Dem Declares Victory In PA Race, Last Chance To Stabilize O'Care Fading, And Carson Involved In Dining Set Purchase

March 14th, 2018 Daybreaker Subscribers, Friday, March 16th will be the last edition of the Daybreaker newsletter. Each weekday morning, Daybreaker brought readers some of the best of TPM, including our top stories, behind-the-scenes quotes from reporters and their sources, and insights from Prime members in the Hive. We want to keep providing our readers with this kind of quality reporting and access to TPM reporters, but feel that Daybreaker, in its current form, no longer adequately serves our readers or our ambitions. We’re sad to see Daybreaker go, but there are exciting things to come. We will be pouring all the editorial effort that went into Daybreaker into new projects, several of which will be rolled out in the next few months. We hope you have enjoyed receiving TPM in your inbox each morning and will continue to visit us on the site. And, as always, thanks for reading! Top Stories --------------------------------------------------------------- [Dem Declares Victory In Deep Red PA House District, As GOP Braces For Fallout]( The Gist: Democrat Conor Lamb declared victory as he clung to a slim lead over Republican Rick Saccone in the race for an open House seat in heavily conservative southwestern Pennsylvania early Wednesday morning, as the election’s results sent a chill down the spines of Republicans bracing for the 2018 midterms. [The Last Best Chance To Trump-Proof Obamacare Is Slipping Away]( The Gist: Next Friday’s omnibus budget deadline may be Congress’ last best chance for passing a bill to stabilize Obamacare’s volatile individual market and prevent premiums from shooting up just before November’s midterm elections. But the bipartisan effort that has dragged out since last summer may crumble in the face of opposition from conservative lobby groups and demands from President Trump and House Republicans that Democrats say are “poison pills.” [Emails Show Carson And His Wife Were Involved In Buying Dining Set]( The Gist: Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and his wife Candy Carson were involved in the process to select a $31,000 dining set for Carson’s office suite, according to emails obtained by watchdog group American Oversight through a Freedom of Information Act Request. From The Reporter's Notebook --------------------------------------------------------------- A witness to the deadly car crash at 2017’s white nationalist rally in Charlottesville has sued a handful of far-right conspiracy sites for promoting damaging conspiracy theories about him, [as TPM's Allegra Kirkland reported](. Victims of vicious online smear campaigns are increasingly turning to the courts for relief, Kirkland notes. Montana woman Tanya Gersh last year teamed up with the SPLC to [sue white supremacist Andrew Anglin]( for unleashing an anti-Semitic troll storm against her. Agree Or Disagree? --------------------------------------------------------------- Josh Marshall: "We should note that according to the October 2016 agreement, Stormy Daniels should have divested herself of all ownership rights and physical possession of all material of her affair with Trump. Texts, pictures, videos, all forms of Stormymat. [It wouldn’t be terribly surprising if she didn’t](. It also wouldn’t be terribly surprising that her team is simply raising this possibility to sow terror in the Trump camp and keep them off balance. For now, it seems worth considering that this material does exist and that she has it. We should also be considering the distinct possibility that these negotiation processes themselves were not entirely on the up and up. This is a sleazy world – not the assignations and affairs but the operators who cover up the evidence – and one that seldom gets exposed to anything remotely like serious press scrutiny." Say What?! --------------------------------------------------------------- "Russia had disdain for Secretary Clinton and was motivated in whole or in part by a desire to harm her candidacy or undermine her Presidency had she prevailed." - Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, [giving a statement]( Tuesday on the House Russia probe that was at odds with the House GOP's conclusion of the probe, which claimed that Russia didn't have a preference for Trump during the election. BUZZING: Today in the Hive --------------------------------------------------------------- From a TPM Prime member: "I was very impressed with Rep. Schiff when he was first elected. He solicited people to attend phone conference calls and actually listened to us, getting back to us on questions if he could not provide an answer. Several of us were very surprised that a representative would do that after he was elected. He could actually return the US to a global leadership position." Related: [READ: Schiff Lists ‘Key’ Witnesses, Documents Left Out By Intel Republicans]( Have something to add? Become a [Prime]( member and join the discussion [here](. What We're Reading --------------------------------------------------------------- Alabama Sheriff Pockets $750k In Jail Food Funds, Buys $740k Beach House ([AL.com]( Netflix Tests Gamification Of Children’s Shows ([The Verge]( [unsubscribe from this list]( | [update subscription preferences]( | [view email in browser](