During the Republicans presidential primaries, exit polls showed John McCain struggling to win over the most conservative Republican voters, but since this contingent was divided between Huckabee, Romney, and Thompson, McCain was able to excel anyway. After effectively having wrapped up the nomination in February, McCain began the task of bringing the various GOP factions […]
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: * Another big endorsement pickup for Obama: “Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has won the endorsement of one of his party’s top foreign policy figures, Lee Hamilton, who hails from Indiana, home to […]
The Wall Street Journal ran an item in November that was so stunning, it didn’t even seem possible. The story was about a woman named Deborah Shank. A collision with a semi-trailer truck seven years ago left 52-year-old Deborah Shank permanently brain-damaged and in a wheelchair. Her husband, Jim, and three sons found a small […]
DNC Chairman Howard Dean recently argued that, instead of waiting until the convention, superdelegates should announce their candidate preferences by July 1, which is well after every voter will have participated in every primary and caucus. Yesterday, Dean’s plan picked up some high-profile support on the Hill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday […]
Democrats seem to have found the one criticism that gets John McCain angrier than anything else — bring up his comments about keeping U.S. troops in Iraq for “100 years.” Every time a high profile Dem (Clinton, Obama, Dean, et al) mentions this, he becomes enraged and insists his comments have been mischaracterized. It’s true […]
For the better part of the last two weeks, the burgeoning consensus in the political world was that Barack Obama has become the prohibitive favorite for the Democratic nomination. The race would continue, but the competition was over — Hillary Clinton couldn’t narrow the gap, and would trail Obama in delegates, popular votes, and states. […]
We’ve long been aware of the 2003 “Yoo memo,” written by John Yoo, then a top official in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, and the almost-laughably expansive views the memo takes on presidential authority. For that matter, we’ve also known that Yoo effectively argued that the administration could break the law on a […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * More of this, please: “Lawmakers grilled executives from the world’s five largest publicly traded oil companies Tuesday, criticizing them for taking tax subsidies and not investing in renewable resources amid record prices for oil and gasoline. ‘Americans are hoping that the top executives from the five largest oil companies […]
Following up on an item from the other day, I thought it was worth noting that all three cable networks have seen their ratings go up during the presidential primaries, but among the “money demo,” Fox News is falling behind. (via TP) The political season continues to be very good to CNN, which will officially […]
About a week ago, Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), a co-chairman of John McCain’s 2000 presidential campaign, raised a few eyebrows when he said he hadn’t endorsed McCain this year, and didn’t have any plans to do so. “When I endorse someone, or when I work for someone, or commit to someone, I want to be […]