ThinkFast: July 22, 2008  A military judge ruled yesterday that prosecutors in the trial of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Osama bin Laden’s former driver, “cannot use as evidence some statements the defendant g
Beck Links Abbas To ‘Radical Islam,’ Falsely Claims Palestinians Are ‘Being Run Now By Hezbollah’  					This morning on CNN, anchor Kiren Chetry discussed Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) current trip to th
After Touting Drilling’s ‘Safety,’ McCain Cancels Gulf Of Mexico Oil Rig Event Because Of The ‘Weather’  					In announcing his newfound support for offshore drilling, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) consiste
Scarborough Defends McCain, Criticizes Bloggers ‘Eating Cheetos’ In Their ‘Underwear’  					Yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) inaccurately claimed that the surge was responsible for beginning the Sun
Rep. Hunter won’t visit Chadian refugees if he can’t hunt wildebeest.  					Rep. Duncan Hunter’s (R-CA) staff recently contacted the U.S. embassy in Chad to see whether he could visit the country and
Davis: Pressure To Rush David Hicks’ Trial Came Day After Australian Ambassador Meeting  					In March 2007, Australian native David Hicks, who was a detainee at Guantanamo Bay, became the first perso
Boot: Maliki’s Timeline Endorsement Was ‘Ambiguous,’ Iraqi Government Isn’t Asking U.S. To Leave  					When news that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had endorsed a 16-month timetable for U.S. tr
Witness: ‘No way’ Novak didn’t know he hit someone; victim was ’splayed across the front’ of his car.  					Politico reports that conservative pundit Robert Novak “was cited by police after he hit a p
Lieberman Compares Hagee To Moses, Says Bloggers Would Have Attacked Him Too  					 Yesterday, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) spoke at the controversial pastor John Hagee’s Christians United For Israel
Fox and Friends tackles sexism: ‘Hey, honey! Get me a sandwich!’  					This morning on Fox and Friends, the three hosts began a discussion about sexism and whether it still exists. Brian Kilmeade conc
ThinkFast: July 23, 2008  “Wall Street got drunk,” President Bush said at a private fundraiser last week in Houston. Unaware that he was being recorded, Bush joked about the country’s housing crisis a
Ken Pollack: McCain’s Iraq Withdrawal Timeline Differs By ‘Just Months’ From Obama and Maliki’s  					Earlier this month, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki signaled support for a 16-month U.S. with
Beck, Boehner: Arctic Refuge Is A ‘Wasteland,’ Wildlife ‘Couldn’t Care Less’ About Drilling  					Last night, on Glenn Beck’s CNN Headline News program, Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) falsely claimed that w
Right Wing Charges ‘Media Bias’ On Obama Trip Coverage Despite McCain’s Decision To Limit Press Overseas  					Last week, the New York Times reported that the three major network news anchors — Brian
O’Reilly Claims ‘MoveOn Is The New Klan’ And Its Supporters Are ‘Koolaid Drinking, Zombie Followers’  					Yesterday, rap star Nas delivered a petition to Fox News’s Manhattan headquarters, calling on
CIA memos say ’specific intent’ of ‘pain and suffering’ necessary for interrogations to be considered torture.  					Today, the ACLU released a series of memos exchanged between the Justice Department
Giuliani: ‘It’s Natural’ Troops Watch Fox News Because Fox Covers Iraq ‘In A More Balanced Way’  					While chatting with reporters on his press plane this week, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), noting that
McCain doubles down on his surge timeline confusion.  					Yesterday evening, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) denied that he was wrong in claiming the “surge” policy in Iraq “began the Anbar Awakening.” Press
Rove: McCain Got His Facts Wrong On The Iraq Surge, ‘But Don’t Make A Big Deal Of It’  					Last night on Fox, Hannity & Colmes co-host Alan Colmes noted that CBS News chose not to air a portion of it
Mukasey Contradicts Cheney And Addington: Vice President Is ‘Obviously’ In Executive Branch  					Last year, House investigators revealed that Vice President Cheney exempted his office from an executi
ThinkFast: July 24, 2008 Conservatives are losing the new-media war, the Politico notes. As the 2008 campaign progresses, “it’s becoming increasingly clear that the absence of any websites on the righ
Presidential transition planning isn’t presumptuous; it’s ‘necessary.’  					Yesterday, The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder reported that “Sen. Barack Obama has directed his aides to begin planning” for his
McCain Embraces 16-Month Withdrawal: ‘I Think It’s A Pretty Good Timetable’  					Following Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s declaration of support for a 16-month withdrawal timeline from Iraq,
REPORT: At $648 Billion, Cost Of Iraq War Almost Equal To Vietnam  					In his 1999 book, A Charge To Keep, President Bush said he had “learned the lessons of Vietnam” about “never again ask[ing] the
State Dept. Double Standard: Diplomats Barred From Obama’s Berlin Speech, But Not McCain’s In Ottawa  					Yesterday, the Washington Post reported that the U.S. Embassy in Berlin “instructed Foreign S
O’Reilly, Ingraham: Saying That U.S. Tortures Is ‘One Of The Most Hateful Stereotypes About America’  					Last night on the O’Reilly Factor, host Bill O’Reilly and guest Laura Ingraham slammed Sen. B
ThinkFast: July 25, 2008  “A petition to send former White House deputy chief of state Karl Rove to jail over refusing a subpoena to testify before a House committee has gained over 100,000 signatures
Top McCain Fundraiser Lobbying Bush Admin To Help ‘Quash’ Toxic-Dumping Case For Chevron  					In 1993, a class action lawsuit on behalf of an estimated 30,000 Amazon residents was filed against oil g
McClellan: Fox News Commentators Use The ‘Talking Points’ That The White House Sends Them  					On MSNBC’s Hardball last night, host Chris Matthews asked former White House Press Secretary Scott McCle
Mayer: Top DOJ Lawyers Spoke ‘In Codes’ For Fear Of Being Wiretapped By White House ‘Lunatics’  					Last night on PBS, Bill Moyers interviewed investigative journalist Jane Mayer and mentioned that i
McCain Caves To Right Wing On Gay Adoption, Says Orphans Shouldn’t Have Gay Parents  					Earlier this month, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) took an extreme position on gay adoption, telling the New York Tim
McCain Denies He Used ‘The Word Timetable,’ Claims ‘We Were Greeted As Liberators’  					During a January 30 Republican primary debate, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) pilloried former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt
Goodling Screened DOJ Career Candidates For Affiliations With ‘Abortion, Homosexuality, Iraq and WMD’  					 According today’s report by the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), former Justice
Bush forced Maliki to back down on withdrawal in 2006.  					Earlier this month, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced that he was in “negotiations” for “a timetable” for the withdrawal of U.
Gates: War With Iran ‘Would Be Disastrous,’ It’s ‘The Last Thing We Need’  					In the most recent issue of the Army War College’s quarterly journal “Parameters,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates wrote
Forgetting His Vote To Allow Waterboarding, McCain Says ‘We Could Never Torture Anyone’  					In February, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) voted against a bill banning the CIA from waterboarding and using oth
Does McCain Speak For McCain On Affirmative Action?  					In an interview on ABC News’s This Week yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) announced his support for a ballot initiative in Arizona that seeks
Goodling Rejected ‘Outstanding’ Attorney’s Job Extension Because Of ‘Inappropriate’ Gay Relationship  					In April, NPR reported that the Justice Department Inspector General was investigating whethe
Goodling Passed Over Experienced Counterterrorism Prosecutor Because Wife Was A Democrat  					In today’s Justice Department report on Monica Goodling’s and other DOJ officials’ politicization of the
New Report Concludes Bush’s Justice Department Engaged In Illegal Hiring Practices  					The AP reports that a new 140-page Justice Department report concludes that former Bush loyalists at the DoJ br
ThinkFast: July 28, 2008  The White House has “increased its estimate for next year’s deficit to nearly $490 billion, a record figure that will saddle the next president with deepening budget problems
Senate Democrats call on EPA administrator Stephen Johnson to resign, want DOJ investigation.  					In a press conference today, four members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, incl
McClellan Backs Down To O’Reilly: ‘I Messed Up,’ ‘You’re The Big Kahuna At Fox News’  					Interviewed on MSNBC last week, former White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Fox News pundits and
McCain Spokesman: John McCain Doesn’t Know What He’s Talking About On Social Security  					On Sunday, ABC’s George Stephanopoilos asked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) about his plans to fix Social Security.
McCain: ‘I Said We Would Have An Easy Victory’ In Iraq And ‘We Did’  					In late 2002 and early 2003, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was a fixture on cable television, assuring Americans that an invasion of
Top Russian diplomat: ‘We’re not interested in what McCain has to say.’  					On Sunday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) defended his plan to kick Russia out of the G8, a policy that Fareed Zakaria called “th
Krauthammer Links Obama’s Berlin Speech To Hitler’s Nazi Rallies  					Last night on Fox News’ Special Report, host Brit Hume asked the “All-Star Panel” for “help” in determining whether or not Sen. B
War Architect Richard Perle Looking To Enter Oil Business In Iraq  					In March 2003, weeks after the invasion of Iraq, war architect Richard Perle resigned from his position on the Defense Policy Bo
ThinkFast: July 29, 2008  Jim Adkisson, the man who shot two people to death in a Tennessee Unitarian church this week because he was angry at “liberals and gays,” had an array of right-wing books at
Pentagon Attempted To Cover-Up KBR’s Negligence In Electrocution Of U.S. Soldier  					On January 2, 2008, Army Staff Sergeant Ryan Maseth was electrocuted while taking a shower at the Legion Security
Toby Keith: ‘Black Society’ Thinks Obama ‘Talks, Acts and Carries Himself As A Caucasian’  					Country singer Toby Keith, who is on a media blitz promoting his pro-lynching movie, Beer For My Horses,
Secretary Of Energy Repeats Katrina Oil Spill Lie: ‘Not One Case’ Where Oil ‘Spilled In The Environment’  					After meeting with his cabinet today, President Bush renewed his call for “Congress to li
White House Finally Asked About DOJ Report, Says It’s Not ‘Disappointed’ In Gonzales  					Today, the Department of Justice Inspector General testified on his recent report documenting the rampant and
O’Reilly Flips On Analyst He Once Called ‘A Truth-Teller’ After His Study Found Media Bias Against Obama  					In 2006, after the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA) released a study showing th
Warrantless Wiretapping Supporter Sam Brownback Now Outraged Over Chinese Government’s Domestic Spying  					Yesterday, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) expressed fear that “foreign-owned hotels in China fac
ThinkFast: July 30, 2008  Bush administration officials “reassured Israel’s defense minister this week that the United States has not abandoned all possibility of a military attack on Iran.” At the sa
McCain Supporter Arlen Specter Requests Meeting With Castro And Chavez; Is He ‘Naive?’  					Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has long criticized those who are willing to meet with adversaries of the U.S., sla
Bachmann Lies: Claims Democrats Won’t ‘Pass The Tax Credit For Solar And Wind’ After GOP Blocked It  					During an interview with Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) today, right-wing radio host Laura Ingra
Report: McCain Received $881,450 From Big Oil Since He Announced Support For Offshore Drilling  					Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has made his complete reversal on offshore drilling a centerpiece of his pr
Glenn Beck: Slavery apology is an affront ‘to the principles of Christianity.’  					On Tuesday, the House passed a formal apology for slavery and racist segregation laws, recognizing that “African-Am
Lieberman To Introduce Resolution Praising Success Of Surge ‘Against Enemies Who Attacked America On 9/11′  					This morning, Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) held a press confere
EXCLUSIVE: To Provoke War, Cheney Considered Proposal To Dress Up Navy Seals As Iranians And Shoot At Them  					Speaking at the Campus Progress journalism conference earlier this month, Seymour Hersh
Bush Administration Embraces Counterterrorism Strategy It Once Smeared As ‘Naive and Dangerous’  					Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has approved a new National Defense Strategy arguing that the wa
Federal judge: White House aides can be subpoenaed  					In June, after White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers refused to comply with congressional investi
Rove calls contempt vote ‘ludicrous,’ admits to exerting no ‘personal privilege.’  					While he has refused to appear before Congress, Karl Rove did make time to show up last night on Fox News. Sean
ThinkFast: July 31, 2008  Exxon Mobil broke its own record for “the highest-ever profit by a U.S. company,” as second-quarter profits rose 14 percent. “Net income in the quarter rose to $11.68 billion
House Conservatives Engage In Political Stunt, Demand A Vote On Gas Prices After Obstructing A Vote  					House conservatives engaged in political theater today, storming the floor after Congress was
Wal-Mart Employees Speak Out About Mandatory Anti-Union Meetings, Political Intimidation  					Today, the Wall Street Journal reported that Wal-Mart has been warning its managers that a Democratic vic
Clueless Gingrich Claims Inflating Car Tires Properly To Save Energy Is ‘Loony Tunes’  					Earlier this week, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) noted that “making sure your tires are properly inflated” is one
Defense Department Defies Subpoena, Blocks Testimony Of Key Sexual Assault Prevention Official  					Yesterday, the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, held a hearin
Study: Estimate on H.I.V. infection is 40 percent higher than previously believed.  					A new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds that “the United States has significantly u
Lawyer: Lott ‘Initiated Contact With People Surrounding’ Insurance Fraud Lawsuit  					During a deposition last week, Jim Robie, an attorney for State Farm Insurance, alleged that former Mississippi s
Lieberman On Attending RNC Convention: ‘I Will Do It’ And Speak Against ‘Partisan Mud-Slinging’  					On Meet the Press, host Tom Brokaw informed guest Joe Lieberman (I-CT) that nearly 50,000 activist
Fiorina: ‘McCain Has Consistently Said’ He Will ‘Balance The Budget By 2013′  					On CBS’ Face the Nation yesterday, host Bob Schieffer asked McCain economic adviser Carly Fiorina how the newly annou
McCain Mocks Obama With Tire Gauges, But Agrees That Inflating Car Tires Properly Will Save Energy  					Today, Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee ar
Ingraham: We don’t need graphic war images because ‘we know what it’s like’ from ‘high-tech Hollywood.’  					Today on her radio show, right-wing talker Laura Ingraham hosted Zoriah Miller, a photojou
Bush Rebuffs GOP’s ‘Boston Tea Party,’ Won’t Request Special Session For Oil Drilling Stunt  					 House conservatives have been engaging in political stunts to demand a vote on oil drilling. Last Fri
Former FBI Official: After 9/11, White House Told FBI To Blame Anthrax Attacks On Al Qaeda  					Last week, Bruce Ivins, a government scientist who researched anthrax and was expected to be charged in
Blunt Defends Exxon’s Record Profits: Stop Complaining That An ‘American Company Made Money’  					Yesterday, House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) appeared on a C-SPAN Newsmakers roundtable and defend
Romney: ‘McCain Doesn’t Ask For Any Tax Reduction For Oil Companies’  					For the first time, six of the giant oil companies — including ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Total — made more than $50 billion in
ThinkFast: August 4, 2008  Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL) is opposing a decision by the Bush administration to allow a New England Little League team to visit Cuba this week, arguing such trips run c
Pentagon: U.S. will still detain Hamdan even if he is acquitted.  					Yesterday, a military jury began deliberations in the trial of Salim Hamdan, Osama bin Laden’s former driver, on whether Hamdan c
Pentagon Spokesman Disputes Mullen’s View Of Afghanistan: Nothing ‘Urgent Or Precarious’ About It  					During today’s Pentagon daily briefing, spokesman Geoff Morrell disputed a reporter’s characteri
Exclusive: Auto Makers Deflate McCain’s Ignorant Hot Air On Value Of Proper Tire Inflation  					In a series of public events today, John McCain has ramped up his disingenuous attack on the impact pro
Conservatives Try To Take Credit For Drop In Gas Prices: ‘The Market Is Responding’ To Our Political Stunts  					House conservatives, engaging in a third day of political stunts on the floor of the H
O’Reilly Rejects Right-Wing Defense Of Big Oil’s Massive Profits: Go Tell That To ‘Some Old Lady In Minnesota’  					In the past week, conservatives have jumped to the defense of Big Oil in order to j
Suskind: White House Ordered Forged, Backdated Letter After Invasion To Concoct Saddam-9/11 Link  					A new book by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind claims that, after the Iraq war began
ThinkFast: August 5, 2008  Though conservatives have tried to force the House to adjourn “eighteen times over the past 90 days,” now that the House is actually adjourned, Republicans are using politic
Bolton: Regime Change In Iran ‘Would Lead To Greater Stability In The Region’  					Continuing his long-running advocacy for a war against Iran, John Bolton said on Fox News today, “Diplomacy is finis
Boehner At Home Golfing While House Colleagues Conduct Oil Drilling Protest On Capitol Hill  					 Since last Friday, House Republicans have been engaged in a political stunt on Capitol Hill, staging
Beck: Batman vindicates Bush’s ‘conservative values on the war on terror.’  					Last month, author Andrew Klavan wrote that the new Batman film is a “paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courag
Gingrich Cites Big Oil And Right-Wing Intern To Claim That All Economists Support Drilling  					Today, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich promoted his “Drill Here, Drill Now,” dirty-energy-funded pla
Artist opens ‘Waterboard Thrill Ride’ at Coney Island.  					Artist Steve Powers has opened the new “Waterboard Thrill Ride” at Coney Island in New York. “It looks at first like any other shuttered st
Key Source For Suskind’s Book May Have Retracted Allegations To Preserve Intel Contracts  					Last night on MSNBC’s Countdown, host Keith Olbermann interviewed Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron S
After Failed ‘Contract With America,’ Gingrich Rallies The Right Behind New Contract With Energy Industry  					In 1994, Newt Gingrich led a conservative revolution by purporting to make a “Contract w
Suskind: Anxiety Over Wilson and Plame Led Bush Administration To Pay Iraqi ‘Hush Money’ On WMD  					It’s already well-known that Amb. Joseph Wilson’s July 6, 2003 op-ed in the New York Times deeply
Hamdan found guilty, faces life in prison.  					A military jury has “reached a verdict at the first Guantanamo war crimes trial.” Salim Hamdan, who was Osama bin Laden’s former driver, has been found
Flashback: Seven years ago today, Bush received ‘Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.’ memo.  					Today marks seven years since the day President Bush received a President’s Daily Brief entitled “B
ThinkFast: August 6, 2008  Former Olympic gold medalist speedskater Joey Cheek had his visa revoked by Chinese authorities, just hours before “he was set to travel to Beijing to promote his effort urg
Bush White House has its own interrogation room.  					In Ron Suskind’s new book, Suskind describes a disturbing case in Washington, D.C., where security officials detained and interrogated Usman Khos
American Conservative: It was Feith’s office, not CIA, that forged the Habbush letter.  					Ron Suskind’s new book alleges that the White House ordered the CIA to forge a letter from the head of Iraq
Note To DHS: Searching A Laptop Is Not The Same As Searching A Backpack  					Our guest blogger, Peter Swire, is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund and served as the Clint
Flashback: In 2007, McCain said, ‘Paris Hilton is the kind of issue that gets more attention’ than it deserves.  					The McCain campaign’s “celebrity” attack ad against Barack Obama, linking him to P
Rove Baselessly Claims EIA Agrees That Oil Drilling ‘Would Bring Down Prices’  					Last night on Fox News, former top Bush adviser Karl Rove showed up on Hannity & Colmes to discuss the political top
McCain Promises To Help Ohio Residents Who Lost Their Jobs Because Of His Campaign Manager  					Today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is in Wilmington, OH and being forced to address DHL’s merger with Airbo
Hayes: Iraqis Destroyed Their Own Country ‘Far Worse Than Any Damage We Did During The War’  					Yesterday, Weekly Standard senior writer — and Cheney biographer — Stephen Hayes appeared on CNN and d
Giuliani Resurrects Cuba-China Drilling Myth By Changing His Verbs To The Future Tense  					Six weeks ago, Rudy Giuliani warned Glenn Beck that, “in essence, we have China drilling for American oil,”
Leahy’s office hits back against Beck’s Batman analogy.  					As ThinkProgress reported, CNN’s Glenn Beck yesterday said that President Bush’s policies were vindicated by the “conservative values on t
ThinkFast: August 7, 2008  House Republicans plan to continue their political stunts on oil drilling “for at least the next two weeks — right up to the start of the Democratic Convention in Denver” on
Boehner: The American Public Will ‘Hang’ Nancy Pelosi  					 House Republicans are incensed that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) refuses to cave to their political grandstanding and call Congress ba
Disgraced Rep. Jerry Lewis Solicits Lobbyists To Fund His Congressional Portrait  					 Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) has been under investigation since May 2006 for his ties to contractors in the Duke Cunn
Scheunemann Helped U.S. Firm Win Georgian Energy Deals While Lobbying For Georgia’s NATO Membership  					Earlier today, Russia sent troops into a breakaway region of Georgia “after Georgian troops so
‘Selling Out To Big Oil’ Costs Rep. David Davis His Job  					Yesterday, Rep. David Davis (R-TN) became the first incumbent Tennessee congressman to “lose in a primary in more than four decades.” He l
Suskind posts transcript of interview implicating White House in forged letter.  					One of the sources for Ron Suskind’s explosive revelation that the White House forged a letter on Iraq-9/11 ties,
McCain Gets His Hamdan Facts Wrong, Falsely Claims He Was Found Guilty Of ‘Supplying Weapons’ In Afghanistan  					On Wednesday, a military jury at Guantanamo Bay found Osama bin Laden’s former driver
McCain Blogger Lies, Insinuates Obama Has Received More Money From Big Oil Than McCain  					In a post titled “Exxon Obama,” official McCain blogger Michael Goldfarb insists Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) “
ThinkFast: August 8, 2008  A new report to be released today by the nonpartisan Institute for Science and International Security finds that an attack on Iran “could backfire by strengthening Tehran’s
Fox News Host Refuses To Talk About Russia-Georgia War, Insists On Covering Edwards’ Affair (Updated)  					Yesterday, Russia launched a major military offensive against Georgia, which Georgia has cal
Cornyn: Iraq’s Massive $79 Billion Surplus Is A Success Of Bush’s Policies  					Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers are upset over a new Government Accountability Office report showing that the
The Bush Administration’s Plan To Make The Endangered Species Act Extinct  					 Today, the AP reports on new draft rules being proposed by the Bush administration to gut the Endangered Species Act. T
Report: Setting A Date For Withdrawal Will Help Preserve Security Gains In Iraq  					Over the weekend, Iraq’s foreign minister said that the U.S. should set a “very clear timeline” for withdrawal fro
Bush Veterans Affairs Department bans voter registration drives at veterans facilities.  					This past May, the Veterans Affairs Department, led by Secretary James Peake, issued a directive prohibiti
After Promising To ‘Never’ Give Up Fighting Big Tobacco, McCain Gives Up  					Last month, the House passed legislation — sparking the ire of conservatives — that would grant the FDA stronger regulati
Neocons Call For U.S. To Launch War With Russia  					Today the New York Times reports that Russia is escalating its war with Georgia, “moving tanks and troops through the separatist enclave of South
ThinkFast: August 11, 2008  The Russian military has expanded its attacks on Georgia, bombing the capital, Tibilisi, and “moving tanks and troops through the separatist enclave of South Ossetia and ad
Will The White House Finally Comment On The Plame Leak?  					 Today, the D.C. Court of Appeals dismissed Valerie Plame’s lawsuit against members of the Bush administration for leaking her covert CIA
Ceasefire In Georgia Dashes Neocon Predictions Of Russian Expansion In The Region  					The New York Times reported that earlier today, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev had ordered a cease fire in Ge
Mukasey Refuses To Prosecute Officials Who Politicized DOJ: ‘Negative Publicity’ Is Sufficient Punishment  					When Attorney General Michael Mukasey testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in
Colorado Retirees: McCain Should Reject Social Security Benefits After Calling It ‘An Absolute Disgrace’  					In July, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who has claimed that Social Security is “broken,” went
Richmond Residents Chastise Rove For His ‘Patronizing’ And ‘Belittling’ Comments About Their City  					Last Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation, Karl Rove attacked Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (D) by offering
ThinkFast: August 12, 2008  Russian President Dmitri Medvedev announced today “that he had ordered a halt to his country’s military operation in Georgia, although he did not say that troops were pulli
Media Blindly Accept Notion That Russia-Georgia Conflict Is Good For John McCain  					Since the violence broke out last week between Russian and Georgian military forces, pundits and media figures ha
Right-Wing Hate Group Blames Immigrants For Increasing Greenhouse Emissions  					In a new report, the right-wing Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) is promoting its anti-immigrant agenda by suggest
Did Scheunemann Engineer McCain’s 2005 Nobel Prize Nomination Of Georgian President For Financial Gain?  					The Washington Post reports today that Sen. John McCain’s senior foreign policy adviser Ra
After Returning From Four Days At The Olympics, Bush Criticizes Congress’s ‘Vacation’  					Yesterday, after meeting with an oil industry front group, President Bush rebuked the congressional leadersh
Former FCC chairman: McCain is a ‘technological troglodyte.’  					It’s widely known by now that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is a self-admitted computer “illiterate” who has “never felt the particular nee
ThinkFast: August 13, 2008  Former Virginia governor Mark Warner will be keynoting this year’s Democratic National Convention taking place in Denver later this month. Warner will be speaking on Tuesda
Rep. Sali: There ‘Could Be Up To Forty Barrels Of Oil In A Single Tree’  					Rep. Bill Sali (R-ID), who is participating in the GOP’s ongoing “Drill Now” energy stunt,  has a unique idea about how to
Fox And Friends Takes Credit For Airlines’ Deal On Troops’ Baggage Fees: ‘Mission Accomplished’  					Yesterday, American Airlines announced some good news: It decided to waive large fees for a third
McCain Says He Couldn’t Pick A Running Mate Who Is ‘Pro-Gay Rights’  					In an interview with the Weekly Standard’s Stephen Hayes yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said that he wouldn’t rule out for
U.S. Troops Deployed Abroad Reject McCain’s Iraq Plans, Donate 6:1 To Obama  					 Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has repeatedly claimed that he can speak for the interests of U.S. troops and best represent
ThinkFast: August 14, 2008  Days after it was revealed that American Airlines was charging troops extra baggage fees on their way to war zones, the company “announced Thursday that it will eliminate f
Rove Repeats ‘Belittling’ Comments About Richmond, But Praised Cheney’s Small Town Background In 2000  					As ThinkProgress noted, Karl Rove attacked Richmond, VA this week when he criticized Gov. Ti
McCain: ‘I Have Not Missed Any Crucial Vote’ On Energy Legislation  					Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) currently holds the title of most absent U.S. senator, missing over 60 percent of votes this session. I
McCain’s Hypocrisy: Promises To Protect ‘Copyrighted Works’ While Infringing On Artists’ Copyrights  					Yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) finally released a statement laying out his positions on te
McCain Adviser/Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman Silent On Campaign’s Opposition To Net Neutrality  					 It’s been widely reported that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is a self-admitted “illiterate” when it comes
McCain admits to pandering on taxes: ‘I have to be against tax increases, as you know.’  					Last month, after incurring the wrath of hardline anti-tax conservatives for saying that tax increases wer
Conservatives Claim Obama Is ‘So Bad For The Economy,’ While Wall Street Donates More To Obama  					Conservatives have been trying to frighten investors about the prospects of a Barack Obama presiden
Why Didn’t McCain Call Ralph Reed To Testify During Abramoff Investigation?  					 On the campaign trail, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) often touts his work fighting corruption, highlighting the Senate Indi
ThinkFast: August 15, 2008  Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran who lost both legs when her Black Hawk helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, “will lead a tribute to service members and ve
Top CEOs Give 10 Times More To McCain Than Obama; McCain Promises Huge Tax Breaks For Them In Return  					The Hill reports that the CEOs of the 100 biggest Fortune 500 corporations have given approxi
McCain Jokes About His Definition Of The Rich: ‘How About $5 Million?’  					Last night, during his Saddleback Church presidential forum, Pastor Rick Warren asked both Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Sen.
