The senator to watch in 2015

BREAKING — AP’s Josh Lederman in Honolulu, on Obama’s plans for the week after his Sunday return: “In a sign of [the] divergent paths [between the White House and the new GOP majorities], Obama was heading out of Washington on Wednesday just as the new Congress was settling in. He plans stops in Michigan, Arizona and Tennessee aimed at highlighting how his own economic policies were contributing to the country’s recovery. … Obama [will announce] proposals this coming week that focus on helping the middle class benefit from the economic recovery.”

GEORGE F. WILL in Sunday’s WashPost, “The senator to watch in 2015”: “Standing at the intersection of three foreign policy crises and a perennial constitutional tension, Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), incoming chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, may be the senator who matters most in 2015.” http://bit.ly/179wyiT

114th CONGRESS CONVENES TUE. – “Hill GOP agenda: Energy, Obamacare,” by Jake Sherman and Seung Min Kim: “Energy and Obamacare will dominate the first two weeks of Republican control of Capitol Hill. House Republicans will move next week on legislation to jump-start the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline and define a full workweek as being 40 hours for the purpose of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), according to a GOP leadership aide. The goal … is to begin passing bills that will clear both the House and the Senate and end up on President Obama’s desk. …

“The GOP is also trying to get ahead of another legislative crisis. In Congress’ second week in session — the week of Jan. 12 — House Republicans will seek to pass a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which runs out of money Feb. 28. Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy are working with Senate leaders to craft a package that also includes reforms to the nation’s immigration laws. One strategy under consideration is to include a border security package in the funding bill. That could set up a major confrontation with Obama.” http://politi.co/1Buaqc0

MICHAEL ORESKES, an AP senior managing editor, who was NYT Albany bureau chief from 1982 to 1984, which spanned Cuomo’s election and first two years in office, “AP Essay: A kid from Queens who became NY governor”: “He was driven by an insecurity that emerged in the oddest ways. He rarely spent a night away from home. … His combativeness in sports was legendary. … I covered him for many years both before and during his governorship. Yet every time I saw him, even 30 years later, he would recall not the extraordinary times we had lived through together but the home run I had ‘stolen’ from him in a supposedly friendly softball game between his office and the legislative correspondents.” http://apne.ws/1BiatJZ

2016 DEMS: “Former Sen. Jim Webb, a Democrat who recently launched an exploratory committee for a presidential run, announced … that he’s hired liberal journalist Craig Crawford to serve as his communications director. Webb made the announcement on Twitter, where he referred to Crawford as a ‘journalist/political icon.’ Crawford ran National Journal’s Hotline … from 1997-2003. Prior to that, he was Washington bureau chief for the Orlando Sentinel.” http://politi.co/1tzHFXd

2016 GOP – RNC’s deputy comms. director Sarah Isgur Flores to Fiorina-world – she emails friends: “I wanted to let yall know that I’m leaving the RNC this week to join Carly Fiorina at her Unlocking Potential Project. I know how much you all enjoyed the RNC fundraising emails from my name. But all good things must come to an end. This means I’ll be staying in DC–so plenty of time for mac cheese at Hanks and Nats games if it ever warms up again. See you in Iowa!”

–Per CNN’s Chris Moody: “Should Fiorina transition the PAC’s operations into a presidential campaign, Isgur Flores would serve as deputy campaign manager, according to the PAC.” http://cnn.it/1ygKyD1

FORWARD SPIN — “10 Global Elections to Watch in 2015: From Louisiana to Saudi Arabia, this year isn’t just a lead-up to 2016,” by Adam B. Lerner (@adamblerner), a researcher at Politico Magazine, who was a 2013-2014 Henry Luce Scholar at the Caravan in Delhi: “Kentucky’s Gubernatorial Election … Nigeria’s General Election … Saudi Arabia’s Municipal Elections … Spain’s General Election … Chicago’s Mayoral Election: Rahm Emanuel will be fighting for his political life this February … Britain’s Parliamentary Election … Louisiana’s Gubernatorial Election … Canada’s Parliamentary Elections … Israel’s Legislative Elections … Argentina’s Presidential Election.” http://politi.co/1Aq15Uy

–ARE YOU A CONSULTANT working on one of these races? If so, please drop me a line: mallen@politico.com.

