(Hey, there’s a clever title.)
Practically since the morning after the 2004 election, I described myself as a “draft Feingold/weak Edwards/anybody-but-Hillary man” for 2008. But John Edwards was out of the race by the time of the Wisconsin primary, so I cast a vote that I would characterize as 51 percent for Obama and 49 percent […]

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve watched the McCain Misdirection America Tour take flight and have been really frustrated that neither of our “dream” candidates have taken the obvious opportunity to define McCain before he gets up and running. After all, this guy is as much bait and switch as Bush’s compassionate conservative […]

BDR’s post on the “cultlike” Obama movement nearly made my head explode. Not because of BDR’s cynicism about Obama himself—while I wouldn’t put it in the same words, I think it’s obvious that even if it sounds that way now, Obama would not govern in the overlords-be-damned way a Kucinich might—but because of that CNN […]

“For shame, for shame.  Obama pushed the wrong button while voting in the Illinois State Legislature and cost a child welfare office millions of dollars of its funding.  Not only that, it wasn’t the first time that Obama “accidentally” pushed the wrong button.  He did it six times.  Is he that sloppy or is he […]

In the midst of the discussion about the Bradley Effect and whether Hillary’s tears were contrived or spontaneous, the pivotal events march on by the minute. A couple of things: Bush is positioning himself as the savior of the Middle East and thinks he’s brokered a real Israeli/Palestinian peace accord. Is that […]

The majority of today’s voters don’t remember how Richard Nixon trumped the American political psyche by crying and invoking the image of his pet doggie “Checkers” during a speech dissociating himself from a “slush fund” scandal. Wittingly or unwittingly, Hillary copped a page from the Dickster, gaining voter sympathy by crying or “almost crying” during her New Hampshire […]

My interest in the Iowa caucuses stems from having lived there for most of two decades. I take mild offense at all the inbred-pig-farmer jokes made by people dissing the caucuses, although many of those same jokers are spot-on about the blinding cultural whiteness of the place. I’ve been to New Hampshire once in my […]

As the hours tick off and Obama’s lead catapults into double-digits over Hillary and Edward the Impaler, the hunger for someone, anyone, who has an ounce of authenticity and charisma comes into sharp relief. And it’s scary.
Not that I distrust Obama or his abilities or motives. Not that I won’t wholeheartedly support him […]

There are a lot of things that could have been said about Hillary Clinton’s campaign, but until last night’s flat and condescending concession speech, “feckless” was not one of them. For a campaign that has been touted as rigorously disciplined and on-message, there was no message whatsoever, other than “I’m ready.” I think […]

A friend who’s lived in Iowa a long time, and who was a precinct captain for Joe Biden last night, checked in this morning with a report on the caucus in her neighborhood.
. . . [T]here actually was a good bit of rejection of Hillary tonight, if you look at what was happening on the […]