The results of PI’s presidential poll are in Presented by the Consumer Brands Association

With David Beavers and Daniel Lippman

POLL: LOBBYISTS BACKING BIDEN FOR PRESIDENT: Washington lobbyists on both sides of the aisle would like to see former Vice President Joe Biden win the Democratic nomination for president. Biden received 37 percent of the vote in a poll of 183 registered lobbyists conducted by PI between March 4 and March 10. PI confirmed each respondent was a registered lobbyist or foreign agent. The sample included 88 Democrats, 77 Republicans and 18 lobbyists who identified as members of neither party, who were asked to choose the Democrat they would “most like to see become president.”


— The poll isn’t scientific and doesn’t reveal much about who’s likely to win the nomination. (There are few, if any, registered lobbyists in the early primary states.) But it sheds light on how Washington lobbyists in both parties view the presidential race. The lobbyists who voted include those who work at law and lobbying firms, trade groups and companies with Washington offices. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) came in a distant second, with 9 percent of the vote. Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas) tied for third, with 8 percent of the vote.

— Among Democrats, Biden led with 32 percent of the vote. Two politicians with little or no Washington experience — Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) — tied for second, with 11 percent of the vote. O’Rourke took third with 9 percent. “Biden has a winning combination of experience and connection with key voters in key states, in an era where age does not seem to be a determining factor,” Zach Pfister, a lobbyist at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck and former Democratic congressional staffer who voted for Biden, wrote in an email to PI. Buttigieg, Harris and O’Rourke also would be outstanding nominees, he added.

— The results among Democrats both reflect and contrast with the views of Democrats in the rest of the country. Biden has led several recent national polls and also took first in a recent poll of likely Iowa caucusgoers conducted by The Des Moines Register and CNN, with 27 percent of the vote. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) came in second in the Register poll, with 25 percent of the vote. Sanders, unsurprisingly, did much worse in PI’s poll, with 3 percent of the vote among Democrats.

— Among Republicans, Biden led with 45 percent of the vote, trailed by several relative moderates. Hickenlooper took second with 10 percent, and former Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.) and Klobuchar tied for third with 8 percent. One Republican agriculture lobbyist who commented on condition of anonymity picked Klobuchar because of her expertise on agriculture issues. “She might treat her staff like trash, but she understands the heartland and is probably a smart choice to have on the ticket if the Democrats want to win back Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan or Wisconsin,” the lobbyist wrote in an email to PI.

Good afternoon, and welcome to PI. When you’ve bought the boat and the house on the Eastern Shore and eaten all the steak and drunk all the wine that K Street has to offer, what will you have left? Just the tips you’ve sent to PI: [email protected]. You can also follow me on Twitter: @theodoricmeyer.

FORBES TATE ADDS FORMER HEITKAMP AIDE: Forbes Tate Partners has added Tessa Gould, who was previously chief of staff to former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) to its lobbying team. Heitkamp lost reelection last year and has ruled out becoming a lobbyist herself. The news was first reported by our Playbook colleagues. Forbes Tate has been on a hiring tear in recent months, adding talent to its lobbying and public affairs teams. The firm is also adding two analysts to its public affairs practice: Britton Burdick and Kahla Haber-Brown.

LAWYERS BRACE FROM PORTER’S QUESTIONS DURING HEARINGS: Freshman Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), a former law school professor, has asked questions that have tripped up Wells Fargo and Equifax executives since she arrived in Congress and nabbed a seat on the House Financial Services Committee. Her approach “has forced white-collar defense lawyers who specialize in congressional hearings to grapple with how to prepare clients for questioning that uses a company’s own legal arguments against its top executive,” The National Law Journal’s C. Ryan Barber reports. “Her repeated, effective use of that approach promises to make her a starring figure in preparations that have been known to include mock hearings, with lawyers playing the part of lawmaker during rehearsals.”

— “This tactic is a new and particularly effective example of what has long been the risk for a corporate executive, the face of a company, testifying in Congress,” David Leviss, a former senior investigative counsel for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee who’s now a partner at O’Melveny & Myers, told The National Law Journal. Full story.

TRUMP ATTACKS TWITTER, GOOGLE AND FACEBOOK, AGAIN: President Donald Trump’s attacks on Twitter, Google and Facebook have become so commonplace that his tweet this morning deriding them seemed de rigueur. “Facebook, Google and Twitter, not to mention the Corrupt Media, are sooo on the side of the Radical Left Democrats,” Trump tweeted. Trump has gone after the three companies as a group and on their own over the course of his presidency. He described Facebook, Google and Twitter in December as “so biased toward the Dems it is ridiculous!”