Will: Lieberman’s Office Says He Was ‘Wrong’ To Vote Against Alito In ‘06  					Earlier this week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said he wouldn’t rule someone out as a potential vice presidential running ma
Ralph Reed a no-show at McCain fundraiser.  					Last week, news broke that Ralph Reed, former Christian Coalition director and crony of Jack Abramoff, would be helping to raise money for Sen. John Mc
Flashback: In Dec. 2007, McCain Rejected Calls For Musharraf’s Resignation, Called Him A ‘Key Element’  					Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf resigned today in order to avoid impeachment charges
Gingrich Claims Tire Inflation Lines Big Oil’s Pockets  					Last night on Fox News, host Sean Hannity and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) returned (as they often do) to Sen. Barack Obama’s
McCain Steals Credit For GI Bill By Heralding His Own Proposal That VFW Called ‘Very Partisan’  					Speaking to the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) once again tried to s
Kristol Makes His Fourth Factual Error In His New York Times Column  					 Today in the New York print edition of the New York Times, columnist Bill Kristol attacks allegations that Sen. John McCain (
ThinkFast: August 18, 2008  Under pressure over impending impeachment charges, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf announced his resignation in a televised address to his nation today. “I don’t want
Coal company CEO: ‘Black is the new green.’  					Speaking to USA Today, Gregory Boyce, CEO of Peabody, the world’s largest coal company, “shrugged off any worries” about coal’s enormous greenhouse ga
Bush Administration Open To Giving Musharraf Asylum In The United States  					On Sunday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Fox’s Chris Wallace that U.S. asylum for former Pakistani President P
Gallagher: Protection of gay rights could lead to pedophiles adopting young children.  					On his radio show today, right-wing talker Mike Gallagher responded to the California Supreme Court’s decisi
Only In America: Son Of Undocumented Immigrant Brings Home The Gold  					Our guest blogger is Henry Fernandez, a Senior Fellow at the Center For American Progress Action Fund working on state and mun
Limbaugh Calls Possibility Of Pro-Choice McCain Running Mate ‘Crap,’ Likens It To ‘Committing Suicide’  					Today on his radio show, conservative talker Rush Limbaugh addressed the recently raised po
Rice: Military power is ‘not the way to deal in the 21st century.’  					Yesterday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sharply criticized Russia for relying on its “military power” to accomplish its
Fox’s Campaign Carl Lies, Gives McCain Credit For Fictitious GI Bill Provision  					Yesterday, while speaking to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) attempted to steal credit for th
McCain To Visit Oil Platform Owned By Chevron; McCain’s National Finance Co-Chairman Lobbies For Chevron  					Today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is touring an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana in order
What It Means To Be Progressive  					Our guest blogger is John Podesta, the President and CEO of the Center for American Progress Action Fund. What is progressivism? We all have our own answers to th
Extreme anti-environment Cheney aide up for top Energy Department post.  					F. Chase Hutto, a senior Cheney advisor, is the leading candidate to be appointed assistant secretary for policy and inter
ThinkFast: August 19, 2008  The oil industry is spending record amounts of money this year to protect its interests as Congress considers a barrage of energy bills. According to the most recent figure
Petraeus draws criticism for saying Christian book ‘should be in every rucksack.’  					Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq who will soon take control of Central Command, has found himself
McCain: ‘I Still Believe The Fundamentals Of The Economy Are Strong’  					On her radio show today, conservative talker Laura Ingraham asked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) what he believed should be done to
Romney: McCain Doesn’t Speak For McCain When He Suggests Renegotiating The Colorado River Compact  					Last week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) walked into a bipartisan wave of condemnation in Colorado whe
Bush Claims He Worked ‘Closely’ With Vets Organizations On GI Bill; VFW Said It ‘Didn’t Have Much Input’  					Earlier today, President Bush delivered his final speech as president to the Veterans of
McCain On Reinstituting A Military Draft: ‘I Don’t Disagree’  					Today at a townhall meeting, an audience member praised Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) for his vow to “follow bin Laden to the gates of hell
Romney condemns Russia’s ‘willingness to act militarily against a sovereign nation.’  					On Hugh Hewitt’s radio show last night, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney said that “the Internationa
Right-Wing Vets For Freedom Attacks Hagel’s Military Service: ‘Show Me What Battle He Fought In Iraq’  					Today on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, a caller questioned Vets for Freedom (VFF) founder Dav
Army Official Who Revealed Deplorable Conditions At Veterans Treatment Facility Is Forced To Resign  					On Monday, USA Today reported that barracks for wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and Afgha
Hannity and Rove float Lieberman for Secretary of State.  					Recent press reports have hinted that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is strongly considering selecting Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) as vice preside
ThinkFast: August 20, 2008  Health care costs “are climbing much more rapidly than incomes or the growth in the overall economy,” according to a new survey from the Commonwealth Fund. “Two-thirds of t
Did McCain Push Rumsfeld For More Troops In Iraq? Rumsfeld’s Notes Suggest He Didn’t  					Throughout his campaign, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has disguised his support for a failed strategy in Iraq by r
Media Defend McCain: It’s Not ‘A Huge Deal’ That He Doesn’t Know How Many Houses He Owns  					Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said yesterday in an interview with Politico that he did not know how many houses
FLASHBACK: McCain gave Bush ‘an A’ for looking in Putin’s eyes and getting ‘a sense of his soul.’  					Since the crisis in Georgia began, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has used aggressive rhetoric against
McCain Spokesperson Says McCain Would Increase Taxes On Oil Companies  					Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) campaign has long pushed lofty rhetoric claiming McCain will “stand up” to oil companies (despite
McCain: ‘There Are Too Many Lobbyists In Washington’ — But 160 Of Them Run My Campaign  					Earlier this week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) held a $1.75 million fundraiser tied to Ralph Reed, the former C
Proposed U.S. withdrawal plan ‘is right out of’ CAP’s Strategic Redeployment plan.  					The Wall Street Journal reports today that “U.S. and Iraqi negotiators reached agreement on a security deal tha
Secretary Of State Lieberman Endorses ‘Dumb’ Plan To Kick Russia Out Of The G-8  					 Today, the Wall Street Journal joins Sean Hannity and Karl Rove in promoting Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) for Secret
Media Rally To McCain’s Defense, Give Him ‘The Benefit Of The Doubt’ On Draft Comments  					During a townhall meeting yesterday, an audience member asked a long-winded question that ended with a call
McCain Revises His Definition Of ‘Rich’: Some People ‘Are Poor If They’re Billionaires’  					In an interview with Politico yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was stumped when asked “how many houses h
ThinkFast: August 21, 2008  A new New York Times/CBS News poll finds that the economy is voters’ top concern this year, with four in 10 citing it as the main issue; just 15 percent said the Iraq war.
Dick Morris: ‘We Went Into Iraq At The Invitation Of The Government, Not As An Invasion’  					On Fox News’ Hannity & Colmes tonight, conservative pundit Dick Morris tried to attack Barack Obama for b
McCain Claims That Anyone Who Says He’s Flip-Flopped Is ‘Drinking The Kool-Aid’  					In an AP article on how Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is supposedly a “rebel with a cause” who “chases the presidency,”
Fox News Accidentally Airs Controversial Right-Wing Ad That It Had Declined To Run  					The right-wing American Issues Project has spent $2.8 million on an ad questioning Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) r
Rep. Frank Wolf Pushes China/Cuba Myth By Referencing Mysterious CRS Report  					In yet another political stunt press conference today, House Republicans continued their obstinate push for a vote on
Bush Administration Announces ‘Aspirational Timetables’ In Iraq; Will McCain Call It ‘Defeat?’  					Yesterday, the U.S. agreed to remove combat troops from Iraqi cities by next June and from the coun
Stevens testily insists that Alaska loves him.  					TPMMuckraker points out that yesterday in a debate, primary challenger Vic Vickers asked Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) about the federal indictment he is
McCain Politicizes The Military By Floating Petraeus For Vice President  					In May, Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen published a letter to uniformed soldiers warning that “the U.S. military
ThinkFast: August 22, 2008  “The United States has agreed to remove combat troops from Iraqi cities by next June and from the rest of the country by the end of 2011 if conditions in Iraq remain relati
Biden: McCain has to ‘figure out which of the 7 kitchen tables to sit at.’  					In a speech accepting his role as Barack Obama’s running mate this afternoon in Springfield, IL, Sen. Joseph Biden (D-D
Progressive bloggers featured at upcoming political conventions.  					Today, the New York Times highlights the hundreds of bloggers who will be attending next week’s Democratic convention in Denver.
Obama Selects Joseph Biden As His Running Mate  					CNN’s John King is reporting that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) has selected Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE) as his running mate. King said the Obama campaign
NBC Censors Sexual Orientation Of Openly Gay Gold Medalist Diver  					According to OutSports.com, of the 10,708 athletes at the Olympics this year, just 10 have identified themselves publicly as bein
Halperin: McCain’s Houses Gaffe ‘One Of The Worst Moments’ Of The Campaign For…Barack Obama  					Last week Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) told Politico that he did not know how many homes he and his wife Ci
Police investigate possible plot to assassinate Obama.  					The Rocky Mountain News reports that the Secret Service, ATF, and the U.S. Attorney’s office are investigating a possible plot to assassina
McCain Camp Tries To Downplay Top Aide Lobbying In Favor Of Gun Rights For Suspected Terrorists  					In 2007, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced legislation giving the Justice Department the dis
Glenn Beck Encourages Listeners To Use More Energy To ‘Wipe Out Any Potential Energy Savings’ At The DNC  					In April, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) promised that the Democratic National
Petraeus Disagrees With McCain, Says Success In Iraq Was Possible Without The Surge  					Gen. David Petraeus, top commander of coalition military forces in Iraq, recently sat down with Newsweek to do
McCain Surrogate Falsely Suggests McCain Does Not Want To Overturn Roe  					In a new ad for John McCain, Debra Bartoshevich, a self-described “proud Hillary Clinton Democrat,” announces that she oppo
Despite White House Claims Of ‘Aspirational Timelines,’ Maliki Says There Is ‘A Fixed Date’ For U.S. Withdrawal  					Last Thursday, the U.S. endorsed a draft agreement that would remove “combat troop
Pawlenty Promises CEOs ‘Contact With Influential Gov’t Officials (Cabinet, President, Next President)’  					The Los Angeles Times notes today that “the practice of corporations and unions making big
ThinkFast: August 25, 2008 Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) will speak during tonight’s opening of the Democratic National Convention, NBC reports. A convention tribute to the senator “will include a film by d
CNN Thinks Only The Top Five Percent Of America’s Income Earners Count  					In an interview with former NBA star Charles Barkley today, CNN host Wolf Blitzer discussed the respective tax plans being
AFL-CIO President: ‘John McCain Is Wrong’ About His Claim That Economy Is Strong  					Last week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said again, “I still believe the fundamentals of the economy are strong.” Thou
Disregarding Her Public Statements, White House Claims Rice Will Vote For McCain  					Upon learning of Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) selection of Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) as his running mate, Secretary of
Limbaugh Falsely Claims America Is A ‘Conservative Majority’ Nation  					In recent days, conservatives have renewed a long-running campaign to convince the American people that they live in a conserv
McCain’s GOP platform contains ‘caveats about the uncertainty’ of climate science.  					The Washington Times reports today that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) will “run on the final version” of the Republic
Wallace Defends McCain’s POW Dodge On Houses Gaffe: ‘It’s Not A Talking Point, It’s A Fact’  					On the Tonight Show last night, host Jay Leno asked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) about his inability to say
Rove Blasts Michelle Obama’s Patriotism: ‘I Don’t Think She Did Well On Saying I Love America’  					In a speech last night at the Democratic convention, Michelle Obama “began a weeklong effort to pre
ThinkFast: August 26, 2008 In court documents filed yesterday, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) “accused the Justice Department of trying to smear his character” and “making accusations haphazardly, hoping to
Rep. Schakowsky On McCain’s Women’s Rights Record: ‘He’s Not With Us’  					Today at the Democratic National Convention, Women’s eNews hosted a panel on pushing a “pro-women agenda” in Congress, as pa
Tax Expert: McCain’s Tax Cuts Are Aimed At The Rich ‘Even More So Than Bush’s Were’  					In 2001 and 2003, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) opposed President Bush’s tax cuts, arguing that he couldn’t “in good
Fiorina: McCain Has Always Shown ‘Respect’ Towards Hillary Clinton And All Women  					In recent weeks, Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) campaign has showered praise on Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), in an eff
IAVA Director: If McCain Thinks The VA Isn’t Working, ‘It’s In Part Because He Hasn’t Funded It’  					Yesterday, Sen. John McCain promoted his veterans private health care “plastic card” in a speech
Beck: ‘We Shouldn’t Spend A Single Dime’ On New Orleans, Residents Should Just ‘Move Out’  					Last night on his CNN program, Glenn Beck, talking with former Cheney adviser Mary Matalin, noted the po
AT&T Throws ‘Exclusive Party’ For Blue Dog Democrats Who Helped Pass Retroactive Immunity  					The telecommunications giant AT&T is “virtually everywhere” at the Democratic convention this week, “win
One Year Ago Today, Alberto Gonzales Resigned  					One year ago today, Alberto Gonzales resigned as Attorney General of the United States amid questions of his “competence to run the Justice Departme
ThinkFast: August 27, 2008  “There’s quiet buzz in Washington this week that convicted GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff and several colleagues — including scam-artist Michael Scanlon — will be sentenced soo
Retired Generals Scold Bush Administration On Torture, Pentagon Spokesmen  					Yesterday evening, ThinkProgress spoke with Lieut. Gen, Harry Soyster and Ret. Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, at a Human Righ
Wexler, Ellison Slam McCain’s Iraq Assessment: ‘That’s Ridiculous,’ ‘He’s Just Dead Wrong’  					In an interview with Time magazine this week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) declared that Iraq “is a peaceful
Schumer Hits Conservatives For Launching Petty Attacks: ‘When People Are Hurting, It Doesn’t Work’  					Today at the Democratic National Convention, Sen. Charles Schumer stopped by the Big Tent and T
McCain: Iraq Is ‘A Peaceful And Stable Country Now’  					Today, Time Magazine published an interview with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) that it conducted aboard McCain’s campaign airplane. Reporters James
McCain campaign denies Goodman is ‘an advisor.’  					Yesterday, McCain health care architect John Goodman told the Dallas Morning News yesterday that there are no “uninsured” people in America becaus
Ingraham: McCain Has Been ‘Different From President Bush On Every Issue’  					Yesterday, ThinkProgress talked to right-wing radio host Laura Ingraham, who was spending time in the Huffington Post Oas
McCain’s Health Care Architect: There Are No Uninsured Americans  					In an interview with the Dallas Morning News yesterday, John Goodman, the “Father of Health Savings Accounts” and architect of Se
Rove ‘Waffles’ On Whether He Asked Lieberman To Drop Out Of VP Consideration  					Politico’s Jonathan Martin reports that Karl Rove called Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) “late last week and urged him t
ThinkFast: August 28, 2008  “The United States is spending more money than ever on private security contractors in Iraq as thousands of troops return home amid steady declines in insurgent attacks.” O
On Third Anniversary Of Katrina, Officials Aren’t Confident New Orleans’ Levees Can ‘Handle’ Gustav  					Three years ago today, Hurricane Katrina made landfall upon New Orleans. The storm was tragica
Scandal-Plagued Ted Stevens Endorses Palin For VP, Says He’s ‘Known And Worked’ With Her ‘For Over A Decade’  					In a statement announcing the choice of Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, Sen. Jo
Sanford: McCain ‘Doesn’t Talk About’ His POW Experience  					Late yesterday, former President Jimmy Carter, said in an interview with USA Today that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has been “‘milking every p
McCain’s VP Choice Is Under Ethics Investigation For Abuse Of Power In Alaska  					In Dayton, OH today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) will announce that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will be his vice presidentia
McCain To Announce Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin As His Vice Presidential Pick (Updated)  					 Fox News and numerous media outlets are reporting that John McCain will name Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his ru
ThinkFast: August 29, 2008 President Bush is slated to appear at fundraisers for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) in Oklahoma and Texas next month. “On the internal planning schedule, though, McCain aides are
Gustav growing into ‘monster Category 5 storm.’  					Hurricane Gustav is growing into “a monster Category 5 storm” as it heads towards the Gulf Coast. The storm is moving into the Loop Current, a dee
Palin Repeatedly Professed Desire To Renew Federal Funding For ‘Bridge To Nowhere’  					During the unveiling of his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) tried to cast he
Graham Lowers The Bar For Palin: ‘Don’t Think It Matters’ That She Hasn’t Traveled Abroad  					This summer, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and his surrogates spent weeks assaulting Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL)
Rove Flips On Qualifications For Vice Presidency, Says Palin Is Qualified For Same Reason Kaine Was Not  					Earlier this month, Karl Rove repeatedly argued that Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (D) would not
GOP scales back tomorrow’s convention plans.  					Today, GOP officials “announced they would hold only essential party business required under its rules on Monday” at their convention in Minnesota. P
Bush says he ‘doesn’t consider Bolton credible,’ laments spending ‘political capital’ on him.  					The New York Times reports that President Bush recently held an off-the-record meeting with conserva
McCain and Graham Repeat False Claim That Palin Opposed The ‘Bridge To Nowhere’  					This morning on Fox News Sunday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) cited Gov. Sarah Palin’s (R-AK) 2007 cancellation of the
McCain Says He Is ‘Obviously’ Against Torture, Forgets His Vote To Allow Waterboarding  					When asked to judge the Bush administration this morning during an interview with Fox News’s Chris Wallace,
After Voting Against Them 19 Times, McCain Claims He Supports Minimum Wage Increases  					Today on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace asked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) why he has voted 17 times against
Conservative Media Elites Blast Commenters On Liberal Blogs As ‘Vicious,’ ‘Hurting The Country’  					Today in Minneapolis, The Huffington Post hosted a panel discussion about the rise of new media wi
Pataki Is ‘Not Concerned’ That Palin Doesn’t Believe Global Warming Is ‘Man-Made’  					On June 13, while speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations, former New York governor George Pataki declared
DeLay: ‘It’s Unfortunate That We’re Not Going To Be Able To Have The Convention That They Planned’  					This morning on Fox News, former House Speaker Tom DeLay tried telling host Megyn Kelly how Rep
Palin Served As Director Of 527 Group Called ‘Ted Stevens Excellence In Public Service, Inc.’  					The Washington Post’s Matthew Mosk reports that Sarah Palin “began building clout in her state’s pol
GOP Congressman: Palin Has ‘Defeated’ The Corruption In Alaska  					In recent weeks, several conservatives have inflated the record of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, in particular her record on fighting th
New Justice Department Inspector General Report Contains Evidence Of Gonzales Perjury  					 A new Department of Justice inspector general report released today found that former Attorney General Albe
Maddow on Palin: ‘It is becoming less likely by the hour that she will be McCain’s nominee.’  					In an interview with ThinkProgress earlier today in St. Paul, progressive radio (and soon-to-be-TV) h
Despite Saying Working Moms Likely To ‘Go Over The Edge,’ Dobson Embraces Palin’s VP Candidacy  					Today, Focus on the Family founder and chairman James Dobson vigorously promoted Gov. Sarah Palin o
Drudge rules Nina Easton’s world: ‘I think Drudge has gotten less partisan.’  					In a book he co-authored in 2006, Time Magazine’s Mark Halperin — speaking for traditional media — wrote that the Dru
Rove: Bush Had Foreign Policy Experience Because Texas Is Near Mexico  					In recent days, conservatives have tried to justify the choice of Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) as Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) runni
Infuriated About Tough CNN Interview, McCain Cancels Larry King Appearance  					Yesterday, Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds appeared on CNN for an interview with Campbell Br
Gramm: Unlike The Rest Of Americans, McCain Supporters Aren’t ‘Economically Illiterate’ ‘Whiners’  					 In a July interview with the Washington Times, former senator Phil Gramm infamously decried the
Conservatives unconcerned about Palin and McCain’s ‘cognitive dissonance’ on climate change.  					During a Politico panel discussion this morning on the “Risks and Rewards” of Sen. John McCain’s (R-A
Rove Admits Calling Biden A ‘Doofus’ But Refuses To Apologize  					Last night on Fox News, host Alan Colmes confronted former White House aide Karl Rove for attacking Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) as a “big
McCain Campaign Tries To Block Ron Paul From Convention Floor  					The Washington Times reported today that the McCain campaign and the Republican National Committee have been “negotiating with Rep.
ThinkFast: September 2, 2008  64 percent: People concerned that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) “would pursue policies that are too similar to what George W. Bush has pursued,” according to a new USA Today/Ga
Giuliani: By Refusing To Use The Term ‘Islamic Terrorism,’ Liberals Are Trying Not To Insult Terrorists  					Tonight in his address to the Republican National Convention, Giuliani criticized Democrat
McCain: Palin Has Foreign Policy Experience Because ‘Alaska Is Right Next To Russia’  					Today, ABC’s Charles Gibson questioned Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) about Gov. Sarah Palin’s (R-AK) foreign policy
Scarborough, Buchanan Completely Reverse Positions On Palin In Just Five Days  					Today, Joe Scarborough and Pat Buchanan enthusiastically endorsed Gov. Sarah Palin, praising her experience compared
Kristol: Dating a stripper is ‘important for your character.’  					Speaking at the Republican National Convention last night, former senator Fred Thompson mentioned that as a young man, Sen. John McC
Murphy Supports Palin’s Policy Stances In Public, Cries ‘It’s Not Going To Work’ In Private  					Yesterday, during Politico’s breakfast panel at the Republican National Convention on “Women and the R
Fiorina: ‘I Do Not Think That The Republican Party Subjected Hillary Clinton To Sexism’  					 Over the last few days, conservatives have been blasting criticisms of Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) as sexist.
Senior McCain Adviser Praises Palin For Raising Taxes, Says ‘We Have To Have Taxes In This Country’  					During an interview with Steve Schmidt, Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) senior campaign adviser, las
The Sarah Palin Digest: What We Know About McCain’s Running Mate  					 Very little was known nationally about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) until Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) selected her as his running mat
Interview: Rachel Maddow Discusses Her New MSNBC Television Show With ThinkProgress  					MSNBC recently announced that liberal Air America radio host Rachel Maddow will get her own television show. W
Palin Blocked Funds To Help Teenage Mothers  					Since news broke that Gov. Sarah Palin’s (R-AK) 17-year old daughter, Bristol, is pregnant, it has been widely reported that both Palin and Sen. John
Norquist: If McCain repeals oil industry tax breaks, ‘that’s a tax increase.’  					On the Fox Business Channel earlier this month, Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) campaign spokesperson Taylor Griffin claim
ThinkFast: September 3, 2008  Steve Schmidt, Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) top campaign strategist, yesterday accused the media of being “on a mission to destroy” Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) by displaying “a
VIDEO: Top McCain Aide Tells Gay Republicans, ‘You Are An Important Part Of Our Party’  					Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has long opposed gay rights, stating that he is in favor of the “traditional defini
Community Organizers Respond To Palin’s Attack, Cite Civil Rights Movement  					Last night during her speech to the Republican National Convention, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) sought to play up her exper
Despite Saying Working Mothers Pursue ‘False Hopes And Fading Illusions,’ Schlafly Endorses Palin  					 The far right has largely embraced Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) choice of Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK)
McCain Adviser Lies, Says Palin Told People ‘How They’re Gonna Save Their Homes’ Last Night  					This morning on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Time Magazine Jay Carney pointed out that Gov. Sarah Palin has ye
Steelworkers President To Palin: ‘Stop Using Your Husband’s Membership In The USW As A Prop’  					When Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) introduced Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, he trumpeted her husban
Lieberman: McCain Supports Palin’s Call For ‘Exit Plan’ From Iraq  					In March 2007, Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin, seemingly distanced herself from the Bush administratio
ThinkFast: September 4, 2008  Eight protesters at the RNC were charged with conspiracy to commit a terrorist act yesterday. The suspects’ lawyer called the charges ridiculous, saying the accusations a
Scarborough On McCain Campaign’s War Against The Media: ‘I Think They’re Making A Mistake’  					In her speech on Wednesday night, Sarah Palin attacked journalists for scrutinizing her record. “I’ve l
White House Refuses To Deny Spying On Iraqi Prime Minister  					Excerpts from investigative journalist Bob Woodward’s new book, “The War Within: A Secret White House History, 2006-2008,” reveal that
GOP strategist: Palin’s foreign policy experience stems from ‘fishing issues’ with Russia.  					Ever since Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) announced Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) as his running mate, conservat
FLASHBACK: In July, McCain Promised His VP Pick Would Appear On Larry King Live  					Earlier today, ThinkProgress noted that since becoming Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin ha
For The Fifth Time, McCain Campaign Illegally Uses Artists’ Copyrighted Music  					Last night at the conclusion of the GOP convention, the Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) campaign blasted the song “Barracu
Westmoreland stands by ‘uppity’ remark: ‘It accurately describes’ Obama.  					Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) is standing by the remarks he made yesterday that the Obamas are part of an “elitist-class…
McCain Campaign Plans To Keep Palin Away From The Press  					Yesterday, McCain adviser Nicolle Wallace dismissed the fact that Gov. Sarah Palin has yet to take any questions from the press. “So what?