STUMP THE JMART: Where did I eat lunch yesterday, on a Texas stopover after the Rose Bowl? Anyone who answers faster than the NYT’s Jonathan Martin will be inducted into the Playbook BBQ Hall of Fame.

–Five pics/clues: 1) This is what you see when you walk in the door. You order by pointing to the meat, almost like a fish market. http://bit.ly/1vXHWE5 … 2) The meat is plopped right on the cafeteria tray (no plate or paper), then wrapped at the cashier stand. http://bit.ly/1Aq1PZP … 3) Banana pudding is usually served only in season, but my buddy Frank called ahead and made a special arrangement. http://bit.ly/14kFd0U 4) A classic sign. http://bit.ly/1I8IfBQ … 5) An even more classic sign. http://bit.ly/1DgbAti

CARLOS LOZADA (@CarlosLozadaWP) takes a bow tomorrow with his last section after five years as Outlook editor, and begins a book blog next week as part of his new assignment as nonfiction book critic, succeeding Jonathan Yardley. Two winners from his grand finale:

–DAN BALZ and LSU Professor John Maxwell Hamilton, Outlook lead story, “In 2016, we’re going to campaign like it’s 1916 … the election that changed politics forever … How Woodrow Wilson’s reelection race gave birth to modern political tactics”: Robert Woolley, DNC publicity director, “organized the bureau along the same lines as a metropolitan daily, with departments designed to take maximum advantage of the modern mass-communications systems then emerging. A former Nashville Tennessean editor oversaw a weekly bulletin containing bits of news, statistics and editorials that was sent to 8,500 newspapers and all Washington correspondents. A former Washington correspondent for the Atlanta Constitution wrote a daily article signed by the DNC chairman, Vance McCormick.

“Other departments disseminated … advertisements and short movies that could be shown in theaters. Staffers clipped favorable political cartoons … and distributed them in printing-press-ready form to more than 1,000 newspapers. … The editor of a farm magazine prepared material for that constituency; a staffer with close ties to labor supervised [those] appeals; … another specialized in religious messaging. In one targeted mailing, the DNC publicity bureau sent color pictures of Wilson to almost every woman in states where they had acquired the vote, to show that the president valued their opinions. Woolley was so effective at giving editors material they could use, they showered him with thank-you letters and telegrams.” http://wapo.st/1xFvD2h

–BRO BIBLE: What not to say! Outlook cover story, “How to find a feminist boyfriend,” by Lisa Bonos, assistant Outlook editor: “‘I find it really attractive how successful you are,’ my date said, leaning in for a kiss. Sure, it sounds like a line. But it also sounds like feminism. It certainly made him more appealing than the guy who said, ‘Wow, you’re really ambitious,’ like he was surprised. Or the one who asked, ‘Why do you work so much?’ and ‘Why would you want to work even more?’ when I was angling for a promotion.” http://wapo.st/14kCwfM

MOOD MUSIC – WSJ A1, cols. 2-4, “Dollar Hits an 11-Year High: Risks Rise for Manufacturing and Tourism as U.S. Becomes More Expensive.” http://on.wsj.com/1AnLl3g

BEYOND THE BELTWAY – L.A. Times, middle of A1, “Immigrants flock to DMV to seek licenses,” by Brittny Mejia, Cindy Carcamo and Kate Linthicum: “Friday [was] the first day that immigrants in the U.S. illegally were allowed to apply for special state-issued licenses. The rollout … comes after a decades-long political battle, with critics saying that it rewards those who broke immigration laws and supporters saying that it will improve traffic safety … The DMV estimates that more than 1.5 million people will apply for licenses in the coming years under the new law, which Gov. Jerry Brown signed in 2013.” http://lat.ms/1D3hfWf

MEGATRENDS – WSJ “Review” cover, “What the world will speak in 2115: There may be only 600 languages left, … down from today’s 6,000,” by John H. McWhorter, who teaches linguistics at Columbia: “[L]anguages will often be less complicated … Some may protest that it is not English but Mandarin Chinese that will eventually become the world’s language, because of the size of the Chinese population and the increasing economic might of their nation. But that’s unlikely. For one, English … is now so deeply entrenched in print, education and media that switching to anything else would entail an enormous effort. We retain the QWERTY keyboard …