— Trump has gone after Facebook, Twitter, Google and Amazon repeatedly as president, but he’s left other tech giants alone. He doesn’t appear to have tweeted about Microsoft even once since taking office. And while Trump urged a boycott of Apple products “until such time as Apple gives cellphone info to authorities regarding” the couple who killed 14 people in San Bernardino, Calif., during the campaign, he has only praised the company as president.

— Trump’s tweets may be the least of tech companies’ problems in Washington. Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust, commercial and administrative law subcommittee, published an op-ed in The New York Times today “calling for an investigation into whether Facebook’s conduct has violated antitrust laws.” And Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) is suing Twitter, the Republican consultant Liz Mair and two other users for defaming him.

BIG FOOD PUSHING FOR ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE: “Four major food companies are planning to lobby Congress to press for strong action to address climate change, a top Mars official said” on Monday, POLITICO’s Catherine Boudreau reports. “Mars, Danone, Unilever and Nestlé — which joined forces to establish the Sustainable Food Policy Alliance last year — are in the final stages of drafting broad principles for how the federal government should tackle climate change, Brad Figel, Mars’ vice president of public affairs, said during an Agri-Pulse food policy summit in Washington.” Full story.

IF YOU MISSED IT ON MONDAY: The Justice Department has transferred its investigation into Greg Craig, the former White House counsel, “from federal prosecutors in New York to those in Washington,” The New York Times’ Ken Vogel and Katie Benner report. “The previously undisclosed move was driven by Justice Department officials in Washington, and reflects an eagerness within the department to prosecute violations of lobbying laws after the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, focused on foreign influence in his investigations.”

— “A decision about whether to prosecute Mr. Craig, who was White House counsel for President Barack Obama during his first year in office, is expected in the coming weeks, people familiar with the case said. The investigation centers on whether Mr. Craig should have disclosed work he did in 2012 — while he was a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom — on behalf of the Russia-aligned government of Viktor F. Yanukovych, then the president of Ukraine.” Full story.





— Former House Speaker Paul Ryan has joined the board of Fox Corp., the new standalone company that’s home to assets including Fox News.

— David Bond has joined the Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund as director of federal government affairs. He was previously deputy chief of staff and legislative director for Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.).

— The Financial Services Institute has hired Matt Landers as director of member engagement and political affairs.

All-American Victory Committee (Reps. Jim Baird, Dan Crenshaw, Brian Mast)

Emmer Graves Victory Fund (Reps. Tom Emmer, Tom Graves)

Newhouse Victory Fund (Rep. Dan Newhouse, NRCC, N.E.W. House PAC)

MGS PAC (Leadership PAC: Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon)

Pro-Israel America PAC (PAC)

Zillow Group, Inc. Political Action Committee (ZG PAC) (PAC)

Becker & Poliakoff, P.A.: City of South Miami

Becker & Poliakoff, P.A.: Millsapps, Ballinger & Associates, LLC

Becker & Poliakoff, P.A.: Mr. Glass Door & Windows, Inc.

Becker & Poliakoff, P.A.: St. Augustine Distillery Company

Becker & Poliakoff, P.A.: Volusia County, Florida

Command Solutions, LLC: Interos

Federal Advocates, Inc.: Silver Eagle Distributors

GrayRobinson PA: National Association of Truck Stop Operators

Green Capitol LLC: Live Oak Bank

McDermott Will & Emery LLP: Infra-Bk, LLC

Mercury Public Affairs, LLC: Interdigital Administrative Solutions, Inc.

Mr. Timothy McGuire: Williams & Lake LLC

Peck Madigan Jones: Wilmer Hale (on behalf of NiSource Inc.)

Potomac International Partners, Inc.: AnchorFree

Potomac International Partners, Inc.: Bittrex Incorporated

Potomac International Partners, Inc.: Pure Storage

Thorn Run Partners: Broward County, FL

Thorn Run Partners: St. Lucie County, FL

Thorn Run Partners: Unified Government of Kansas City Kansas and Wyandotte County

Tremont Strategies Group, LLC (f/k/a ADS Ventures): Preservation of Affordable Housing

Tremont Strategies Group, LLC (f/k/a ADS Ventures): Towing & Recovery Association of America, Inc.

Van Scoyoc Associates: City and County of Denver

John Napier: North Eastern Strategic Alliance

John R. Byerly: Norwegian Air Shuttle

KSG LLC, dba Klein and Saks Group: Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame

ML Strategies, LLC: 340B Health

ML Strategies, LLC: American Network of Community Options and Resources

New York State Association of Health Care Providers, Inc.: New York State Association of Health Care Providers, Inc.

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