Elizabeth Warren says she’s struggled with the “hard learning curve” of electoral politics and was blindsided by the …
Massachusetts
Partisanship, Principle Color Massachusetts Senate Race
On a recent sweltering Tuesday night in Brockton, Mass., Elizabeth Warren told a crowd of 200 people packed into a storefront campaign office that she’s no typical campaigner. “I’m not a politician,” she said. It’s a line she …
Bain Already Killed Mitt Romney Once. And I Was a Witness.
I haven’t studied the details of Mitt Romney’s tenure at Bain & Co. And I’m no expert in political tactics; when I write about them, it’s usually to make a larger point about a politician. My only credential for discussing whether Bain will hurt Romney in 2012 is that I lived in Massachusetts in 1994, when he was running for …
Can a Bipartisan Pact Really Disarm the Super PAC Arsenal in Massachusetts?
From its start, the race for Ted Kennedy’s old Senate seat seemed destined to be one of most expensive political battles in Massachusetts history. Challenger Elizabeth Warren, bank-scolding darling of the left, and Scott Brown, …
Not Beating Elizabeth Warren, GOP Admakers Try to Join Her
Back in early November, the Republican independent expenditure juggernaut Crossroads GPS wanted to take Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren down a peg, so they cut an ad insinuating that her attempts to rein in big banks had put spark to the dry tinder in Zuccotti Park. “Elizabeth Warren sides with extreme left protests,” a …
Tuesday’s Primaries
Tuesday is primary day in seven states and the District of Columbia. This will be the last major primary before the midterm elections (only one state remains after this: Hawaii on Sept. 18). Even this late in the game there are still some fascinating races to watch. Here are five:
- Mike Castle v. Christine O’Donnell, Republicans for
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Being Mitt Romney
Michael and I have both written before about Mitt Romney’s health care quandary. He was the architect of the Massachusetts reform plan that closely resembles the new national plan that just became law. Yet, he’s also a presumed candidate for president in 2012 and would be vying for the nomination of a party that has staked its …
Why is Mitt Romney Still Talking About Health Care?
Mitt Romney is a competent politician and competent politicians usually know how to duck questions about topics they don’t want to talk about. They respond briefly and vaguely and then turn to something slightly related, but far less politically toxic. This is the pivot and it’s a skill every politician must have down pat. So why does …
Mitt Romney and the Nuance Trap
One advantage the GOP had in the health debate was its total disregard for nuance when it came to messaging. Again and again, Republicans over-simplified provisions in the Democratic plan and convinced a lot of Americans that reform was bad in the process. They said the bill would gut Medicare by slashing half a trillion dollars in …
Abortion and Health Reform
All along, the argument over abortion coverage has missed the mark, in my view. It has been all about how abortion is paid for, when what most people would like to see are fewer abortions.
No one has addressed the question of whether reforming the health care system would make a difference in the number of abortions performed in …
The Shot Heard Around the World
Okay, I think I’m done with the Revolutionary War allusions, but for Dems Mass AG Martha Coakley’s close race is a real scare. And even scarier: that the DSCC has been forced to spend money on her (we’ll soon see how much). Precious money that could have been used to defend Harry Reid — as if his week could get worse, Blanche Lincoln, …
Ted Kennedy, 1932-2009
Ted Kennedy fought longer than the doctors had expected he could, and yet, died before he could see the outcome of the battle that he had often described as the greatest cause of his life. “This whole issue in terms of universal and comprehensive care has always burned in my soul,” he said in a fiery speech on the floor of the …
Concerns for Teddy Kennedy
A story today on Kennedy. We hope he recovers.
