Sarah the Scapegoat By Joe Conason
Writing a post-mortem for John McCain's presidential candidacy would be premature. But if and when that moment comes next week, toxic staff infection will be listed as a primary cause of death.
Political Commentary
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October 30, 2008
October 30, 2008
The Last Word--Almost By Larry Sabato
These are our 2008 election projections as of Thursday, October 30. We will make final adjustments and tweaks on Monday afternoon, November 3, and post them to the website. At that point, we will attempt to call the few remaining toss-ups.
October 29, 2008
Is Obama Secretly Sensible? Don't Bet on It By Tony Blankley
As Obama's election has seemed to become more likely in the past six weeks, a quiet but public debate has arisen among both Republicans and Democrats that wonders which Obama we might get.
October 29, 2008
The Back Room By Susan Estrich
I have one word of advice for the fancy folks at the Republican National Committee who shelled out $75,000 at Neiman Marcus and $50,000 at Saks Fifth Avenue, among other places, to dress Sarah Palin and family: Loehmann's.
October 29, 2008
Obama's New New Deal No Better Than the Old One By Michael Barone
With victory in sight, Barack Obama's supporters are predicting that he will give us a new New Deal. To see what that might mean, let's look back on the original New Deal.
October 28, 2008
Greenspan Should Have Stuck With the Clarinet By Froma Harrop
The 1949 movie of Ayn Rand's novel "The Fountainhead" ends with Patricia Neal elevating to the top of a new skyscraper to greet its godlike architect, Gary Cooper.
October 28, 2008
Not Moderates but GOP Wimps By Debra J. Saunders
I've long considered myself a bad Republican. During the Bush administration, for example, I've felt free to whack George W. and Republicans in Congress for passing big-spending bills, such as their pork-rich 2002 farm bill, the underfunded prescription-drug bill and earmark spending. But in 2008, I find that I'm a piker in the bad Republican department.
October 25, 2008
Reagan + Friedman + Keynes: We Need All the Help We Can Get By Lawrence Kudlow
Back in early 1981, when I went to Washington to work for President Reagan, one of the architects of supply-side economics, Columbia University's Robert Mundell, visited my OMB budget-bureau office inside the White House complex.
October 25, 2008
A Reality Check on Obama's Wish List By Michael Barone
What will an Obama administration and a Congress with increased Democratic majorities do? That's a relevant question, given the Democrats' leads in the polls. And it's a little hard to answer, given the financial crisis that has been raging and the recession that seems to be ahead.
October 24, 2008
Keep Worrying By Susan Estrich
My Democratic friends want to know when they can stop worrying.
October 24, 2008
House Race Update By Larry J. Sabato, Isaac Wood, and Paul Wiley
Every week it seems to get worse for House Republicans. As we will demonstrate below, we have expanded the number of possible to likely net gains for Democrats from our previous 15 to 20 to a new and rather astounding 22 to 27 seats.
October 23, 2008
McCain's Socialist Delusion By Joe Conason
Wherever John McCain appears on the stump in these waning days of the presidential campaign, he is always accompanied by his imaginary friend "Joe the Plumber," but it is the specter of Karl Marx that lurks just offstage.
October 23, 2008
Democratic Wave Continues to Build By Larry Sabato
Back in 2002 and 2004, the Crystal Ball brought misery to Democrats and joy to Republicans, as we projected the solid GOP victories that occurred in those years. The cycle of politics is not to be denied, and so in 2006 and now in 2008, there is a role reversal.
October 22, 2008
The Populism Divide By Dick Morris
As the election enters its last two weeks, social populism wars with economic populism to become the major outlet for American anger and angst and to satisfy the demand for change. In his book The Populist Persuasion, Michael Kazin articulates the difference between these two types of populism: economic and social.
October 22, 2008
The Final Days By Susan Estrich
Losing a presidential race is not an easy thing. Losing the primary is one thing. But making it to the finals, so close you can almost taste it, and then watching it slip through your fingers is one of those experiences from which few people ever fully recover.
October 21, 2008
This Year's Hanging Chad By Froma Harrop
Once again in Ohio, the presidential polls are tied and its 20 electoral votes up for grabs. Such scenarios generally don't lend themselves to gentle politics.
October 21, 2008
McCain Sticks to His Guns By Debra J. Saunders
In an age of craven politics, John McCain is not afraid to swim against the tide. When Americans soured on the Iraq War and had begun telling pollsters they wanted out, McCain pushed for a surge of U.S. troops in Iraq. Today, casualties are down dramatically and Iraqi troops are defending Iraqis.
October 18, 2008
Can Joe the Plumber Turn it Around? By Michael Barone
Can Joe Wurzelbacher, Joe the Plumber from Ohio, change the course of this campaign? That’s one question that was raised at the third presidential debate.
October 18, 2008
Is Palin Presidential Timber? By Debra J. Saunders
Is Sarah Palin ready to be president? I haven't seen enough of the GOP vice presidential candidate to get a handle on the answer to that question. I know that she wants to finish the job in Iraq.
October 17, 2008
Mac's Shot at a Late-Game Win By Dick Morris
The short term impact of the third debate will be to help Barack Obama. But the long term implications may give John McCain a needed boost. Obama looked good, but McCain opened the tax-and-spend issue in a way that might prevail.