Pro-choice Republican leader: McCain ‘really doesn’t care’ about women’s rights issues.  					On Tuesday at the RNC, ThinkProgress spoke to Jennifer Stockman, co-chair of Republicans For Choice, a con
Woodward: Bush ‘too often failed to lead.’  					In his fourth book on President Bush, called “The War Within,” journalist Bob Woodward reveals a president who was hardly at the helm of his own Iraq w
The Republican Priorities: What The GOP Focused On (And Ignored) During The Convention  					 During the Republican National Convention this past week, Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) campaign worked hard t
ThinkFast: September 4, 2008  The U.S. unemployment rate rose to a five-year high of 6.1% in August, “heightening the risk that the economic slowdown will worsen.” “Payrolls fell by 84,000 in August,
McCain Throws Aside Free Market Rhetoric, Embraces Government Bailout Of Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac  					In March, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) took a hard line against government economic intervention, s
IAVA Director: Faux Walter Reed Background ‘Was As Close As McCain Got To Veterans Issues’ At RNC  					On Thursday night, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) formally accepted his party’s nomination for presiden
Kyl: McCain’s earmark pledge is ‘more symbolic than it is signficant.’  					Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has claimed that he can cut up to $100 billion in earmark spending, a major tenet of his plan to ba
Rep. Chris Smith: ‘Our Students Must Find The God Of The Bible And Biblical Values In The Classroom’  					At a reception in St. Paul on Wednesday for Catholic Republicans, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) — a
Wallace Refuses To Believe McCain Ever Questioned Whether Surge Would Succeed  					This morning on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace challenged Obama campaign manager David Axelrod’s assertion that
Chris Wallace Fact-Checks Sarah Palin’s Bogus ‘Bridge To Nowhere’ Claims  					Since accepting Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) offer to be his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) has lied about her suppos
Fox’s Campaign Carl Claims ‘You Can’t Dispute’ That Palin Was ‘Against’ The Bridge To Nowhere  					Earlier today, the McCain campaign released an ad pushing the debunked claim that Alaska Gov. Sarah
Bush Administration Chooses McCain National Finance Chairman To Take Over Fannie Mae  					 The federal government has announced that it will be bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two government-
Matthews Compares Palin To Fictional Union Organizer Norma Rae  					Yesterday on his NBC Sunday talk show, Chris Matthews said that “Republicans think they’ve found a pit bull in Sarah Palin” because
Lies To Nowhere: The McCain Campaign’s Inaccuracies On Palin’s Bridge To Nowhere Support  					From the day he named Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) to be his vice presidential running mate, Sen. John McCain
Flashback: In 2006 Debate, Palin Supported ‘Bridge To Nowhere’-Related Earmark  					Last night, C-SPAN re-aired the 2006 Alaska gubernatorial debate, in which Sarah Palin expressed her support for an
McCain campaign belittles climate crisis: Running mates won’t ‘agree on every single issue.’  					Appearing on MSNBC today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker cited McCain’s position
U.S. Military Relied On Oliver North To Dispute Afghanistan Civilian Deaths  					For weeks, the U.S. military has denied charges that its Aug. 22 attack on Azizabad, Afghanistan killed scores of civi
Historians: Stop Bush/Cheney From Destroying Presidential Records  					 Thirty-two of the nation’s leading historians have sent letters to congressional leaders calling on them to stregthen the Presi
Woodward: Bush Doesn’t Understand Why Iraqis ‘Are Not Appreciative’ Of ‘Liberation’  					Last night on 60 Minutes, host Scott Pelley interviewed Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward to discuss his n
ThinkFast: September 8, 2008  MSNBC is removing Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews as the anchors of live political events, “bowing to growing criticism that they are too opinionated to be seen as neu
Santorum Chastises ‘Feminist Community’ For Not Embracing Palin  					Yesterday, former right-wing senator Rick Santorum heaped lavish praise on Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) on Laura Ingraham’s radio show.
McCain likens himself to Jack Bauer.  					During a recent interview with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Marie Claire magazine noted that McCain has run ads comparing Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) to Britney Spe
Veterans Groups Attack Bush Administration Plan To Outsource GI Bill Benefits  					 In June — after months of kicking and screaming — President Bush finally signed a war supplemental spending bill th
Media Embrace McCain’s ‘Maverick’ Re-Branding Effort  					By choosing Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) as his running mate, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has tried to reinvigorate the perception that he is a “maver
Did Palin Promote Alaska National Guard General Because He Changed His Tone To Support Her Credentials?  					In an effort to claim that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has adequate foreign policy experience,
Hannity: No One At Fox News Has Ever Accused Obama Of Being A Muslim  					Last night on Fox’s Hannity and Colmes, right-wing host Sean Hannity angrily insisted no one at Fox News had ever insinuated
McCain Op-Ed: Lobbyists Like My Campaign Manager Are ‘Primary Contributors’ To Fannie-Freddie Crisis  					Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) write today in the Wall Street Journal th
ThinkFast: September 9, 2008  Speaking yesterday to the annual Conference of the White House Initiative on National Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ad
Government Officials Tried To Rewrite Ethics Rules To Accommodate Their Partying  					According to the new Interior Department Inspector General (IG) report, nearly a third of the Denver Minerals Man
On 7th Anniversary Of Attacks, White House Claims Bin Laden Was Not The ‘Mastermind’ of Sept. 11  					Tomorrow marks the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. In a press conference today, a report
McCain ‘Truth Squad’ Surrogate: McCain Supports Equal Pay For Women In ‘Concept’ Only  					Former Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Margaret Farrow, a member of Sen. John McCain’s recently formed Palin Truth Squad,
Thompson Claims Palin ‘Hasn’t Been On The Cover Of Time Magazine,’ Even Though She Has  					Today at a McCain-Palin rally in Virginia, former senator Fred Thompson mocked the media for requesting mor
CNN’s Ware: McCain ‘has no idea what is going on in Iraq.’  					Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) constantly touts his support of the “surge” of U.S. troops in Iraq, how it has “succeeded” and that “we are win
Just Like Bush White House, Palin Uses Personal E-mail Accounts And Claims Executive Privilege  					The Washington Post reports that Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) is “being asked by a local Republican acti
McCain Adviser Tells CNN: McCain Refuses To Talk About Bush’s Iraq Policy Because It’s ‘A Political Death Knell’  					In recent weeks, the McCain campaign used its vice presidential pick of Sarah Pal
ThinkFast: September 10, 2008  A new intelligence report being “prepared for the next president on future global risks envisions a steady decline in U.S. dominance in the coming decades, as the world
Palin Stumped On The Bush Doctine, Believes It Is The President’s ‘Worldview’  					During her much anticipated interview with ABC’s Charles Gibson, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin had a “deer-in-headlights m
Hume: ‘There’s Been Very Little If Any Reporting’ On Obama’s Faith  					Yesterday on the Laura Ingraham show, Fox News’s Senior Washington Correspondent Brit Hume agreed with Ingraham that examinatio
Does McCain think Palin was ‘right’ to call for an ‘exit plan’ from Iraq?  					In an interview last night with an NBC affiliate in Portland, ME, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) argued that Gov. Sarah Palin (
McCain’s Staffers Flock To K Street, Undermining His 2005 ‘Revolving Door’ Legislation  					Politico reports today that “at least 16” of Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) former Senate staffers have gone on
Hannity explodes on air, calls guest ‘fool’ and ‘idiot,’ tells him to get off set.  					Yesterday on Fox News, Sean Hannity and The American Prospect’s Robert Kuttner had a tense exchange about the e
Lieberman Introduces Amendment To Recognize The ‘Strategic Success Of The Troop Surge In Iraq’  					In late July, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) said he would introduce a resolution in the Senate to ap
McCain Willing To Overlook Palin’s Quest For Earmarks To Study Harbor Seal DNA  					At a rally in Virginia yesterday with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin at his side, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) launched into on
McCain: Palin Has National Security Experience Because She Knows About ‘Energy’  					Yesterday in an interview with an NBC affiliate in Portland, ME, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was questioned about Gov.
Bush: Iranians Are ‘Assholes’  					 While serving as CentCom commander between March 2007 and March 2008, Adm. William Fallon consistently pressed the Bush administration for more engagement with Ira
On Morning Of 9/11 Attacks, McCain Immediately Began Making The Case For Iraq War  					On the morning of the 9/11, just moments after the World Trade Center collapsed from the terrorist strikes, Sen.
ThinkFast: September 11, 2008  On the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, new data “from a public health registry that tracks the health effects of 9/11 suggest that as many a
Palin has no clue how entitlements work.  					Tonight in an ABC interview, host Charlie Gibson asked Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) if she would cut entitlements — such as Social Security, Medicare, and Med
Palin Backs Off Bridge To Nowhere Lie, Admits She Supported ‘Infrastructure Being Built In The State’  					During her interview with ABC’s Charlie Gibson tonight, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) seemed to ad
Cantor Defends McCain’s Lie By Lying: Palin ‘Rejected The Monies’ For The Bridge To Nowhere  					On MSNBC today, Norah O’Donnell asked Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) if Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was misspeaki
Media Dismiss Palin’s Ignorance Of The Bush Doctrine Because ‘Many Americans’ Don’t Know What It Is  					During an interview yesterday on ABC, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) indicated that she did not know
McCain Issues A Challenge: ‘Nobody Can Name’ An Issue I Have Flip-Flopped On  					On ABC’s The View today, host Joy Behar complained to John McCain that “you used to be more of the Maverick, then you
On ‘The View,’ McCain Falsely Claims Palin Never Requested Earmarks As Governor Of Alaska  					Appearing on “The View” today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) falsely claimed that Sarah Palin never requested
Palin Explains Her National Security Credentials: ‘Energy’ And The Fact That ‘You Can See Russia From Alaska’  					In his interview with Sarah Palin that aired this morning on Good Morning America, A
ThinkFast: September 12, 2008  As “Greater Houston faces the real possibility of a direct hit” from Hurricane Ike, “the National Weather Service issued a stern warning to people living in small houses
Greenspan: Country Can’t Afford John McCain’s Massive Tax Cuts For The Rich  					On Bloomberg Television this weekend, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told host Al Hunt that the countr
So-Called Energy Expert Sarah Palin Doesn’t Know How Much Energy Her State Produces  					On Wednesday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) defended Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s “experience” in “the field of nationa
No Energy Expert At Senate Hearing Willing To Say That Oil Drilling Is America’s Most Important Issue  					Yesterday, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a Bipartisan Energy Sum
McCain Runs Pro-Stem Cell Ad, While Campaign Website Criticizes Research Involving ‘Human Embryos’  					Conservatives have long disguised their disdain for embryonic stem cell research, the most prom
Cheney’s office hid wiretapping memos from White House chief of staff.  					Today, the Washington Post’s Angler series explores Vice President Cheney’s heavy hand in Bush’s domestic surveillance prog
McCaskill: ‘Sarah Palin Has Been An Earmark Queen In Alaska. That’s The Facts.’  					This week on “The View,” Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) claimed that Sarah Palin had never requested earmarks as governor
Bush Administration Forcing HPV Vaccine On Immigrants  					 In July, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services quietly amended its list of required vaccinations for immigrants applying to become citi
Cheney Turned Down Request To Oversee Katrina Recovery Because ‘He Doesn’t Do Touchy-Feely’  					Just after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in 2005, Vice President Dick Cheney refused Preside
Addington wrote in Gonzales’ signature line while re-authorizing Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program.  					In 2004, after top Justice Department lawyers refused to re-certify the legality of Presi
Media restricted from covering Hurricane Ike’s devastation.  					Yesterday in a local report on KTRK-TV in Houston, TX, reporter Wayne Dolcefino revealed that media have been blocked from covering Hu
Despite His Threat To Veto Equal Pay Bill, Perino Says Bush Is ‘The First Gender Blind President’  					Yesterday on CNN, host John King asked White House Press Secretary Dana Perino about “charges of
McCain’s Record On Economic Reform: ‘Zero’  					A new ad released this morning by the McCain campaign states, “Our economy in crisis. Only proven reformers John McCain and Sarah Palin can fix it.” In
Project Palin: Neoconservatives Seize Upon Palin’s Cluelessness To Shape Her Foreign Policy Agenda  					In her first interview with ABC News last week, Sarah Palin made several bellicose statements —
McCain Loses Fox News: Megyn Kelly Rips McCain Flack For Claiming Obama Would Raise Middle Class Taxes  					On Fox News today, host Megyn Kelly called out McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds for
ThinkFast: September 15, 2008  Markets sank in Europe and Asia today, stock index futures slipped sharply on Wall Street, and the dollar plunged as two giant investment banks, Lehman Brothers and Merr
Palin’s Stonewalling Of Troopergate Previews A Third Cheney Term Of Secrecy And Loyalty  					Last night, the McCain campaign made it clear that Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) would not cooperate with the Al
McCain doesn’t know what his own committee does.  					With Wall Street’s financial institutions in turmoil, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) argued in a series of interviews today that his experience on the S
Fiorina: I Received Only A $21 Million Severance Package — Not $42 Million  					Making an attempt to address the current financial crisis in Florida yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) offered what he
McCain Described The Economy’s Fundamentals As ‘Strong’ At Least 18 Times In 2008  					Yesterday, after two of Wall Street’s major banking institutions had just collapsed, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) dec
Oprah Clashes With Coburn On Protect Our Children Act  					Yesterday, Oprah Winfrey urged her viewers to contact their senators and ask them to support the Protect Our Children Act (H.R. 3845/S. 1738
Fiorina clarifies: ‘I don’t think John McCain could run a major corporation.’  					Earlier today, McCain spokeswoman Carly Fiorina told a St. Louis radio program that Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) was not
Former FCC Chairman Blasts Claim That McCain Invented The Blackberry: He Is ‘So Out Of Touch’  					 Speaking to reporters today, McCain campaign adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin claimed that Sen. John McC
McCain Flip-Flops On ‘Excessive Regulation’ In Less Than An Hour  					Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) appeared on all six broadcast and cable morning news shows today in an attempt to defend his misguided be
McCain Adviser: McCain ‘Helped Create’ The Blackberry  					 Speaking to reporters today, McCain campaign adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin claimed that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is responsible for the “mirac
Krugman: Phil Gramm would be ‘just the guy’ to lead us into a Great Depression.  					Last night on MSNBC’s Countdown, New York Times columnist and Princeton economics professor Paul Krugman pinpointe
ThinkFast: September 16, 2008  The Dow Jones industrial average “dropped 504.48 points, or 4.4 percent, as a record volume of more than 8 billion shares traded hands on the New York Stock Exchange. It
Palin Blames Lobbyists Like Her Campaign Manager For The Failure Of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac  					During his interview with Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK), Fox’s Sean Hannity asked Palin if she believed a
Matthews Pushes Cantor On Bush’s Handling Of The Economy: ‘He’s Pulling One Of These Katrinas Again’  					In a contentious segment on “Hardball” tonight, host Chris Matthews accused Rep. Eric Cantor
FLASHBACK: In 2007, McCain Admitted He ‘Did Not’ Anticipate Financial Crisis  					This week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has been repeatedly saying that the nation is in its current economic condition be
White House won’t side with McCain on ‘fundamentals’ of economy being ’strong.’  					This year, both President Bush and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) have claimed that the “fundamentals” of the economy “ar
Huckabee: McCain Has Always Been Against Regulation, Knows Market ‘Will Correct Itself’  					In the wake of the sudden collapse of Wall Street giant banks, Sen. John McCain spent yesterday “scramblin
McCain Flip-Flops On AIG Bailout In 24 Hours  					Yesterday, the federal government offered insurance giant AIG an $85 billion loan to in the biggest government takeover thus far in the ongoing credi
Romney’s Hypocrisy: ‘The Only Sex Education That’s Appropriate In Kindergarten Is No Sex Education’  					On MSNBC’s Morning Joe today, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney defended Sen. John McC
Palin Counters Fiorina: I View Myself As Alaska’s CEO  					 Yesterday, McCain adviser Carly Fiorina appeared on a St. Louis radio show and said that Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) was not qualified to run a
ThinkFast: September 17, 2008  “Democrats in Michigan are trying to block what they call a Republican effort to deny voting rights to people facing foreclosure,” filing “for an injunction to prohibit
Ingraham: Lawmakers who worry about the economic crisis are ‘girly.’  					Today on her radio show, Laura Ingraham mocked those who were “panicking” about Wall Street’s collapse and insisted that “the
White House: McCain Campaign’s Attack On Congress ‘Isn’t That Smart’  					On the McCain campaign plane today, top adviser Steve Schmidt slammed congressional leaders for adjourning for recess on Sept
CNN: Palin’s suggested oil export ban ‘not exactly easy to understand.’  					This afternoon on CNN, host Wolf Blitzer showed video from last night’s townhall with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Gov. Sar
A Method To His Madness? McCain Could Be Making Bush’s Grudge Against Spain Official U.S. Policy  					In an interview earlier this week, John McCain would not answer whether he would be willing to me
McCain’s Hollow Promise To Fight For Equal Pay: ‘We’ll Take Employers To Court’  					Last night in a joint townhall meeting, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) touted their supposed
The Fish Oil Salesman: McCain Pushes Offshore Drilling Because Fish ‘Love To Be Around’ Oil Rigs  					Yesterday in his town hall meeting with Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) advocate
As Bush’s VP Vetter In 2000, Cheney ‘Sidestepped The Scrutiny He Imposed On Others’  					In July 2000, after serving as the head of then-Texas Governor George W. Bush’s vice presidential search commi
McCain seemingly rejects Spain as an ally.  					According to Spain’s El Pais, John McCain would not answer this week whether he would be willing to meet with Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodrígue
Hagel On Palin: ‘I Think It’s A Stretch To…Say She’s Got The Experience To Be President’  					 In an interview with the Omaha World-Herald, Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) questioned whether John McCain’s ru
ThinkFast: September 18, 2008  68 percent: The number of Americans who think John McCain would either continue President Bush’s policies or enact more conservative policies, according to a New York Ti
McCain Campaign Refuses To Appear On The Rachel Maddow Show  					Surrogates for Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) presidential campaign rarely shy away from the chance to put out their talking points, regula
Flashback: In 2004 Bush Campaigned For Re-Election On The Backs Of Subprime Mortgages  					During the 2004 campaign, President Bush declared his pride in making America what he called “an ownership s
Fleischer: Bush Is Not Taking Questions From Press Because Doing So ‘Would Hurt John McCain’  					On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said that Bush has not taken questions from the
Bush Compares The Financial Crisis He Created To The Terrorist Attacks He Never Saw Coming  					Today, President Bush gave his first substantial comments on the current economic crisis, trying to rea
Palin Refuses To Say Whether She Would Be Part Of Executive Branch  					When Sarah Palin was announced as John McCain’s running mate, President Bush said that she “had the executive appearance and th
ThinkFast: September 19, 2008  Homeless advocacy groups and city agencies across the country are “reporting the most visible rise in homeless encampments in a generation.” These tent cities — reminisc
Pentagon Reassigns Controversial Guantanamo Legal Adviser As War Court Czar  					As legal adviser at Guantanamo Bay, Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann has been one of the most aggressive advocates for the B
McCain Adviser Commits To Balanced Budget By 2013 — After Govt. Spends $900 Billion In Bailouts  					Recent Fed and Treasury rescues of Bear Sterans, AIG, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac, total $900 bill
Bush’s Legacy Of Squandering Taxpayer Money  					Yesterday, President Bush announced his $700 billion plan to buy out troubled financial institutions. Demanding enormous faith in his administration’s
Boehner: Treasury’s Bailout Package Should Help Only Wall Street, Not Main Street  					Congress and the administration are currently in negotiations over a $700 billion legislative package to relieve
Democrats, Remember Your History  					Our guest blogger is John Halpin, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund and co-author of “The Power of Progress: How Progressives Can (
T. Boone Pickens: I’m Having More Problems Working With Drill-Only Republicans Than Democrats  					Today, Texas oil-tycoon-cum-alternative-energy-spokesman T. Boone Pickens spoke to the National Pres
McCain Campaign Has Strong Ties To Corporate Lobbyists At Center Of Bailout  					The Wall Street Journal reports that lobbyists for Wall Street firms have dispensed with traditionally subtle lobbying
Conflict Of Interest? Report Says Goldman Sachs ‘Among Biggest Beneficiaries’ Of Paulson’s Bailout  					In making his push to administer the largest federal bailout of Wall Street in history, Treasur
Just Yesterday, McCain Said He’d ‘Be Glad’ To Have Rick Davis’s Record ‘Examined By Anybody’  					Today, the New York Times published an article in which it examined the lobbying record of Rick Davis
Even With Costly Wall Street Bailout, McCain Still Claims He Will Balance The Budget By 2013  					Last night during an interview with John Harwood on CNBC, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) pledged to stick to
Bush Backs Unlimited Compensation For Disgraced CEOs: Now Is Not The Time For ‘Punitive Measures’  					 Today, the White House released a statement criticizing Congress’s  potential plan to limit CEO
McCain Clueless When Asked About Fiorina’s $40 Million Golden Parachute: ‘I Do Not Know The Details’  					For the past week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has been railing against Wall Street “fat cats” an
ThinkFast: September 22, 2008  Having spent 20 years and millions of dollars “loudly and bitterly attacking the liberal leanings of American campuses,” conservatives “have failed to make much of a den
McCain campaign manager’s lobbying firm paid by Freddie Mac through last month.  					The New York Times reports tonight that, until last month, Freddie Mac paid $15,000 a month to the lobbying firm o
Limbaugh Repeats Myth That Obama Is Of ‘Arab-African’ Descent  					Yesterday on his radio show, conservative talker Rush Limbaugh falsely claimed that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) is “Arab.” “He’s Arab.
Bachmann And Barton Exploit The Financial Crisis To Push For More Oil Drilling  					While the White House and Congress are haggling over how to best bail out Wall Street’s ailing financial markets, a
Media Threaten Boycott Over McCain-Palin Campaign’s Efforts To Restrict Access  					Earlier today, the McCain-Palin campaign backed out of its promise to allow print journalists from reporting on Gov
Paulson: I Didn’t Suggest Oversight In The Bailout Plan Because That Would Be ‘Presumptuous’  					This morning, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson testified before the Senate Banking Committee on the c
Sanders: Wealthiest Americans Should Pay For Bush’s Bailout  					 The Bush administration’s $700 billion financial bailout is roughly what the United States has spent so far on the Iraq war and would
EXCLUSIVE: Maliki Suggests Bush Pushed To Extend U.S. Presence In Iraq To Help McCain  					Last July, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said U.S. troops should be out of Iraq “as soon as possible”
85 days: Palin’s executive experience in the state capital.  					Writing on the Politico, Center for American Progress Action Fund Senior Fellow Scott Lilly notes that “there has been little analysis
ThinkFast: September 23, 2008  Lobbyists are rallying to defeat Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-CT) alternative bailout proposal, with the banking industry particularly up in arms about a provision allowing bank
Ledbetter ‘Strongly Offended’ By McCain’s Statement That Women Need ‘More Education,’ Not Equal Pay  					 Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on “Barriers to Justice: Examining Equal
Tommy Thompson: Rove convinced Bush to reject embryonic stem cell research.  					In August 2001, President Bush sharply curbed embryonic stem cell research, funding only research on “existing stem ce
Under Alaska Law, Palin Could Halt Personnel Board Troopergate Investigation At Any Moment  					Declaring yesterday that they are “done answering questions” about Troopergate, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK)
Obama: ‘It is going to be part of the president’s job to deal with more than one thing at once.’  					Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) just gave a press conference responding to Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) sug
Breaking: McCain Proposes Suspending Campaign To Focus On Financial Crisis (Updated)  					Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is announcing that he would like to suspend his campaign and delay Friday’s foreign p
Americans Blame Financial Crisis On ‘Lack Of Regulation,’ While McCain Says People ‘Don’t Want Regulation’  					In an interview on Tuesday with WCAU in Philadelphia, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) backed aw
Lousiana lawmaker advocates eugenics: Sterilize poor women, encourage rich to procreate.  					The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that state Rep. John LaBruzzo (R) said yesterday that “he is study
McCain Comments On Involvement In Keating Five: ‘It Was A Very Unhappy Period In My Life’  					During the savings and loan scandal in the late 1980s, Charles Keating — a wealthy Arizona businessman a
Rice Echoes McCain: ‘The Fundamentals Of The U.S. Economy Are Strong’  					Last week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was widely ridiculed for his claim that the “fundamentals of our economy are strong” on t
McCain’s Health Care Architect: I Was Joking When I Said There Are No Uninsured Americans  					In an interview with the Dallas Morning News last month, John Goodman, the “Father of Health Savings Acc
ThinkFast: September 24, 2008  The FBI has opened investigations into Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, and AIG, looking into whether “fraud helped cause some of the troubles” at these financi
Flashback: Rick Davis Memo — ‘No Person Working For Campaign May…Receive Compensation’ For Lobbying  					Earlier this week, after a critical New York Times article about McCain campaign manager Rick
McCain Blames Earmarks For The Current Financial ‘Difficulties’  					When talking about the economy, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) regularly resorts to talking about one of his favorite subjects: pork barr
Bailout Deal Appears To Fall Apart After McCain And House GOP Push Surprise Alternate Proposal  					Earlier today, Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress announced that they had reached a “fun
Lousiana Lawmaker Faults Media For Focusing Attention On His Eugenics Proposal  					Louisiana State Rep. John LaBruzzo (R) recently stirred controversy by advocating a form of eugenics to decrease th
Sanders Schools Kudlow: ‘You’ve Become A Socialist — Your Version Of Socialism Is To Bail Out The Rich’  					Appearing on CNBC’s Kudlow and Company on Tuesday night, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) disman
FLASHBACK: In 2007, McCain Parachuted In ‘On The Last Day’ For Immigration Debate  					 Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) yesterday announced that he would be suspending his campaign to return to Washington fo
McCain Flacks Appear On Five Six Cable Shows Within Hours Of Campaign’s ‘Suspension’  					Yesterday, Sen. John McCain announced he would be suspending his campaign after speaking at the Clinton Globa
Palin: ‘What The Bailout Does Is Help Those Who Are Concerned About Health Care Reform’  					This morning on the CBS Early Show, Katie Couric previewed the second half of her interview with Gov. Sara
Lawmakers Would Prefer McCain Butt Out Of Their Bailout Negotiations  					Yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) abruptly announced that he was suspending his presidential campaign in order “to return to
Echoes Of Iraq War: White House Claims Bailout Will Pay For Itself  					To justify the exorbitant cost of the bailout for the financial industry, Bush administration officials have been repeating the
ThinkFast: September 25, 2008  The Congressional Budget Office director yesterday told Congress that the proposed bailout may worsen the current financial crisis. “Ironically, the intervention could e
Presidential Debate Live-Blogging  					11:47: CNN’s Roland Martin’s reaction to the debate: “John McCain, how dare you come and give a debate and you don’t even say the word ‘middle class.’” 11:35: F
Bachmann Blames President Clinton, ‘Blacks,’  And ‘Other Minorities’ For Current Financial Crisis  					Yesterday in a House hearing on the financial crisis, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) spoke on what
Durbin Ties Economic Crisis To Iraq War, Calls For Repeal Of Bush’s Tax Cuts To Pay For $700 Billion Bailout  					In an interview today with ThinkProgress, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) directly tied today
Rep. Blunt: McCain ‘stopped a deal’ from happening.  					When John McCain suspended his presidential campaign yesterday, he explained that he was doing so in order to help facilitate a deal on the fi
Durbin: McCain’s Return To Washington Brought Only ‘Razzle-Dazzle To The Process And Nothing Substantive’  					Today in an interview with ThinkProgress, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) sharply criticized Sen
White House Threatens Veto Of Second Stimulus Over Food Stamps And Unemployment Benefits  					Today, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a statement of administrative polic
Irish-Catholic organization says McCain’s Irish joke was ‘an insult to a whole nationality.’  					During a town hall in Scranton, PA on Monday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) declared that “there’s only one
House GOP Aides: McCain ‘Not Familiar With The Details’ Of The Financial Bailout  					Bailout negotiations “dissolved into a verbal brawl” at the White House yesterday, as some House Republicans, led
The debate is on: McCain leaving shortly for Mississippi debate.  					CNN is reporting that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) will be attending tonight’s presidential debate and is leaving shortly for Mississi
Palin Declares ‘Victory’ In Iraq  					In her interview with CBS’s Katie Couric that aired yesterday, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) outlined some of her foreign policy positions. After laying out why Afghan
ThinkFast: September 26, 2008  Pakistan warned U.S. troops not to intrude on its territory, “after the two anti-terror allies traded fire along the volatile border with Afghanistan.” The clash was “th
CBC Presses Republicans: Do You Agree With Bachmann’s Assertion That ‘Minorities’ Caused Financial Crisis?  					 During a House hearing on Thursday, Rep. Michele Bachmann pinned blame for financial c
McCain on financial bailout: ‘Just like Iraq, I’m not afraid to go it alone.’  					Today, the Washington Post reveals more details about what happened during the White House meeting on Thursday betwe
Report: Bush ‘Personally Directed’ Gonzales To Strong-Arm Ashcroft At His Bedside  					In his May 2007 testimony, describing the infamous strong-arming of John Ashcroft done by Andy Card and Alberto
Prager asks Howard: ‘Why is it that English-speaking countries tend to share values and fight evil?’  					On his radio show yesterday, right winger Dennis Prager asked former Australian prime ministe
McCain admits health plan increases taxes.  					Today, during an interview on ABC’s This Week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) finally admitted that his health care tax credits would not cover the costs of a
McCain Calls For Bipartisan Cooperation On Financial Bailout, But Refuses To Talk With Democrats  					On Wednesday afternoon, John McCain claimed to want to put partisanship aside to focus his attent
After Attacking Earmarks, Graham Unable To Defend His Own Pork: ‘I’m Part Of The Problem’  					During the presidential debate on Friday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) responded to a question about how he w
Graham on bailout negotiations: ‘You can’t phone something like this in.’  					This morning on Fox News Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) praised Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) for returning to Washington
Lobbyists in McCain’s inner circle cashed in on Senate Abramoff investigation.  					McCain often brags that he led the Senate investigation into fallen lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who overbilled his Indi
On Day Of U.S. Attorney Scandal Report, Senate Lauds Domenici’s ‘Honesty’ And ‘Bipartisanship’  					Today, Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) gave his farewell address to the Senate, mostly talking about his
White House Press Corps Fails To Ask A Single Question On U.S. Attorney Investigation  					Today, the Office of Public Responsibility and the Department of Justice Inspector General released the culm
Rep. Frank On GOP: ‘Because Somebody Hurt Their Feelings, They Decide To Punish The Country’  					As soon as the bailout proposal failed in the House, Republican lawmakers began blaming House Speaker
After Taking Credit For Bailout Bill, Is McCain Campaign Willing To Share Responsibility For Its Failure?  					 Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) hasn’t been involved in the deep negotiations over details of t
Financial Bailout Deal Fails 205-228 (Updated)  					The Congress has just voted down the proposed bipartisan bailout package. 95 Democrats and 133 Republicans rejected the plan:   The Roll Call vote
McCain disregards Petraeus’ advice, hits Obama for not using the word ‘victory.’  					Delivering a campaign speech in Columbus, OH today, John McCain blasted Sen. Barack Obama for not using the word
McCain: ‘It’s not my style to simply phone it in.’  					At a rally in Ohio today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) touted his decision to come back to Washington last week to work on the financial bailout: Re
Mukasey Appoints Special Prosecutor To Investigate U.S. Attorney Firings; Will McCain Follow Through?  					After an 18-month investigation, the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General an
Schmidt criticizes Obama for refusing to applaud ‘victory’ in Iraq.  					Yesterday on NBC’s Meet the Press, Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) chief strategist David Axelrod noted that during Friday’s presid
ThinkFast: September 29, 2008  “Former attorney general Alberto R. Gonzales will not be referred to a federal grand jury for his role in the 2006 firings of nine U.S. attorneys,” but a new report rele
Rep. Steve King: McCain Was Right When He Said The Fundamentals Of The Economy Are Strong  					Earlier this month, on the same day that two of Wall Street’s major banking institutions collapsed, Sen.
