One of the most damaging moments for Rick Santorum in Wednesday night’s debate came when Mitt Romney reminded Republicans that, in 2004, Santorum had endorsed Arlen Specter, then his fellow GOP Senator from Pennsylvania, in a high-profile primary fight against a more conservative challenger. Specter was fighting for his political life against Pat Toomey, and Santorum’s blessing (along with George W. Bush’s) helped to inoculate Specter against Toomey’s charge that he was a contemptible RINO.
Here’s a wrap up of the first day of questioning in the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing to confirm Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. Kagan has been pretty successful in her charm offensive – disarming her would-be opponents with her quick wit and sense of humor (see above for and ABC mash up [...]
In a statement, Joe Sestak recounts pretty much the same story the White House is giving about its efforts to persuade him to stay out of the Senate race in Pennsylvania. Via Dave Weigel, here’s what Sestak says happened: Last summer, I received a phone call from President Clinton. During the course of the conversation, [...]
Is here. In the memo, White House chief counsel Bob Bauer says that Sestak was approached (via Bill Clinton) in June and July 2009 about an unpaid position in the Obama Administration, “which would avoid a divisive Senate primary.” (Arlen Specter switched from the Republican to Democratic parties in April 2009.) The White House memo [...]
From the top of my Time.com story about last night: This is how it goes in 2010 at the ballot box: old orders are upended, political lions become roadkill, chosen successors get left behind and the outsider, riding a wave of discontent, becomes the new front-runner. In quick succession Tuesday night, the jittery inhabitants of [...]
There are a lot of races this week — perhaps the busiest primary week since the 2008 season. Here’s a story from me about the five top Democratic primaries. Obviously, as I mention, there’s also the Rand Paul/Trey Grayson smackdown in Kentucky on the Republican side which it looks like Paul will likely win in [...]
