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Commentary by Robert D. Novak

Most Recent Releases

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March 6, 2008

Why She Isn't Dead: An Inside Report by Robert D. Novak

The scope of Hillary Clinton's latest resurrection can be appreciated only in light of the elaborate preparations that had been made for her expeditious burial. That she is very much alive can be attested to her true grit but also the revelation Barack Obama is not the miraculously perfect candidate after all.

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March 3, 2008

Obama's Former Friend: An Inside Report by Robert D. Novak

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As Sen. Barack Obama nears the Democratic presidential nomination, a corruption trial of his former fund-raiser Antoin (Tony) Rezko on charges of influence peddling begins in Chicago today (Monday).

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March 1, 2008

Bailing Out Barack: Inside Report by Robert D. Novak

Supporters of Sen. Barack Obama concede that Sen. Hillary Clinton's aggressiveness rescued him from a serious blunder in last Tuesday's presidential debate at Cleveland, when he hesitated at rejecting a lavish endorsement of him by black Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan.

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February 28, 2008

How Not to Run for VP: An Inside Report by Robert D. Novak

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Minnesota's Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty carefully prepared his plan for controlling greenhouse gas emissions to present it at the annual Washington winter meeting of governors.

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February 25, 2008

Who Will Bell Hillary?: An Inside Report by Robert D. Novak

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Even before Sen. Barack Obama won his ninth-straight contest against Sen. Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin last Tuesday, wise old heads in the Democratic Party were asking this question: Who will tell her that it's over, that she cannot win the presidential nomination and the sooner she leaves the race the more it will improve chances of defeating Sen. John McCain in November?

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February 23, 2008

Clinton’s Crumbling Ohio Firewall: An Inside Report by Robert D. Novak

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- After Sen. Barack Obama's decisive victory over Sen. Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland was reported expressing doubt to political colleagues about whether he could hold his state for Clinton during the two weeks remaining before Ohio's Democratic presidential primary March 4.

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February 21, 2008

Our Man in Islamabad: An Inside Report by Robert D. Novak

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Overwhelming repudiation of President Pervez Musharraf by Pakistan's voters did not immediately dilute the Bush administration's support for him. On the contrary, the first election returns were barely in Monday night when the U.S. government began pressing victorious opposition leaders not to impeach the former military strongman.

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February 18, 2008

Torts and Terrorism: An Inside Report by Robert D. Novak

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A closed-door caucus of House Democrats last Wednesday took a risky political course. By four to one, they instructed Speaker Nancy Pelosi to call President Bush's bluff on extending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to continue eavesdropping on suspected foreign terrorists. Rather than passing the bill with a minority of the House's Democratic majority, Pelosi obeyed her caucus and left town for a 12-day recess without renewing the government's eroding intelligence capability.

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February 16, 2008

Hillary's "McGovern" Problem: An Inside Report by Robert D. Novak

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Strategists for Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign believe it is imperative to identify her high-flying opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, with the "McGovern wing" of the Democratic Party -- but they want to keep their candidate's fingerprints off the attack.

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February 14, 2008

Remaking New Orleans: An Inside Report by Robert D. Novak

NEW ORLEANS -- The imposing presence of Robert A. Cerasoli as the city's first inspector general is the clearest sign that Hurricane Katrina's changes wrought on New Orleans in 2005 were not limited to physical devastation. By declaring war on municipal corruption, Cerasoli has signaled that life in the Big Easy no longer will be so easy.

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February 11, 2008

The Bradley Effect?: An Inside Report by Robert D. Novak

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Which Democrat really won Super Tuesday? Thanks to the Democratic Party's proportional representation, it is not easy to say a week later. Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama ran a virtual dead heat for delegates that day in 22 states clearly stacked in Obama's favor. But the way Obama lost California raises the specter of the dreaded Bradley Effect.

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February 9, 2008

McCain at CPAC: An Inside Report by Robert D. Novak

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sen. John McCain's managers, fearing an unfavorable reaction at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Thursday, wanted to precede his speech with a video of Ronald Reagan praising McCain.

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February 7, 2008

GOP's Anti-Pork Nominee: An Inside Report by Robert D. Novak

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Mississippi's top two Republicans took sharply different views of Sen. John McCain as he moved toward their party's presidential nomination. Gov. Haley Barbour went on the Fox News Channel as primary returns came in Tuesday night to suggest the time was near to stop the contest and accept McCain as the winner. A few days earlier, Sen. Thad Cochran declared that his colleague from Arizona was not fit to be president.

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February 4, 2008

Democratic Stalemate : An Inside Report by Robert D. Novak

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Terrence McAuliffe, the multimillionaire wheeler-dealer imposed by the Clintons on the Democratic National Committee as its chairman after the 2000 election, quickly paid back his benefactors. He designed a front-loaded primary system intended to confirm Sen. Hillary Clinton as presidential nominee by Feb. 5. Contrary to expectations, however, no choice will be made for months and perhaps not until the national convention at Denver in late August.

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February 2, 2008

Bush Against Romney : An Inside Report by Robert D. Novak

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- While President George W. Bush has maintained neutrality among contenders for the Republican presidential nomination, he privately expresses to friends his exasperation with Mitt Romney's hard-line stance on immigration.

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January 31, 2008

Is McCain a Conservative?: An Inside Report by Robert D. Novak

As John McCain neared his momentous primary election victory in Florida after a ferocious campaign questioning his conservative credentials, right-wingers buzzed over word that he had privately suggested that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was too conservative. In response, Sen. McCain recalled saying no such thing and added Alito was a "magnificent" choice. In fact, multiple sources confirm his negative comments about Alito nine months ago.

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January 28, 2008

Hillary's Brown Firewall: A Commentary by Robert D. Novak

LOS ANGELES -- Sen. Hillary Clinton is relying on the big Latino vote as her firewall to prevent losing the California Democratic primary Feb. 5, the most important of 22 states contested on Mega Tuesday. But that reliance, say both pro-Clinton and anti-Clinton Democrats, is fraught with peril for the Democratic Party's coalition by threatening to alienate its essential African-American component.

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January 25, 2008

Attorney General Edwards?: An Inside Report by Robert Novak

Illinois Democrats close to Sen. Barack Obama are quietly passing the word that John Edwards will be named attorney general in an Obama administration.

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January 24, 2008

Business as Usual GOP: An Inside Report by Robert D. Novak

When House Republicans convene behind closed doors today (Thursday) at the Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, W.V., they have a chance to make two bold moves to restore their reputation for fiscal responsibility.

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January 22, 2008

Front-Runner McCain: An Inside Report by Robert D. Novak

Sen. John McCain's win over Mike Huckabee in South Carolina was no landslide, but stands as by far the most important win in his quest for the presidency. It means that McCain by any measurement is the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination.