The Carpetbagger Report

If you had told political “experts” a year ago that John McCain would win the New Hampshire Republican primary by about five points, most would have said, “Sounds about right.” If you had given them the same outcome in July, the same experts would have said, “Fat chance; he’ll probably have dropped out by then.” […]

Oh, now I remember. We’re supposed to wait until after voters express a preference to declare a winner of a contest. I have to say, it’s awfully inconvenient this way. The narrative had been worked out; everyone was in agreement about what was going to happen; and all voters had to do was go along. […]

I won’t be at my desk when the final results of the New Hampshire primary are released, but here’s an open thread anyway. As of now, from what I’m hearing, most of the networks are already calling the Republican race for McCain, with Romney second. No big surprise. On the Democratic side, with limited precincts […]

Today’s edition of quick hits. * Good news: “A federal magistrate ordered the White House on Tuesday to reveal whether copies of possibly millions of missing e-mails are stored on computer backup tapes. The order by U.S. Magistrate Judge John Facciola comes amid an effort by the White House to scuttle two lawsuits that could […]

This afternoon, Ohio Sen. George Voinovich (R), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, reportedly “scoffed” when a reporter asked if he thought Barack Obama has the foreign policy chops to be the next president. “He hasn’t any experience in foreign policy,” Voinovich said of Obama, his colleague on the Foreign Relations Committee. “Give […]

I suggested earlier that Hillary Clinton may have little choice but to embrace Rudy Giuliani’s strategy of betting everything on a Super Tuesday strategy. Tom Edsall reports that this may soon be adopted as the campaign’s official strategy moving forward. A panicked and cash-short Clinton campaign is seriously considering giving up on the Nevada caucuses […]

At the Iowa caucuses last week, turnout not only exceeded everyone’s expectations, but voter participation even broke caucus records. Will see similar excitement in New Hampshire? Apparently, yes. New Hampshire Deputy Secretary of State Dave Scanlan told ABC News that turnout among primary voters today is “absolutely huge” — and there are concerns about running […]

It’s been less than a day, and I’m already sick of hearing the media coverage of politics and crying, but leave it to Rudy Giuliani to add some unintentional humor to the situation. For those who can’t watch video clips online, Giuliani, appearing on MSNBC, is asked for his thoughts about Hillary Clinton and tears […]

I remember the good ol’ days, sometimes called “2005,” when Mike Huckabee was fairly reasonable on immigration. He supported in-state college tuition for children of illegal immigrants and opposed an immigration raid of a poultry plant that led to the deportation of illegal immigrants. More recently, he endorsed Bush’s immigration policy, denounced in right-wing circles […]

The NYT’s David Brooks has an interesting column today comparing and contrasting Barack Obama and John McCain. I’m not entirely sure if it’s a good column, but it’s interesting. Obama emphasizes the connections between people, the networks and the webs of influence. These sorts of links are invisible to some of his rivals, but Obama […]