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: * Big surprises in Maryland primaries last night: “A longtime GOP congressman who initially voted for the Iraq war but later accused the Bush administration of bungling it was defeated by a state […]
As recently as the weekend, Barack Obama insisted he was still the underdog in the race for the nomination. Today, his campaign is trying out a new message: inevitability. On a conference call this morning, Obama advisers sounded as confident a note as they ever have, arguing that yesterday’s victories have left them with an […]
Between the presidential campaign and yesterday’s votes on telecom immunity and surveillance powers, it’s hard for other issues to gain traction, but there’s an interesting measure poised for a Senate vote today that’s worth considering. A spending bill to finance the nation’s intelligence efforts went to conference after the House and Senate versions were slightly […]
It doesn’t get mentioned nearly enough, but one of the factors that may help the Democrats this fall is that John McCain, when he talks about Iraq policy, tends to fly off the handle and say things that don’t make a lot of sense. Here he is on Monday, campaigning in Virginia. For those of […]
For the past couple of weeks, Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign has been relying on what I call the “asterisk strategy.” Every Clinton victory is a sign of strength and long-term success, but every Obama victory doesn’t really count because it comes with an asterisk. Obama won Washington? That doesn’t count; it’s a caucus state. Obama […]
Most of the political world expected Barack Obama to have a good day yesterday, when Democrats in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia went to the polls. But it’s fair to say that few expected him to do this well. With just about all the precincts reporting from all three contests, the final results […]
Results from Virginia, Maryland, and D.C. were supposed to be available by now, but inclement weather led local officials to keep the polls open in Maryland for an extra 90 minutes. We do know, however, that Barack Obama will win the Virginia primary fairly easily. With about three-quarters of the precincts reporting, Obama leads Hillary […]
Today’s edition of quick hits. * AP: “Homeowners threatened with foreclosure would in some instances get a 30-day reprieve under an initiative the Bush administration announced Tuesday. Dubbed ‘Project Lifeline,’ the program will be available to people who have taken out all types of mortgages, not just the high-cost subprime loans that have been the […]
The last I heard, the right was feeling quite pleased with itself because there was some evidence to suggest the traffic for the top liberal blogs was trending down, while the traffic for the top conservative blogs was trending up. This item, relying on SiteMeter data from the end of December, argued, “It has long […]
Looking back over the last couple of months, it seems every controversial remark from the Clinton campaign has come by way of one of her surrogates, not the candidate. Hillary Clinton, to her enormous credit, is extraordinarily disciplined, very bright, and loath to commit dangerous gaffes on the campaign trail. But those speaking for her, […]