In a hard-won victory for Democrats and their labor-union allies, Ohioans decisively rejected the state’s collective-bargaining law on Tuesday night, repealing Republican Governor John Kasich’s signature legislation in a …
2012 Election
Cain Wreck: Herman Cain’s Disaster Tour Continues
In his lame excuse for a no-holds-barred press conference late Tuesday afternoon, Herman Cain said he relishes talking directly to the American people. But despite the new ways in which candidates can circumvent the national …
The Candidate Religious Voters Want in 2012
The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life this afternoon released a report on presidential preferences for religious groups. The polling was conducted between Sept. 22-Oct. 4, before the Cain roller coaster took off, but it still offers insight into how key Christian voting blocs will play in 2012.
Herman Cain’s Clintonesque Strategy
Imagine this: A charismatic southern man is running for President, enjoying a surprising degree of success, when all of a sudden, women start coming out of the woodwork accusing him of sexual indiscretions. This candidate denies these accusations and his campaign begins to attack the women making them. Sound familiar? It’s Bill Clinton circa 1992.
For Black Conservatism, the Right Time and the Wrong Candidate
Herman Cain’s improbable rise to the top of Republican presidential primary polls — and the prospect that two black men, including an incumbent, could compete head-on for the White House next year — should be proof that American politics has moved beyond race. Instead, Cain’s candidacy has been marred by empty self-promotion, …
Sharon Bialek: The Fourth Herman Cain Accuser Has a Name and Face
Herman Cain had a bad week last week. This week, there are pictures.
On Monday, a fourth woman accused Cain of sexually inappropriate behavior during his tenure with the National Restaurant Association. Represented by …
What Herman Cain and Kim Kardashian Have in Common
Kim Kardashian got married. Now she’s getting a divorce. Lindsay Lohan went to jail. Now she is being released. Paris Hilton went to a party. Now she wants to be a DJ. We know all this because there is a whole industry built up around chronicling the lives of people who are famous for no other reason than their fame. As Daniel Boorstin …
Another Facet of the Generational Divide: Dollars and Cents
Michael Crowley’s excellent analysis of recent Pew data on the yawning chasm between the values of Millennials and those of the “Silent Generation” provides a compelling Theory of Everything for this political moment: Cultural trends in technology, immigration and race have driven older, whiter Americans further to the right, and their …
How’d That Whole Lincoln-Douglas Debate Thing Go?
From Herman Cain’s and Newt Gingrich’s pay-per-view book promotion forum over the weekend:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfTf8hbk3n0]
What Mitt Romney’s Fiscal Plan Says About GOP Tax Cut Mania
Dick Cheney was once memorably quoted as declaring, during a Bush White House debate about tax cuts, “deficits don’t matter.” In the telling, Cheney insisted that Ronald Reagan had proven the axiom by overseeing a huge expansion …
Maybe Cain Should Be Thanking Politico
The latest poll showing durability to Herman Cain’s numbers has me siding with an argument that initially seemed wacky to me: that the sexual harassment charges against Cain might wind up doing him a favor. Here’s the idea: Even …
Romney Claims Deficit High Ground vs. Perry
I recently wrote about the deficit-busting implications of Rick Perry’s tax plan, and his surprising indifference to them. On Thursday, Mitt Romney’s campaign whacked Perry on this very point. ROMNEY TO PERRY: DEFICITS MATTER, is the headline of the latest release from Mitt’s Boston headquarters, which cites a slew of commentary noting …
The Generational Divide That Will Define 2012
It’s well known that the U.S. is rife with political division: red vs. blue, the coasts vs. the interior, cities vs. rural areas, the 1% vs. the 99%. Less discussed is the yawning gap that has recently opened between young and …