The Carpetbagger Report

After having watched every major debate for both parties’ presidential candidates, I can certainly understand the temptation on the part of organizers to limit participants. The more candidates on the stage, the greater the need for shorter answers and fewer questions. Having said that, this just isn’t kosher. Republican Rep. Ron Paul and his supporters […]

It seemed as if the political/media world had finally settled on a narrative for the Iowa caucuses — Hillary Clinton had a reasonably solid lead, John Edwards had the big mo and was in position to pull the upset, and Mike Huckabee was sinking fast. Of course, of all of that may still be true, […]

First, I want to wish everyone a very Happy New Year. Here’s to a great 2008. Second, a quick scheduling note. Posting will probably be light today, though I will have some election-related news shortly. We’ll return to a normal posting schedule tomorrow. And now, back to the news….

Today’s edition of quick hits. * The aftermath of the assassination: “While much debate and speculation swirls around the circumstances of Benazir Bhutto’s death last week, the consequences are clear. It has upended a fragile political process in a nation already coping with increasing instability and a rising terrorist threat. Pakistan and the US have […]

I wasn’t planning to do yet another post about Mike Huckabee, but this one’s too good to pass up. There’d been quite a bit of buzz today about Huckabee dropping a proverbial campaign bomb today, the final hardest-hitting-ad-to-date smackdown against Mitt Romney, which ostensibly would curtail Romney’s momentum in the closing days before the Iowa […]

If I were to pick the one moment when it was absolutely clear that Mike Huckabee has no idea what he’s talking about on matters of foreign policy, it’d be Dec. 4, when he seriously flubbed a question about the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran. A few days later, on MSNBC, Huckabee tried to rationalize […]

I have to admit, I’m a little surprised (and confused) by the field of Republican presidential candidates making no real effort to offer voters a change from Bush-Cheney. Given that the president is the least popular of any in the modern political era, this shouldn’t be too tricky. And yet, the GOP field seems confused. […]

This came up quite a bit a couple of weeks ago, after the annoying Bob Kerrey brouhaha, but it’s also been a part of the campaign debate for months: would Barack Obama’s ethnic and racial background help improve the United States’ image internationally, if he’s elected? Reza Aslan argues that the “chattering classes” who are […]

I appreciate the fact that the music business is in the midst of considerable turmoil. CD sales are abysmal, record companies are losing a lot of money, and music pirating has become fairly routine, prompting thousands of lawsuits from the RIAA against consumers. It’s an industry facing major, system challenges. But if the music business […]

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: * The latest Mason-Dixon poll in Iowa shows Edwards taking the Democratic lead, though the race is effectively a three-way tie: Edwards 24%, Clinton 23%, and Obama 22%. Brad Coker, who conducted the […]