Updated, 7:25 a.m.
Tea Party activists on Tuesday punctuated a primary season with no shortage of surprises by delivering their sharpest blow yet to the Republican establishment. In the race for the party’s Senate nomination in Delaware—one of seven states (plus the nation’s capital) where voters headed to the polls in the last …
It’s hard to try to put this one in perspective. There may never have been a losing primary candidate more favored by his state and national party than Mike Castle. The chairman of the state GOP, Tom Ross, worked as a virtual spokesman for the Castle campaign, leading the attack against Christine O’Donnell. The RNC was officially backing …
Arlington Heights, Ill
Event: Dropping Jim Pinkerton off at the train
Gotta say, it’s always an adventure to spend 24-hours with Jim Pinkerton. I’ve known him for 23 years now and he has one of the least predictable, and best, minds in the political universe. When I first met him, he was a realistic libertarian: “Even the …
Arlington Heights, Ill.
I’ve been doing more talking than listening the past few days, what with Rodney Crowell and Jim Pinkerton as traveling companions…if these Refrigerator walls could talk, they’d tell you some great tales about Rodney’s former father-in-law Johnny Cash and you’d hear a startling disquisition from Pinkerton on …
Former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson joins Hillary Clinton and the chorus blaming the media for Rev. Terry Jones today, arguing that by covering the would-be Koran desecrator we enabled the creation of “something new, something that will be studied for generations: the propaganda of the idiotic gesture.”
On the contrary, the …
It’s been five weeks since anyone’s seen anyone and the Senate this afternoon felt a lot like College coming back after a break. Maybe not a summer break, but a long one – like Christmas/Hanukah/Kwanza. Senators, reporters and staff milled about chatting about their vacations, codels and campaigns. The Capitol Police, usually …
Together at last, on the issue of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
Reid promises a DADT vote for next week, although a likely GOP filibuster seems like a pretty big obstacle.
Arlington Heights, Ill.
Traveling Companion: Jim Pinkerton
Event: Actually, this happened a few days ago in Detroit.
I’ve been thinking about a story I was told over breakfast in Detroit on Saturday–a monologue, almost–by Mark Kirkwood, who works at Statewide Disaster Restoration, a company that rebuilds homes and …
In a quick break from politics here, check out this priceless story about the Italian mafia’s adventures in wind farms and solar energy.
Sharon, Wisconsin
Traveling Companion: Jim Pinkerton
Event: Raymond Hubbard Casts A Vote
We’re standing at the Sharon, Wisconsin, town hall, which is essentially a garage plopped in the middle of cornfields. It’s about 8:30 am, blue sky, no tears. This is where the metropolis of Sharon votes–and we’re waiting for one …
Wise words from Ezra Klein:
It’s not that there is no argument too crazy to be obsessed over by liberals, but that there’s no crazy argument liberals won’t obsess over. They’ll totally ignore plenty of arguments that aren’t that crazy. And so too will conservatives. But the crazy stuff is fun to write about, or put on television. It
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Allow me to introduce the newest addition to our ever-growing Swampland team, Massimo Calabresi.
A Washington Correspondent for TIME since 1999, Massimo has done stints covering the State, Treasury and Justice Departments, the CIA, the White House and Congress. Prior to that he served as Central Europe Bureau Chief during the Balkan …