Informed Speculation

In the end, the position of the DNC lawyers prevailed:
Members of a Democratic rules committee voted on Saturday to seat all of Florida’s and Michigan’s delegation to the party’s national convention and give their delegates a half vote each.
A first vote, which would have seated all of Florida’s delegation with full voting privileges, failed. [...]

Every election cycle, prominent liberal celebrities promise to remove their obnoxious presence from our fair shores if the Republican wins, to hilarious effect. This time, it’s Susan Sarandon:
“If McCain gets in, it’s going to be very, very dangerous,” she says.

“It’s a critical time, but I have faith in the American people. If they [...]

That’s the question in today’s election news, as the lawyers weigh in:
Democratic Party lawyers have determined that no more than half the delegates from Florida and Michigan can be seated at the party’s August convention, dealing a blow to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s efforts to seat the full delegations from those states.
The rules committee [...]

…is not that lack of eloquence means lack of intelligence, but rather that a president who cannot speak well cannot sell well.  Now, Iraq was hardly going to be an easy sell (it WAS an easy sell, until the much-expected WMD stockpiles turned out to be a mirage), but President Bush (and this is coming [...]

An entertaining look at some of the lowlights, rhetorically speaking, of Campaign 2008 to help ease your transition back into work…but no reference to BitterGate?  Come, now…

Well, no one seems to be paying much attention right now (what is it, some kind of holiday? Seriously, God bless all the troops, past and present) so I’m going to be self-indulgent and post another YouTube clip…this is just a seriously rockin’ version of the great Lucinda Williams tune “Changed The Locks”, with very [...]

…has to be her husband’s credibility. Has any ex-President fallen so far so fast in public estimation? (I’m not counting Jimmy Carter – we didn’t like him even before he left office). Yet here he is again, sounding like a first-class idiot:
Former President Bill Clinton said that Democrats were more likely to [...]

John McCain is either completely mired in the depths of a doomed campaign or on the verge of a blowout victory, according to dueling stories from the NY Times and The Politico.  First, here’s Adam Nagourney:
Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign is in a troubled stretch, hindered by resignations of staff members, a lagging effort [...]

Okay, I’m a geek fanboy, but I went to see the new Indiana Jones on opening night…some quick, spoiler-free impressions:
It’s good, not great…fun, and great to see Harrison Ford in a good role again, but the pacing is oddly off…the middle section drags, and it’s a little slow out of the gate…the parts that are [...]

…Hillary came up short, yet refused to acknowledge the result. Said the New York Senator, as she dodged sniper fire from the Hollywood Hills:
“I’m winning the popular vote, if you count all the votes that were disqualified and invalid. David Cook simply cannot win the hearts and minds of the working class in [...]

…well, you knew the story before it started – Hillary wins big (in Kentucky), Obama wins big (in Oregon), Obama declares himself the pledged delegate leader, instead of stepping up and saying “I’ve won this baby, now get out of the way”…but what scares me as a Republican is this:
Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) collected more [...]

…and send best wishes and prayers to Teddy Kennedy, who’s just received a very grim diagnosis, indeed.  Not much of a positive spin you can put on this, but as long as you’re breathing, there’s still a chance.  Hopefully, the tumor will respond to treatment…any talk of the political future of the Senator is completely [...]

Tomorrow sees the world premiere of that summer blockbuster, “The Candidate Who Wouldn’t Leave”, as Hillary Clinton again tries to defy every measure of common sense by pretending she still has a chance.  The impetus this time will be another huge win, this time in Kentucky, offset somewhat by what is expected to be an [...]

The great Francis Albert Sinatra died on May 14, 1998, ending the most accomplished career any entertainer has ever seen. With 1,800 recordings (I own about 1,650 of them – I’m getting VERY close to a complete collection), 58 movies, 10 Grammys (personally – his albums won 21), and 3 Oscars, Sinatra stood atop the [...]

…and I’m equally happy with small, sensitive arty pieces and huge blockbuster special effect vehicles. My only requirements are excellent craftsmanship and solid entertainment value…if true inspiration or artistry seeps in, all the better. As such, it’s always interesting to look at how the summer season goes…and this one is off to a [...]

Though this surely won’t be the last word, as we have a long way to go until November, I wanted to follow up on last night’s post and give some of my own thoughts about what role race will play in this election.
First, and I mean this with 100% sincerity, let me say up front [...]

In a later post, I will put down my own thoughts on the role of race in this campaign, but in this post, I just want to highlight a few pieces published in the wake of the West Virginia stomping last night (while agreeing with the vast majority that the result was essentially meaningless in [...]

…Hillary Clinton has won West Virginia. No margin yet, but expect it to be huge…What does it change? Nothing, but she’ll get some good headlines, and various pundits will breathlessly wonder what this says about Obama’s electability…
UPDATE 11:22 p.m.: Well, credit where credit is due…40+ points is a huge win.  Unfortunately, what this result [...]

Despite her upcoming 30+ point victory in West Virginia, Hillary Clinton campaign memorabilia is just not flying off the shelves these days:
The pundits can argue all they want, her campaign may protest that she’s still in the game, but at the “America!” souvenir shops at Dulles International and Reagan National airports, the signs are clear [...]

The final shoe has dropped, the final nail is in the coffin: Barack Obama now leads in superdelegates, too.
ABC News’ Karen Travers Reports: For the first time this campaign season, Barack Obama has surpassed Hillary Clinton’s support among superdelegates, according to the ABC News delegate estimate. 
Sen. Obama, D-Ill., picked up two superdelegates this morning [...]