“[T]he tones of Chinese are extremely difficult to learn beyond childhood, and truly mastering the writing system virtually requires having been born to it. … [N]otoriously challenging languages such as Greek, Latin, Aramaic, Arabic, Russian and even Chinese have been embraced by vast numbers of people. But now that English has settled in, its approachability as compared with Chinese will discourage its replacement. M

–SENTENCE OF THE DAY: “Many a world power has ruled without spreading its language, and just as the Mongols and Manchus once ruled China while leaving Chinese intact, if the Chinese rule the world, they will likely do so in English.” http://on.wsj.com/1Bi23lV

GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman:

–“The Henry Ford of Books,” by Todd S. Purdum in Vanity Fair: “The planet’s best-selling author since 2001, James Patterson has more than 300 million copies of his books in print, an army of co-writers, several TV deals in the works, and an estimated income of $90 million last year alone. But where’s the respect? Exploring the contradictions of this one-man publishing conglomerate, Todd S. Purdum learns how Patterson’s childhood and advertising career made him the ultimate storyteller.” http://vnty.fr/1zJnQPf (h/t ALDaily.com)

–“Prying Eyes: Inside the NSA’s War on Internet Security” – Der Spiegel staff: “US and British intelligence agencies undertake every effort imaginable to crack all types of encrypted Internet communication. The cloud, it seems, is full of holes. The good news: New Snowden documents show that some forms of encryption still cause problems for the NSA.” http://bit.ly/1tHCV7u

— “Intelligence, defense whistleblowers remain mired in broken system,” by McClatchy’s Marisa Taylor: “Since 9/11, defense and intelligence whistleblowers … have served as America’s conscience in the war on terrorism … [and discovered] government waste, misconduct and overreach: defective military equipment, prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, surveillance of Americans. … More than 8,700 defense and intelligence employees and contractors have filed retaliation claims … since the 9/11 attacks.” http://bit.ly/1HZNbch

–“Disney CEO Bob Iger’s empire of tech,” by Fortune cover story by Michal Lev-Ram: “Bob Iger has spent much of his near decade at Disney wearing an additional corporate hat: CTO. The result? He has brought the coolest innovations from Lucasfilm, Pixar, Marvel, and ESPN into a single galaxy.” http://for.tn/1xfVrUb

–“El Salvador’s gangs target women and girls,” by AP’s Alberto Arce: “Salvador’s 6 million residents suffer the second highest per capita homicide rate in the world after neighboring Honduras. In a land of lakes and volcanos, clandestine graves appear like wild mushrooms after a rainstorm. In the evening, the cacophony of San Salvador traffic gives way to the squeals of wild parrots and, sometimes, to wails of grief.” http://yhoo.it/1xBBVTJ

MEDIA WATCH – Chicago Tribune using AP again, per Jim Romenesko: “In January of 2012, the Chicago Tribune and six other Tribune-owned papers [NOT the L.A. Times] dropped the Associated Press for Reuters. … On New Year’s Day, Associated Press stories returned to the Chicago Tribune and other papers in the Tribune chain. Why the change? A Tribune Publishing spokesperson[:] ‘We made our recent news service choice based on a number of key criteria, including: meeting our readers’ content expectations, achieving the balance of cost and value, and a desire to secure one primary news service for all Tribune Publishing business units.’” http://bit.ly/1tzC4A3

–Capital New York’s Joe Pompeo: “Reuters America [a service with more U.S. content, much of it through partners, than the main Reuters wire] was launched in 2010 at a lower price … than … AP, … and Tribune was the inaugural client. … A Reuters spokesperson said the company was ‘confident [Tribune] will return to Reuters America in the future’ while noting that the service just signed its 50th client.” http://bit.ly/1tzC4A3

–HuffPost said last month that it would drop AP at contract renewal time in 2015, perhaps as a bargaining chip. http://bit.ly/1HoVXSG

–AP SEO — The wire service published this notice on aphelp.ap.org: “Beginning Monday, … the AP will increase the maximum character count for short headlines on story files to 60, from the current 50. Headlines are a key to promoting content and engaging readers, and the AP is making a change to provide more flexibility in crafting headlines that compellingly convey a story’s gist and key details. This will enable us to more effectively convey a story’s key elements, while lessening or eliminating awkward constructions sometimes forced by the 50-character limit.”

