Hillary['s] Soldiers On

With the confirmation that the Iowa Democratic caucuses will be held especially early this cycle, NBC reports that Hillary Clinton is adding 100 more staffers in Iowa — and Ambinder notes that they’re collecting some of these staffers via Craigslist. Insert “Now Bill’s not the only one setting up casual encounters” joke here. In further [...]

To Our Swampland Commenters…

A while back, we told you we were planning to move to a registration system. Since then, with the troll incursions here getting worse and worse, many of you have been wondering what happened to that idea. We are happy to announce, it is here–finally! Try it out. The High Sheriffs promise it is quick, [...]

In the Arena

Latest Column

About some interesting new developments in Iraq. For the Iraq obsessives out there, there’s yet another interesting piece from Fred Kaplan at Slate about the U.S. military’s increased use of air attacks. If Kaplan is saying that the air attacks are integral to the declining U.S. casualties, I’m not sure I agree with him. The [...]

Huck Amock

Mike Huckabee has hit ten percent in a national poll, an accomplishment that a Corner correspondent puts in perspective: I mean, he’s spent less than $2 million, compared to Romney’s $52 million, and is only 2% behind him in the national poll, and only 7 % behind him in Iowa, according to Rasmussen. As if [...]

Everything You Thought You Knew About Iowa Is Wrong

Via Pollster, Mark Mellman has piece in The Hill analyzing the myths of Iowa that don’t have to do with baseball fields and James Earl Jones, but it’s an ironically idealistic form of mythbusting: He argues that message counts as much as organization, and that passion matters as much (or more) than electability. Somewhere, John [...]

SCHIP Falls Short of Override Again in the House

And Brian Kennedy, spokesman to GOP House Leader John Boehner, notes jubilantly: The cosmetic adjustments Democrats made to the SCHIP bill changed one GOP vote: Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-MI) switched from a YES on the last Dem bill to a NO today. Not quite the result the majority had intended. · Not a single Republican [...]

SwampCast: Forecast Freezing

Just a bit of commentary about the news that both the Republican and the Democratic Iowa caucuses will be happening January 3 — the earliest caucus date ever.

He Who Must Be Obey-ed

Jay Newton-Small has this on one of the Capitol’s most irascible–and interesting–characters.

In the Arena

Today in Iraq

This is some terrific eyewitness reporting on U.S. relations with the Sadrists in the Shi’ite south of Iraq by Darrin Mortenson. I’ll have more about some surprising developments in Iraq later today in my print column.

In the Arena

Rudy on Torture

There was this rather illuminating exchange in Iowa yesterday. First, a piece of advice to Mr. Giuliani: Next time you have a debate, sidle over to Senator McCain and ask him if waterboarding is torture or not. He’ll set you straight. Second, who does this remind you of: And I see, when the Democrats are [...]