Palin on which newspapers she reads: ‘Um, all of them.’  					Tonight on the CBS Evening News, host Katie Couric asked Sarah Palin which sources she relies on for her news consumption. Three separate
Conservatives try to dodge responsibility for financial crisis by blaming poor people, minorities.  					In the aftermath of the financial crisis, conservative commentators have blamed the Community R
Former ambassador to Pakistan responds to McCain: Pakistan was not a ‘failed state’ in 1999.  					During Friday’s presidential debate, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) claimed:  I don’t think that Senator Oba
Palin On Rape Kit Accusations: ‘The Entire Notion Of Making A Victim Of A Crime Pay For Anything Is Crazy’  					The Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman — the hometown newspaper of Sarah Palin — reports that t
McCain: ‘You Don’t Announce That You’re Going To Attack Another Country’  					Last night, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) sat for an interview with CBS’s Katie Couric. Couric aske
Glenn Beck, Jonah Goldberg fantasize about violently cutting open Harry Reid’s stomach.  					Today on Glenn Beck’s radio show, right-wing columnist Jonah Goldberg and Beck railed against the bailout
Did Gingrich Give Marching Orders To House GOP To Vote Against Bailout?  					Now that House Republicans are insisting their vote against the bailout yesterday had nothing to do with Speaker Nancy Pel
GOP backs off claim that Pelosi’s ‘partisan’ speech made them vote against the bailout.  					Yesterday, after the proposed bipartisan bailout package failed to pass, the House Republican leadership d
Media: Bush Is The ‘Picture Of A Beaten Dog’  					In the wake of yesterday’s congressional meltdown over the bailout bill, President Bush gave a speech this morning, meant to reassure the public and
ThinkFast: September 30, 2008  Nearly 90 percent of Americans are concerned that the failure of the Wall Street bailout package “could lead to a more severe economic decline,” according to a new Washi
Pentagon Report: 37% Of Iraqis Feel Safe Outside Their Homes, 24% Have ‘Confidence’ In Foreign Troops  					Yesterday, the Pentagon released its Quarterly Report to Congress on Iraq. “While security h
Palin can’t name a Supreme Court case she disagrees with.  					Tonight, CBS’s Katie Couric released her latest interviews with Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) and Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK), during which she aske
Log Cabin Republicans: “We know people don’t ‘choose’ their sexual orientation.”  					In an interview with Katie Couric, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) said that one of her friends who is gay “happens to ha
John McCain Must Release His Medical Records  					Our guest blogger is Dr. Clark Newhall, MD/JD of Salt Lake City, UT, one of over 2,700 doctors from around the country who signed an open letter call
McCain Supports ‘Non-Discrimination In Hiring For Gay And Lesbian People’ In ‘Concept’ Only  					After turning down an interview with the Gay History Project earlier this month, Sen. John McCain (R-A
Will McCain Vote For An Alaska-Friendly Earmark In The Senate Bailout Bill?  					In an effort to garner more support for the Wall Street bailout bill, the Senate added “tax extenders” to its bill. On
McCain responds: ‘I have confidence that Gwen Ifill will do a professional job.’  					Today, Fox News’s Carl Cameron asked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) if he still supports having PBS’s Gwen Ifill moderat
Bachmann Claims Pelosi’s ‘Bitter’ Speech Was ‘Attacking The Bailout’  					On Monday, after the House failed to pass the proposed bipartisan bailout package, the House Republican leadership quickly bl
Palin: Being Gay Is A ‘Choice’  					Yesterday in her interview with CBS’s Katie Couric, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) spoke on homosexuality, saying that she won’t “judge people,” but it is still a lifesty
McCain: I routinely turn to Palin for foreign policy advice.  					 In an interview this morning with NPR, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said that he has often turned to Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) for foreign
McCain: ‘I Always Aspire To Be A Dictator’  					Discussing the Wall Street bailout yesterday during an interview with the Des Moines Register editorial board, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said the failure
Palin On Whether Global Warming Is Man-Made: ‘Kinda Doesn’t Matter’  					In an interview with CBS’s Katie Couric yesterday, Gov. Sarah Palin continued her refusal to endorse the scientific consensus
ThinkFast: October 1, 2008  Before Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) chose her as his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) had an 82 percent approval rating in her state. Since then, however, Palin’s approval
Vice Presidential Debate Live-Blogging  					11:19: On Fox, Kristol says Palin should challenge Biden to more debates: “She should challenge Biden tomorrow. … They can have six or seven of them. They
Chet Edwards: ‘If You Look At McCain’s Record On Veterans Issues, It’s A Failed One’  					Sen. John McCain has proudly touted his record on veterans throughout this campaign. “I know the veterans. I
McCain: ‘I Do Not Complain About The Media’  					Yesterday during an interview with Fox News’s Carl Cameron, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) astonishingly claimed that he has not had any complaints with the
Hans Von Spakovsky Claims Obama Would Have A ‘Partisan And Politically-Biased’ Justice Department  					In May, controversial former Justice Department official Hans Von Spakovsky withdrew his name fr
Rep. Edwards Defends Vote For Bailout, But Admits It’s ‘Not Necessarily The Best Proposal’  					In an interview with ThinkProgress today, Rep. Chet Edwards (D-TX) discussed why he is supporting the f
Lieberman: We Need To Pass The Bailout Because ‘It Will Be Good For John McCain’  					On Fox News today, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) discussed the downturn in Sen. John McCain’s presidential prospects,
After Voting For Earmark-Laden Bailout Bill, McCain Seems To Call For Bush To Veto It  					Last night, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) voted in favor of the $700 billion financial bailout bill, saying we “sq
Top U.S. general in Afghanistan disagrees with McCain: “The word I don’t use for Afghanistan is ‘surge.’”  					In last Friday’s presidential debate, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said that “the same strate
McCain jokes: ‘I’m not a rich man.’  					This morning on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Sen. John McCain talked baseball with Joe Scarborough. Scarborough, calling McCain a “gambling man,” asked which baseball
ThinkFast: October 2, 2008  House Republicans who scuttled the Wall Street bailout package are reconsidering their opposition. Rep. James Gerlach (R-PA) explained that after his Monday vote against th
Does Palin Really Read ‘The Economist’?  					Earlier this week, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) gained widespread attention for her inability to name specifically which newspapers and magazines she regularly
Palin Says She Will Seek Some Authority Over Legislative And Judicial Branches (Updated)  					UPDATE: The Fox News transcript misquoted Gov. Palin. In the video of the interview, she actually said, “
Fox News: Palin Won VP Debate Because She Had A Bigger Flag Pin  					This morning, the hosts of Fox and Friends discussed last night’s vice presidential debate, concluding that Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK
Holt: Bailout Package Doesn’t Address The ‘Heart Of The Problem’ — People ‘Saddled With Bad Mortgages’  					In an interview with ThinkProgress today, Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) said he had concerns with t
McCain: ‘Let’s Cut Off’ All Ties To Iran, ‘Diplomatic, Trade, You Name It,’ ‘Basically Isolate Them’  					Yesterday, Sen. John McCain met with the editorial board of the Denver Post. Discussing Iran,
VIDEO: Watch Sarah Palin Read Her Answers In Last Night’s Debate  					For Sarah Palin, last night’s debate was an open-book exam. She spent much of the evening methodically reading and rehearsing ans
ThinkFast: October 3, 2008  The Labor Department announced that 159,000 jobs were lost this past month, marking the 9th straight month of job losses. Three-quarters of a million jobs have been shed so
Cheney: Wildlife Conservation Has Been A ‘High Priority’ Of Bush Administration  					 Yesterday, Vice President Cheney spoke at the White House Conference on North American Wildlife Policy in Reno, N
Mainstream Media Stand To Receive $1.44 Billion From McCain’s Tax Cuts  					Prior to and following the vice-presidential debates, conservatives on Fox News purported that the “mainstream media” has a
McCain Flack Inadvertently Accuses McCain Of A ‘100 Percent Lie’ On Health Care Tax Increase  					On Sunday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) admitted that his health care plan raises taxes. “[O]nly those wit
Conservatives On Palin: She Should ‘Read A Few More Books’  					Over the last several weeks, Sarah Palin has made some puzzling statements. She claimed that the recently approved Wall Street bailout
Cheney Biographer: Palin Views Cheney’s Vice Presidency As A Role Model  					In Thursday’s vice presidential debate, Gov. Sarah Palin said she “agrees” with Dick Cheney’s expansive view of the power
Rep. Wilson: Any Criticism Of ‘American Policy’ Is Unpatriotic  					Today on CBS’s Face the Nation, Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) defended Gov. Sarah Palin’s (R-AK) new comments that Sen. Barack Obama (
Lehman board recommended $20 million in executive ‘special payments’ while filing for bailout.  					The AP reports that Lehman CEO Richard Fuld admitted to Congress today that he has taken home over
Pfotenhauer Claims McCain Has Made The Economy The ‘Fulcrum Of His Whole Campaign’  					With close friends like Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) acknowledging that a focus on the economy has been bad for Se
McCain Voted To Protect Domestic Terrorists Who Carry Out Violence At Abortion Clinics  					This morning on CBS’s Early Show, McCain-Palin campaign spokesperson Nancy Pfotenhauer attempted to defend
Lynne Cheney: Right-wing blogs are ‘centrist.’  					In an interview with Newsweek’s Tammy Haddad this weekend, Lynne Cheney, the vice president’s wife, revealed that she’s a blog reader. Cheney said
‘24′ Producer Pulls Endorsement Of Anti-Muslim DVD ‘Obsession’  					 In recent weeks, newspapers reaching 28 million households nationwide (although primarily in swing states) have been carrying an a
GM exec Bob Lutz won’t back away from denial of global warming.  					In February, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz defended his previous remarks dismissing global warming as a “total crock of shit.” “My tho
Top McCain Aide: ‘If We Keep Talking About The Economic Crisis, We’re Going To Lose’  					Last month, when two of Wall Street’s major financial institutions collapsed, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) declare
ThinkFast: October 6, 2008  “John McCain would pay for his health plan with major reductions to Medicare and Medicaid, a top aide said,” a move that could result in cuts of $1.3 trillion over 10 years
Presidential Debate Live-Blogging  					10:59: McCain made zero mentions of “middle class” tonight — the same number he offered in the first debate. (UPDATE: McCain mentioned “middle-income” Americans
Palin Attempts To ‘Turn The Page’ From The Economy Back To ‘Drill Baby Drill’  					The Washington Post reported this weekend that the McCain campaign’s new strategy is “turning the page” on the econo
After Her Campaign Proposes Entitlement Cuts, Palin Declares McCain Will Protect ‘Entitlement Programs’  					On Sunday, top McCain economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin admitted that in order to pay f
FLASHBACK: In 2000, McCain Said U.S. Troops Were ‘Killing Innocent Civilians’ And ‘Dropping Bombs’  					In August 2007, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) was asked whether he would move U.S. troops out of Ira
Perino On Whether The Country Is In A Recession: ‘I Don’t Know’  					Today, reporters questioned White House Press Secretary Dana Perino on whether the U.S. economy is now in a recession. Perino, how
Did Bush Kill Plans For A ‘Diplomatic Presence In Tehran’ To Help McCain?  					On July 16, news broke that President Bush had “authorized the most significant U.S. diplomatic contact with Iran since
Federal judge orders release of Uighur detainees from Guantanamo Bay.  					In what the AP calls “a landmark decision,” a federal judge has ordered the release of a small group of Chinese Muslims from
ThinkProgress Liveblogging Tonight’s Presidential Debate  					Continuing our coverage of the 2008 election debates, the entire ThinkProgress team — including the Wonk Room and Matt Yglesias — will be
One Week After McCain Claims Vets ‘Know I’ll Take Care Of Them,’ IAVA Gives Him A ‘D’  					During the first presidential debate, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) repeatedly emphasized his love of veterans — a
ThinkFast: October 7, 2008  “American business, typically a reliable Republican cheerleader, is decidedly lukewarm” about John McCain’s health care proposals. Specifically, groups believe that McCain’
Perino Confirms White House Won’t Extend Jobless Benefits, Says People Should Just Find A Job  					During today’s press briefing, White House press secretary Dana Perino suggested the Bush administra
Nicolle Wallace: John McCain Is A Corporation’s ‘Worst Nightmare’  					This morning on MSNBC, Nicolle Wallace, Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) senior campaign adviser, falsely claimed that McCain “isn’t fo
McCain Proposes A Progressive Housing Policy, But Still Wants To Reward Bankers Who Made Bad Loans  					During the presidential debate last night, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) announced that, if elected P
Gingrich Changes His Mind On The Bailout…Again: McCain Should ‘Separate Himself’ From The Plan  					 Last month, MSNBC reported that up until the last minute, former Republican House Speaker Newt Gin
Conservatives Call Obama’s Correct Pronounciation Of Pakistan ‘Exotic’ And ‘Annoying’  					Conservatives are in a tizzy over the way Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) pronounced “Pakistan” during last night’s
Doocy: ‘Being a coach for girls is like herding cats.’  					Promoting his new book, Tales from the Dadside, Fox and Friends co-host Steve Doocy explained why the book contains different sets of sport
Lieberman: ‘I Worry About’ Whether Obama Has ‘The Right Stuff To Bomb Iran’  					In an interview with the right-wing magazine Newsmax yesterday, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) called Sen. Barack Obama’s w
McCain Lobbies For Taiwan Arms Sales After Taiwan Signs Lobbying Contract With His Adviser’s Firm  					The Bush administration is currently in discussions to send $6 billion in arms to Taiwan. Yester
ThinkFast: October 8, 2008  The Congressional Budget Office’s top budget analyst said that the prolonged downturn in the stock market “has wiped out about $2 trillion in Americans’ retirement savings
Holtz-Eakin: McCain Can Change His Proposals, But Don’t Criticize Him For It  					This afternoon on MSNBC, John McCain’s senior economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin complained that some critics have
Cindy McCain: Vietnam vets with PTSD were 18-year-olds who didn’t know what they were doing.  					During a recent interview with Marie Claire, Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) wife Cindy suggested that her
McCain Touts ‘Energy Expert’ Palin’s Credentials By Falsely Claiming She Delivered A Gas Pipeline  					Last night on Fox News, host Sean Hannity interviewed Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Gov. Sarah Pal
Palin: I have been ‘an open book’ and have had to answer questions ‘every day.’  					Continuing her tour among friendly-only interviewers, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) appeared on the Laura Ingraham show
The Bridge To Nowhere Lie Returns: McCain Claims Palin ‘Stood Up Against’ The Project  					After the talking point was thoroughly debunked, the McCain campaign slowly backed away from the claim that
ABC Report: NSA ‘Routinely’ Listened In On Americans’ Phone Calls, Passed Around ‘Salacious’ Bits  					Ever since President Bush confirmed the existence of a National Security Administration wiretapp
Inhofe Defends ‘Global Warming Is The Greatest Hoax’ Comment: ‘I Think I Was Right’  					In 2003, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) declared that global warming is “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the A
ThinkFast: October 9, 2008  A draft version of the new National Intelligence Estimate “concludes that Afghanistan is in a ‘downward spiral’ and casts serious doubt on the ability of the Afghan governm
Troopergate investigation finds Palin ‘abused her power.’  					The investigator authorized by the Alaska Legislative Council to examine the “Troopergate” scandal released his report today, and found
Right Wing Rages Against New Voter Registrations: The ‘Purpose’ Of ACORN Is To Commit ‘Voter Fraud’  					This week, the New York Times reported that “tens of thousands of eligible voters in at least
Media Buffers McCain From His Own Campaign’s Attacks On Obama  					Last Saturday, Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) campaign announced a new strategy of diversion. “If we keep talking about the economic cris
After New NIE, Bush Officials Now ‘Privately’ Admitting Afghanistan Is The Central Front In War On Terror  					For years, the Bush administration has incessantly claimed that Iraq is the “central fro
Bill O’Reilly: ‘The Only Person In The Galaxy Who Is Able To Imagine A Raceless Human Being’  					On Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor last night, Temple University professor Marc Lamont Hill argued that
Rep. Wilson Clueless That McCain Has Flipped On Housing Plan, Desperately Insists, ‘That’s Not The Proposal’  					Since Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) introduced his Home Resurgence Plan during the most rec
Connecticut Supreme Court rules that gay couples have the right to marry.  					In a 4-3 decision released this morning, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality, stating that
McCain Offers Bush Third-Term Stimulus Proposal: ‘Make Bush’s Tax Cuts Permanent’  					In a New York Times op-ed yesterday, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich argued that, in the face of a deepening
ThinkFast: October 10, 2008  Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman John Rockefeller (D-WV) said his panel “would investigate claims by two military eavesdroppers that they routinely listened in on pr
Cheney Biographer: VP Would Certainly See Bailout As Opportunity To Reinforce Unitary Executive  					In recent weeks, Vice President Cheney has virtually disappeared from the public spotlight since l
McCain: ‘As President, I’m going to end these abuses [of power] whatever it takes.’  					Just moments ago at a townhall rally in Davenport, IA, John McCain delivered this statement: As a Senator, I’v
Palin Responds To Troopergate Report, Dodges Issue Of Whether She Abused Power  					While Sarah Palin was boarding her campaign bus this morning, a reporter seeking comment on the new Troopergate rep
U.S. takes North Korea off terror list.  					North Korea has agreed to U.S. demands for nuclear inspection of its facilities, and in response, the Bush administration has agreed to take the country o
Top McCain adviser insults supporters: We’re not responsible for the ‘occasional nut.’  					In recent weeks, Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) rallies have become increasingly hostile and divisive. Supporter
McCain And Palin Off Message In Response To North Korea Diplomacy  					Yesterday, the Bush administration announced that the United States was removing North Korea from the State Department’s list of
McCain Campaign Says Black Is White: Claims Troopergate Investigation Found No Wrongdoing  					On Friday, the bipartisan Alaskan Legislative Council voted unanimously to release the findings of its “
McCain Makes The Case Against Himself: Next President ‘Won’t Have The Luxury Of Studying Up On The Issues’  					During a campaign rally this afternoon, John McCain made this observation: The next Pre
South Carolina Democratic Senate Candidate Is A Global Warming Denier  					In a debate this past Saturday night, Democratic candidate Bob Conley — who is challenging incumbent Republican Lindsey Grah
Echoes Of Atwater In McCain-Palin Campaign  					Our guest blogger is Stefan Forbes, an Emmy-nominated director whose film, Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story, is coming to 35 cities before the electio
McCain Tries To Blame Financial Crisis On Democratic Takeover Of Congress In 2007  					In April, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) claimed that “you could make an argument that there’s been great progress econ
McCain Transition Chief Helped Saddam Hussein Lobby Against Sanctions  					In 1993, President Clinton launched strikes on Saddam Hussein’s regime in response to Iraq’s alleged plot to assassinate for
Parker: White House Officials Agree That Palin Should Be Off GOP Ticket  					Last month, conservative columnist Kathleen Parker wrote a scathing column saying that Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) is “way out
Palin Opposed Plan To Bring Alaska’s Natural Gas To The Lower 48 States  					 Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) often claims that Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) is the country’s top energy expert, citing her work sha
Morris: ‘What’s The Matter With Comparing’ Obama To Osama Bin Laden?  					On Sunday, Time magazine’s Karen Tumulty reported on how the chairman of the Virgina Republican Party, Jeff Frederick, compar
McCain Unveils New Economic Stimulus Proposal: Tax Cut For Millionaires  					On Saturday night, the McCain campaign told Politico.com that it was planning to unveil “new economic plans” that included
‘Axis Of Evil’ Author Compares Rachel Maddow To Racist Hecklers  					Last night on MSNBC, Rachel Maddow hosted David Frum, former speechwriter to President Bush, to discuss the increasingly nasty — a
ThinkFast: October 14, 2008   Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-FL) – who replaced former congressman Mark Foley (R) – “is facing scandalous allegations of his own.” ABC News reports Mahoney paid $121,000 to “a for
Presidential Debate Live-Blogging  					11:27: Asked how the race now changes for John McCain after this debate, CNN’s David Gergen responds, “Beats the hell out of me.” 11:15: On Fox News, Mitt Romne
Salter: ‘I Don’t Know Why’ People Say McCain ‘Let The CIA Off The Hook’ On Waterboarding  					In 2005, as Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) embarked on his efforts to rein in the administration’s use of “enhan
Meghan McCain ‘Can’t Get Over’ Smears Of Her Sister, Forgets Same Operatives Now Run Her Dad’s Campaign  					Last night on Fox’s Hannity and Colmes, Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) daughter Meghan explaine
McCain Flack On Transition Chief Lobbying For Saddam: ‘We’ve Had No Associations With Any Lobbyists’  					Yesterday, Murray Waas  revealed that the head of Sen. John McCain’s transition team, power l
Palin: ‘No Abuse Of Power There At All’ In Troopergate Report  					A report released last Friday by the bipartisan Alaska Legislative Council found that Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) “abused her power” and
Palin Sees America As Wealthy And White: New Hampshire And Alaska Are ‘Microcosms’ Of The Country  					Speaking at a rally today in Dover, NH, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) praised the area’s beauty and na
For At Least The Third Time, Officials Take Down A ‘No. 2′ Leader Of Al Qaeda In Iraq  					 Today, the Pentagon announced that American troops had killed Abu Qaswarah, the No. 2 leader of al Qaeda in
Two-Thirds Of The Benefits From McCain’s New Tax Cut Go To Millionaires  					As part of his new economic outline – The Pension and Family Security Plan – Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has proposed cutting
Bush issues two more presidential signing statements. (Updated: Sens. Leahy and McCaskill respond)  					Yesterday, President Bush asserted “that he had the executive power to bypass several parts of
ThinkProgress Liveblogging Tonight’s Presidential Debate  					Continuing our coverage of the 2008 election debates, the entire ThinkProgress team — including the Wonk Room and Matt Yglesias — will be
ThinkFast: October 15, 2008  Budget officials announced yesterday “that the federal deficit has soared to a record $455 billion. … The final accounting for fiscal 2008 produced a larger shortfall than
Lurita ‘Cookies On The Table’ Doan Challenges Waxman To A Duel: ‘I Can’t Wait’  					Yesterday, the House Oversight Committee released a report concluding that the White House “used the political affa
In 2000, McCain ‘assured’ Gary Bauer that he would ‘appoint pro-life judges.’  					In the debate last night, moderator Bob Schieffer asked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) if he could “ever nominate someone t
Will The Vote Of ‘Joe The Plumber’ Be Counted?  					 Since yesterday’s debate, Joe “The Plumber” Wurzelbacher has been warmly embraced by the right wing. Likewise, Wurzelbacher has adopted several of
Top McCain fundraiser accused of ‘war profiteering.’  					International Oil Trading Company, which ships oil into Iraq for use by U.S. forces, “appears to have engaged in a reprehensible form of war
Santorum: Obama Is ‘Condescending’ Because He Refuses To Wear An American Flag Pin  					Today in an interview with Fox News, former Republican senator from Pennsylvania Rick Santorum sharply criticiz
FLASHBACK: McCain Said There Was ‘Great Progress Economically’ Under Bush  					As the election nears, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) seems to be making a final push to distance himself from President Bush.
