It's pretty clear that Democrats are less enthusiastic about voting this year than Republicans. The latest evidence comes from Gallup, which reports that Republicans' 3 percent edge in congressional voting among registered voters increases to 13 and 18 points when you include just those likely and very likely to actually vote.
The New York Times has written, in explaining why the political parties have lost the confidence of the public: "Their machinery of intrigue, their shuffling evasions, the dodges, the chicanery and the deception of their leaders have excited universal disgust, and have created a general readiness in the public mind for any new organization that shall promise to shun their vices."
The schoolyard bully used to work his fists.
Last week, CNN fired anchor Rick Sanchez after he called Jon Stewart a bigot in a radio interview during which he also questioned whether Jews face discrimination.
It happened late Wednesday night, so it didn't get much coverage: Speaker Nancy Pelosi cast the deciding vote when the House voted, 210-209, to adjourn.
On Oct. 28, 1980, Albert Greenwood Brown snatched Susan Jordan, 15, raped and strangled her to death with her own shoelace. Brown, who was on parole after raping a 14-year-old girl, then spent the night tormenting the dead girl's parents over the phone, telling them that they would never see their daughter again and where to find the girl's half-nude corpse and belongings. A jury sentenced him to death for that crime.
Am I the only one who saw weakness when President Obama and his departing chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, gave each other big, fat, full-bore hug following their speeches at the resignation event in the White House's East Room on Friday?
Here we go again. Meg Whitman says she had no idea that she was employing an illegal immigrant for nine years and fired Nikki Diaz Santillan as soon as she found out.
For Americans still suffering from persistent unemployment, falling incomes and rising inequality, politicians of either party probably generate little enthusiasm. Yet although political ennui is understandable, the disaffection and demoralization of Democrats has created a dangerous political vacuum that is being filled with misleading data, urban legends and outright lies.
As Election Day nears, more of the House election picture comes into focus.
For now, we are comfortable with the overall projections that we have in the Senate (+7-8 Republican seats) and for Governorships (+8 Republican seats). But that doesn’t mean all the individual contests around the country are static. We have a few ratings changes to announce, and the Crystal Ball also has other races on a watch list.
"What did Meg Whitman know and when did she know it?" publicity hound attorney Gloria Allred asked Wednesday.
Swedish voters have re-elected their center-right prime minister, and that has caused rejoicing among my right-wing colleagues.
Here's an exercise for some evening when you're curious about big nationwide trends in this year's elections.
President Obama is crowing about his small-business bill, signed into law on Monday.
Not long after the tea party sprang into being in the spring of 2009, America's elites started vilifying the movement.
This is supposed to be the year of the (Republican) woman. It is most certainly the year of millionaire business execs no one ever heard of a month or two ago giving Democratic fixtures (e.g., Russ Feingold in Wisconsin and Andrew Cuomo in New York) a run for their money. It is the year of newcomers and fresh faces, without regard to such pesky matters as qualifications (e.g., Sharron Angle in Nevada and Christine O'Donnell in Delaware).
There may be no such thing as a silver bullet in public policy, but universal parental choice is the closest thing we have to one — assuming our politicians summon the courage to run with it.
The House Republicans' "Pledge to America" calls for an extension of the Bush tax cuts for all; a rollback of government spending to pre-stimulus, pre-bailout levels; "strict budget caps," an end to the Troubled Asset Relief Program and the rest of the Obama stimulus package.
