For a few minutes, this AP report certainly captured the political world’s attention. Hillary Rodham Clinton will concede Tuesday night that Barack Obama has the delegates to secure the Democratic nomination, campaign officials said, effectively ending her bid to be the nation’s first female president. […] The former first lady will stop short of formally […]
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: * There’s been a flurry of superdelegate announcements over the last 24 hours. If my count is right, Obama has picked up eight (South Carolina’s James Clyburn, Michigan’s Brenda Lawrence, Michigan’s Lu Battaglieri, […]
One need not look too hard to find speculation about who Barack Obama might pick as a running mate, but Matt Stoller makes a compelling case for retired Gen. Wesley Clark, whom Matt describes as a “unifying choice.” Contrast that to Wes Clark. Clark, though not in elected office, has a better sense of what […]
Honestly, it’s like deja vu all over again. When the presidential campaign starts to resemble Groundhog Day: Right at the top of his remarks before taking questions from the Nashville crowd — where regular unleaded goes for about $3.85 — McCain said he wanted to discuss “what’s on everybody’s mind, the price of oil.” McCain […]
It wasn’t too long ago when former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales — the nation’s chief law-enforcement officer, former White House counsel, and rumored to be a possible Supreme Court justice — was charging $40,000 for each public appearance. Now he’s stuck doing commencement addresses. That, in and of itself, wouldn’t be especially embarrassing. After […]
Last week, John McCain made one of his more embarrassing recent errors, telling a Wisconsin audience that U.S. forces in Iraq “have drawn down to pre-surge levels.” That’s clearly false. McCain and his campaign compounded the problem by insisting he was right about troop levels — reality notwithstanding — and arguing that everyone was “nitpicking” […]
Depending on the count, Barack Obama is about 42 delegates shy of the 2,118 he needs to secure the Democratic nomination. After today’s primaries in Montana and South Dakota, the gap between Obama and the finish line should be in the 20 to 25 range, at least with regards to pledged delegates. So, the party […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * CNN: “Sen. Edward Kennedy underwent ‘successful’ surgery for a brain tumor at Duke University Medical Center, his doctors said Monday. Doctors said Kennedy was awake during the surgery, which lasted roughly three and a half hours. Dr. Allan Friedman said Kennedy should suffer ‘no permanent neurological effects’ and he […]
At the risk of sounding rude, I found this report from Marc Ambinder rather amusing. The Republican National Committee has hired many of its Victory 2008 directors. These are the folks who will be in charge of spending the many of millions of dollars that the party doles out for GOTV efforts. Many of them […]
The Up-Until-Recently John McCain took a fairly reasonable line on the federal budget. In 2001, this McCain saw Bush’s tax-cut plan as reckless and irresponsible, and voted accordingly. In 2003, the same McCain went in the same direction. The New-and-Not-Improved McCain, of course, bears no resemblance to the Up-Until-Recently McCain, and has decided that Bush’s […]