Tuesday’s Mini-Report

Today’s edition of quick hits. * We may not need to stay up too late tonight: “Polls close at 8 p.m. State elections officials tell us that results from the bigger cities will start trickling in within the hour, but fuller results may not be known until at least 9:30 or 10 p.m. The smaller […]

What to expect when you’re expecting (Pennsylvania primary results)

You know what we should look for in today’s Democratic Pennsylvania primary? News items telling us what to look for in today’s Democratic Pennsylvania primary. They seem to be everywhere. The Washington Post’s Dan Balz highlights the “8 Questions About The Pennsylvania Primary.” The Politico’s Carrie Budoff Brown and Ken Vogel deliver the “Five things […]

Step II in defining McCain: He’s really wealthy

Progressive Media USA unveiled its first television ad of the campaign season last week, noting the striking similarities between John McCain and George W. Bush, down to the word-for-word talking points they share. This week, PMUSA unveiled its second spot, a web video that might make it difficult for McCain to accuse anyone of elitism. […]

McCain advance teams need a little work

John McCain visited Gee’s Bend, Alabama, yesterday, in order to take a ferry ride across the Alabama river. It was a nice, little photo-op on a key piece of local infrastructure. As a Republican National Committee spokesperson said, “The ferry he will be riding is very important to that community. It’s both a good and […]

A Willie Horton ad for a new generation

I’ve seen some suggest that Hillary Clinton’s attack ads, directed at Barack Obama, have been overly aggressive. The “3 a.m.” ad last month, and the ad featuring bin Laden this week, are in line with the kind of negative Republican ads we can expect in the fall. Or so the argument goes. In reality, right-wing […]

Autism, vaccines, and three candidates in need of a briefing

It’s pretty unusual for John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama to agree on a controversial subject. It’s even more unusual for them to agree and to contradict the available evidence, but apparently that’s the case today on the subject of vaccines and autism. I mentioned this briefly earlier, but since I did a post […]

‘Conduct waivers’ in the military — depending on the ‘conduct’

With military recruiting still struggling, the Pentagon continues to make it even easier for people with criminal records to join the military. The Army admitted about one-fourth more recruits last year with a record of legal problems ranging from felony convictions and serious misdemeanors to drug crimes and traffic offenses, as pressure to increase the […]

Tuesday’s campaign round-up

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 very last Pennsylvania polls to be released before voting began this morning both show Hillary Clinton leading Barack Obama by 10. The final Zogby tracking poll in the state shows Clinton […]

The painful task of measuring racism

The Politico’s Roger Simon has a new item that raises a depressing point that probably warrants some additional scrutiny. I was talking the other day to a prominent Republican who asked me what I thought John McCain’s strongest issues would be in the general election. Lower taxes and the argument he will be better able […]

It goes well beyond the Keating Five

When considering John McCain’s history of unethical behavior, the list usually starts (and ends) with the Keating Five scandal in the 1980s, for which McCain was rebuked by the Senate Ethics Committee for having shown, at a minimum, poor judgment. In the aftermath, McCain helped improve his public image, and bury the scandal, by becoming […]