The Senate today adjourned after voting on an amendment to the Federal Aviation Reauthorization bill. Senate Democrats are heading south to Charlottesville, Virginia for their annual retreat. We had expected that they would be back late Wednesday or Thursday for more votes — particularly on a resolution on Egypt. But, the galleries tell …
I must beg to differ with my esteemed colleague, Michael Scherer. Michael this morning posted a CNN poll as proof that Republican voters are pragmatists who will bear an open mind to moderate candidates such as former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman in the 2012 presidential primaries. Michael cited John McCain’s selection in 2008 as proof …
A year ago most reporters were writing John Ensign’s political obituary. The Nevada senator had admitted to an affair with a longtime staffer and was under investigation by the feds for payments his parents made to the staffer’s husband to allegedly keep him quiet. Many in Nevada wondered why Ensign didn’t step aside and allow a …
Her life has been relatively short for a memoir, but if Amazon.com is to be believed one is in the works. The dancing! The dish on Levi! Buy it now for only $17.15.
Rep. Jane Harman, a California Blue Dog Dem is going, she announced today, to head up the Woodrow Wilson Center. Also leaving: Senators Kent Conrad and Joe Lieberman.
Staying thus far are Reps. John Dingell, John Conyers and Barney Frank — all of whom have already announced their plans to run again. If this seems rather early, it’s …
UPDATED
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXA1_6Dkk9I]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3Z3YOcbd00]
Sarah Palin wants Americans to know they have a choice before them. “We are at a cross roads,” she said in a speech last night at the Reagan Ranch Center in Santa Barbara marking Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday. …
Senator John McCain is heading to the White House as I type this to meet with President Obama. I have a story out in this week’s dead tree edition, out early here, on the rapprochement of the former rivals as both trek back to the political center.
In the last three out of five elections one or both of the chambers of Congress has flipped. Are the waves over? And even if they are, could Dems lose the Senate in 2012 anyway?
On the face of it, Democrats have a tough cycle ahead of them. They hold the Senate with 53 seats right now, meaning Republicans only need to flip four to …
On the day he died, Judge John Roll was waiting to speak with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords about getting an additional judge added to the 9th Circuit Court in Arizona. Giffords had been trying to help Roll deal with the massive backlog facing the state’s federal courts. Roll’s death will only worsen the judicial log jam as Arizona grapples …
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan did an admirable job rebutting President Obama’s state of the union speech tonight. As Republicans with more stature have learned the hard way, ahem Bobby Jindal, answering the President’s hour-long speech in under 15 minutes can be tough. But the Wisconsin Republican’s biggest competition
…
A couple of years ago a few regular swampland commentators have created their own blog, Political Lagoon. But now, we have a swamp exchange animated so we can all hear and see — albeit in moderated, robotic tones that probably don’t reflect the writers’ inner voices — a swampland commentator debate in real …
Ashley Westbrook Turton, 37, was a fierce advocate. She was a mother, a public servant, a daughter, a Democrat, a sister and, yes, a lobbyist. She was a demure southern belle with a sometimes R-rated vocabulary. She was a debutante who loved the Grateful Dead so much she went to a concert shortly before giving birth to one of her …
Two years ago, the GOP was reeling from two brutal elections and a seeming eternity in the minority. As they gather for their annual winter meeting this year they have control of one chamber of Congress and are within striking distance of the other. That will not save, it seems, Chairman Michael Steele whose tenure was marked with gaffs …
