I knew the Michael J. Fox ad was powerful, but I may have underestimated its punch. A new national study revealed that American voters’ support for stem cell research increased after they viewed an ad featuring Michael J. Fox in which he expresses his support for candidates who are in favor of stem cell research. […]
I noticed that both Josh Marshall and Charles Pierce referred to Rep. Jean Schmidt as “stupid” today, so I was curious what all the fuss was about. It turns out they were onto something. You may recall that Schmidt helped drag the House down to one of it’s lowest points last year when she lashed […]
In 1982, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley (D) appeared to be well on his way to winning California’s gubernatorial race. Polls showed him with a big lead … and then the results came in and Bradley came up just short. Some political scientists created a label for the new-found problem — the “Bradley Effect” — […]
Following up on an earlier post, reader R.M. suggested I missed the really interesting part of Dick Cheney’s interview with WDAY’s Scott Hennen. In retrospect, R.M. is probably right. Q: Are the terrorists trying to influence our election in your view? Cheney: I think they’re very much aware of our political calendar here, I really […]
On Tuesday’s edition of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, CBS White House correspondent Jim Axelrod mentioned that he’s spoken with some White House officials about possible changes to the president’s policy for the war in Iraq. He added what should have been a rather startling comment. AXELROD: Well, the White House is in […]
Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers: * It looks like the California gubernatorial race has just about slipped away. With less than two weeks remaining, a new Public Policy Institute of California poll shows Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) leading […]
When it comes to discussing specific types of “alternative interrogation techniques,” the White House has a very firm policy about sticking to generalities. Just last week, for example, the president sat down with Bill O’Reilly, and the Fox News personality brought up waterboarding, prompting Bush to say, “We don’t talk about techniques.” O’Reilly followed up, […]
At the [tag]president[/tag]’s press conference yesterday, a reporter noted that Bush had “failed” to achieve the major goals of his second term, most notably privatizing [tag]Social Security[/tag]. The president insisted that he hasn’t “given up” on his agenda, and still has “two years left.” For [tag]Bush[/tag], it wasn’t a casual remark — he still hasn’t […]
I can appreciate the fact that [tag]ABC News[/tag] Political Director Mark [tag]Halperin[/tag] wants to sell copies of his new book, “The Way to Win,” but brazenly sucking up to conservatives on national television probably isn’t the best way to impress anyone. Take for, example, Halperin’s appearance this week on Fox News’ [tag]O’Reilly[/tag] Factor. When O’Reilly […]
Just to follow up briefly on yesterday’s [tag]New Jersey[/tag] [tag]Supreme Court[/tag] [tag]ruling[/tag] on marriage equality, I can’t say I’m terribly surprised by the far-right apoplexy — this is, after all, one of their principal whining points — but it was nevertheless interesting to see just how quickly they went to the “judicial activism” card. Here’s […]