Today’s edition of quick hits. * Mark Penn has been forced out of his role in the Clinton campaign, but he’s not really gone: “…Penn may no longer have the coveted title of chief strategist, but he remains a key member of the campaign’s senior staff. Mr. Penn took part on the campaign’s morning message […]
White House spokesperson Tony Fratto received a series of questions about Iraq during today’s press briefing, and the deputy press secretary used an interesting phrase more than once. (Think Progress has the video) Q: Also, how does this latest violence in Iraq and the latest uncertainty about what’s going on color the Petraeus-Crocker testimony this […]
In his most recent column for Time’s print edition, Joe Klein urged Barack Obama to address what he labeled the “patriotism problem” by relying more overtly patriotic appeals. “[T]o convince those who doubt him,” Klein said, “Obama has to make the implicit explicit. He will have to show that he can be as corny as […]
About two weeks ago, the Washington Note reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stopped by Grover Norquist’s weekly “Wednesday Meeting,” at which conservative leaders, thinkers, and operatives get together to plot and scheme. Apparently, Rice’s attendance was unusual. A “major” Republican operative told Steve Clemons, “Someone like Condi Rice doesn’t go to Grover Norquist’s […]
Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) probably thought, or at least hoped, that his sex scandal was largely behind him. We learned last year, of course, that Vitter had used the services of the “D.C. Madam” — including making arrangements while casting votes in Congress — despite being married and running on a conservative “family-values” platform. Vitter’s […]
In anticipation of Gen. David Petraeus’ congressional testimony, which begins tomorrow, Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) boasted in a Wall Street Journal op-ed today about how right they think they are. Indeed, Lieberman and Graham, two of the less restrained cheerleaders of the Bush policy in Iraq, appear comfortable taking a victory […]
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: * A new CNN poll in Pennsylvania shows Hillary Clinton leading Barack Obama by seven, 49% top 42%. The last CNN poll showed Clinton up by 11, and is the latest in a […]
A couple of weeks ago, the Washington Post noted a possible silver lining to the Democrats’ longer-than-expected fight for the nomination: a boost in the number of registered Democratic voters, spurred by an exciting primary fight. Pennsylvania’s Department of State noted, for example, that Dems have now topped 4 million registered voters, “the first time […]
With the Democratic presidential candidates focused, not surprisingly, on their own efforts to secure the party’s nomination, there’s been quite a bit of talk in Democratic circles about independent efforts to take on John McCain before he has a specific opponent. It sounded like a pretty good idea, but the execution has been problematic. Ben […]
It’s not only painful to think we’ll have seven more months of this kind of media coverage of the McCain campaign, it’s worth remembering that unprofessional reporting like this can help dictate the outcome an election. To briefly recap, John McCain visited his old high school in northern Virginia last week, for what was clearly […]