Back in the day, there were quadrennial Sam Nunn for Vice President, or maybe President, columns. I never saw it. Nunn is estimable–his work on nuclear proliferation especially–but so taciturn as to be easily mistaken for a bale of hay. In any case, now he’s opened the door to an independent run for President and [...]

She may have generated more than 3 million internet hits, but it turns out there’s at least once place where “Obama Girl” doesn’t have many fans: Barack Obama’s house.

Via Andrew Sullivan. I think the Aussies are right: we’re about to see some not-so-subtle Brit bashing by unnamed sources in the Bush Administration as Basra descends into Shi’ite (Hakim) upon Shi’ite (Sadr) upon Shi’ite (Fadhila) civil war. In fact, the entire Shi’ite south seems on the brink: For the second time in 10 days, [...]

The Iraq War, apparently. The Project for Excellence in Jouralism finds that, in the second quarter, coverage of the presidential campaign is supplanting the amount of space and time being devoted to the war by news organizations. From its News Coverage Index, a survey of 48 different news outlets: Together the three major storylines of [...]

David Broder has a column today in which he predicts Mike Huckabee is going to try to run a Pat Buchanan type right-wing populist campaign in New Hampshire. Basic problem with that is this: New Hampshire is a changed state, demographically, since Buchanan discovered his inner blue-collar in a meeting with about to be unemployed [...]

This is the most accurate and courageous–the authors are all non-commissioned officers–account of the war in Iraq that I’ve seen. It puts to shame–and shame is the appropriate word–all the Kristol, McCain, Lieberman, Pollack and O’Hanlon etc etc cheerleading of the past two months. I’ll have more to say about the road out of Iraq [...]

In an unusual Saturday announcement, the Obama campaign has declared that the candidate will not commit to any more debates before December 10 beyond those already scheduled. Articulating a feeling that I suspect is shared with many campaigns (D and R), David Plouffe writes, “We simply cannot continue to hopscotch from forum to forum,” though [...]

The New York Times documents Fred Thompson’s first visit to Iowa. It sounds like people are excited but confused: “I’m a big fan, and I heard he was here — I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh!’ ” said Melanie Reichwald, a graduate student from Iowa City, who was among a throng of cheerful onlookers. “I [...]

Earlier today, Karen asked where I thought things were headed with Gonzales. The truth is, it’s hard to think of anything at this point that could make him leave. He’s been abandoned by moderates on both sides of the aisle, and he’s repeatedly given some of the most astonishing and embarrassing Congressional testimony in recent [...]