National Democrats
It’s Not the Economy, Stupid
Speculating on the Presidential Race
Here is a bit of speculation – just for the fun of it – with the first round of Republican Presidential primaries around the corner. Mike Huckabee – Rolls to victory in Iowa, then South Carolina. Which makes him one of the final two Republicans left standing. He will fight it out with either Romney,…
Read MoreWe Know Hillary
Hillary Clinton is imploding in Iowa. Will she finish second or third? So her campaign started a website about “The Hillary You Don’t Know.” Voters do know her. They’ve watched her up close for 16 years. She can’t do what Bill Clinton did in 1992, when he reintroduced himself mid-campaign as The Man From Hope.…
Read MoreThe More Things Change…
It is true that the presidential race – in both parties – has seen numerous twists, turns, surprises and swings in momentum. But it is also true that the fundamental dynamic of both races is the same today as a year ago. For Democrats, the question is still who will make it a two-person race…
Read MoreThe Big O
Oprah Winfrey has shown she can make best-sellers out of books, fads out of diet plans and Dr. Phil out of Dr. Phil. But can she make a front-runner out of Obama? Mr. Conventional Wisdom says no: Celebrity endorsements don’t move voters. But that’s not what Oprah does. She creates The Buzz of The New.…
Read MorePresidential Firing Line
Mike Huckabee is learning the inexorable rule of presidential campaigns – one that Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani learned the hard way: Whoever stands out gets shot at. Huckabee, the self-proclaimed Christian Leader, finds himself in the crosshairs now that he’s jumped up in polls in Iowa, South Carolina and nationally.…
Read MoreThe Democrats Tackle Gay Rights
The Democrats in Congress have gotten themselves into a bit of a tangle over gay rights. The House passed a bill to make discrimination against gays in the workplace illegal – but there’s a twist that left some of their allies unhappy. Legendary Democratic Congressman John Lewis, a leader in the Civil Rights Movement in…
Read MoreIowa Idiocy
After one recent Democratic presidential debate, a couple of people told me they were impressed by Joe Biden and Christopher Dodd. One even liked Dennis Kucinich. (Clearly, some counseling is in order there.) Too bad you can’t vote for any of them. Or anybody else, for that matter. Because of the way our nominating system…
Read MoreDebating Debate Strategy
When campaigns prep for debates, they have to decide which audience is most important: the inside media/politico audience or the voters. Hillary Clinton faced that choice this week. Thursday’s debate was crucial for her. She was bleeding, and the sharks (or piranhas) were circling. She chose to play to the media. Her team figured she…
Read MoreDemocratic Winds Blow South
This week’s elections in Virginia and Kentucky should be encouraging for North Carolina Democrats. Kentucky threw out a Republican incumbent and elected a Democratic governor. Of course, that can be blamed on the incumbent’s scandals. But also, Virginia elected a Democratic Senate for the first time in 12 years. A year after electing a Democratic…
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