SPORTS BLINK – N.Y. Times p. D5, “Win for ESPN, but Title Game Is the Real Test” – Richard Sandomir “TV Sports” column: “Ohio State’s 42-35 upset of Alabama in the Sugar Bowl attracted 28.27 million viewers, making it the most watched event in cable TV history. Oregon’s 59-20 blowout of Florida State in the Rose Bowl had 28.16 million viewers — the most for that bowl since 35.6 million watched Texas beat Southern California in the 2006 national title game on ABC. …

“Now comes Part B for ESPN: Ohio State versus Oregon at ATT Stadium in Arlington, Tex [Jan. 12]. Will the final’s viewership soar beyond 30 million, to a level akin to that of the N.F.L. conference championship games, which averaged 53.7 million viewers last year? Or will it fall below that aspirational level without a magnet team like Alabama as a draw? I’ll predict 45 million.” http://nyti.ms/1I8tEGt

BIRTHDAYS: “Chef” Geoff Tracy … Burns Strider, senior adviser to Correct the Record (h/t Adrienne Elrod) … Marcie Ridgway Kinzel … Sarah Lenti … Noam Levey … Jenna Golden, head of political sales at Twitter DC (h/t Tammy Gordon) … Multiplier Capital’s Thomas Walton-Cale … James V. Hunter … WashPost’s David Fahrenthold (hat tip: sister-in-law Annie Lewis of Facebook) … Michele Soresi … Roger Kay … Carolyn Fiddler … Igor Volsky … Jonathan Spaner … Grant Gottesman … Rob Darling … Michelle Bollman … Mary Fox … Shane Montalban … Dabney Coleman is 83 … Betty Rollin is 79 … Victoria Principal is 65 … Mel Gibson is 59 … Kimberley Locke (“American Idol”) is 37 … Eli Manning is 34 … actor Alex D. Linz is 26

THE SHOWS, from @MattMackowiak, filing from Austin:

—NBC’s “Meet the Press”: Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY); U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN); Gen. Daniel Bolger (Ret.) and The Carnegie Endowment’s Sarah Chayes; Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, Washington, DC chief of police Cathy Lanier and Washington, DC chancellor of public schools Kaya Henderson; political roundtable with NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell, Buzzfeed’s John Stanton, The New York Times’ Helene Cooper and Yahoo News’ Matt Bai

—ABC’s “This Week”: U.S. Sen.-elect Ben Sasse (R-NE), U.S. Sen.-elect Thom Tillis (R-NC) and U.S. Rep.-elect Mia Love (R-UT); political roundtable with Fox News host Greta Van Susteren, PBS host Tavis Smiley, Robert Costa and CNN contributor Margaret Hoover

—CBS’s “Face the Nation”: U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY); U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD); former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-GA); update on efforts to fight Ebola in West Africa; U.S. Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE); political roundtable with PBS host and co-anchor Gwen Ifill, The Washington Post’s Dan Balz, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius and USA Today’s Susan Page

—“Fox News Sunday”: Bob Corker (R-TN); U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-SD); U.S. Rep.-elect Martha McSalley (R-AZ) and U.S. Rep.-elect Lee Zeldin (R-NY); political roundtable with former Bush White House press secretary and Fox News co-host Dana Perino, National Journal’s Ron Fournier, radio host and Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham and Center for American Progress president Neera Tanden; “Power Player of the Week” with U.S. chief technology officer Megan Smith

––Fox News’ “MediaBuzz” (11am ET / 10am CT): Roundtable with The Washington Examiner’s Susan Ferrechio, Fox News’ Chris Stirewalt, Fox News contributor and NPR’s Mara Liasson, syndicated columnist and Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer and The Baltimore Sun’s David Zurawik

—CNN’s “Inside Politics” with John King (SUN 8:30am ET): Roundtable with WashPost’s Ed O’Keefe, The Atlantic’s Molly Ball, Julie Pace and The Nia-Malika Henderson

