Today’s edition of quick hits. * The lede is encouraging, the details are not: “The Bush administration Monday proposed the most far-ranging overhaul of the financial regulatory system since the stock market crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression. The plan would change how the government regulates thousands of businesses from the nation’s biggest […]
OK, new rule. High-profile Democrats and surrogates for the Democratic presidential candidates can no longer go on Fox News and praise the Republican network for its “balanced” coverage of the horserace. Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D), I’m looking at you. For those of you who can’t watch clips online, the video shows Rendell, a major […]
Jonathan Cohn made an interesting observation today I hadn’t seen before. For the last two weeks or so, as my colleagues can attest, I’ve been asking everybody I know whether they recalled ever seeing Barack Obama stand outside a factory and greet workers as they walk in for their shift. It’s one of, if not […]
A couple of months ago, Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, one of John McCain’s conservative Republican colleagues and a man who’s worked with McCain for years, raised serious doubts about McCain’s temperament. “The thought of him being president sends a cold chill down my spine,” Cochran said. “He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses […]
Maybe it’s just me, but I tend to think this observation might resonate with voters: John McCain could be denied coverage under John McCain’s healthcare plan. It’s a point Elizabeth Edwards drove home very well over the weekend. Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of former Democratic presidential contender John Edwards, said she and John McCain have […]
The Pennsylvania primary is three weeks from tomorrow, and the polls out of the state are still pretty one-sided. So, what are campaign watchers to do during the lull? Watch the superdelegates. Slowly but steadily, a string of Democratic Party figures is taking Barack Obama’s side in the presidential nominating race and raising the pressure […]
Like her poll numbers, Hillary Clinton’s campaign finances have seen some ups and downs. The campaign looked to be in good shape in December, but then struggled a few months ago, prompting Clinton to make a $5 million loan to herself. After the media highlighted the campaign’s troubles, Clinton donors rallied and seemingly put the […]
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: * In the latest Gallup Poll Daily, Barack Obama has his largest lead to date over Hillary Clinton, 53% to 42%. John McCain, meanwhile, continues to lead both Dems by similar margins in […]
As a rule, having the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development resign in the midst of a national mortgage crisis seems like an unwelcome development. But in the case of Alphonso Jackson, who resigned this morning in the midst of multiple scandals and a criminal investigation, the Bush administration is probably better off with a […]
On Friday, in the midst of a Maliki-led offensive against in Basra, President Bush described the eruption of violence across the country as a “defining moment in the history of a free Iraq.” It was, at the time, an odd way to put it. But let’s say, hypothetically, that the president has some sense of […]