As he did last year, the president hosted a year-end press conference this morning; he even graciously gave White House reporters more than a few minutes beforehand. It was a fairly light-hearted affair, but there were some relatively substantive exchanges. Here are the highlights from my notes. * Retroactive immunity for telecoms: Before taking questions, […]
The WaPo reported the other day that at least 14 states have “either notified the federal government that they will no longer be requesting [sex education] funds or are not expected to apply,” because the Bush administration mandates abstinence-only lessons in public schools receiving the funding. “We’re concerned about this,” said Stan Koutstaal of the […]
A few weeks ago, the Clinton campaign started going after Barack Obama on a series of “present” votes he cast while serving the state Senate. Clinton herself even emphasized the issue in speech in Iowa: “Now, there’s been a lot of talk about yes or no answers to complex questions. But most people don’t know […]
I don’t want to belabor the point, but to follow up on an earlier item, Mitt Romney seems to be a little stuck on a controversy of his own making. To briefly recap, Romney has defended his position on civil rights, in multiple high-profile settings, by insisting that his father marched with Martin Luther King […]
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: * Rudy Giuliani was hospitalized overnight in St. Louis, suffering from what his campaign described as “flu-like symptoms.” The former mayor is reportedly fine now and will return to New York later today. […]
For a five-year-old scandal, it’s amazing just how many important unanswered questions there are surrounding the Republicans’ New Hampshire phone-jamming scandal. For those just joining us, in 2002, New Hampshire was home to a very competitive U.S. Senate race between Jeanne Shaheen (D) and John Sununu (R). The morning voters headed to the polls, Democratic […]
After a full year of Republican presidential candidates avoiding references to Bush and promising voters change, this past weekend featured an odd fight between Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee over who valued the incumbent president more. Apparently, this wasn’t accident. Romney, in particular, is searching for a strategy to help bolster his campaign, and has […]
A month ago, expecting the president to start making recess appointments the moment the Senate broke for a Thanksgiving break, the Democratic leadership announced it would hold pro-forma sessions for two weeks. Sens. Jim Webb (Va.), Byron Dorgan (N.D.), and Jack Reed (R.I.) would stop by the chamber every couple of days, bang the gavel, […]
On Meet the Press over the weekend, Tim Russert pressed Mitt Romney on his church’s history of racism. As the host noted, the LDS Church didn’t allow black people to participate fully in church services until 1978. “You were 31 years old, and your church was excluding blacks from full participation,” Russert said. “Didn’t you […]
Various polling outfits have been asking voters about their 2008 presidential preferences since, believe it or not, 2005. And in every national poll for more than two years, former mayor Rudy Giuliani has led the Republican field, often by quite a bit. It led the political world to give Giuliani an awkward title: frontrunner. It […]