A Swampland competition to plot a profitable post-campaign future for the former Speaker.
Elections
Forget Ohio: Obama’s Fate Still Resides in… Europe
Talk about swing states all you want, but today’s Dow drop stems from renewed financial trouble in Spain, which has the clammy grey hand of a catastrophic Eurozone crisis on the stock market’s shoulder again. (That, despite a modestly good indicator about domestic job growth.) Our brilliant Rana Foroohar suggests that a European …
The ‘Veepstakes’ Begins: A Brief History of Vice Presidential Vetting
These are dull days for political junkies. At minimum, Mitt Romney is more than a month away from wrapping up the Republican nomination, but the drama of the GOP primary has evaporated. Pundits and observers need to chew on some …
A History of the ‘Veepstakes’ in Pictures
A gallery of winners (and losers) from the vice presidential vetting process through the years.
Barack Obama vs. ‘Folks’ (a.k.a. Mitt Romney)
Barack Obama never mentioned Mitt Romney when he spoke at the United Auto Workers Convention on Tuesday. But when Obama said “folks,” he meant Romney. When Obama said “these politicians,” he meant Romney. And when Obama said “some politicians,” he meant Romney.
A Draw in Michigan Won’t Solve Romney’s Problems
In baseball, a tie goes to the runner. But in presidential primaries, a tie goes against the front runner.
In a matter of hours, America will discover if Mitt Romney can pull out a squeaker in his native state of Michigan. As of this morning, Nate Silver, the whiz-kid of poll-based projections, pegs the state too close to call, with a …
How Santorum’s Scolding Is Dooming His Campaign
In the early summer of 2006, then-Senator Rick Santorum was facing a tough reelection challenge, trailing Pennsylvania’s Treasurer Bob Casey by 9 points and struggling to shed his image as a Washington insider. So Santorum …
Obama Cashes in on Auto-Bailout Success, but Skepticism of Government Remains
On Thursday, Pew released some timely data on three major federal undertakings that defined the beginning of President Barack Obama’s first term: the bank bailout, passed under George W. Bush just before Obama took office; the …
Happy Presidents Day: A Surprising Fact About What it Costs to Elect Them
Surprising data point of the day via Mother Jones: The cost of presidential campaigns did not grow dramatically in the latter half of the 20th century (after the advent of television ad spending, I’m speculating). In fact, in 2011 dollars, 1968’s Nixon-Humprey-Wallace contest cost significantly more than the campaigns of the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s:
Caucuses, the Embarrassing Step-Child of American Democracy
Sure it took a month to declare the actual winner of the Iowa caucuses, tallies from eight precincts were lost altogether and vote counting in Nevada dragged on for days, but you can’t really understand the depth of dysfunction in the caucus system until you behold the caricature of incompetence that is Maine.
The United States Of America Still Doesn’t Know How To Vote
You want an argument against American exceptionalism? Take a look at how the nation votes. According to a new report by the Pew Center for The States, the U.S. voting system remains “plagued with errors and inefficiencies that …
Rick Santorum’s Unlucky Timing
The morning after his three-state sweep of Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri, Rick Santorum is finally getting a bit of credit. But for a guy who’s now won more nominating contests than any other Republican presidential candidate (if you charitably count Missouri’s meaningless pageant), Santorum stands to reap few rewards for his efforts. …
Was Tuesday Night Really So Terrible for Mitt Romney?
I’m wondering if Tuesday night’s results in Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri really were so atrocious for Mitt Romney. As Alex Altman noted last night, there’s one obvious upside: Rick Santorum’s big night complicates the anti-Mitt movement, ensuring that conservative opposition to Romney remains divided. Tuesday night’s results might …