National Democrats
Bernie, Donald and Our Depression
Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump are wildly different, but weirdly alike. Sanders was a wild-haired radical who became a white-haired “Democratic socialist” and is roiling the Democratic establishment. Trump was a weird-haired excess symbol who became a reality TV star and is running roughshod over the Republican establishment. Both are buoyed by blue-collar voters who feel screwed…
Read MoreClinton feels the Bern
Hillary Clinton may have a nearly 20-point lead in the latest PPP North Carolina poll, but she and Bernie Sanders are both fighting hard here – and coming here on the last day. Why? Because our delegates divvy up this way: 70 allocated by congressional district, 23 to the statewide winner and 28 “PLEOs” (party…
Read MoreLocation, location, location
Where candidates go can tell you as much as what they say. Take the Clinton, Cruz and Trump campaigns in North Carolina this week. President Bill Clinton was in Raleigh Monday, at the City Market downtown. That’s the epicenter of the North Carolina Democratic Party today. It’s the gathering place for lawyers, new-economy entrepreneurs, urban…
Read MoreA Reckoning
I’m not sure why Donald Trump’s supporters loathe Washington Politicians;—Peggy Noonan says what’s going on is a struggle between people with power (Washington politicians and millionaires) and people without power: That sitting in penthouses and townhomes the powerful have been doing just fine through recessions and hard times while the people without power have been…
Read MoreSuper history
Super Tuesday and Superdelegates are coming through big for Hillary Clinton. For that she owes a big thanks to 1980s Southern Democrats, including Jim Hunt and Terry Sanford. Both “supers” were hatched in the ‘80s by the kind of moderate white Democrats, often from rural areas and small towns, who are scarce today. A Southern…
Read MoreGOP: failure to staunch
Staunch, vt., to check the flow of (blood, etc.) – Webster’s Republicans in our neighboring swing state of Virginia threw all they had behind Marco Rubio to stop Donald Trump. But there was no Marcomentum on Super Tuesday. Now the GOP seems stuck between Trump and Ted Cruz, who may be even more unelectable in…
Read MoreTrump-Clinton debate preview
It will come to this. A 90-minute faceoff that will put Ali-Frazier, Duke-Carolina and all 50 Super Bowls in the shade. Trump has done a lot of debates in this campaign. But every one has been a multi-candidate show. He has had the good luck of being on stage with anywhere from four to seven…
Read MoreHillary IS the firewall
The Washington Post says today, “Donald Trump is well on his way to the 1,237 delegates he needs to be the GOP nominee.” The Super PACs are afraid to take him on. Most of his opponents have fled the field. Only two men stand between Trump and the Republican nomination: Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.…
Read MoreThat was fast
Remember a lifetime ago – actually, last week, after New Hampshire? The Democratic presidential story line was: Hillary’s in trouble. She’s losing young people to Bernie. This could go on a long time. This week, after Nevada, there’s a new story: Hillary has an unassailable lead with delegates. With South Carolina and the SEC primary…
Read MoreBernie’s color barrier
Since Iowa and New Hampshire, the Democratic story line has been Bernie Sanders’s ability to attract and excite young voters (at least, young white voters) and Hillary’s inability to do so, even among young women. But let’s not get carried away by what happened in two snow-white states. The math is simple: There aren’t enough…
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