Way back in March, I noted that Georgia State Sen. Nancy Schaefer (R) crafted a bizarre connection between abortion and immigration when she argued, “I am convinced it is a consequence [of] the almost 50 million children we have put to death in their mother’s womb through abortion. The large, unfilled job market in Georgia […]
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: * The closest remaining undecided House race will be ridiculously close when it’s called today. In Connecticut’s 2nd congressional district, Rep. Rob Simmons (R) trailed Democratic challenger Joe Courtney by just 82 votes. […]
The Weekly Standard’s Robert Kagan and William Kristol wrote a 2,600-word paean to the war in Iraq this week, offering the Bush administration hearty advice on how to proceed during his last two years in office. As they see it, the only way to avoid “heading inexorably toward disaster” is to send more U.S. troops. […]
I realize that the right’s talking points insist that the Democrats’ sweeping victories last week really, truly prove that the nation has embraced conservatism as the nation’s dominant ideology, but they’re the only ones who think so. The electorate certainly doesn’t seem to agree. In the poll taken Thursday through Sunday, just after Democrats swept […]
If there was a competition for the worst member of the Senate, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) would have to be near the top of the list. No matter what the new Democratic Senate majority does over the next two years, removing Inhofe as chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has just improved […]
Upon learning that former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) has formed a [tag]president[/tag]ial [tag]exploratory committee[/tag], I immediately thought of Katon Dawson, the South Carolina Republican chairman, who told New York magazine in 2004 that Giuliani could compete in the Bible Belt because of work on 9/11. And then, Dawson started backpedaling. Did he know […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * Today was the groundbreaking of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the national mall, the first monument honoring an African American. As the AP noted, Bill Clinton, who received a standing ovation from the largely black crowd, noted that the memorial will stand between the Jefferson Memorial and […]
From what I hear, Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele (R) really wanted the RNC job, but the White House rejected him in favor of Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.). Sen. [tag]Mel Martinez[/tag], a Florida Republican elected in 2004, has accepted an offer by the White House to become the new chairman of the [tag]Republican National Committee[/tag], […]
Conventional wisdom notwithstanding, congressional Dems will begin 2007 with a fairly aggressive policy agenda, and near the top of the list a key health care policy Dems have been itching to implement for a long time: using the government to negotiate lower drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries. The Bush administration opposes the move. This is […]
With the elections over, and the Dems in control, the first big fight for the party isn’t with the administration or the outgoing GOP majority, it’s within — Dems need to fill leadership posts. The party avoided one contentious fight last week on the Majority Whip gig, but the Majority Leader contest is just heating […]