McCain aides privately call Palin a ‘total disaster.’  					On Salon Radio this morning, Glenn Greenwald asked Harper’s Scott Horton about his recent reporting on how Weekly Standard Editor Bill Krist
Confirmed: McCain To Appear With Virginia GOP Chairman Who Compared Obama To Osama Bin Laden  					Earlier this week, Time magazine’s Karen Tumulty reported on how Jeffrey Frederick, the chairman of t
Palin: ‘We Shouldn’t Worry About Government Having Enough Money’  					During an interview with a local television affiliate in New Hampshire yesterday, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) was asked how John McCa
Fact-Checking ‘Joe The Plumber’  					During a campaign stop in Ohio this week, Ohio plumbing business owner Sam Joe Wurzelbacher questioned Barack Obama about his plan to increase taxes for the top f
Davis attacks Kristol: ‘It’s a good thing he’s never run a political campaign.’  					On Sunday, Bill Kristol said that Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) campaign is “pathetic.” Similarly, in his New York Tim
ThinkFast: October 16, 2008  Socialist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez “mocked US President George W. Bush as a ‘comrade.’” “Bush is to the left of me now,” Chavez told an audience of international i
Bachmann Calls For McCarthyite Investigation Into Anti-American Activities Of Liberals  					Appearing on MSNBC’s Hardball today, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) attacked the patriotism of Sen. Barack Ob
Bush Administration Contacts Obama, McCain, Biden On Iraq Troop Deal — But Snubs Palin  					This week, Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Barack Obama (D-IL), and Joe Biden (D-DE) all were contacted by Defens
Despite Being ‘Sick’ Of Talking About Joe The Plumber, Palin Mentions Him Six Times During Rally  					During a campaign rally today in West Chester, OH today, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK), mentioned Joe “
Graeme Frost Antagonist Michelle Malkin Complains That The Media Is ‘Going Full Force’ After Joe The Plumber  					Yesterday, after Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) had made Ohio plumber Sam Joe Wurzelbacher a
McCain Camp: Tough Questioners Of Obama = ‘Regular’ Voters; Tough Questioners Of Palin = ‘Gotcha’ Media  					Today on Fox News, Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds launched a d
‘Joe The Plumber’ Comes Clean: ‘I Would Be Receiving Obama’s Tax Cuts’  					As ThinkProgress and many others noted yesterday, the premise of Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher’s complaints about Barack O
ThinkFast: October 17, 2008  Yesterday, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights released its scorecard for the 110th Congress, assessing how lawmakers voted on civil rights issues. Sen. John McCain
Pfotenhauer Insults Virginians: ‘Real Virginia’ Is Only Where McCain Is Winning  					On MSNBC this morning, McCain adviser Nancy Pfotenhauer asserted that “real Virginia” does not include Northern Vi
Hannity To Glenn Beck: ‘You’re A Perfect Fit’ For Fox News  					 On Thursday, Fox News announced that CNN’s Glenn Beck would join the network next spring, hosting the 5 p.m. daily news program. Yeste
Bachmann Lies, Denies She Ever Called Barack Obama’s Views ‘Anti-American’  					After right-wing Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) appeared on MSNBC’s Hardball on Friday and called for a McCarthyite inves
Friedman Wants Obama To Add A Friedman Unit To His Iraq Withdrawal Timeline  					If he is elected president, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) has said on numerous occasions that he plans to begin a phased wi
McCain: Obama Campaign Has ‘Savaged’ Joe The Plumber  					Today on Fox News Sunday, McCain said that “Joe the Plumber” was just “the average citizen” asking Obama a question, and he had the right to
Colin Powell endorses Obama.  					Today on NBC’s Meet the Press, former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell endorses Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL).  UPDATE: Today on Fox, host Chris Wallace asked McCain
Rep. Hayes: ‘Liberals Hate Real Americans That Work And Achieve And Believe In God’  					 On Saturday, Republican North Carolina Reps. Patrick McHenry and Robin Hayes warmed up the crowd at a rally f
Gallagher on Powell’s endorsement: ‘Race is the factor I think that drives much of this.’  					Responding to former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), right-wi
Perino Denies Recession: Only A Few Regions Of The Country ‘Are Hurting Right Now’  					Yesterday on CNN’s late edition, Chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers Edward Lazear told ho
GOP operative arrested for voter fraud in California.  					Over the weekend, police and state investigators arrested the “owner of a firm that the California Republican Party hired to register tens o
Giuliani: ‘God Forbid Somebody Would Do Some Reporting On Barack Obama’s Use Of Drugs’  					On Saturday, the New York Times published an investigative piece on Cindy McCain that delved into, among ot
Lars Larson: Progressives Are ‘Marxist’ — But Don’t Call Conservatives ‘Fascist’  					On Friday, right-wing radio host Lars Larson appeared on CNN’s Larry King Live and claimed that Sen. Barack Obama
Palin breaks with McCain on Federal Marriage Amendment.  					Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has said he opposes the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would amend the Constitution to ban marriage equality, b
McCain Lies Again, Repeats False Claim He ‘Received The Highest Honor And Awards’ From Every Vets Group  					Yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) held a telephone town hall meeting, in which “thousands
Fox News Hires Disgraced Reporter Judith Miller  					 Today, the Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz reveals that Fox News has hired former New York Times reporter Judith Miller, who will be an on-air ana
ThinkFast: October 20, 2008  In a new report on the medical records of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates, the New York Times’s Dr. Lawrence Altman wonders whether Sen. John McCain’s le
McCain Campaign Backtracks On Balanced Budget Pledge, Admits It Might ‘Take Longer’ Than End Of First Term  					As ThinkProgress has noted, despite the recent economic downturn and $700 bailout, Sen.
Palin: ‘I’m Not Going To Call’ Obama ‘A Socialist,’ But He Believes In Socialism  					Today, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) sat down with CNN for the first time. During the interview, CNN reporter Drew Grif
Limbaugh And Giuliani Indirectly Blame 9/11 On President Clinton  					Discussing Sen. Joe Biden’s (D-DE) recent comments that the world will “test the mettle” of Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) with an inte
McCain Falsely Suggests He Supports Federal Funding For Embryonic Stem Cell Research  					In an interview with a local CBS affiliate in St. Louis, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) criticized Sen. Barack Obama
O’Reilly: NYT Ombudsman Is ‘Blatantly Dishonest’ For Using ‘Far Left’ ThinkProgress As ‘A Primary Source’  					In July, Robert Lichter, the president of the Center for Media and Public Affairs, relea
Rep. Hayes Lies: I Never Said ‘Liberals Hate Real Americans’  					 On Saturday, Republican North Carolina Reps. Patrick McHenry and Robin Hayes warmed up the crowd at a rally for Sen. John McCain (R-
Palin Claims The Vice President Is ‘In Charge Of The U.S. Senate’  					Yesterday, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) sat for an interview with KUSA, an NBC affiliate in Colorado. In response to a question sent
While Claiming ‘I’m Not Bringing It Up,’ Hannity Repeatedly Brings Up Obama’s Cocaine Use  					Yesterday, Rudy Giuliani echoed the McCain campaign’s attack on the media for supposedly failing to rese
Bush Housing Chief Rips McCain’s Mortgage Plan: ‘I Have A Very Grave Concern About That’  					During the Oct. 7 presidential debate, Sen. John McCain made a surprising policy announcement. After long
ThinkFast: October 21, 2008  After watching conservatives usher in the biggest expansion of government since FDR, the Washington Times asks, “Is limited government passe?” The concern for some conserv
Hatch: The World Is Just ‘Jealous’ ‘Because We’re So Powerful And Strong’  					Today on Fox News, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) denied that the America’s standing in the world has fallen under President Bu
McCain campaign refuses to let Carly Fiorina debate tech policy.  					Last week after it published a Technology Policy Scorecard, Wired contacted the Obama and McCain campaigns for a debate on tech p
Palin stumped when asked to explain her preconditions for meeting foreign leaders.  					Gov. Sarah Palin has attacked Sen. Barack Obama for being “so off base in his proclamation that he would meet w
Palin: ‘Women Need Equal Pay For Equal Work,’ Not Just ‘A Talking Point’  					Yesterday, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) held a rally in Henderson, NV, during which she made a direct appeal to women voters.
Rep. Hayes denies denying that he said ‘liberals hate real Americans.’  					 On Saturday, Rep. Robin Hayes (R-NC) said that “liberals hate real Americans that work, and accomplish, and achieve, and b
McCain refuses to say whether he would support Iraq security agreement.  					The Bush administration and Iraq are in contentious talks over a security agreement calling for the withdrawal of U.S. tro
Matthews Rips Palin: Somebody Needs To ‘Give Her A Copy Of The Constitution To Read’  					Earlier this week, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) sat down for an interview with KUSA, an NBC affiliate in Colorado.
Bachmann Doubles Down: ‘Barack Obama’s Views Are Against America’  					On the defensive over her controversial Hardball appearance last Friday, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) told the St. Cloud Times y
McCain Camp: When Terrorist Endorses Obama, It’s For Real; When One Endorses McCain, It’s A Head Fake  					Today, the Washington Post published statements posted on al-Hesbah, an extremist website wi
Flashback: In 2000, McCain said there is ‘nothing wrong’ with the wealthy paying ’somewhat more’ taxes.  					At an October 2000 town hall on MSNBC’s Hardball, an audience member asked Sen. John McCai
‘Energy Expert’ Palin Can’t Name Any Man-Made Causes Of Global Warming  					Shortly after Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) chose Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) as his running mate, Palin said she is not one to attri
Right-Wing Ad Tries To Frighten Minorities By Comparing Embryonic Stem Cell Research To Tuskegee Study  					Up for consideration in Michigan is Proposal 2, a measure to permit embryonic stem cell res
Bachmann: It’s All Chris Matthews’ Fault! ‘He Laid A Trap, And I Walked Into It’  					Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) is still on the defensive from an appearance last Friday on MSNBC’s Hardball, in whi
ThinkFast: October 22, 2008  Some Al Qaeda affiliates are endorsing John McCain. “Al-Qaeda will have to support McCain in the coming election,” said a commentary posted Monday on the extremist Web sit
McCain Adds NASA Funding To List Of Exemptions From His Spending Freeze  					Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) frequently faults “wasteful spending” and “earmarks” as contributing to the current economic crisi
Upset Over Immigration Demagoguery, Latinos Turn Red States Blue  					Our guest blogger is Henry Fernandez, a Senior Fellow at the Center For American Progress Action Fund working on state and munici
Rove Blames Market Volatility On Obama: It Reflects ‘People’s Concerns’ About An Obama Presidency  					Today on Fox News, host Neil Cavuto asked Karl Rove to explain today’s “very volatile markets.”
Greenspan Uses The Bush Excuse: Financial Crisis Was ‘Broader Than Anything I Could Have Imagined’  					In a House Oversight Committee hearing today, former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan claimed the cr
Cox, Greenspan, Snow Agree: Freddie Mac And Fannie Mae Did Not Cause The Financial Crisis  					According to conservatives, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae’s audacity to loan to low-income Americans is to
McCain Disagrees With Palin: VP Is Not ‘Part Of Both Legislative And Executive Branch’  					Yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) gave an exclusive interview to the Washington Times, in which he stepped
Rove: People In Pennsylvania ‘Really Do Cling To Their Guns And Their Faith’  					When Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) made his infamous “bitter” comments this past April, the right-wing pounced.  Leading t
ThinkFast: October 23, 2008  “Experts fault Bush’s mortgage strategy,” Roll Call reports. The president’s push to “loosen mortgage loan qualification standards for first-time homebuyers” helped cause
After Greenwashing His Climate Record, Sen. Sununu Reveals His True ‘Drill Here’ Mentality To Glenn Beck  					Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) is facing a tough reelection campaign against former Gov. Jeanne
Rove: ‘McCain Has Been An Open Book About His Health Issues For Years And Years And Years’  					Discussing on Fox News last night how Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin had indicated this week that she would re
Fox VP: Hate crime hoax means McCain’s campaign is ‘over, forever linked to race-baiting.’  					Following the Drudge Report’s lead yesterday, news organizations picked up the story of a McCain campai
Palin Was A Feminist Before She Wasn’t  					Yesterday in her interview with NBC, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) told NBC’s Brian Williams that she rejected the “label” of being called a feminist:  WILLIAMS:
Memo To Palin: Fruit Fly Research Has Led To Advances In Understanding Autism  					This morning, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) gave her first policy speech urging the federal government to fully fund the I
Andy Card: Palin ‘Introduced Women To Participating’ In The Political Process  					Today in the Washington Post, conservative columnist Kathleen Parker suggests that Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) “judgme
Virgil Goode campaign touts ‘real America and real Virginia.’  					Yesterday at a campaign rally, Virginia Del. Don Merricks (R) spoke about his support for Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA), echoing recent r
ThinkFast: October 24, 2008  Despite being sidelined with a brain tumor, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) has been “orchestrating meetings with lobbyists and lawmakers from both parties to craft legislation th
Right-Wing Florida News Anchor Asks If Obama Is A Marxist; Defends Questions As ‘Probing’  					Yesterday, Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) sat for an interview with Barbara West of WFTV Orlando. West loaded her
McCain latches onto false NYT story about Obama inaugural address.  					During a campaign rally in New Mexico today, Sen. John McCain attacked Barack Obama for taking a “victory lap” by claiming Obam
New York Times Refuses To Believe Obama Will Draft His Own Inaugural Address  					In an article about the upcoming White House transition, the New York Times’ Peter Baker and Jackie Calmes note that
Many Kentucky voters misinformed about Obama’s faith.  					A poll of likely Kentucky voters finds that, “despite heavy national media attention about Obama’s faith, more than half of likely Republica
Kyl Says Bush Is Blame-Free In Financial Mess: ‘The President Doesn’t Run The Economy’  					Today on CNN’s Late Edition, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) claimed President Bush’s economic agenda had nothing to do
Rove And Kristol Fault Disloyal, Ill-Serving Campaign Staff For McCain’s Struggles  					Today, the New York Times Magazine features a long article about the infighting and finger-pointing within the
Ted Stevens can’t vote for himself. (UPDATED)  					Kos points to Alaska election law, which shows that Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) — who was convicted on seven felony charges today — can’t even vote for
National Security Experts Agree: Biden Was Right; Enemies Likely To ‘Test’ Next President  					 Recently, Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) said that if Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) is elected, there will be “an int
Senate Conservatives Would ‘Welcome Lieberman With Open Arms’ Next Congress  					With the possibility of Democrats gaining a “supermajority” in the Senate, Senate conservatives appear to have their s
Palin: Stevens verdict ‘shines a light on the corrupting influence of the big oil service company.’  					Hotline reports that Sarah Palin issued a statement about the guilty decision in the Ted Steve
Holtz-Eakin Argues Carbon Dioxide Is Not A Pollutant  					Yesterday on CBS’s Face the Nation, top McCain economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin insisted that the next president will have to enact “comp
Breaking: Ted Stevens found guilty on all seven counts.  					Today, a federal jury found Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) guilty on all seven counts of making false statements on his financial disclosure rega
Palin The Wealth Spreader: Gov. Imposed Oil Windfall Profits Tax To Allow Alaskans To ‘Share In The Wealth’  					In recent days, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK), has begun referring to Sen. Barack Obama (D-I
Romney Condones Right-Wing Biden Interviewer: ‘They Were Legitimate Issues To Probe’  					On Friday, Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) sat for an interview with Barbara West of WFTV Orlando, FL. West loaded her
Hagel: Palin is the ‘thinnest-résumé candidate for Vice-President in the history of America.’  					Earlier this month, Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) criticized Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) choice of Alaska Go
Palin Forces Local Reporter To Submit Topics For Interview ‘Ahead Of Time’ For Pre-Clearance  					Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) granted an interview to a local CBS affiliate in Des Moines, Iowa on Saturday
ThinkFast: October 27, 2008  The U.S. military has warned Iraq that it will shut down military operations and other vital services throughout the country on Jan. 1 if the Iraqi government doesn’t agre
McCain: Employee Free Choice Act Is A ‘Threat’ To ‘Democracy’  					Today in an interview with CNBC, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) blasted unions: But this is — we’ve been talking about it for a long time —
McCain Endorses Joe The Plumber’s View That Obama Victory Means ‘Death To Israel’  					Today, Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher hit the campaign trail on behalf of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) for the first
Ignoring McCain’s War Against The Press, Giuliani Criticizes Obama For Freezing Out Hostile Network  					After right-wing Florida news anchor Barbara West conducted a “hostile” and “ham-handed” inter
McCain: ‘I Don’t Know’ If Obama’s Policies Amount To Communism  					Last July, when asked if Barack Obama is a socialist, John McCain replied, “I don’t know.” But now McCain seems to be fairly certai
Right-Wing Orlando Anchor Given The ‘Factor Stamp Of Approval’ By O’Reilly  					Last Friday, WFTV’s Barbara West spent the entirety of her five minute interview with Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) spouting ri
Rep. Steve King: Obama Will Make America A ‘Totalitarian Dictatorship’  					On Saturday, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) gave little-noticed remarks at Sioux City’s West High School during an appearance by Go
Palin Calls For Shining ‘A Light’ On Alaskan Oil Company That Helped Propel Her Political Career  					Yesterday, after Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) was found guilty by a federal jury for failing to report
ThinkFast: October 28, 2008  Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) is returning to Alaska tomorrow to resume his re-election campaign, “despite being convicted of felonies that carry the potential of years in priso
Tucker Bounds: When Palin Shares The Wealth, It Isn’t Socialism — It’s ‘Unique’  					The McCain campaign has spent the last weeks of the campaign repeatedly accusing Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) of being
Palin Touts ‘Flawed’ Pipeline Process As ‘Free Market Competition’  					This morning, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) delivered her second policy speech of the entire campaign, on energy — a fitting topic, c
Giuliani Blasts Obama For Links To Middle East Scholar Previously Funded By McCain  					In recent days, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and his surrogates have attempted to paint Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) as
McCain Shocked That Obama Campaign Would ‘Boycott’ Hostile Media  					Last week, Sen. Joe Biden (D-IL) sat down for an interview with Barbara West of WFTV in Orlando, FL. The result was one of the mo
Dennis Prager: Equality ‘Is A European Value, Not An American Value’  					Right-wing radio host Dennis Prager spoke before an audience of 3,000 at Minneapolis’ Orchestra Hall, during which he attacke
Fleischer Stumped When Asked How McCain Differs From Bush, Begins Citing Similarities  					Last night on CNN, host Larry King — taking a viewer question — asked former Bush administration press secre
After Calling Social Security An ‘Absolute Disgrace,’ McCain Says Safety Nets Are ‘What America Is All About’  					In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity last night, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) clai
ThinkFast: October 29, 2008  Politico reports: “Two days after next week’s election, top conservatives will gather at the Virginia weekend home of one of the movement’s most prominent members to begin
Palin claims that all her appointees as governor ‘absolutely’ deserved the job.  					Yesterday during an interview with a local Louisville, KY ABC affiliate, reporter Mark Herbert asked Sarah Palin a
After Fox Editor Defends LAT Decision To Withhold Obama Video, Fox Continues Attacking The Paper  					For days now, Fox News, conservative bloggers and the McCain campaign have been accusing the Los
Goldfarb: Obama has a ‘long track record of being around anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, and anti-American rhetoric.’  					This afternoon, CNN’s Rick Sanchez confronted the McCain campaign blogger Michael
McCain Adviser Pulls Out Of Tech Debate Due To A ‘Scheduling Conflict,’ Only To Appear On MSNBC Instead  					Today from 12:30-1:45 p.m., the New America Foundation and Wired magazine were scheduled t
Giuliani Clueless On McCain’s Health Care Plan: ‘He’s Not Going To Give Anybody $5,000′  					Yesterday, in an interview with Sean Hannity, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani alleged that Sen. Barack
McCain Contradicts Himself On ‘Spreading The Wealth’: Taxes Should ‘Help Those Who Can’t Help Themselves’  					On CNN last night, Larry King asked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) if he really believed that S
Bond warns that Obama would nominate judges who empathize with ‘the gay.’  					During his introductory remarks at a rally for Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) this morning, Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) warned that Se
Still The Same Ol’ Karl Rove: I Wish McCain’s Khalidi Attacks Had Started ‘Last Spring’  					In recent days, Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) campaign has aggressively tried to paint Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL
McCain forgets that Joe the Plumber isn’t at his rally: ‘Where is Joe?’  					At a rally today in Ohio, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) accused Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) of wanting to “spread the wealth.” McCa
Chalabi A ‘Key Figure’ In Iranian Efforts To Scuttle U.S.-Iraq Security Agreement  					The United States and Iraq are currently engaged in “tense” negotiations regarding the future of the U.S. milita
ThinkFast: October 30, 2008  New data from insurance companies and online brokers show that “women pay much more than men of the same age for individual insurance policies providing identical coverage
McCain Now Supports Auto Industry Bailout: I’ll ‘Do Whatever I Think Needs To Be Done’  					The government recently promised the auto industry $25 billion in loans in order to produce more fuel-effic
By The McCain Campaign’s Own Definition, Palin Is A ‘Wealth Spreader’  					In recent days, both Fox News and the Associated Press have called out the McCain campaign for its hypocritical criticism of
Ensign: Sarah Palin Is Not ‘Experienced Enough To Be President Of The United States’  					Yesterday, Jeff Gillan of NewsONE in Nevada asked Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), the chairman of the National Repub
CNN plans ‘View from the Right’ election special, but no ‘View from the Left.’  					Today, CNN announced that it will be hosting a one-hour special this weekend called “Election Countdown: View from
Texas Businessman Files Lawsuit Claiming He Was Forced To Funnel $75,000 To Norm Coleman’s Wife  					A lawsuit alleges that one of Sen. Norm Coleman’s (R-MN) best friends and supporters, Nasser Kazem
Bachmann: ‘The People’ Don’t Care That I Called For McCarthyite Investigation Into ‘Anti-American’ Liberals  					 On Oct. 17, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) appeared on MSNBC’s Hardball and called for
Maliki: Don’t call it a ‘security pact’; it’s ‘an agreement to withdraw’ U.S. troops.  					Today, the AP is reporting that according to a close aide to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi
Stevens On Whether Saddam And Iraq Had 9/11 Role: ‘I Believe They Did’  					Last night, convicted felon Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) faced Anchorage mayor and Senate candidate Mark Begich in their last de
ThinkFast: October 31, 2008  “The White House is working to enact a wide array of federal regulations, many of which would weaken government rules aimed at protecting consumers and the environment.” S
Palin Contradicts The McCain Campaign Again: Promises McCain Will Balance Budget In First Term  					At a rally in York, Pennsylvania yesterday, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin continued to declare that she a
Palin Takes Another Shot At Outlining Role Of VP: ‘They’ve Got To Be Exclusively…Administrative’  					In a recent interview, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) claimed that the vice president was “in charge of
Syrian Ambassador: Lieberman Assured Me McCain Would Talk With Syria  					In a new interview with Foreign Policy magazine, Syrian ambassador Imad Moustapha said that Syria is “doing everything possib
Eagleburger Tries To Make Up For His Criticisms Of Palin By Hurling Insults At Obama  					Asked whether Sarah Palin is ready to assume the reins in a time of national crisis, former Secretary of Stat
Romney: McCain’s Cap And Trade Plan Would ‘Just Kill Jobs’ In The U.S.  					Today, the right wing — enthusiastically joined by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) — attacked Sen. Bara
Megyn Kelly Upset That No Criminal Prosecutors Will Be At Polls: Justice Department ‘Leans Left’  					Late last month, the Wall Street Journal’s conservative editorial page wrote that the Justice Dep
Obama’s grandmother passes away after long battle with cancer.  					Barack Obama and his sister Maya Soetoro-Ng have released this statement:   It is with great sadness that we announce that our gran
Right Wing Flips Out Over ‘Hidden’ Obama Interview That Was Never ‘Hidden From The Public’  					 Yesterday, a YouTube user named NakedEmperorNews uploaded an audio clip of Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) te
CNN Hires Saddam-Al Qaeda ‘Connection’ Fabricator And Cheney Hagiographer  					TimeWarner announced today that “frequent CNN guest, Stephen F. Hayes, has made it official by signing on with the netwo
