Interesting tidbit from a HuffPo chat with Axelrod*:
A student of history and a onetime political reporter, Axelrod expressed curiosity and even some optimism about the tea party, suggesting that Obama could work with them on matters such as a ban on spending earmarks and on winding down the war in Afghanistan.
This comes at a …
Paul Krugman really hates the deficit commission’s report working proposals:
If you’re sincerely worried about the US fiscal future — and there’s good reason to be — you don’t propose a plan that involves large cuts in income taxes. Even if those cuts are offset by supposed elimination of tax breaks elsewhere, balancing the
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Yes, Democrats beat back enough Republicans to maintain official control of the U.S. Senate. But Gerry Seib notes that if you take a closer look at who’s left in the chamber and what their incentives will be, Democrats hardly look to be in the driver’s seat:
Among the Senate Democrats, 23 will face re-election in just two years, and,
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Via Stars and Stripes, the GWOT meets Dilbert:
Ladies and Gentleman,
The individuals you see in full PPE and the individuals you see in “Arabic attire” armed with AK-47’s, pistols and IEDs are role players and/or USAG-K reaction force personnel who are conducting TRAINING. Please stop calling the German Police, Military
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Slogging his way through Washington over the past couple of years has certainly demystified Barack Obama. The thoughtful writer with a complex identity and exotic upbringing has gradually morphed into just another an embattled president caught up in tedious Capitol Hill battles with the capital’s usual suspects. But Obama’s remarks up …
Adam makes a good point about the effect of potential Tea Party challenges on voting behavior over the next two years. But it’s worth stepping back to assess the Tea Party’s performance last night.
Christine O’Donnell and Sharron Angle went down hours ago, Ken Buck was recently declared the loser in Colorado, and now Joe Miller on the …
The state’s voters handily approve Prop 755:
State Rep. Rex Duncan, R-Sand Springs, authored State Question 755, which requires state courts to rely only on federal and state laws when deciding cases, and forbids courts to consider international law or Sharia law. It will appear on the Nov. 2 general election ballot.
Duncan said he
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…now has just a 2 percent chance of going Republican, according to Nate Silver, thanks to Democratic wins in Connecticut and West Virginia.
Although as I’ve blogged before, the House is the chamber the Democrats, in an ideal world, probably would have preferred to keep.
If Republicans come up just short of winning the Senate seat tonight, Sarah Palin is going to have some awkward questions to answer about her endorsement.
It’s not clear what will happen to several high-profile Tea Party candidates tonight, including Joe Miller, Ken Buck and Sharron Angle. But at least one of them will be joining the U.S. Senate, and perhaps the one who best represents the movement’s anti-government ethos, fierce constitutionalism, and rejection of the Republican Party …
The big drama right now is just how large the GOP’s gains will be. The consensus seems to be a House pickup in the 55–60 range, roughly, and 6-8 seats in the Senate, leaving Democrats with a narrow and largely unworkable majority in that chamber. (Jon Chait has some sociological complaints with those forecasts.) But I’m also very curious
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So says former Florida Governor Jeb Bush to the WSJ:
“The only privilege that I was born with was to be a citizen of the greatest nation in human history,” he tells a breakfast crowd of supporters at the Original Pancake House in Palm Beach Gardens. “What makes America great is that anyone from anywhere can accomplish anything.” The
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As we head into Tuesday’s vote, it feels like the cake has been baked. Although stunning results are always possible in politics, the real suspense isn’t about Congress. Why? Because even if Democrats maintain control of the House and Senate they’ll almost certainly lose their ability to pass any kind of substantive agenda. Nor is any …
