The Battle of the Party Themes By Michael Barone
The national conventions are political shows staged to influence voters. Soon, we can measure the bounce that the two tickets have received from their gatherings.
Commentary by Michael Barone
Most Recent Releases
September 6, 2008
August 30, 2008
Outrageous Vulnerabilities By Michael Barone
As this is written, with a deadline looming, I have not heard Barack Obama's acceptance speech at Invesco Field and have not learned who is John McCain's choice for vice president.
August 23, 2008
The Chosen Obama Narrative By Michael Barone
Once upon a time, the two parties' national conventions chose presidential nominees. Now, they are television shows that try to establish a narrative -- one that links the long-since-determined nominee's life story with the ongoing history of the nation, one that shows how this one man is perfectly positioned to lead America to a better future. The hope is that the nominee will get a bounce in the polls.
August 16, 2008
Echoes of Berlin By Michael Barone
Last week, the two erstwhile communist superpowers were in the spotlight. Starting on Aug. 8, China staged the Olympics -- an event on the schedule for years. Also on Aug. 8, Russia invaded the independent republic of Georgia -- which apparently caught our government flatfooted.
August 10, 2008
The Ghosts of Political Leanings By Michael Barone
To understand changes in the political map, we naturally tend to look for contemporary explanations. But American political alignments are not written on an empty slate. Beginnings matter, and the civic personalities of states tend to reflect the cultural folkways of their first settlers.
August 2, 2008
Polls Continue to Show an Unstable Presidential Campaign By Michael Barone
Just when you think you've got the presidential race figured out, something comes along to upend your carefully wrought conclusions.
July 26, 2008
A Step Back From Enviro Lunacy By Michael Barone
Sometimes public opinion doesn't flow smoothly; it shifts sharply when a tipping point is reached. Case in point: gas prices. $3 a gallon gas didn't change anybody's mind about energy issues. $4 a gallon gas did.
July 19, 2008
Ghosts of 1976 in Today's Campaign By Michael Barone
Looking back over the last 40 years, the presidential campaign that most closely resembles this year's is the contest between Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter in 1976. The Republicans were the incumbent presidential party that year, as they are now, but the Democrats had a big advantage in party identification -- on the order of 49 percent to 26 percent then, far more than today.
July 12, 2008
We're Not Leaving By Michael Barone
Sixty years ago this month, the top story in campaign year 1948 was not the big poll lead of Republican nominee Thomas Dewey or the plight of President Harry Truman. It was the Berlin airlift.
July 5, 2008
Obama's Candidacy is a Test By Michael Barone
"They're going to try to make you afraid of me," Barack Obama told the audience at a Jacksonville fundraiser last month. "He's young and inexperienced and he's got a funny name. And did I mention he's black?" Obama was doing here by inference what many of his supporters do more explicitly.
June 28, 2008
Why Veeps Now Matter By Michael Barone
"Not Exactly a Crime" is the title of a book on America's vice presidents published in 1972 -- a year before Vice President Spiro Agnew was forced to resign for actually committing a crime.
June 21, 2008
The Facts in Iraq Are Changing By Michael Barone
As we enter the second half of the campaign year, facts are undermining the Democratic narrative that has dominated our politics since about the time Hurricane Katrina rolled into the Gulf coast -- most importantly, the facts about Iraq.
June 14, 2008
In Defense of Lobbyists By Michael Barone
Barack Obama has long said that his campaign will not accept contributions from lobbyists, and now that he is the presumptive nominee, the Democratic National Committee won't accept them, either.
June 7, 2008
General Election Campaign Begins With New Playing Field By Michael Barone
Almost precisely at the midpoint between the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3 and the general election on Nov. 4, the general election campaign is on. Neither party's nominee swept the primaries.
May 31, 2008
The Economy: A Reality Check By Michael Barone
"It's the economy, stupid," James Carville famously said during the 1992 campaign, when a young Bill Clinton was running against the other President Bush. The same could be said during this presidential campaign. The headlines are full of economic bad news -- mortgage foreclosures, the collapse of an investment bank, higher gas and food prices and lower home prices.
May 24, 2008
The Rev. Wright Connection Still Haunts Obama By Michael Barone
As Barack Obama makes his slow but steady way toward the Democratic nomination, the assumption in the admiring precincts of the press corps is that voters have dismissed as irrelevant his longtime association with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
May 17, 2008
An Unconventional 2008 Election Season By Michael Barone
What makes this presidential election different from all other presidential elections? And different from what we expected when the year began?
May 10, 2008
Rethinking the Iraq Critics By Michael Barone
In trying to understand news about the conflicts in Iraq, I work to keep in mind the difference between what we know now about decision making in World War II and what most Americans knew at the time.
May 3, 2008
Wright Controversy Affects the Polls By Michael Barone
Is the bottom falling out for Barack Obama? It's too early to say that, but there are some disturbing signs. On the positive side, superdelegates still are breaking his way.
April 26, 2008
Popular Vote Gives Clinton an Edge By Michael Barone
One thing many people haven't noticed about Hillary Clinton's 55 percent to 45 percent victory over Barack Obama in the Pennsylvania primary is that it put her ahead of Obama in the popular vote.
