National Republicans
Trump’s $1 Billion Bribe
This one stands out – even in the never-ending flood of Donald Trump’s sins, crimes and scandals. But the national media hasn’t given it the same time and space as, say, President Biden’s age or swing-state polls. At Mar-a-Lago last month, The Washington Post reported, Trump told Big Oil executives that if they raised $1…
Read MorePoll Numbers
A political candidate lives in his or her own small world. Fitting a jigsaw puzzle together, figuring out how to win an election, everything a candidate knows goes back to what he sees, hears, likes, fears, what he’s lived through – and there’s only one way he can escape that small world. Poll numbers aren’t…
Read MoreCharacter Hardly Matters
We’ve never seen an election like this one. There was a time, long ago, when a candidate had to pass a ‘smell test’ – a character test – to get elected. If he flunked the test even people who agreed with him, shaking their heads, wouldn’t vote for him. We’re in an era now where…
Read MoreWe Have to Get Rid of Both
Kristi Noem’s attractive. Long brown hair. Glossy lips. A MAGA superstar on Trump’s list of picks for Vice President. Last weekend she went on Face the Nation to sell her new book – sunk herself. In her book, telling a story about meeting North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Noem said, “I’m sure he underestimated…
Read MoreSocial Media Chaos
You’d have to look a long time to find a grander Trumpster than Marjorie Taylor Greene. She’s one of a kind. And so’s he. Both have huge social media ‘Followings’ and like Trump, Greene knows how to set her followers on fire – she just did with three words, Oust Mike Johnson. When she said…
Read MoreTrust Flies Out the Window
Planned Parenthood’s spending a ton of money – $10 million – to elect pro-abortion candidates in North Carolina. Eyes locked on white suburban women it’s running digital ads, knocking on a million doors to elect Joe Biden, the Democrat candidate for governor, and break the Republican super-majority in the state House and Senate. The first…
Read MoreTrump’s Ordeal – Week 1
Trump rolled through two civil trials, hardly blinking, defiant, but at the end of the first week of his criminal trial sitting at the defense table staring straight ahead, eyes sagging, he looked weary. Worn down. A born street fighter, living by the sword, like a reflex Trump punches back whenever someone punches him –…
Read MoreThe Least Harm
Siena College took a poll, Biden crept up, gaining 4 points: Trump 45%, Biden 44%. The New York Times went to work interviewing people who were polled: An Independent voter, a hairdresser, said she saw Trump and Biden as ‘just blah,’ added she saw Biden as ‘the lesser of two evils’: “You can recover from…
Read MoreFooling Voters
Leading Jesse Helms’ campaign back in 1990 Tom Ellis asked pollster John McLaughlin: ‘Who do we want to win the Democratic primary?’ John opened his poll. Turned pages. Looked straight at Tom Ellis. ‘You want Harvey Gantt – not Mike Easley.’ Gantt would be easier for Jesse to beat in the General Election. Jesse’s campaign…
Read MoreBack to Even: The Latest Polls
There’re not many media polls you can trust these days – media polls are done to give newspapers a reason to write stories their readers like. But there are a few reliable polls still around – and they’re showing a strange change in the race between Trump and Biden. For months, Trump’s been leading Biden.…
Read More