman Schultz, which was first reported on Monday by Politico, was confirmed by two Democratic officials. It was expected, given the party's success in the presidential campaign last month and for holding control of the Senate.

The 2014 election cycle will be key for the Democratic Party, which will try to maintain control of the Senate, win back the House and try to cut into the Republican Party's dominant hold in governors' of fices across the country.

The midterm election of the president's second term is often challenging for the party in power at the White House, so Ms. Wasserman Schultz and the Democratic National Committee face clear challenges over the next two years, but start in a position of strength from their 2012 achievements.

Follow Jeff Zeleny on Twitter at @jeffzeleny.

Q&A: Opening a New Page in a Browser Tab

Q.

Is there a way to make Internet Explorer open a link in a new browser tab, instead of in a whole new window?

A.

Right-clicking the link you want to open on the current page and choosing “Open in New Tab” from the drop-down menu is one way to avoid having a whole new browser window appear. If you want to make the process a little more automatic, though, you can adjust Internet Explorer's settings.

In Internet Explorer 7 and later, go to the Tools menu (or click the gear icon in later versions of the program) in the browser toolbar and select Internet Options; hold down the ALT key if you do not see a menu bar in the browser window. In the Internet Options box, click the General tab and then click the Settings button; in Internet Explorer 10, click the Tabs button here instead.

In the Settings box, make sure the box to enable tabbed browsing is checked. In the area under “When a popup is encountered ,” select “Always open pop-ups in a new tab.” Click the O.K. button until you have closed all the settings and options boxes. Now, when you click on a link that is coded to open in its own new window, the page should open in a new tab within your existing browser window.

The Early Word: No Mercy

Today's Times

• President Obama has emerged as a different kind of negotiator in the past week or two, disciplined and unyielding in his argument to raise taxes on the wealthy while offering nothing new to rein in spending and overhaul entitlement programs, Peter Baker reports.

• Leaders of a national movement of young immigrants voted to push President Obama and Congress next year on a bill to legalize 11 million immigrants in the United States, Julia Preston writes.

• The lead negotiators for the White House and Congressional Republicans used the Sunday morning shows to defend their positions on the fiscal crisis and assign blame to the other side for the impasse, Jackie Calmes reports.

 Around the Web

• Former Representative J.C. Watts of Oklahoma thinks that as chairman the Republican National Committee, he could broaden the party's appeal to minority voters, Politico reports. He has not, however, made a defi nite decision to enter the race.

• The chapel at West Point Military Academy hosted its first same-sex wedding on Saturday, the Associated Press reports.

 Happenings in Washington

• President Obama will host Boyko Borisov, the prime minister of Bulgaria, at the White House. Later, Mr. Obama will deliver remarks to the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction symposium at the National Defense University.