Crist bolts from McCain rally.  					CNN’s Ed Henry reports that Gov. Charlie Crist (R-FL) quickly bolted after Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) sparsely attended rally today:   John McCain’s first rally of
Romney Can’t Bring Himself To Say That McCain Has Conducted A ‘Dignified And Honest’ Campaign  					This morning on NBC’s Today Show, host Meredith Vieira asked McCain campaign surrogate Mitt Romney a
Palin Blows Off Fox News, Lies About Agreeing To Appear With Megyn Kelly  					Last week, Fox News host Megyn Kelly complained that Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AZ) hadn’t done enough interviews on Fox. “She h
‘Coal Booster’ McCain Would ‘Put Coal Out Of Business’  					Speaking before a crowd at the University of Scranton, PA, Sunday afternoon, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) gave himself a new title, “coal booste
ThinkFast: November 3, 2008  On Tuesday, millions of voters “will use paper ballots rather than the touch-screen machines that have caused concern among voting experts.” However, “the change does not
Fox’s Nina Easton: ‘I think there’s a real possibility’ that this is now a ‘center-left’ country.  					This evening on Fox News, host Brit Hume commented, “It has been conventional wisdom for some ti
Lieberman: ‘I Fear’ That ‘America Will Not Survive’ If Democrats Get 60 Senate Seats  					With the possibility that Democrats might soon gain a filibuster proof majority in the Senate, Sen. Joe Liebe
Fearful Conservatives Push New Talking Point: ‘This Is A Center-Right Country’  					Last Friday, Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer called the United States “the quintessential center-righ
Palin Goes Rogue, Ignores Press Aides’ Exhortations To End Press Conference  					Anonymous McCain campaign aides have unloaded on Sarah Palin in recent weeks. “She is a diva. She takes no advice from
Bolton Decries ‘Reverse Intimidation’: GOP Poll Watchers, Not Minorities, Are The Ones Actually Being Harassed  					Today on Fox News, host Megyn Kelly continued to rail against voting rights laws me
ThinkFast: November 4, 2008  “The whole planet is obsessed with the U.S. presidential election.” As of Monday, “more than 4,000 foreign journalists have been granted credentials to cover the campaign
Pelosi And Dean Beat Back Conservatives’ Claim That America Is Still ‘Center-Right’  					As ThinkProgress noted earlier today, several media talking heads have repeatedly insisted that the country re
Novak: 3 Million Vote Margin = Mandate For Bush; 7 Million For Obama = No Mandate  					Despite resounding progressive victories last night, conservative pundits continue to repeat the myth of a conse
EXCLUSIVE: Podesta Announces He Will Not Be Joining New Obama Administration  					 Today, President-elect Barack Obama announced his new transition team, which includes Center for American Progress A
The World Reacts To President-Elect Obama: ‘A New Deal For A New World’  					Barack Obama’s election as America’s 44th president has “unleashed a renewed love for the United States after years of dwi
Conservatives Who Slammed Obama For Being A Socialist Now Say He Ran A ‘Center-Right’ Campaign  					Not only did Barack Obama win the presidency yesterday, but progressives picked up significant vict
Palin spent more on clothes than previously reported, McCain aides furious at her ‘outrageous profligacy.’  					In a new 50,000 word article on the presidential campaigns that will come out tomorrow,
A Progressive Mandate — ‘Now Comes The Hard Part’  					“The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly,” Sen. John McCain said last night during his concession speech. He’s right. As N
After Lobbying To Select Palin, Top McCain Adviser Can’t Bring Himself To Say She Was A Good Pick  					 In his recent New York Times Magazine piece on the McCain campaign, Robert Draper reveled that
ThinkFast: November 5, 2008  More than 130 million people turned out to vote yesterday, shattering all previous turnout records. An estimated 64 percent of the electorate voted, “making 2008 the highe
Meacham Repeats ‘Center-Right’ Myth, Says Progressives Won’t Care If Obama Breaks Pledges  					On October 18, Newsweek ran a cover story titled “America the Conservative” by Jon Meacham, in which Mea
Kristol Floats Revived ‘Project For A New American Century’ To Support Neocons In The Wilderness  					In 1997, Bill Kristol and Robert Kagan co-founded the Project for a New American Century, a neoco
Rove: Obama Hoodwinked America Into Electing A Progressive President  					Last night on Fox’s Hannity and Colmes, Karl Rove argued that President-Elect Barack Obama ran a “center-right” campaign, but
Days After Leak About Obama’s Aunt, Immigration Chief Julie Myers Announces Resignation  					Yesterday evening, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced that Immigration and Customs Enf
Kristol Attacks Anonymous McCain Aides Dishing To The Press As ‘Paranoid’ And ‘Disloyal To John McCain’  					With the final election results in, the traditional finger-pointing and back-biting of the
Palin: ‘Small, Bitter Type Of Person’ Is ‘Falsely’ Claiming I Didn’t Know Africa Was A Continent  					Last night, Fox News’s Carl Cameron reported that “there was great concern in the McCain campaign
ThinkFast: November 6, 2008  Unemployment benefits reached a 25-year high, jumping by 122,000 to 3.84 million in late October. It is the “highest level since late February 1983,” according to the Labo
Focus on the Family compares Obama victory to Nazi bombing.  					 Yesterday evening, James Dobson’s Focus on the Family Action sent out a fundraising e-mail lamenting the victory of Barack Obama. (Do
Bozell Says Obama Was A Far-Left Candidate, Seconds Later Says He ‘Won As A Conservative’  					Reeling from Tuesday’s widespread losses, yesterday “about 20 political strategists and social and fisca
CIA Torture Advocate John Rizzo Says Obama Must Deal With Interrogation Program ‘Immediately’  					At the American Bar Association’s conference on national security yesterday, CIA senior deputy gener
Bayh: Democrats ‘Should Have a Spirit Of Forgiveness With Regard To Joe Lieberman’  					Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) met with Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) to discuss Lieberman’s f
Fox News Blames Obama For Stock Market Fall  					The last two days on Wall Street “were the worst in the American stock market since 1987.” The Dow Jones industrial average lost nearly 1,000 points a
Explaining the job of a real journalist, Shep Smith mocks Hannity.  					Last week, Fox News host Shepard Smith pressed Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher for suggesting that a vote for Sen. Barack Obama
Campbell Brown rips McCain aides for blaming Palin for McCain loss: ‘You picked her.’  					Recently, former McCain staffers have been leaking embarrassing information about Gov. Sarah Palin’s clueles
ThinkFast: November 7, 2008  U.S. companies cut 240,000 jobs in October. The nation’s unemployment rate spiked to 6.5 percent, the highest since March 1994. The numbers are worse than economists had p
Novak: Gingrich Will Be The Conservative Movement’s ‘Moses’  					 Conservatives are reeling after Tuesday’s progressive victories, desperately insisting that the country remains center-right, holding
White House: We Never ‘Cheerlead’ On The Economy, Admitting It Is In A ‘Recession’ Is ‘Irrelevant’  					In yesterday’s White House Press conference, spokesperson Tony Fratto responded to a question a
Reid on Lieberman: ‘I didn’t like what he did…but he is one of the most progressive people’ from CT.  					On CNN’s Late Edition, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said he recognizes what Joe L
Podesta: Obama Given ‘Real Mandate For Change’  					John Podesta, President and CEO of the Center for American Progress (currently on leave to head the Obama transition), explained this morning on Fo
LAT fact-checks Limbaugh, hits him for peddling ’shameless’ lies.  					The Los Angeles Times’ media journalist James Rainey take a look at how right-wing pundits Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are de
Obama meets with Bush for over an hour, given a look at the Situation Room.  					President-elect Barack Obama and President Bush met in the Oval Office for over an hour today, and Obama received his
Did Palin Use GOP Funds To Buy Her Children Underwear?  					 After controversy erupted over Gov. Sarah Palin’s (R-AK) largely unauthorized spending spree, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) announced that she w
Hitting Back At Obama Team, Perino Insists Bush Did Not Ban Stem Cell Research  					On Fox News Sunday yesterday, John Podesta, President-elect Barack Obama’s transition chief, said Obama would move
Pence: Conservatives Should Focus On Social Issues Like ‘The Sanctity Of Marriage’ While Rebuilding GOP  					On Fox News Sunday yesterday, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) — who will soon be stepping into the
Hume: Bush has put America on an ‘amazing’ foreign policy path.  					Reflecting on his final days as Fox News’ Washington managing editor, Brit Hume tells the Miami Herald’s Glenn Garvin that when pe
ThinkFast: November 10, 2008  Advisers to President-elect Barack Obama “are quietly crafting a proposal to ship dozens, if not hundreds, of imprisoned terrorism suspects to the United States to face c
Citing ‘High Percentage Of Minority Vote’ In GA, Chambliss Laments Not Getting ‘Our Folks’ Out To Vote  					In last week’s election, Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss (R) received more votes than his D
Ingraham Rails Against Schwarzenegger, Tells California: ‘Just Secede Already’  					Sunday on CNN Late Edition, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) encouraged his party to “not to get stuck in ideology
REPORT: Joe Lieberman — The Progressive Who Lost His Way  					 Despite his strong endorsement of Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) right-wing policy platform in the 2008 presidential election, a number of pr
Gun Industry Profits Off NRA’s Fearmongering About Obama Gun Policies  					Gun stores across the nation are reporting a surge in gun sales since the election of Barack Obama. Customers are convinced
ABC Catches AIG Executives Hosting Another Posh ‘Junket’ At Luxury Hotel  					Last month, a House committee discovered that just one week after the federal government bailed out insurance giant AIG,
Potholders, Caribou, And Snow Machines: Greta’s Hard-Hitting Interview With Sarah Palin  					After refusing interviews throughout her three-month campaign for Vice President, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK)
Chambliss Defends 2002 Attack Ad That John McCain Called ‘Disgraceful’ And ‘Reprehensible’  					Sen. Saxby Chambliss’s (R-GA) re-election camp has confirmed that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) will campaign
ThinkFast: November 12, 2008  Yesterday, Obama transition chief John Podesta unveiled “the strictest, the most far-reaching ethics rules of any transition team in history.” “I’ve heard the other compl
Pawlenty Rips McCain’s Use Of Joe The Plumber: ‘Throwing Out A Symbol Is Not Enough’  					During the last weeks of the campaign, “Joe the Plumber” made a splash as Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) most famo
Palin Trashes Media, Moments After Proclaiming Her ‘Respect’ For ‘The Profession’  					Katie Couric told Page Six recently that Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) “should keep her head down, work really hard an
Chambliss: My 2002 Attack Ad On Cleland Was ‘Truthful In Every Way’  					During an interview with Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) on MSNBC this afternoon, host Andrea Mitchell noted that John McCain is c
GOP Governors Reluctant To Embrace Palin For 2012: She Is Not ‘The Future Of The Party’  					The media haven’t been able to get enough Palin 2012 speculation in the run-up to her speech today at the
Tony Perkins Claims Gay Marriage Ban Is ‘Totally Different’ Than Interracial Marriage Ban  					Last night on CNN, Dan Savage, a gay activist and writer who has written about marriage and his adopted
Palin: ‘God Bless George W. Bush’  					Since she and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) lost the election, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) has been going around blaming her problems on President Bush. Speaking to the A
Bayh Expects Lieberman To Apologize For Attacks On Obama In Order To Keep Committee Chairmanship  					Riding the wave of electoral victories on Nov. 4, some Senate Democrats began hinting that they m
ThinkFast: November 13, 2008  President Bush may continue to block inquiries into his administration after he leaves office. “The Bush administration overstepped in its exertion of executive privilege
Flashback: McCain Promised To Do ‘Whatever…Needs To Be Done To Help Our Automotive Industry’  					Today, the New York Times reports that Republicans are balking at a rescue package for the struggling
New documents show improper conduct, possible jury tampering in Siegelman prosecution.  					New documents obtained by TIME magazine show that a U.S. Attorney who recused herself from the prosecution
AUDIO: Leahy Says Lieberman Should Lose His Chairmanship  					 Since the election, Senate Democrats have been reluctant to punish Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) for the ad hominem attacks he levied at Bar
Cheney Codifies His False View Of Vice President’s Office Into Official ‘Plum Book’ Of Federal Jobs  					Every four years, the federal government produces the “Plum Book,” listing “more than 7,000 go
Luntz: Congressional GOP Leadership Should Not Be ‘Reappointed’ After ’06 And ’08 Losses  					In an interview with ThinkProgress yesterday at the Republican Governors Association’s annual conference
ThinkFast: November 14, 2008  CIA Director Michael Hayden said yesterday that al-Qaeda remains the greatest threat to the U.S. “but Iraq is no longer the central front” in the broader struggle against
Greta Gushes That Palin ‘Stole The Show This Week’ At The RGA Conference  					For months, Fox News host Greta Van Susteren has been one of Gov. Sarah Palin’s (R-AK) biggest fans, conducting more inti
Obama Pledges To End Torture To Help ‘Regain America’s Moral Stature In The World’  					In recent weeks, there has been rampant media speculation that President Barack Obama would back off his campai
Iraqi cabinet approves security agreement with firm 2011 withdrawal deadline.  					After nearly one year of negotiations, the Iraqi cabinet voted “overwhelmingly” Sunday to approve a security agreeme
Dorgan: Lieberman’s Actions Were Unacceptable For Committee Chairman  					After Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) spoke at the Republican National Convention this summer, Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) expressed h
Conservative Politicians Misleadingly Blame Labor Unions For Detroit’s Woes  					Congress and the Bush administration are currently considering whether to spend $25 billion to rescue Detroit automake
Mullen Endorses ‘Conditions-Based’ Withdrawal, Suggests Iraq SOFA Dates Could Be Ignored  					On Sunday, the Iraqi cabinet “overwhelmingly approved” a security agreement requiring the withdrawal of U
Senate Dem leadership expected to allow Lieberman to keep Homeland Security chairmanship.  					Roll Call reports that when Senate Democrats meet tomorrow to discuss Sen. Joe Lieberman’s (I-CT) future
Gun Groups Fearmonger: Obama Is Discriminating Against Firearm Owners  					The Obama transition team is requiring that all potential hires for high-ranking positions fill out a seven-page questionnai
White House Falsely Claims Iraq Security Agreement Establishes Only ‘Aspirational’ Withdrawal Deadline  					Over the weekend, Iraq’s cabinet “overwhelmingly approved a proposed security agreement tha
Vindictive Bush Gives Australian Prime Minister A ‘Frosty Reception’ At G20 Summit  					During a telephone call last month, President Bush told Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd that he thought th
Gingrich Gets His Facts Wrong, Claims GOP Governors Have Lowest Unemployment In Their Regions  					Yesterday, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich appeared on CBS’s Face the Nation to discuss the futur
ThinkFast: November 17, 2008  Former Sen. Phil Gramm, who once said subprime loans were “the American dream in action” and declared recently that America has “become a nation of whiners,” has no remor
CNN fails to identify former Bush homeland security official in report on torture.  					CNN aired a story this afternoon reporting that human rights groups are urging President-elect Obama to “invest
Huckabee Claims Civil Rights Of Gays Are Not Being Violated: They Aren’t Getting Their ‘Skulls Cracked’  					Today on ABC’s “The View,” former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabe discussed his pride that
Perino: Obama ‘Should Want’ Bush’s Political Appointees In His Administration  					The Washington Post reported this morning that between March and November, the Bush administration has “burrowed” at
Fox News Blog Edits Out Homophobic Barney Frank Joke From Transcript Of ‘Red Eye’ Host’s Monologue  					In a “Greg-alogue” video posted today, Greg Gutfeld, the host of Fox News’ late-night show Red
Perino: ‘We Did Not Torture’  					The Bush administration repeatedly insists that it does not practice torture: “We do not torture,” President Bush declared in 2005. The U.S. “is not torturing any de
Lieberman: I’m ‘Grateful’ Senate Democrats Changed The Rules So That I’m Not Singled Out For Punishment  					Today, Senate Democrats decided to wholeheartedly embrace Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), votin
Senate Democrats allow Lieberman to go unpunished: We ‘feel good about what we did today.’  					Today in a closed-door meeting, Senate Democrats voted 42-13 to allow Joe Lieberman (I-CT) to keep his
WSJ Columnist: Obama Should Give Stephen Hadley The Medal Of Freedom  					In the Wall Street Journal today, President Bush’s former Chief Speechwriter William McGurn writes that National Security Adv
ThinkFast: November 18, 2008  The Bush administration is pushing a last-minute proposal to “grant sweeping new protections to health care providers who oppose abortion and other procedures on religiou
Kagan: Status Of Forces Agreement Was ‘A Great Accomplishment For Us’ Because It’s ‘Opposed By Iran’  					On Sunday, after nearly a year of intense negotiations, Iraq’s cabinet overwhelmingly approve
‘Kristol Ball’ Breaks: Stevens Will ‘Hang On In Alaska,’ McCain Will Conquer The ‘Path To The Presidency’  					Yesterday, Anchorage mayor Mark Begich was declared the winner in Alaska’s tight U.S. Se
Huckabee: Prop. 8 Did Not ‘Prohibit’ Same-Sex Marriage  					Conservative talker Bill Bennett interviewed Mike Huckabee on his radio show this morning. In the course of their interview, Huckabee false
Perino: SOFA Means U.S. Can ‘Celebrate The Victory’ In Iraq  					Ever since Iraq’s cabinet “overwhelmingly approved” a proposed security agreement that mandates the full withdrawal of all U.S. forces
Daschle’s Views On Health Reform: ‘Incremental Change In Our System Is No Longer A Viable Option’  					In a sign that he may adopt a comprehensive approach to solving the health care crisis, Presiden
Rep. Ackerman: Auto Execs’ Private Jet Travel Like Guy At ‘The Soup Kitchen In High Hat And Tuxedo’  					Today, the CEOs of the Detroit Big Three returned to Capitol Hill to ask for $25 billion in lo
Eric Holder: A Rebuke Of Bush-League Justice  					The New York Times reports today that President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team “signaled to Eric H. Holder Jr., a senior official in the Justic
Kristol: Americans Have Seen ‘Plenty Of Coffins’ From The Iraq War  					Yesterday during a panel discussion hosted by the the IFC Media Project, the Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol got into a testy ar
ThinkFast: November 19, 2008  According to two legal sources close to the presidential transition, President-elect Barack Obama “has decided to tap Eric Holder as his attorney general, putting the vet
State Dept: Bush’s Record On ‘Pushing For Human Rights’ Is As Good As Any Other President Or Country  					Today, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Libyan leader Moamer Gadhafi’s son, Seif
Conservatives Blame CAFE Standards For Auto Industry’s Troubles  					As the CEOs of Detroit’s Big Three automakers pleaded for a $25 billion bailout from Congress this week, conservatives have been l
Judge orders Bush administration to release five Gitmo detainees.  					A federal judge ordered today that five Algerian nationals detained at Guantanamo Bay should be released. The court found that t
Perino: The Endangered Species Act ‘Doesn’t Help Support Any Species, Including Our Own’  					The Associated Press reports today that, as part of its long-fought campaign to gut the Endangered Specie
WSJ columnist blames financial crisis on the War on Christmas.  					In his Wall Street Journal column today, Daniel Henninger argues that the “unprecedented economic ruin” that many Americans are fac
Bush Legacy Watch: Iran Acquires Enough Uranium For Single Nuclear Bomb  					Our guest blogger is Andy Grotto, a Senior National Security Analyst at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Acco
Senate Throws Good-Bye Party For Ted Stevens, Gives Convicted Felon A Standing Ovation  					Today, Ted Stevens — Alaska’s defeated Republican senator and a convicted felon — was granted time on the S
ThinkFast: November 20, 2008  Politico reports that President-elect Obama has chosen Gov. Janet Napolitano (D-AZ) to serve as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Napolitano is a border g
REPORT: Bush’s Backward Sprint To The Finish  					  In its “sprint to the finish,”  the Bush administration is working tirelessly to promulgate or alter a wide array of federal regulations that would
Rove Claims Stock Market Is Dropping Because Obama Hasn’t Named His Treasury Secretary Yet  					Yesterday, stocks plunged for the second straight day, bringing “the Dow’s two-day drop to 873 points,
Proposed SOFA Agreement Requires Congressional Approval Because It Contains Treaty Commitment  					Our guest blogger is Peter Juul, a Research Associate at the Center for American Progress Action Fun
Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott retiring.  					Wal-Mart Chief Executive Officer Lee Scott will retire effective Feb. 1, 2009. He will be replaced by Mike Duke, who currently heads the company’s international
Maddow Fails To Question Huckabee On His Recent Anti-Gay Statements; Update: Maddow Responds  					Since Prop. 8’s passage in California, which revoked same-sex couples’ right to marry, MSNBC host Rac
ThinkFast: November 21, 2008  President-elect Obama will reportedly nominate Hillary Clinton as his secretary of state after Thanksgiving and may tap ret. Gen. Jim Jones as his National Security Advis
Chambliss Skips Vote On Unemployment Benefits While Giving A Campaign Speech On Unemployment  					On Thursday, Georgia’s Department of Labor announced that the state’s unemployment levels rose to 7 p
Jindal in Iowa this weekend.  					Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) traveled Friday to Iowa, “a state that is pivotal to a presidential campaign, in a trip that has heightened speculation that [he] is
Chambliss’s Profligate Spending On Golf Outings With Lobbyists  					 Since 2005, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), who is currently locked in a tough run-off election battle against Democrat Jim Martin, h
Boehner Dismisses Employee Intimidation, Claims Unionization Elections Already Are ‘Almost…Automatic’  					Today on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace echoed right-wing talking points to ask Rep. St
George Will: ‘The First New Deal Didn’t Work’  					Economists on both the left and right  broadly agree that the need for stimulative government spending is necessary to prevent a further collapse of
Lieberman refuses to apologize: ‘You can take from the word “regret” what you will.’  					Speaking with Meet The Press’s Tom Brokaw today, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) refused to apologize for actively
Woodward: Bush ‘Doesn’t Like Homework,’ Which Means ‘Reading,’ ‘Getting Briefed’ Or ‘Having A Debate’  					On the Chris Matthews Show today, Matthews argued that one of the major differences between
NRA Propaganda At Nation’s Largest Gun Show: Obama Is An ‘Enemy Of Your Gun Rights’  					Since Barack Obama’s election, the National Rifle Association (NRA) and other pro-gun groups have been warning
Bacevich: ‘I want to see President Obama explicitly abrogate the doctrine of preventive war.’  					Earlier today, ThinkProgress interviewed Andrew Bacevich, a professor of international relations at
Bailed-out companies AIG, Citibank have no plans to cancel expensive sports sponsorships.  					 ABC reports that “AIG, Citibank and a number of other federally bailed-out financial institutions have
Alan Colmes leaving ‘Hannity and Colmes.’  					Today, Fox News announced that Alan Colmes will be leaving his 12-year gig as co-host of “Hannity and Colmes.” From the release:  FOX News Channel’s (FN
Report: NSA Kept File On Tony Blair’s ‘Private Life’ And Intercepted Iraqi President’s ‘Pillow Talk’  					In October, ABC News reported that despite President Bush’s promises that the National Securi
FLASHBACK: Chambliss Hosted Golf Event At Whites-Only Country Club  					 As ThinkProgress noted yesterday, Chambliss has a long history of using official funds to feed his golf habit and endear himse
Obama to appoint Melody Barnes as head of Domestic Policy Council.  					Later today, President-elect Barack Obama will announce that our friend and former colleague Melody Barnes will be named as Dir
ThinkFast: November 24, 2008  President-elect Barack Obama will announce his economic team later today in a press conference with Vice President-elect Joe Biden in Chicago. “Obama’s transition team is
Norquist: ‘The Economy’s In The Present State’ Because Democrats Took Control Of Congress In 2006  					On CNBC this morning, Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist claimed that the curren
Rove: ‘Policy Won Out’ Over Politics In The Bush White House  					Last night on Hannity and Colmes, Karl Rove vigorously defended his role in the White House as the Bush administration’s political gu
Dick Morris Fundraises For Republican PAC On Same Day Reports Show His Conflict Of Interest  					Yesterday, Media Matters published a report showing that conservative pundit Dick Morris has “repeated
ThinkFast: November 25, 2008  The Commerce Department reports this morning that the U.S. economy shrank half a percent in the third quarter, “faster than previously estimated as consumer spending plun
Wasserman Schultz: ‘Mr. Paulson Seems To Be Flailing About A Bit’  					Yesterday, the Treasury Department, under the direction of Secretary Henry Paulson, reported that it is “making preparations” to
Turley: By Refusing To Pardon Torture Officials, Bush Is Allowing Democrats To Repair His Legacy  					Last night on MSNBC Rachel Maddow highlighted a report from the Wall Street Journal that said tha
Obama Takes Down Media’s ‘Conventional Wisdom’: ‘The Vision For Change Comes From Me’  					During a press conference earlier today, CNN’s Ed Henry challenged President-elect Barack Obama on his namin
ThinkFast: November 26, 2008  Editor’s Note: There will be lighter posting than usual on ThinkProgress today because much of the team is traveling home for Thanksgiving. The number of Americans on foo
Iraqi parliament approves new security pact.  					After weeks of contentious debate, the Iraqi parliament approved the long-delayed  security pact “that lays out a three-year timetable for the withdr
17 Reasons To Give Thanks  					This Thanksgiving, progressives have a lot to be thankful for. Here’s our list: We’re thankful we’ll soon have a president who will hit the ground running instead of a
Rove: We Don’t Need A Change In Our Health Care System  					In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today, Karl Rove applauds Barack Obama’s appointment of a “first-rate economic team,” cheering the s
