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: * Final Rasmussen numbers out of New Hampshire for the GOP: McCain 32%, Romney 31%, Huckabee 10%. Final Zogby: McCain 36%, Romney 27%, Huckabee 10%. * Final Rasmussen numbers out of New Hampshire […]
The premature scuttlebutt about a Clinton departure
It’s fair to say that most neutral observers, looking at the state of the Democratic race objectively, would agree that Barack Obama has become the front runner for the nomination. It’s hardly a done deal, but given the circumstances, the smart money is on the senator from Illinois. That said, I think the talk about […]
Conservative paper predicts ‘first woman president’ — no, not that one
One gets the sense, listening to the far-right lately, that they’re gearing up to attack Barack Obama with gusto, but they haven’t quite figured out what the message is. I don’t doubt they’ll settle on something ugly, but at this point, while the race on both sides is still in flux, we seem to have […]
Bloomberg’s confab hits a few snags
After generating a limited amount of interest — probably a small fraction of what organizers had hoped for — New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg led a group discussion in Oklahoma yesterday with elders from the Democratic and Republican parties. The purpose of the forum, apparently, was to “denounce the extreme partisanship of Washington and […]
O’Hanlon goes after Obama, flubs another test
The Brookings Institution’s Michael O’Hanlon, a supporter of Bush’s Iraq policy who was advising Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, has been wrong about the war pretty consistently since, well, the beginning. But that doesn’t seem to stop him from weighing in on the issue at every available opportunity. In his latest salvo, O’Hanlon takes on Barack […]
Clinton is to LBJ, as Obama is to MLK?
Once the interest in Hillary Clinton’s tears had run its course, the political world quickly shifted its attention late yesterday to some odd remarks about Clinton, Obama, LBJ, and Martin Luther King. First, a little context. At Saturday night’s debate, Clinton warned of the dangers associated with “false hope.” Yesterday, Obama told a New Hampshire […]
Monday’s Mini-Report
Today’s edition of quick hits. * I wonder what the whole story is here: “Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Monday that a confrontation between Iranian boats and U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf over the weekend was ‘something normal’ and was resolved. It suggested the Iranian boats had not recognized the U.S. vessels. The Pentagon […]
It’s her party, and she’ll cry if she wants to
Following up on an item from a few weeks ago, crying has come a long way in politics. In 1972, Ed Muskie wept outside the offices of the New Hampshire Union Leader, and it was, at the time, a political disaster. Americans just weren’t ready to tolerate grown men in leadership positions emoting like this […]
When someone other than Giuliani hits the terrorism button
There’s a line between talking about national security on the campaign stump and exploiting the politics of fear. I just don’t always know where that line is. Clearly, ads like this one from Rudy Giuliani fall into the “shameless demagoguery” category. If the former mayor wants to emphasize the terrorist threat, that makes sense. If […]
Iowa wasn’t close; how about New Hampshire?
Last week, there was quite a bit of talk, in the 48 hours before the caucuses, that Mike Huckabee was slowly imploding in Iowa. His margin in some polls was slipping; Mitt Romney was gaining on him; after a ridiculous press conference, reporters were mocking him; and most of the insider scuttlebutt was that Huckabee’s […]