It’s sometimes difficult to recruit top-notch political talent to run against an incumbent Senator. Considering the extremely high rate at which incumbents are generally re-elected, most potential candidates prefer to wait until there’s an open seat. In Georgia, however, incumbent pseudo-Dem Sen. Zell Miller is retiring, making the state one of five that will host […]
So there was our friend Joe Lieberman last night in a Dem debate in Detroit, managing to go most of the evening without getting booed by the audience. Responding to complaints that he can’t appeal to Dem primary voters, Lieberman contrasted himself to Wesley Clark by saying, “I’ve been a lifelong Democrat. I’m a proud […]
A week from tomorrow, two statewide elections will determine the governors of Kentucky and Mississippi. Unfortunately, polls released over the weekend show likely GOP victories. In Kentucky, an Ipsos-Public Affairs poll shows Rep. Ernie Fletcher (R) with a nine-point lead over state Attorney General Ben Chandler (D), 52 percent to 43 percent. This is a […]
I almost skipped watching last night’s debate of Democratic presidential candidates, but I tuned in anyway, assuming that the one debate I failed to watch would be the one with the most excitement. Alas, I was mistaken. Nevertheless, I think Kerry had the best performance of the nine candidates. He showed flashes of humor and […]
Poor Republicans. When it comes to race relations, the party hasn’t had much luck lately. First former-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott said America would have been better off with a segregationist president in 1948, then Rep. Barbara Cubin (R-Wyo.) compared African Americans to drug addicts on the House floor in April, then Rep. Cass Ballenger […]
One of my favorite Simpsons episodes of the last couple of years was when Krusty gets elected to Congress on a platform of diverting air traffic away from the Simpsons’ home. The classic moment of the episode was an extended parody of Fox News Channel’s obvious right-wing tilt. (click here for a screenshot in case […]
Via Daily Kos, I’ve noticed there a couple more states with Dem presidential polls released this week. A Marist College poll released yesterday shows that Howard Dean and Wesley Clark are excelling in New York, while Joe Lieberman, who was comfortably in first place in a similar poll last month, is fading fast. (margin of […]
When Bush’s approval ratings reached the high 70s and stayed there for a while, Congress pretty much gave up on deliberations. Whatever the White House asked for, it got. Republican lawmakers, in particular, rallied behind their once-popular leader. Recently, however, as Bush’s poll numbers have fallen to around 50 percent, Republicans have suddenly realized that […]
For about a year now, Dick Gephardt has made Iowa the centerpiece of his presidential campaign. He won the state’s caucuses in 1988, he comes from a neighboring state, and his deep ties with Iowa’s union members made him the odds-on favorite to win the state again in 2004. It’s been fairly obvious that a […]
Newsweek has a really good article in this week’s issue on the U.S. military’s difficulties in translating intelligence obtained in the Middle East. Apparently, finding Arab-speaking translators willing to work with the U.S. government has proven to be extremely difficult. Considering the potential for terrorist attacks, the consequences of this unmet need can be devastating. […]