Dionne: ‘Obama’s Bush Doctrine.’  					The Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne argues, “In electing Barack Obama, the country traded the foreign policy of the second President Bush for the foreign policy of
Kristol Calls On Bush To Pardon Torturers And Wiretappers, Reward Them With Medal Of Freedom  					In his new Weekly Standard column, right-wing pundit Bill Kristol lays out a to-do list for President
Former interrogator slams torture: Torture has cost nearly as many lives as 9/11.  					In a Washington Post op-ed today, a former Special Operations interrogator who worked in Iraq in 2006 sharply cr
Will: Economic Crisis May Only Be ‘A Financial Problem,’ ‘Rest Of Economy Is Doing Rather Well’  					Today on ABC’s This Week roundtable, conservative columnist George Will claimed it is possible tha
Chambliss Still Unsure If Economy Is In Recession, Misstates ‘Technical Defintion’ Of A Recession  					This morning of Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace asked Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) about a st
O’Reilly Whitewashes Torture At Gitmo: ‘There’s Certainly No Proof That Ever Happened’  					Today on the Radio Factor, a listener called in to tell Bill O’Reilly that she had “zero confidence” in Oba
Bush admin. proffers the ‘Chuck and Larry’ defense to deprive gay federal employees of health benefits.  					In September, the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee considered legislation that would
For Nearly A Year After Recession Started, Bush White House Insisted That ‘We’re Not In A Recession’  					Earlier today, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) announced that “the U.S. has b
Palin Recycles Old Stump Speech In Georgia, But Replaces ‘McCain’ With ‘Chambliss’  					Today, Gov. Sarah Palin traveled to Georgia to campaign for Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R), who faces a tough runoff
Leahy: ‘Torture will be a major issue’; ‘All that’s going to be reviewed.’  					During a press conference today, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, echoed Presiden
Obama: ‘I Believe That 16 Months Is The Right Time Frame’ For Getting Out Of Iraq  					At a press conference today where President-elect Barack Obama announced his national security team, a reporter
Note to CNN: There is no Assistant Secretary of State for African American Affairs.  					A CNN chyron from this morning’s press conference:  Susan Rice, the Obama administration’s new U.N. Ambassador
ThinkFast: December 1, 2008  Later today, President-elect Barack Obama will name some members of his national security team. The appointments will reportedly mark “a sweeping shift of priorities and r
Karl Rove orchestrating the ‘Bush Legacy project.’  					President Bush’s interview with ABC’s Charlie Gibson this week was the “first of several planned ‘exit interviews.’” According to White House p
Unions Workers Sound Off On Chambliss: ‘He’d Be #1 On Trying To Bust The Union And Working Families’  					Today, Georgians headed to the polls to cast their ballots in the critical U.S. Senate run-of
O’Reilly Uses Doctored Photo Of NBC President  					Last July, Fox and Friends aired doctored photos of New York Times reporter Jacques Steinberg and editor Steven Reddicliffe while attacking them for
Freshman Rep. Duncan Hunter: There Is More Violence In Tijuana Than In ‘Iraq And Afghanistan’  					Freshman Rep. Duncan D. Hunter (R-CA), son of former GOP presidential candidate Duncan Hunter, recen
Chambliss: Don’t Call My Support For Privatizing Social Security ‘Privatization’  					During an interview with Hannity and Colmes last night, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) falsely claimed that he “neve
Wallace Defends Bush’s Abuses Of Power, Says Comparison To Nixon Is ‘A Gross Misreading Of History’  					During a discussion period after the screening yesterday of Ron Howard’s new film “Frost/Nixon
Senators want Bush to pardon their convicted felon friend — Ted Stevens.  					Last month, soon-to-be retired Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) delivered his farewell speech on the floor of the Senate, many of
ThinkFast: December 2, 2008  President-elect Barack Obama is considering a stimulus package that will include a heavy dose of spending on environmentally friendly projects aimed at creating “green-col
VIDEO: Georgia Republicans Rally Supporters: Palin-Chambliss 2012?  					On Monday, Georgia’s U.S. Senate candidates — Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss and Democrat Jim Martin — had competing rall
Perino Can’t Explain Why Bush Administration Opposes Cluster Bomb Treaty  					Today in Oslo, Norway, over 100 countries began signing  the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The nations signing the clu
Chambliss lays out his vision for the GOP: We’ll pressure moderates to turn to the right.  					Fresh off his victory in yesterday’s run-off Senate race, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) told Glenn Beck to
Media Default To John Bolton For Criticism Of Obama’s U.N. Pick  					Last Monday, President-elect Barack Obama announced the nomination of his campaign’s senior foreign policy adviser Susan Rice as U
White House Still Won’t Use The Word ‘Recession,’ Press Corps Doesn’t Seem To Notice  					Early last month, a reporter asked Assistant White House Press Secretary Tony Fratto why the White House refu
Hannity: ‘If You Don’t Listen To Talk Radio, If You Don’t Watch Fox News,’ You’re Misinformed  					Last night, Fox’s Hannity & Colmes hosted John Ziegler, author of a push poll attempting to prove th
Novak: ‘I Don’t Think I Hurt Valerie Plame’ And I Would Out Her Again Because The Left ‘Tried To Ruin Me’  					During a recent interview with the National Ledger, conservative columnist Robert Novak
ThinkFast: December 3, 2008  Former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL) told Politico, “I am considering” a run for Senate, after Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL) announced yesterday he would retire in 2010. “A lot of peopl
Rove, Kristol Laugh At Idea U.S. Arrested American Muslims Without Trial: ‘We Didn’t Do It!’  					On Tuesday, Karl Rove and Bill Kristol debated journalists Simon Jenkins and Jacob Wiesberg at an eve
Perino Dismisses Pre-War Downing Street Memo: ‘It’s Been Debunked By Me’  					Earlier this week, Karl Rove said that President Bush would not have invaded Iraq if he knew there were no WMD. In today’
Warren: Bush’s ‘Peace Award Was Not About Peace’  					Earlier this week, Pastor Rick Warren presented President Bush with the first International Medal of PEACE from the Global PEACE Coalition for hi
RNC Chairman: GOP Senator’s Reelection In Deep Red State Proves Obama Mandate ‘Nothing But Hot Air’  					Correction: The original post incorrectly stated that Georgia had not voted for a Democratic p
Huckabee Downplays Violence Against Gays: Christians Are Having Their Crosses Taken From Them Too  					Last month, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee went on ABC’s “The View” and argued that the
KBR gave troops ice tainted with ‘traces of body fluids and putrefied remains.’  					A former technician who worked for contracting company KBR in Iraq has filed a class-action lawsuit saying the com
ThinkFast: December 4, 2008  Attorney General Michael Mukasey said yesterday that he sees “no reason for prosecutions or for pardons for those who gave legal advice on the Bush administration’s terror
GM CEO: Serious Health Care Reform ‘Undoubtedy Would Help Level The Playing Field’  					Testifying before the House Financial Services Committee today, General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner said that his c
Cheney Personally Thanked Chris Wallace For Defending Bush; Promises Him ‘Special Exit Interview’ As Reward  					Last Monday, at a screening of Ron Howard’s new film “Frost/Nixon,” Fox News Sunday ho
Gingrich Says Israel Should Set A Deadline For Attack On Iran  					Last night on Fox News, co-host Alan Colmes asked former House Speaker Newt Gingrich about a Jerusalem Post article yesterday report
Stuart Taylor: Obama should carry on Bush legacy of illegal wiretaps and ‘kick’ the Left ‘in the teeth.’  					National Journal columnist Stuart Taylor offers President-elect Barack Obama some nationa
Biden taps progressive economist Jared Bernstein as top adviser.  					 Vice President-elect Joseph Biden has just announced that Jared Bernstein, Director of the Living Standards program at the Econo
Bush: I Was Right To Use Non-Existent Link Between Saddam-9/11 To Push For War  					 Today, President Bush defended his foreign policy over the past eight years in an address to the Saban Center for
White House Counselor hosts attends party for lobbying firm (UPDATED).  					On Wednesday night, the lobbying firm Quinn Gillespie & Associates hosted “its popular annual holiday party,” offering thei
A New Attorney Scandal? Bush-Appointed U.S. Attorney Won’t Vacate Office Under Obama  					Mary Beth Buchanan was appointed by President Bush to serve as U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh in Sept. 2001. Buc
ThinkFast: December 3, 2008  The Labor Department reported this morning that 533,000 jobs were lost last month, and unemployment surged to 6.7%. The job losses are much higher than the 300,000 losses
Bush Claims His Library Institute At SMU Will Not ‘Herald’ His Presidency  					During an interview on Thursday with NBC News’s John Yang, President Bush talked about his life after the presidency, na
White House: We Never Said We Weren’t In A Recession  					Thursday, the White House acknowledged for the first time that the U.S. was in a recession. “Obviously, the NBER came out and said that we ar
Obama Taps Shinseki To Head A 21st Century VA: ‘We Have A Sacred Trust To Repay’ To Our Troops  					Today, President-elect Barack Obama announced that Gen. Eric Shinseki will become his Department of
Giuliani Lauds Obama’s Election: It Makes America ‘An Honest Nation And Not A Hypocritical One’  					In an interview with Sky News, former NYC Mayor and Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giulian
Fratto Whitewashes Bush’s Midnight Regulatory Blitz As ‘Transparent,’ ‘Routine,’ And ‘Responsible’  					As ThinkProgress has documented, President Bush is pushing an array of 11th hour regulations in
EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson: There’s ‘not a clean-cut division’ between religion and science.  					A Philadelphia Inquirer profile of EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson this weekend reveals that
Gingrich: My Claim About Gay Fascism Was ‘A Very Narrowly Focused Reference’  					On Nov. 14, Bill O’Reilly and former House Speaker Newt Gingirch cited very limited incidents of thuggery by those pr
Feingold: Obama Should ‘Renounce The Extreme Claims Of Executive Power’ In Inaugural Address  					During an interview last Friday on PBS with Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) host Bill Moyers asked Feingold
Corzine On Obama’s Appointments: They’re People Who Are ‘Pragmatists With A Progressive Agenda’  					Politico reports that Barack Obama’s personnel selections are causing some consternation amongst p
Wolff: Murdoch brought in Obama to criticize Ailes for Fox’s coverage.  					Sometime last summer, Barack Obama reportedly met secretly with Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes and the network’s owner Ruper
Bush: Miers ‘Absolutely’ Would Have Made An ‘Excellent’ Justice, But ‘Man, The Lions Tore Her Up’  					As the clock winds down on his presidency, President Bush has begun sitting for valedictory inte
The Hayden Record: Condoning Torture, Destroying Evidence, Misleading Congress  					 U.S. News is speculating that President-elect Barack Obama “might ask CIA Director Mike Hayden to stay on for a wh
ThinkFast: December 8, 2008  President-elect Barack Obama voiced his support for workers engaged in a sit-in protest at a recently closed Chicago factory. “The workers who are asking for the benefits
Former Housing CEOs: Poor People Did Not Cause The Current Financial Crisis  					Today, four former CEOs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac testified before the House Oversight Committee on how their comp
O’Reilly And Rove Agree: Reports On The Bad Economy Are Part Of A Media Cabal To Help Obama  					Yesterday on Fox News, Bill O’Reilly and Karl Rove went on a tirade against the media for hyping the s
Joe the Plumber lashes out: McCain ‘appalled me,’ ‘I wanted to get off the bus.’  					Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher has a book coming out later this month, called “Joe the Plumber: Fighting for the
Obama: I had ‘no contact’ with Blagojevich about Senate seat.  					Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is currently under investigation for allegedly trying to sell the open Senate seat vacated by Presiden
Lutz Off Message: ‘The American Public Wants Sport Utilites And Large Pickup Trucks’  					When General Motors’ CEO Rick Wagoner submitted his company’s plan to Congress last week, it pledged “a drama
Fitzgerald On Blagojevich’s ‘Political Corruption Crime Spree’: It Would ‘Make Lincoln Roll Over In His Grave’  					In a press conference explaining the arrest and the corruption charges filed agains
Fred Barnes Nominates Phil ‘Mental Recession’ Gramm To Be Car Czar  					Last night on Special Report with Brit Hume, the Fox All-Star Panel discussed the possibility that a deal on the auto bailout w
Illinois Governor Taken Into Federal Custody For Abusing His Authority To Appoint Obama Successor  					 Federal authorities took Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) and his chief of staff John Harris i
White House sends memo to Cabinet officials with talking points on Bush’s successful presidency.  					The White House is sending a two-page memo to Cabinet members “and other high-ranking officials”
ThinkFast: December 9, 2008  Yesterday morning, the Wall Street Journal reported that Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain was suggesting to his company’s board that he deserved a $10 million bonus for his pe
U.S. Climate Change Delegate: My Biggest Regret Is Not Putting More Spin On Bush’s Record  					Currently, representatives from 190 countries are meeting in Poznan, Poland for an international climate
Rep. Reyes: Since Torture Might Be Necessary, Obama Should Keep Torture Apologists Hayden, McConnell  					Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told Congress Dail
Who Is Steven Chu? A Nobel Physicist Who Believes In Bold Energy Transformation  					Numerous media outlets are reporting Dr. Steven Chu will be President-elect Obama’s choice to head the Department
Bush Awards Presidential Citizen Medal To Watergate Crook Chuck Colson  					 Established in 1969, the Presidential Citizens Medal is the second highest honor for a civilian, recognizing Americans “wh
‘Frosty the Coalman’: King Coal Launches Holiday-Themed Greenwashing Campaign  					The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) has launched a new holiday-themed greenwashing campaign th
O’Reilly: ‘Fox News Is Not A Far-Right Operation’  					In an interview with CNN founder Ted Turner last night, Bill O’Reilly claimed that those who believe that Fox News is a conservative outlet are
Rice Disputes That America’s Image Has Been ‘Tarnished’ By Torture: ‘I’m Going To Have To Object’  					 Today in an interview with NPR, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice continued her Bush Legacy t
Stewart Grills Huckabee On Gay Marriage: ‘At What Age Did You Choose Not To Be Gay?’  					For over seven minutes last night, Jon Stewart grilled former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee on his oppositi
ThinkFast: December 10, 2008  Bank of America has agreed to extend a loan to Republic Windows and Doors so that it can pay its workers. Since Friday, 250 laid-off employees have been staging a sit-in
House GOP Gives Scandal-Ridden Don Young’s Committee Seat To Scandal-Ridden Doc Hastings  					In a letter to the House GOP this week, House Minority Leader John Boehner lauded the election of Joseph
Beck: ‘I Was The Most Well-Researched Show’ On CNN, ‘They Forced Me To Document It’  					During an interview with Time magazine’s Kate Pickert regarding his move to Fox News Channel, conservative tal
Powell lashes out at Palin: I’m from the South Bronx, ‘and there’s nothing wrong with my value system.’  					In an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that will air this weekend, former Secretary of
NASA Administrator Muzzles Employees From Speaking Openly With Obama Agency Review Team  					 In order to ensure a smooth transition, President-elect Obama has set up numerous agency review teams cha
Malkin: Democrats Will ‘Turn On A Dime’ Against Patrick Fitzgerald  					This morning on Fox and Friends, right-wing pundit Michelle Malkin took up the conservative mantra of linking President-elect O
Obama: I Am ‘Appalled And Disappointed’ By Illinois Scandal, Blagojevich Needs To Resign  					Since federal authorities arrested Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) earlier this week, many conservative
Obama To Appoint Jeanne Lambrew As Deputy Director Of White House Office Of Health Reform  					In just a few moments, President-elect Barack Obama will announce that another one of our friends and fo
ThinkFast: December 11, 2008  In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, President-elect Barack Obama  said his presidency is an opportunity for the U.S. to rebuild its relations with the Muslim world.
Rice: The Republican Party Brought Us To A Place Where ‘People Can Look Beyond Race’  					Yesterday, Secretary of State Condelezza Rice sat for an interview with CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo. In a portion
The 20 senators who bailed out Wall Street but refused to rescue auto workers.  					Last night, the Senate failed to approve the auto rescue package, voting 52-35 in favor of proceeding on the bill —
Coal Front Group Forced To Take Down ‘Coal Carolers’ Campaign In The Face Of Widespread Scorn  					On Wednesday, ThinkProgress reported on a holiday campaign by the American Coalition for Clean Coal
Gingrich Offers To Be Rep.-Elect Cao’s Liaison To The African-American Community  					 Earlier this week, the Times-Picayune profiled the district’s new congressman Joseph Cao (R-LA), who beat out th
Conservatives Use Auto Rescue To Engage In Union Busting Campaign  					Late last night, Senate Republicans blocked a deal brokered by the White House and the Democratic leadership to extend a $15 bil
Right wing promotes Mitt ‘the jobs aren’t coming back’ Romney for ‘car czar.’  					Right-wing pundits and bloggers are calling for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to oversee the restructuring o
Ashcroft: Detaining Terror Suspects At Guantanamo Bay ‘Has Been A Humanitarian Act’  					Last month, former Attorney General John Ashcroft spoke before the Hudson Union Society in New York. During hi
ThinkFast: December 12, 2008  Republican senators blocked a $15 billion bailout to General Motors and Chrysler late last night, after insisting that autoworkers accept “steep cuts in pay and benefits”
Rumsfeld on eve of Iraq war: ‘If you think we’re going to spend’ $1 billion in Iraq, ‘you’re sadly mistaken.’  					A scathing new report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction calls
Conservative Pundit Attacks Patrick Fitzgerald  					Former Bush Justice Department official Victoria Toensing rips U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in a Wall Street Journal piece, writing that he sho
Obama picks Shaun Donovan to head Department of Housing and Urban Development.  					In his weekly address, President-elect Barack Obama announced he was selecting the “widely respected housing commis
An Encounter With Hogs On The Road To Alabama  					Our guest blogger is Barry Nolan, a veteran TV journalist who was fired by Comcast Cable’s CN8 channel in Boston for protesting an award honoring Bi
Iraqi Journalist Throws His Shoes At Bush During Press Conference In Baghdad (Updated)  					President Bush is in Baghdad today on a surprise farewell visit highlighting the security deal recently rea
Rove Reportedly Will ‘Help Lead’ GOP’s Fight Against Eric Holder For Attorney General  					Senate Republicans, including Sens. Arlen Specter (R-PA), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), and Jon Kyl (R-AZ), are try
Cheney: ‘Guantanamo Has Been Well Run’  					 Today, Vice President Cheney continued the Bush administration’s legacy tour by appearing on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show. Limbaugh’s hard-hitting questions
Bush Rewrites History: ‘I Never Said The Taliban Was Eliminated’  					Early this morning, during a press conference in Kabul with Afghan President Karzai, President Bush attempted to paper over his p
Responding to GOP complaints, Leahy reschedules Holder hearing.  					 In recent weeks, GOP senators have been balking over the scheduled Jan. 8 confirmation hearings for Eric Holder, President-elect
Former Rumsfeld Flack Falsely Calls Shinseki’s Opposition To Rumsfeld’s Iraq War Plan ‘A Legend’  					In a Washington Post op-ed today, Lawrence Di Rita, former special assistant to Donald Rumsfeld,
Bush Dismisses Iraqi Journalist’s Shoe Insult: I Don’t Think This ‘Represents A Broad Movement In Iraq’  					Yesterday, Iraqi journalist Muntader al-Zaidi threw his shoes at President Bush and shoute
Newsweek confirms massive data mining effort triggered warrantless wiretapping showdown.  					Newsweek reported over the weekend that “two knowledgeable sources” confirmed that the 2004 clash between
Bush On Al Qaeda Not Existing In Iraq Before Invasion: ‘So What?’  					Yesterday, after an Iraqi journalist used “[t]wo of the worst insults in Islam” against him, an unfazed President Bush sat down
ThinkFast: December 15, 2008  “Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets Monday to demand the release of a reporter who threw his shoes” at President Bush during a press conference yesterday, praising t
Palin Defends Church’s Promotion Of Group That Aims For Gays To ‘Overcome’ ‘Unwanted Same-Sex Attractions’  					In September, an insert in the bulletin of the Wasilla Bible Church — where Alaska Gov.
Rice: No ‘American Money’ In Iraq Was Lost To Corruption  					In an AP interview yesterday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke highly of U.S. reconstruction efforts in Iraq, stating, “We’ve do
Gaffney: 4,000 Americans Had To Die In Iraq  					In a new interview with ABC News, Vice President Cheney claimed that the the case for war had nothing to do with whether Saddam Hussein had WMD; Ameri
Bush: ‘I’ve Abandoned Free Market Principles To Save The Free Market System’  					President Bush has repeatedly touted his adherence to free markets throughout his term. “Free markets remain the best
Bush library foundation president already spinning Katrina response.  					In an article today on the George W. Bush presidential library, McClatchy notes that “[t]he present hasn’t worked out so well
Rove Tries To Link Obama To Blagojevich Scandal Despite Previously Arguing There Is No Link  					Last night on Fox News, former Bush political operative Karl Rove tried desperately to link President-
Perino: We’re not occupiers in Iraq; we’re guests.  					During today’s White House press briefing, spokesperson Dana Perino echoed President Bush’s claim that Iraqi journalist Muntader al-Zaidi’s fru
Obama lays out vision for education reform steeped in ‘deep pragmatism’ and not ‘clouded by ideology.’  					Just a few moments ago, President-elect Barack Obama announced Arne Duncan – the superinten
Juan Williams: Iraqi Protesters Are ‘Ingrate[s]‘ Who Should Appreciate U.S. Invasion  					Last night on “The O’Reilly Factor,” host Bill O’Reilly slammed Muntader al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who t
Cheney’s Wishful Thinking: Iraq Had ‘Capability To Produce’ WMD When We Invaded  					Earlier this month at a debate on President Bush’s legacy in New York, Karl Rove claimed that if the Bush administ
ThinkFast: December 16, 2008  70 percent: The share of Americans who say that President-elect Obama “should fulfill his campaign promise to withdraw U.S. forces from the country within 16 months.” Two
O’Reilly Producer: ‘We Saved Christmas Last Year’  					As part of his annual War on Christmas mania, Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly pounced on the town of Great Barrington, MA last year after the town’s sel
Fratto: ‘No One Could Have Anticipated’ Terrorists Flying Planes Into Buildings Before 9/11  					The Bush White House is in full-throttle spin mode, attempting to repair the President’s badly tarnish
Sen. Blanche Lincoln: I May Vote Against Employee Free Choice Act  					 The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is set to be one of the early battles between progressives and conservatives in the 111th C
Rice: Under Bush, The U.S. Has Embraced The U.N. ‘Maybe’ More Than Any Other Administration  					During a press conference yesterday in New York, a reporter asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
Drunk George Tenet lashed out at Bush’s neocons: ‘The Jews’ who tried to ‘pin the Iraq WMD fiasco on him.’  					Atlantic reporter Jeffrey Goldberg recently picked up a copy of Patrick Tyler’s forthco
Bush Passes The Buck On Iraq Mistakes And Economic Failures: They’re Not My Fault  					In his latest exit interview, President Bush continued to shirk any responsibility for the problems in Iraq or f
ThinkFast: December 17, 2008  Time Magazine named Barack Obama its Person of the Year today “for having the confidence to sketch that kind of future in this gloomy hour and for showing the competence
Report: Gonzales Appears To Have Lied To Congress For Rice About Vetting Bush’s Pre-War Uranium Claims  					In his January 2003 State of the Union address, as part of his effort to make the case for
Fox Touts Avid Immigrant Witch Hunter As ‘America’s Toughest Sheriff’  					Our guest blogger is Henry Fernandez, a Senior Fellow at the Center For American Progress Action Fund working on state and m
Gates Backs Obama’s Promise To Close Guantanamo: It Will Be A ‘High Priority’  					In recent days, Vice President Cheney has been vociferously defending the Bush administration’s detention policies.
Rice: As A ‘Political Scientist,’ ‘I Absolutely Am So Proud’ Of Invading Iraq  					This morning, CNN aired an exit interview with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. During the interview, reporter Z
Obama defends choice of Rev. Warren at inauguration: ‘We can disagree without being disagreeable.’  					Yesterday, news broke that Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church would be given the honor of
Cheney Defends Torture: It ‘Would Have Been Unethical Or Immoral’ For Us Not To Torture  					In an interview earlier this week, Vice President Cheney admitted to personally approving the torture of h
ThinkFast: December 18, 2008  “I didn’t compromise my soul to be popular,” President Bush told Fox News in an interview yesterday. “Look, everybody likes to be popular,” he said. “I mean, do people ap
Perino Confused About Environmentalists’ Objections To Drilling On Federal Lands  					Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is auctioning off resource rights to over 110,000 acres of public land
What You Need To Know About Ray LaHood  					Ten years ago today, Ray LaHood was gaveling in House impeachment proceedings against President Clinton. Today, President-elect Barack Obama announced that
Warren Supports Program That Seeks To Cure Gays Of ‘Same Sex Attraction’  					Earlier today, ThinkProgress noted that Pastor Rick Warren, who is set to give the invocation at President-elect Obama’s
Duncan Hunter: Torture Provided ‘Enormously Valuable Information That Saved American Lives’  					Last night on MSNBC’s “Hardball,” Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) ardently defended the Bush administration’
Maddow: Obama Choosing Warren For Invocation Is The ‘First Big Mistake,’ A ‘Lose-Lose Proposition’  					Yesterday, President-elect Obama’s press conference on his new economic team quickly digressed
ThinkFast: December 19, 2008  The investigating judge in the case of Muntader al-Zaidi says the Iraqi journalist shows signs of being beaten after being arrested for throwing a shoe at President Bush.
