Well, John Murtha has just come back from Iraq and says the “surge is working.” I think that’s still premature. Clearly, the situation on the ground has improved–but we have little sense of the long-term motivations or strategies of the key players. Baghdad is held by the Sadrists, who are lying low for now. Basra [...]

In today’s Wall Street Journal, columnist Kimberley Strassel points to an interesting paradox. Fred Thompson has begun putting forward some ideas that might actually gain some traction for his candidacy with the Republican base, were it not for a campaign that, as she puts it, “has been as fizzy as day-old cherry Coke.”: This week’s [...]

Been on the road most of the day, heading to Iowa…but I just noticed Krugman’s column today. He makes several excellent points…and infers a surprising conclusion about Barack Obama’s positioning in the race. First of all, Krugman is absolutely right that Obama’s health care plan is inferior because it doesn’t mandate coverage, as both Edwards [...]

It’s terrible that anyone should be so terrorized; it’s possible that this situation is not so much a political act as a case of an unhinged person taking aim at prominent public figure. Though I don’t doubt this is an emotional time for staffers and an agonizing time for those who care about the hostages, [...]

BREAKING!!!! Apparently, Hillary Clinton is not terribly accessible to the press! Howie Kurtz has the details. National correspondents are increasingly frustrated by a lack of access to Clinton. They spend much of their time in rental cars chasing her from one event to the next, because the campaign usually provides no press bus or van. [...]

In this episode, my favorite moments from the YouTube GOP debate.

This from the always-thoughtful Garance Franke-Ruta: I sometimes wonder if we haven’t all massively underestimated what a major shift it would be to have a female president — or even female major party nominee — and the sort of backlash that could go along with it. UPDATE AT A FEW MINUTES BEFORE 3 P.M.: Several [...]

Over at Huffpost, Tom Edsall has this interesting take on Henry Hyde’s legacy. Hyde, whose most famous legislation was the amendment banning the use of federal funds for abortion, was indeed a complicated person to peg. Unlike many of his fellow abortion foes, he argued that those who oppose abortion have a special responsibility to [...]

I attended Frank Luntz’s dial group of 30 undecided–or sort of undecided–Republicans in St. Petersburg, Florida, last night…and it was a fairly astonishing evening. Now, for the uninitiated: dials are little hand-held machines that enable a focus group member to register instantaneous approval or disapproval as the watch a candidate on TV. There are limitations [...]