Today’s edition of quick hits. * Howard Dean, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and Democratic Governors Association Chair Joe Manchin have told the remaining uncommitted superdelegates that they have until Friday of this week to “make their decisions known.” I’m not sure why anyone would need more time anyway. * House Ways and Means Committee Chairman […]
Obama backs Lieberman against the wall (literally)
Joe Lieberman, fully embracing his role as a Republican attack dog, took the lead in a GOP conference call this morning to attack Barack Obama’s Middle East policy. On the call, organized by far-right Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), Lieberman argued, weakly, that Obama holds the U.S. responsible for Iran’s strength in the region. “Senator Obama […]
‘Dream Ticket’ talk off to a bad start
Last night, Barack Obama called Hillary Clinton to congratulate her on her win in South Dakota. Voicemail messages were exchanged and a connection was dropped before the two were actually able to talk at all. And when they did speak, it was kept brief, in part because of some less-than-ideal technical issues. There’s a campaign […]
Wondering what could have been…
Once in a great while, we can point to just one thing that ruined a presidential campaign. For Joe Biden in ’84, it was the controversy surrounding plagiarism. For Gary Hart in 1988, it was a scandal in his personal life. But in most instances, when campaigns come up short, it’s a wide variety of […]
Wasting no time, McCain talks up debate challenges
The issue of presidential debates can be contentious, which is why there’s a Commission on Presidential Debates, which is supposed to take some of the politics out of it. The CPD has already picked four locations and dates (three for the presidential candidates, one for the VP candidates), which were selected long before anyone knew […]
Wednesday’s campaign round-up
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: * Yesterday was a key campaign day for reasons that have nothing to do with the presidential race, with plenty of down-ballot primaries to watch. In New Mexico, for example, Rep. Steve Pearce […]
A lengthy record for the RNC to exploit
In every presidential race, in every cycle, party leaders worry about primary rivals going too negative and giving the other side fodder for the general election. Drawing contrasts is one thing, but it’s best for everyone when candidates restrain themselves from making things easier for the competing party. But looking back, this doesn’t seem to […]
McCain tries to steal Dems’ thunder, but ends up all wet
John McCain, for all of his flaws and troubles, has assembled a professional team of advisors and consultants. Most of them are high-priced lobbyists, which, while raising ethical questions, reminds us that this is a crew that knows how to play to win. And I can probably imagine their thinking going into last night. Barack […]
Hillary asks, ‘What does Hillary want?’
I was talking to some friends early last night, and they asked what I expected Hillary Clinton to do and say when she took the stage in NYC. At that point, it was already clear that Barack Obama had clinched the Democratic nomination, so it was really a matter of how Clinton would handle the […]
Yes he did
It’s hard to overstate how exceedingly unlikely this was. When Barack Obama launched his presidential campaign in February 2007 — it seems like years ago — he was a candidate to be taken seriously, but hardly the likely nominee. Obama not only faced a popular former senator who was the VP candidate one cycle earlier, […]