Informed Speculation

…I’ve been voting in Texas for 21 years now and I’ve never seen as high of a turnout for early voting.  Lines (actual lines!) at the polls – kind of unheard of in these parts. And, since I live in the most liberal city in the state by far, I should also note that of [...]

I’m not going to get bogged down in petty crap like this, but this is pretty pathetic.  You probably know by now that a radio talk show host, Bill Cunningham, kicked off a McCain rally the other day with an inappropriate diatribe against Barack Obama that repeatedly stressed his middle name of “Hussein”.  It was [...]

The big news of the day, of course, is the passing of one of the true fathers of modern American conservatism.  If you want coverage, you’ll find it in all the major outlets, and of course, the National Review website is chock-full of related articles.  I purchased my first Buckley book in high school, so [...]

Okay, folks, strap yourselves into a chair and take a deep breath, because I have shocking news… Are you ready?… Are you sure?… Okay, here goes… Michael Jackson’s Neverland is facing foreclosure! Yeesh – the real news here is that he still has it to begin with… Okay, back to your regularly scheduled programming… UPDATE [...]

…you can be sure it will be on the issues.  This is not the home for slanderous rumors of the sort that are swirling around his candidacy, nor will I allow these sorts of items to go unchallenged in the comments.  You know the kind of nonsense I’m talking about – there’s no need to invite [...]

We’re going to have to deal with the prospect of a possible Barack Obama presidency sooner or later.  We’ll have plenty of opportunity to dwell on the historic nature of his candidacy, as well as the ‘rock star’ aspects of the Obama juggernaut.  I want to focus on policy for the moment, though, particularly on [...]

File this one under bottom story of the day: Ralph Nader is launching a third-party campaign for president. The consumer advocate made the announcement Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” He says most Americans are disenchanted with the Democratic and Republican parties, and that none of the presidential contenders are addressing ways to stem corporate [...]

The vaunted Clinton machine is on deathwatch, there’s no doubt about it.  More and more polls show Texas to be a toss-up (it was solidly Hillary in the ancient past – say, a couple of weeks ago).  Ohio remains Clinton territory, for now, but by single-digits, and the momentum is on the other side.  Many [...]

If you had a hard time getting to the site today, it’s because I had to update my domain name servers (translation: my address changed).  Looks like things are back to normal now. Of course, Hillary and Obama are debating in my fair city at this moment, but the big story of the day was [...]

While I still insist the he has NOT clinched the nomination, it will take a major, major turn of events to derail Barack Obama at this point.  I have been cautious, perhaps overly so, in dismissing the might of the Clinton machine, but connections and power can only take you so far – at some [...]

…I might as well tell you that early voting in the Texas primary began today.  I voted – though I leave it to you to guess the party and candidate.  I’ll also enlighten you to my status as ‘big loser’ – I know, you’re shocked.  But this time, I mean because I was an early [...]

…and with McCain comfortably in front in the polling, most of the attention will be focused on the continuing drama of Obama vs. Clinton.  Obama is up, but only by 4 or 5 points, and that makes this a dangerous race for him.  Why? Because he is expected to win, but as I’ve noted on [...]

…or, in this case, five.  Will has made a habit over the years of posing questions to candidates (who never answer, of course) in his own inimitable withering style.  Today, he poses five question for John McCain, four regarding Iran, one regarding Iraq, that he sees as illuminating as to McCain’s conception of the limits [...]

Well, he’s been making several, but I’ve become accustomed to keeping up with the Gallup Daily Tracking Poll, and for the first time, Obama enjoys a significant lead over Hillary nationally.  Rasmussen has been showing similar results, though the margin is smaller. A sign of the growing desperation in the Hillary camp is this story [...]

So, with Texas in play for the first time in memory, how do the polls look? Surprisingly close, on both sides of the aisle.  The Texas Credit Union League Poll (wtf?) has Clinton up 8, but McCain by merely 4. However, American Research Group has Obama(!) up six, and McCain by the same margin. I’m [...]

Mike Huckabee, take note: Former Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney announced Thursday that he is backing Sen. John McCain in his bid for the Oval Office. “I am honored today to give my full support to Sen. McCain’s candidacy for the presidency of the United States,” Romney said in a joint news conference with Sen. [...]

Either Obama’s advisors are WILDLY optimistic (and they’ve had a damn good run, no doubt), or they’re just messin’ with Hillary’s head now: As we wrote last night, Obama has begun to make his own inevitablity case, and David Plouffe made it explicit on a conference call this morning, telling reporters that it’s now “next [...]

…though McCain needed it more, after the somewhat embarrassing Saturday results.  I suspect McCain wanted to win Virginia by more than 9, but still, a win is a win (and Virginia is winner-take-all)… The interesting thing about the Obama results is that he has been not just winning, but pummeling Hillary…and that’s exactly what he [...]

My refusal to believe that Barack Obama has wrapped up the Democratic nomination at this point has led one long-time reader to call me a shill for Hillary(!).  John Dickerson backs up my ill-defined sense that Hillary may yet pull this thing out with some reasoned analysis: 1. Clinton has a floor: Despite Obama’s successes, [...]

The Democratic contest is hard to call at the moment because of the quasi-mystical b.s. that is starting to float around the Obama candidacy, but there are signs that Hillary is sweating it.  For starters, she just axed her campaign manager – surely never a sign that things are going swimmingly.  Then, of course, there [...]