Not many surprises last night, though I do have to say that, with 70 percent of precincts reporting from Ohio, and with Rick Santorum up by some 15,000 votes I called Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas “crazy” over Twitter for maintaining that it would nevertheless be a razor-thin victory for Mitt Romney. Sure, the major [...]
These are heavy times for foreign policy. The Middle East has even — finally — become a major point in the Republican primaries instead of just the usual one-off about bombing the living hell out of those damned dirty Persians! But given that Rush Limbaugh and his penchant for misogyny have taken up just as [...]
During his concession speech in Michigan on Tuesday night, Rick Santorum reminded his audience that, within a brief period, he’s gone from virtual unknown to viable contender for the GOP presidential nomination. “A month ago they didn’t know who we were,” he said. “But they do now!” The crowd went wild. Santorum basked in their [...]
My early analysis of the Michigan race had it going for Santorum, despite the fact that if you took an average of the half dozen or so most-recent polls, Romney was up by about a point and a half. This was based largely on the news that the Duggar family had made its way to [...]
As my favorite political blogger, Charlie Pierce, would say, last night was the 10,575,629th, and last, debate of this primary season. There were no fireworks or confetti cannons to celebrate the event, though for those of us who have followed this damnable process since its outset, there very well should have been. It has been, [...]
Three points made in the title of this piece: Polling, the inevitability of the Romney candidacy as the Republican nominee, and how that candidacy, despite the first point, is actually a good thing. First, the polling. Of the four candidates remaining in the Republican field, Romney unquestionably does better against Obama than anyone else. Poll [...]
Much hay has been made over the last 48 hours about Mexican American presidential candidate Willard M. Romney’s quote regarding the very poor. (I could do the now-cliched bloggery trope in which I hyperlink each word of the preceding sentence to a different outraged column or opinion piece, but I think you’re all smart enough [...]
There was a time when this would have been a fun primary to write about. The rise and fall of Michelle Bachmann, laid low by her own stupidity. Then the rise and fall of Rick Perry, laid low by his stupidity and/or hunting camp. Then the rise and fall of Herman Cain, laid low by [...]
Amid a Republican primary season rich with conflict, one skirmish has been largely overlooked: the battle between conservative news outlets for the rights to kingmaker status. Squarely in the thick of this battle is a cynical, spam-belching, spin-happy website from West Palm Beach called Newsmax [...]
To the Republicans of Florida: I’m writing to discuss with you that sense of foreboding that haunted your polling places on Tuesday; that evil shudder that crawled up your backbone and down your arm, causing your fingers to jag ever so slightly toward the name “Newt Gingrich” before proceeding on their foreordained course to “Mitt [...]