—CNN’s “State of the Union”: Taped comments by Leader McConnell to Dana Bash; Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), Rep.-elect Debbie Dingell (D-MI) and U.S. Rep.-elect Barbara Comstock (R-VA); author and U.S. Rep. Steve Israel (“The Global War on Morris: A Novel”) Substitute anchor: Dana Bash)

—CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS”: (SUN 10am ET / 1pm ET): Special episode: Moonshots for the 21^st Century: NASA Administrator Charles Bolden; University of Louisville Cardiovascular Innovation Institute Bioficial Heart Division chief Dr. Stuart Williams; ITER officials Ned Sauthoff, Gunther Janeschitz and Mark Henderson; Air Force Research Laboratory’s Robert Mercier; theoretical physicist and futurist Dr. Michio Kaku

—CNN’s “Reliable Sources”: (SUN 11am ET): CNN commentator and NY1 host Errol Louis and retired NYPD detective Tom Verni; PBS Newshour science correspondent and CNN aviation correspondent Miles O’Brien; U.S. Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-PA); Chicago Sun-Times film critic Richard Roeper

–-Univision’s “Al Punto” (SUN 10am ET / 1pm PT): Rebroadcast of interviews with CIA director John Brennan and CIA recruitment and retention center’s Ron Patrick; Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY); discussion with several young CIA analysts, CIA center for mission diversity director Carmen Middleton and former National Clandestine Service deputy director Justin Jackson; former Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald; The Washington Post’s Barton Gellman; The Guardian defense and security correspondent Ewen MacAskill; Guardian U.S. National Security editor Spencer Ackerman; Washington Post national security correspondent Greg Miller; author Julia Angwin (“Dragnet Nation”); ACLU executive director Anthony Romero

–C-SPAN: “The Communicators” (SAT 6:30pm ET): Roundtable discussion with The Washington Post’s Brian Fung, National Journal’s Brendan Sasso and Politico’s Kate Tummarello … “Newsmakers” (SUN 10am ET): U.S. Rep.-elect Ken Buck (R-CO), questioned by Roll Call’s Emma Dumain and The Washington Examiner’s Sean Lengell … “QA” (SUN 8pm ET / 11pm ET): National Council of La Raza president and CEO Janet Murguia

—NPR “Weekend Edition Sunday” (SUN 8am-10am ET): Guest host: NPR’s Rachel Martin: Newark Mayor Ras Baraka; CDC Director Tom Frieden; actress Jennifer Aniston (Cake); author Dimitry Elias Léger (God Loves Haiti); Nightline anchor and author of 1-% Happier, Dan Harris; Music producer Rick Clark.

—PBS’s “To the Contrary” with Bonnie Erbé: encore presentation of episode on diversity in the Foreign Service

—MSNBC’s “UP with Steve Kornacki”: (SUN 8-10am ET): The Washington Post’s Elahe Izadi; The Daily Beast’s Eleanor Clift; GOPAC president David Avella; Heritage Foundation chief economist Steve Moore; NBC News’ Frank Thorp; The New Yorker’s Hendrik Hertzberg; The New York Post’s Fredric Dicker; CNBC senior analyst and commentator Ron Insana; Roopstigo.com founder and CEO Selena Roberts

—MSNBC’s “Melissa Harris-Perry”: (SUN 10am-12pm ET): Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture director Khalil Gibran Muhammad; Democracy Now host Amy Goodman; Citizen Radio co-host and co-author Jamie Kilstein (“#Newsfail”); North Carolina State University’s Blair Kelley; MSNBC co-host Touré; NBC News correspondent Harry Smith; Allentown, PA Mayor Ed Pawlowski; Black Law Enforcement Alliance director Marquez Claxton; 11 year old activist Marquis Govan

—SiriusXM’s “No Labels Radio” (SAT 10am ET 8pm ET / SUN 6am ET 9pm ET): Co-hosted by “No Labels” co-founders former Gov. Jon Huntsman (R-UT) and former U.S. Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA): U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL); C-SPAN founder and former CEO Brian Lamb; U.S. Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT); former Clinton White House chief of staff Mack McLarty.