The Republican nominee to the FEC that brought on stonewalling from both parties, Hans von Spakovsky, has withdrawn his name from consideration. His departure from the list of nominees (Republicans had been holding out for a single up or down vote on all the new members, Obama and Feingold both put a “hold” on von [...]
The 2008 cycle is America’s first post-60s election. (Post-division, post-Nixon, post-McGovern, post-Southern Strategy, post-Vietnam… It’s hopeful diagnosis but a considered one.)
I thought this was particularly subtle: “Declaring mission accomplished does not make it so.” And, for what it’s worth, Obama insists that tomorrow night’s speech is not declaration of victory. With emails like this floating around, the work is sort of done for him. To: Interested Parties From: Howard Wolfson, Communications Director Date: Monday, May [...]
Karen’s mention of Connie Schultz below reminds me that I’ve been meaning to recommend Schultz’s book, …And His Lovely Wife, which is her account of her husband Sherrod Brown’s successful campaign for the Senate in 2006. It’s just a delight, funny and insightful, offering a glimpse of how difficult it is to be a politician [...]
I’m just back from what turned out to be a fascinating symposium at the National First Ladies Library in Canton, Ohio. It was supposed to be a look at the influence that spouses have had on presidential campaigns, but not surprisingly, it turned into a far more up-to-date discussion of a First Lady who ran [...]
A story today on Kennedy. We hope he recovers.
John McCain’s campaign is now accusing Jamie Rubin of lying about McCain’s position on dealing with Hamas. Fascinating. And I suppose Rubin was manipulating McCain’s mouth when, at Davos in 2006, the Arizona Senator said that we would have to “deal with” the new Hamas government, “one way or another.” I mean, it’s there on [...]
Fascinating response to David Brooks’ neuroscience piece earlier this week from an actual neuroscientist! The statement: “meaning, belief and consciousness seem to emerge mysteriously from idiosyncratic networks of neural firings,” seems particularly odd. If you remove the word “mysteriously” this is actually a good summary of the materialist model of neuroscience. Yes – everything we [...]
Democratic pollster Paul Maslin has reduced the coming Obama-McCain contest to 17 key states, and then gamed out routes for Obama victory. For those who like to play the numbers game early, this article in Salon is essential reading. Here is his conclusion: States that strongly favor Obama (“strongly” in the context of close states, [...]
