As the Republican field for 2012 has begun to take (its somewhat curious) shape, the party has backed into something of a tycoon problem. The GOP short list is looking a little too much like a magnet for rich guys. Let’s review the bidding.
With the NATO campaign in Libya growing ever more thorny (and tragic), the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mike Mullen, conceded that the fight between the rebels and pro-government forces is “moving towards stalemate.” And it’s not clear how that stalemate will be broken. Western countries don’t want any substantial escalation of their [...]
–Americans for Tax Reform’s Grover Norquist, arguing that Republican Sen. Tom Coburn should drop out of deficit reduction talks with Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin et al.
John McCain is on the ground in Benghazi, Libya. Bruce Crumley sees the trip as a bellwether of escalation. The war of attrition has slowed. Chris Cillizza mulls the possibility that the 2012 GOP field is already ossified. Sure, Palin was overcovered and Donald Trump is overcovered, but what jumps out on this chart from [...]
Iowa’s Democratic Attorney General Tom Miller is known for taking on big business. Elected to eight four-year terms, he led a multi-state anti-trust case against Microsoft in 2001 and filed a suit against 79 drug companies in 2007, alleging they illegally profited by inflating prices for drugs purchased through Medicaid. Most recently, Miller took the [...]
In the midst of an ethics probe, beleaguered Republican Sen. John Ensign of Nevada announced Thursday that he will resign his office, effective May 3.
In a typically fine column, Josh Green notes that Tim Pawlenty’s Tea Party speech this past Friday didn’t get nearly the attention of speeches in recent days by Sarah Palin and Donald Trump.
Thompson reports President Obama has approved it: Tellingly, Gates didn’t mention their deployment in his opening statement to reporters, but waited to reveal it in response to the first question he got, which ended with: “Is the Libyan regime using cluster bombs?”
–Sen. Kent Conrad, referring to the Gang of Six negotiations to produce a bipartisan long-term deficit reduction package.
If you’re among the thousands of poker players irritated by last Friday’s crackdown on three Internet poker sites–and in the interest of disclosure, I am–the first person you should blame is Bill Frist. In October 2006, the former Senate Majority Leader was mulling a presidential run and eager to curry favor with social conservatives. So [...]
