I’ll admit it; I have a special fondness for news about Fox News’ declining ratings. There’s just something about the drop in numbers that helps restore my faith in the American political system. Eric Boehlert has the latest, in a great piece on why the Republican network is poised to have a very rough year. […]
Throughout his first six years in office, Bush had a habit of signing congressional legislation into law, but using “signing statements” to explain which parts of the law he didn’t feel like following. For the better part of 2007, the president behaved himself, sticking to the more traditional sign-or-veto approach embraced by his predecessors, but […]
A few months ago, there was a spate of retirement announcements among House Republicans, but it wasn’t too big a deal. The announcements were a little early, but the numbers were in line with normal turnover that happens in practically every cycle. But what started as a modest trend is starting to look like an […]
There were plenty of political obituaries written for John McCain eight months ago, when his campaign was struggling to make payroll, the senator’s top aides quit, and he could no longer afford a campaign bus, which all looks rather amusing in hindsight, given that he’s now the clear frontrunner for the Republican nomination. So, how’d […]
This morning I’d made a bunch of notes for a post about whether the delegate-free Democratic primary in Florida was of any real consequence. The Clinton campaign, not surprisingly, was aggressively making its case that it did, the Obama campaign argued the opposite. My conclusion was going to be that it mattered if the media […]
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: * Hillary Clinton got a little help in California yesterday: “California Rep. Maxine Waters, a powerful member of the Congressional Black Caucus, announced in a conference call with reporters she has decided to […]
Last night, not too long after John McCain was declared the winner of Florida’s Republican primary, National Review’s Michael Graham wrote an item called, “It’s all over.” Assuming there is no shocking revelation or health issue, the GOP nomination is over. Conservatives need to start practicing the phrase “Nominee presumptive John McCa….” Sorry, I can’t […]
I noticed this morning that John Edwards had cancelled some events scheduled in Feb. 5 states today, and would instead travel to New Orleans to deliver a speech. “Hmm,” I thought, “that seems odd.” Apparently, there was a logical explanation for the scheduling change: the AP is reporting that John Edwards is ending his presidential […]
Rudy Giuliani’s “strategy” (I use the word loosely) of blowing off all of the early contests and betting the farm on Florida was always a rather transparent sham. He tried to compete in Iowa, but voters rejected him en masse. He campaigned heavily in New Hampshire, and found the same result. It was only then, […]
One way or another, Florida’s Republican presidential primary was going to answer some key questions. Who’s the GOP frontrunner? Can John McCain win in a state with a primary that excludes independents? Could Mitt Romney capitalize on voters’ economic fears? Would Rudy Giuliani’s fiasco come to a merciful end? All of these questions and more […]