Biden to chair ‘White House Task Force On Working Families.’  					President-elect Barack Obama will form a “White House Task Force on Working Families,” to be chaired by Vice President Joe Biden. Acc
Cheney Echoes Nixon: If The President Does It During Wartime, It Is Legal  					On Fox News Sunday today, host Chris Wallace asked Vice President Cheney, “if the President, during war, decides to do s
Limbaugh’s Crazy Conspiracy Theory: Democrats Started The Economic Crisis To Help Elect Obama  					 Today, the New York Times had an article about how right-wing talk radio is gearing up to aggressiv
Bolton on humanitarian intervention: ‘Do it with your own sons and daughters, not with mine.’  					Earlier this month, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto hosted the second in a series of so-called “
Regarding ThinkProgress’s Editorial Independence  					Many throughout the blogosphere have been weighing in on the decision by our acting CEO, Jennifer Palmieri, to write a guest post on Matt Yglesia
Report: After Eight Years Of Promoting Bush, AEI Purges Prominent Neoconservatives From Its Ranks  					The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) has been a major source of the Bush administration’s ext
Cheney: We Asked If We Needed Approval For Wiretapping, Congress Told Us ‘Absolutely Not’  					In an interview with Fox News’s Chris Wallace yesterday morning, Vice President Cheney defended the Bush
ThinkFast: December 22, 2008  While auto executives were criticized for their lavish corporate jets, Wall Street has largely escaped such scorn. “Six financial firms that received billions in bailout
Rove: Joe Biden Is Trying To Acquire More Power Than Dick Cheney  					In a recent interview, Joe Biden recalled how he told President-elect Obama that as vice president, he would like to be involved
Obama Transition Report Finds ‘No Indication Of Inappropriate Discussions’ With Blagojegivich  					For the past few weeks, the media and the right wing have been speculating whether President-elect O
AEI Scholar: ‘Bush’s Legacy May End Up Better Than You Think’  					 Not only are Bush administration officials rushing out to rewrite President Bush’s legacy as a strong, capable leader, his conserva
Maryland Water Main Break Highlights Need For Infrastructure Spending In Federal Stimulus  					A water main break in Maryland this morning trapped a dozen commuters in their cars and sent rescuers sc
White House: Expect more pardons from Bush.  					In today’s White House press briefing, a reporter noted to spokesman Tony Fratto that the “administration has indicated that the president is unlikely
Soldiers Accuse KBR Of Knowingly Exposing Troops To Deadly Toxin In Iraq  					Controversial military contractor KBR has racked up quite a record of endangering the lives of U.S. soldiers serving in I
Shuster Pushes Inhofe On Global Warming Skepticism: ‘If There Is A Hoax, Isn’t It This Report Of Yours?’  					Earlier this month, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) released a report citing “more than 650 inte
ThinkFast: December 23, 2008  President-elect Obama’s team has announced that on Jan. 20, Obama “will take the oath of office using the same Bible upon which President Lincoln was sworn in at his firs
What Role Did Bradford Berenson Have In Bush’s Pardongate?  					After first pardoning “a Brooklyn real estate developer accused of scamming hundreds of poor, minority homebuyers – and whose father do
Tennessee coal sludge disaster ‘shows that the term clean coal is an oxymoron.’  					Monday, more than 500 million gallons of toxic coal sludge burst through a retention wall in eastern Tennessee, ca
Rove Mocks Infrastructure Spending As ‘Goofy Pie-In-The-Sky Spending Ideas’  					Yesterday, a water main break in Maryland trapped a dozen commuters in their cars and sent rescuers scrambling to pull
SEC Chair Asked If He Deserves Blame For Wall Street Crisis: ‘Absolutely Not,’ It ‘Wasn’t The SEC’s Job’  					In a new interview with the Washington Post, embattled Securities and Exchange Commission
Flashback: Perino Pledged That Pardons Would Be Granted Through The Pardon Attorney  					Yesterday, the White House moved quickly to take the rare action of revoking President Bush’s pardon of Isaac
Report criticizes Bush administration for borrowing to fund wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  					A new study recently released by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments has found that the d
Climate change report forecasts global sea levels to rise up to 4 feet by 2100.  					According to a new report led by the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. “faces the possibility of much more rapid cl
RNC Chair Candidate Distributes ‘Barack The Magic Negro’ As His Christmas Greeting  					Last year, Rush Limbaugh came under intense criticism for repeatedly airing a parody song called “Barack the Ma
Cheney: ‘I Don’t Have Any Idea’ Why People Don’t Like Me  					Only 29 percent of Americans approve of the job Dick Cheney is doing as Vice President. In an interview with his hometown Wyoming newspap
Rice: Much Of Bush’s Foreign Policy Agenda Deserves An ‘A+’  					This morning on CBS, Sunday Morning’s Rita Braver interviewed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. In a portion of the interview that
MSNBC Host: It wouldn’t be ‘funny’ if someone called me ‘Tamron Hall the Magic Negro Anchor Lady.’  					Today on MSNBC, anchor Tamron Hall hosted a segment discussing RNC chair candidate Chip Saltsma
Bush Refuses To Interrupt His Final Vacation As Middle East Crisis Escalates  					In an effort to “prevent Palestinians from attacking towns in southern Israel” with rockets, Israel today undertook i
Rove: Pardons And Commutations Are ‘Generally…Not Granted Within Five Years After The Offense’  					On Christmas eve, the White House took the unprecedented step of revoking President Bush’s pardon o
Study: Premarital abstinence pledges are ineffective.  					A cornerstone of many abstinence-only programs is the concept of virginity pledges, which encourages “children as young as 9 to promise to w
‘Key Ally In The War On Terror’ Breaks With U.S., Condemns Israel For Gaza Strikes  					After disastrously invading and occupying Iraq, one of the justifications President Bush frequently offered for
Former U.S. Atty: Blagojevich appointment shows he’s ‘crazy like a fox,’ playing to future black jurors.  					Earlier today, Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-IL) appointed Roland Burris, the first African-Ame
Bolton: Gaza Crisis Means We Should Attack Iran Now  					Yesterday, on Fox’s Hannity and Colmes, Iran war hawk John Bolton said that Israel’s recent bombing campaign in Gaza is all the more reason fo
After Backing Massive Wall Street Bailout, McConnell Plans To Block Obama’s Economic Stimulus Plan  					President-elect Obama has made it clear that one of his first priorities when he takes office w
Gonzales: ‘What Is It That I Did That Is So Fundamentally Wrong?’  					Alberto Gonzales’s legal career at the White House and the Justice Department was a stain even for the Bush administration. Gonz
Huckabee Too Busy Keeping Up With ‘Britney’ Gossip To Follow Foreign Policy  					 In an interview with the Quad-City Times yesterday, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee tried to make excuses for
Bush Issues Signing Statement Undermining Sudan Accountability And Divestment Act  					 Yesterday, President Bush signed the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act, which makes it easier for “states
Conyers demands special counsel in CIA tape investigation.  					In response to Attorney General Mike Mukasey announcing he would appoint John Durham, the Assistant United States Attorney from Connect
Despite Expressing Support For Writers, Huckabee Will Cross Picket Line To Appear On Leno  					Today, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee is heading to Los Angeles to appear as Jay Leno’s first gu
Mitt Romney's campaign has put out a new memo/press release in the wake of his second-place loss in New Hampshire, making the case that he's not licked yet and in fact has "a clear path to victory goi
One particular pollster, New Hampshire-based American Research Group, has perhaps the most interesting explanation for how they got their state's Democratic result wrong. ARG put up a statement up on
The Tears are now officially an issue in Campaign 2008.  Obama's national campaign co-chair, Jesse Jackson, Jr., just went on MSNBC and appeared to question Hillary's tears, which he called "tears tha
This has already gotten a bit of attention, but it's worth a look. The Obama campaign has a new campaign memo out from campaign manager David Plouffe that contains some new fundraising numbers, offers
So what should we make of John McCain's New Hampshire victory last night? What does it suggest for McCain about the road ahead?  Unquestionably, it left the GOP race wide open, gave a new credibility
A big Hillary Clinton supporter and statewide official in New York might have just given the Hillary campaign a real headache. During an appearance yesterday on talk radio â at almost the same time
Bill Clinton just appeared on Al Sharpton's radio show, and was asked about his statements in New Hampshire that the media was pushing a "fairy tale" about Obama's candidacy. Bill insisted that he did
This has already gotten some attention, but we wanted to flag it anyway. Today's Times has a  good piece on the backlash that's growing towards Mike Bloomberg's suggestions that he may run or may not
A big development in the South Carolina Dem primary: Rep. James Clyburn is suggesting that he may drop his neutral stance, largely out of dismay over the  now-notorious comments made by Hillary about
â¢ Last night's debate might have been held in South Carolina, but it was just as much a fight for the votes in Michigan, Mitt Romney's native state and the sight of the next Republican primary. Romn
Yesterday, as part of his racial damage control tour, Bill Clinton took a shot at Obama that he's frequently taken during the campaign, charging that the Illinois Senator's criticism of Hillary's supp
After  threatening to drop his neutral stance in his state's Dem primary in reaction to recent comments by Hillary and Bill about race, South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn confirmed last night  that he
An Obama precinct captain in Nevada has circulated a flyer that urges Republicans (and independents) to become Democrats just for a day in order to stop Hillary.  The flyer is likely to be controversi
Primaries, caucuses, and more primaries -- now that we know that the Democratic and Republican races are in it for the long haul, what exactly lies ahead?  What primaries are the key races? Who's lead
A key moment at the debate: Hillary and Obama squared off over terrorism, and the role that fear should play in our political life and in setting foreign policy.   First, Hillary was asked, in essence
This debate has an innovative format: The candidates were just instructed that they had to ask each other questions.  Edwards asked Obama why it is that he thinks drug company execs give Dems politica
The three Dems are asked at the debate to detail their greatest strength -- and their greatest weakness. Their answers...  Obama's strength: "My greatest strength is the ability to bring people togeth
Here's an  interesting bit of color from John McCain's campaign plane today in which a top McCain adviser is already lowering expectations for McCain's performance in today's contest in Michigan:  Sen
I asked the Obama campaign if they were going to respond to today's  highly questionable column by WaPo's Richard Cohen raising questions about the fact that his church and its minister launched Trump
Check out this negative mailer that Hillary has dropped in Nevada hitting Obama on Social Security and taxes (click on the images to enlarge):      The mailer -- which was also dropped in New Hampshir
This is interesting -- Obama is turning up the volume of his argument with what he terms Clinton style "incremental" change, arguing that Ronald Reagan fundamentally changed the direction of America i
In a move that suggests the Hillary camp thinks Obama committed a misstep that gives them an opening, Hillary went out of her way in an interview today to criticize Obama's recent claim that voters ar
After he won the New Hampshire primary last week, John McCain had a seemingly clear road to the nomination as the new Republican frontrunner. However, as  we noted at the time, McCain's victory was in
Yesterday the Obama campaign was rejoicing because they'd learned that they had received the coveted endorsement of the Las Vegas Review Journal. Today the  endorsement is out, and it needs to be said
The online smear campaign against Barack Obama has now attracted attention from some prominent Jewish leaders. The heads of the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, the Simon Wiesent
A pro-Confederate Flag third-party group is running new radio ads in South Carolina praising Mike Huckabee's pro-state's-rights stance on the flag issue -- and slamming John McCain over his repeated c
A ruling has come down in the Nevada caucus lawsuit, which was filed by the state teachers union against the special caucus locations set up for Las Vegas Strip workers. U.S. District Court Judge Jame
With the Nevada caucuses only days away, it's only natural that the Hillary and Obama campaigns would square off today over Yucca Mountain.  The Obama campaign convened a conference call with reporter
At some point you'd think Mike Huckabee's views would be seen as so controversial that there's no way he could possibly be a contender for the nomination of one of America's two main political parties
The ultimate Hillary surrogate -- Bill himself -- has also  teed off on Obama today over his contention in the Reagan interview that the GOP has been the party of ideas:  "Her principal opponent said
The Hillary campaign clearly made a decision to go all out on Obama's Reagan comments today. Hillary herself just lit into Obama over them in Las Vegas, according to a transcript provided by her campa
It's official: Camp Hillary is making a campaign issue out of Obama's  comments about Reagan.  In a conference call with reporters that ended moments ago, several Clinton campaign surrogates just exco
For those of you who care about such stuff, here are Hillary's talking points of the day for Nevada, sent out by the campaign to surrogates and forwarded to us by a source:  Daily Talking Points, Janu
UNITE -- the Obama labor ally that  stirred controversy yesterday by airing a radio ad in Nevada attacking Hillary for not respecting Latinos -- has just laid out nearly $14,000 for a new TV ad in the
The Hillary campaign has a new statement out responding to the Obama camp's claim that they won more delegates in Nevada:  Hillary Clinton won the Nevada Caucuses today by winning a majority of the de
On a conference call with reporters just now, Obama top adviser David Plouffe made a surprising claim: He said Barack Obama actually won more federal nominating delegates out of the caucus, despite th
As others have noted, one of the big stories of the night is the disappointing finish of John Edwards, who came in with less than 5%. Here's the statement just out from the Edwards campaign, in full:
Ben Smith  reported today that Bill Clinton alleged in an appearance in Nevada that he personally witnessed voter suppression by the culinary workers. Smith posted a transcript he obtained of the even
We could all use a bit of comic relief while we wait for today's results. So here goes: The Obama and Hillary campaigns are now battling over who has the better interpretation of the career of ... bas
The Obama campaign is really doing its damndest to puncture the false Obama-is-a-Muslim smears before they take hold. In the latest move, the Obama camp released an "open letter to the Jewish communit
This happened in a blur late yesterday, so it seems worth a quick revisit to clarify what happened. Yesterday the Hillary and Obama campaigns were  battling over who actually won the most delegates, w
The debate is in its free-form section right now, and after a spirited debate between the three Dems about race and who's best equipped to carry on the struggles ahead, Hillary said:  What better way
Since we think the Edwards campaign should still get coverage, even if his candidacy is a long shot, we're gonna highlight this. Just moments before the start of the South Carolina debate, the Edwards
Jason Horowitz of The New York Observer  reports that he overheard top Hillary adviser Howard Wolfson suggesting in a phone call with a Florida elected official that the Florida no-campaign pledge "ag
Barack Obama met today with editors of South Carolina's largest newspaper, The State. In the meeting, he hit Bill again for lying about his candidacy -- and broadened his attack to include the nationa
This is getting interesting. In an interview with me a couple of minutes ago, senior Hillary adviser Howard Wolfson claimed that Obama's assertion this morning that Bill Clinton is fibbing about his c
South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, who has questioned Hillary and Bill's racial comments,  says in a new interview that he thinks the attacks could help Barack Obama by toughening him up, should he fa
Looks like Rudy's 9/11 Tourette's -- his constant mentions of his own Churchillian heroism that day -- isn't doing much to help him in the state that was the victim of the attacks. A  new Siena Colleg
At a campaign event in South Carolina today, Barack Obama got into a bit of a row with a reporter after being asked: "Are you allowing President Clinton to get in your head?"    Here's ABC News' accou
Just how panicked is Rudy Giuliani starting to look? After initially trying to play in various other states and then pulling out in order to bet it all on Florida, he's now downplaying the need to win
It's bad enough that Rudy struggling in Florida, the state that represents his last hopes. Making matters worse still, it turns out this is happening despite the fact that he's sinking tons of cash in
Obama expands a bit on his running argument that he's more electable than HIllary in an  interesting interview with CBN News' David Brody:  Brody: Will Hillary be a drag for down-ticket races as a pre
Ending the suspense around a question that preoccupied lots of people in Dem circles today, The State, the largest paper in South Carolina,  gives the nod to Obama:  The restoration of the Clintons to
In a speech today in South Carolina, Barack Obama pledged to pursue an economically populist course and to stay realistic and build coalitions â and worked in a jibe against Hillary Clinton, too. Ke
On a conference call with reporters, Obama just responded to the Hillary campaign's  increasingly frequent claim that he's "frustrated" by his losses in New Hampshire and Nevada.   "It's very clear th
Here's a first look at a video that the Hillary campaign has just created hitting Obama on health care. It purports to show that Obama -- contrary to what he said at the debate yesterday -- advocated
This could stir this whole battle up again, but it's noteworthy. Guess who also called the GOP the "party of ideas," in a fashion similar to the way Obama did?  Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who held Hilla
Did Edwards tell a roomful of donors that Hillary privately told him after the last debate that there's more to come on the Obama Rezko story that has yet to be made public?  An Edwards contributor  t
The Obama campaign has just sent out to reporters audio and script of a negative Hillary radio spot hitting him over that now-infamous interview in which Obama called Republicans the "party of ideas."
Hillary  wins the big one, the endorsement of The New York Times:  The sense of possibility, of a generational shift, rouses Mr. Obamaâs audiences and not just through rhetorical flourishes. He show
The Hillary campaign just announced that Bill Clinton has gone up on the air for his wife in a new positive South Carolina radio spot -- and it's hard to miss this line:  I want to thank you for twice
One of the central struggles between the Obama and Hillary campaigns right now is this: Which of the two can successfully persuade voters that he or she is the fair-fighter being victimized by the oth
The Hillary campaign sent out the following talking points to surrogates this morning, instructing them on how to talk to the media about Obama's  new radio ad attacking her as willing to "say anythin
The Obama campaign rolled out a new argument in a campaign memo today: That Hillary is "pulling out all the stops" to win in South Carolina -- and will "say and do anything" to do it.  The Obama camp
Barack Obama has a new radio ad in South Carolina, responding to Hillary Clinton's attack ad against his "party of ideas" comment. The ad's announcer cuts straight to the point: "It's what's wrong wit
The Huffington Post reports that Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), the top elected Democrat in the Sunshine State, will endorse Hillary Clinton for president.  Nelson's endorsement probably has something to do
Hillary Clinton has now issued a statement about the DNC's action in stripping Michigan and Florida of their delegates due to their rogue primaries. Hillary has called for the delegates from both stat
The Obama campaign just sent me some audio of an event -- from yesterday, the Obama camp says -- at which Bill Clinton said this:  âThe President is not called the Chief Executive Officer of America
The Hillary campaign is moving today to engage Obama more directly over the now-notorious comments about the GOP and Reagan. TPM's Eric Kleefeld reports that on a conference call arranged by the Hilla
Obama is giving his victory speech right now. He hits a conciliatory note about his Dem opponents:  We have fine candidates in the field â fierce competitors, worthy of respect and our admiration.
The Hillary camp moves to frame their expected loss in South Carolina, sending out a new campaign memo from adviser Howard Wolfson that returns to the post-Iowa argument that this race is all about de
In an interview with NBC that was broadcast this morning, Obama said some new and interesting stuff to minimize the political fallout that he and Hillary have been navigating in the wake of their bitt
A few weeks ago, right after John Kerry endorsed Barack Obama, we  reported here that the Hillary campaign was working intensely to win over Kerry's fellow Senator from Massachusetts. The idea was tha
Barack Obama spoke right after Teddy Kennedy endorsed him today, and in his speech, the Illinois Senator skillfully drew a connection between JFK and himself with this anecdote about his Kenyan father
Teddy Kennedy opens his speech endorsing Obama by turning to Caroline Kennedy, who also endorsed Obama, and saying:  "Your mother and father would be so proud of you today."  After offering heartfelt
Here are the Hillary campaign's talking points, sent to surrogates to signal to them how they should respond to media questions about the racial dust-ups and Kennedy endorsement. They were forwarded o
John McCain appears to have just barely edged out Mitt Romney in the all-important Florida GOP primary, according to projections from CNN and the  Associated Press.  Right now, with just over half rep
On a conference call arranged by the Hillary campaign just moments ago, her advisers rolled out some novel arguments to reporters as to why we should see the Florida primary as important despite the f
While you were mourning the Edwards' departure...  After a morning dominated by the John Edwards news, the Dem primary jolted back into action today when Obama unleashed a lacerating attack on Hillary
John Edwards just gave his dropout speech in New Orleans, which is where it all began, and he told his audience that he'd spoken to both Hillary and Obama and squeezed a promise from them.  "They have
Top Edwards adviser Joe Trippi just confirmed to me by phone that the Hillary and Obama campaigns are already working overtime to woo Edwards to their sides -- even before his official dropout speech.
On a local news station in Birmingham, Alabama, Hillary just commented on John Edwards' departure from the presidential race. She stressed that she's the candidate to carry on Edwards' war on poverty
Obama is first out of the box with a statement on Edwards' departure from the race:  âJohn Edwards has spent a lifetime fighting to give voice to the voiceless and hope to the struggling, even when
Just in  from the Associated Press:  Democrat John Edwards is exiting the presidential race Wednesday, ending a scrappy underdog bid in which he steered his rivals toward progressive ideals while grap
Hillary is asked directly by Wolf Blitzer: What exactly is that experience you keep claiming, anyway? It's the question many have been asking. Her full answer, for posterity, is after the jump.  			We
An interesting moment: Hillary seeks to turn her health care loss to the GOP to her advantage -- and simultaneously draw a sharp distinction with Obama -- by saying that if we don't articulate the goa
Here it is: A handy guide to what all the most recent polls are saying in nearly all of the 22 states holding Democratic primaries and caucuses on Feb. 5th.  Taken together, all these polls â which
The Obama campaign confirms that it raised an astonishing $32 million -- in the month of January alone.  Clearly, the Iowa win on January 3 provided a huge burst of fundraising momentum right on throu
With five days to go until Super Tuesday, Mitt Romney's spokesperson is confirming that the Romney campaign has bought exactly zero TV ad time in any of the states that vote on Feb. 5.  "We currently
The Los Angeles Times throws its support to  Barack Obama and  John McCain.   It's a coup for both in a state where on the Dem side Obama is closing on Hillary and on the GOP side McCain is ahead and
Yesterday we brought you a roundup of Super Tuesday polls for the Democratic primaries. Today, we bring you the same for the Republicans.  The bottom line: John McCain has it made.  He leads in nearly
Move On has just announced that its membership voted to endorse Obama -- giving him a good deal of organizational heft on the left and a bit of a bulwark against criticism of his conciliatory, centris
Hillary appeared this morning on ABC's This Week, and in a surprisingly sharp exchange, she charged that Barack Obama's claim that she opposes negotiating with hostile foreign leaders is misleading.
Thanks for bearing with us during out technical difficulties today. Here's a roundup of the various state polls that came out today, and what sense of direction they give for the Democratic primaries
The Obama camp moves to frame tomorrow's results in advance, sending out a new expectations-dampening memo from top Obama adviser David Plouffe arguing basically that anything short of "wrapping up" t
A religious reader forwards us an email that the Obama campaign blasted out to what apparently is a mass list of people who do religious outreach and charity work:  Dear Friend,  After college, I work
Updated below: Obama actually wins the state.  She  takes Missouri, a state dominated by rural voters that is a key presidential proving ground.  The overall map between Hillary and Obama is  very flu
MNSBC and Fox call Massachusetts for Hillary. Early on, she had a huge lead in some polls against Obama in that state, but Teddy Kennedy's endorsement of Obama caused the race to tighten up.  Hillary'
One side effect that the protracted Dem primary will have is that we'll be watching still more debates in a race that's already seen more than a dozen of them.  The Hillary camp, for instance, sent ou
A source forwards me the talking points that the Hillary campaign sent out to surrogates today instructing them on how to talk to the media about Super Tuesday. One jumps out...  Daily Talking Points
So who won the delegate count last night? Where do Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama currently stand in the delegate battle?   The networks are differing on that question, largely depending on how they
This morning, Mark Halperin  floated an intriguing question: Are the Clintons financing Hillary's campaign with their own money?  Now the Clinton campaign has finally answered: Yes, they are. Hillary
One long term consequence of the protracted Dem contest is that it's now clear that Hillary and Obama will simultaneously be battling each other while likely GOP nominee John McCain starts sharpening
In what may be Obama's most direct and aggressive criticism of Bill Clinton's presidency yet, the Obama campaign dropped a new mailer just before Super Tuesday that blasts "the Clintons" for wreaking
Obama, speaking to reporters at a press conference this morning, had a novel response to Hillary's recent insinuation that the GOP would have an easier time swift-boating him in a general election:  "
The story-line the Hillary campaign needed out of last night's results is that they halted Obama's momentum, and on a conference call with reporters just now, Hillary advisers sought to make the case
In an unusual move, Hillary is inviting Barack Obama to appear with her side by side at a town hall meeting in Maine this weekend, when both are scheduled to be campaigning in the state.  In a stateme
Here are some highlights from Mitt Romney's speech today at CPAC, in which he quit the presidential race after a very bad Super Tuesday result:  â¢ "As of today, more than 4 million people have given
Hillary campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle has sent an open letter to the Obama camp, stepping up their debate challenge. The letter argues that voters should get to see more than a single one-on-one
MSNBC's David Shuster, who's been suspended by MSNBC for his "pimped out" remark about Chelsea, went on the network tonight to offer a second, even-more-contrite apology than the one he ventured this
Super Tuesday is hardly over, but the Democratic campaigns are already geared up for some big races this weekend, with a total of 182 delegates up for grabs. Barack Obama is currently favored in three
Former Sen. John Breaux (D-LA) stars in a new radio spot for Hillary Clinton in the state he represented, promoting her record on securing health care for children and National Guardsmen. "So when Hil
Here's the statement sent over to us by MSNBC spokesperson Jeremy Gaines, responding to the Hillary campaign's sharp criticism of David Shuster's on-air Chelsea "pimp" remark:  On Thursday's "Tucker"
Now that the Dems are all but certain that they'll be facing John McCain in the general, the Dem candidates are under heavy pressure to build a more convincing case that he or she is best positioned t
This is really something. The Hillary campaign has just gone to war with MSNBC, dispatching a top Hillary adviser to launch a lacerating attack on the network on a conference call with reporters momen
In another sign that John McCain still has a lot of work ahead if he is to fully repair his breach with hardcore conservatives, James Dobson officially endorsed Mike Huckabee in a statement released t
The Obama camp has a "memo" out already on tonight's victories, claiming that tonight's wins have given them the edge in delegates, which of course is the metric that really counts.  The memo argues t
This has been elsewhere today already, but here's a quick update on Shuster-gate: Today Hillary turned up the heat on MSNBC over the Chelsea "pimp" comment, sending a  letter to NBC News president Ste
There's lots to chew on in the  new Newsweek poll:  * Obama and Hillary are locked in a national statistical dead heat among national Dem voters, 42%-41%, with a sizeable 17% undecided, but she has a
CNN and MSNBC have just called Maine for Obama, giving him another sizable victory in a state that was supposed to act as a check on his momentum after yesterday's trio of landslide wins. Instead, ton
I've just obtained an internal Hillary email from campaign manager Patty Solis Doyle to Hillary's staff announcing that in a reshuffling of the campaign's inner circle, she's leaving the post of campa
An Edwards aide confirms to me that John Edwards met privately with Hillary on Thursday to discuss the possibility of making an endorsement, and will meet with Obama tomorrow, as  first reported by Ma
The New York Times has a  useful overview of the extent to which the two campaigns are wooing the undecided super-delegates who may end up deciding who wins this thing in the end.   The piece delves a
Barack Obama gave an interview to CBS News' Steve Kroft, in which he  suggested that he wanted to preserve a bit of flexibility for himself on withdrawal from Iraq:  "At a time when American casualtie
Besides the high-profile presidential primaries tonight, Maryland was also home to two highly-contested Congressional primaries, pitting moderate incumbents against intra-party challengers.  On the De
Barack Obama just gave his victory speech, and he used the occasion to sharpen his argument that his clear contrast with John McCain on the war leaves him well positioned to beat him in November:  Whe
Exactly one minute after the polls closed, CNN, MSNBC and Fox all call Virginia for Barack Obama.   Late Update: That the race would be called so quickly is obviously a signal of just how big a landsl
Barack Obama has a new Spanish-language radio ad running in Texas, making a pitch to Latino voters â in particular, reaching  out to younger Latino voters, with whom Obama has run stronger than Hisp
During his interview tonight with ABC/The Politico, Barack Obama argued that despite his lack of executive experience, you can tell what kind of leader he is from the campaign that he's run so far. Fu
On that conference call earlier, Hillary spokesman Howard Wolfson signaled what will be the Hillary camp's main argument when the spin wars over super-delegates start in earnest: Neither candidate can
Here's some interesting context to the behind-the-scenes battle that's underway between Hillary and Obama for the support of super-delegates. It turns out that the super-delegates have received campai
A new report from inside the Hillary campaign says that  tensions between top advisers Mark Penn and Mandy Grunwald are at full boil:  Maggie Williams, a confidante of Mrs. Clinton from when she was f
On Wednesday we brought you a post totaling up the popular votes cast so far for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, concluding that Obama's lead to date is so strong that it still holds even if you inc
This seems significant, as it may be the  first real dissent by a high-profile neutral party from the emerging notion that the super-dels should feel compelled to base their choice on the popular will
Jeff Zeleny, the writer of The New York Times's  disputed story today reporting that Rep. John Lewis, a Hillary supporter, will vote for Obama at the convention, just went on CNN and stood by his repo
Some big news came out last night that Congressman John Lewis (D-GA), an elder statesman and hero of the civil rights movement, was switching his super-delegate vote from Hillary Clinton over to Barac
The Democratic National Committee has given me what appears to be Howard Dean's most extensive and detailed answer to date on the role of super-delegates amid the ongoing battle between Hillary and Ob
WaPo's Dan Balz has a useful explainer as to why both the Obama and Clinton campaigns see Tuesday's Wisconsin primary as a  potentially close and unpredictable contest with demographics that tilt both
The Clinton campaign is busy pushing a new line of attack against Barack Obama: That he plagiarized a section of his speech this past weekend at the Democratic Party of Wisconsin dinner, from a speech
Tomorrow is the big primary in Wisconsin, which could either give Barack Obama another consecutive win or be the site of Hillary Clinton's surprise comeback. It's also the last primary until March 4,
In her speech tonight, Hillary pushed hard on the theme that Obama is all words and she's all action, suggesting that the Hillary campaign is having an awfully tough time figuring out how to derail Ob
CNN, NBC and Fox call it for Obama.  The numbers: With two percent reporting, Obama is ahead, 54%-45%.  More in a bit.  Late Update: In her concession speech tonight, Hillary  aggressively attacks Oba
The Associated Press  raises the curtain on tonight's contest in Wisconsin and its implications for the rest of the race:  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Wisconsin is almost the kind of state Hillary Rodham Clint
More "plagiarism" accusations: ABC News has unearthed another example of Barack Obama using practically the same language as Deval Patrick.  Deval Patrick, June 2006:  "I am not asking anybody to take
The other day, Harold Ickes, who's in charge of Hillary's hunt for delegates, caused a stir in political circles by  suggesting the following:  Ickes also acknowledged that it would be possible for Cl
Today's Washington Post has some juicy behind-the-scenes detail on the battle between Hillary and Obama for black support, reporting on a  private conference call among Hillary backers trying to cope
Hillary had to draw a sharp contrast with Obama tonight, and it just started in earnest: As might have been expected, she made an explicit and very barbed reference to that hapless State Senator who c
Hillary and Obama squared off yet again over the argument they've been having over the role that the president should play in negotiating with foreign leaders.  Hillary pointed out -- rightly -- that
The Obama campaign has some very strong words for the American Leadership Project, the 527 that was set up to run ads on Hillary Clinton's behalf. In a conference call with reporters today, campaign g
The irrepressible David Brody of CBN News  reports something interesting: An email is circulating among progressive religious leaders and their congregations urging super-delegates who are people of f
Well, that was pretty predictable. The McCain campaign is already raising money off the uproar over the Times piece, depicting it as nothing more than the work of a left wing cabal -- including the pa
I'm told by the office of Vicki Iseman, the lobbyist whose relationship with John McCain was scrutinized in today's New York Times, that she is weighing whether to make her own statement about the sto
The McCain camp has released a lengthy memo seeking to dispel any notion that John McCain acted improperly in writing to the FCC on behalf of Vicki Iseman's lobbying clients.   The memo says that McCa
This is pretty great. Today's Washington Post  piece all about the fact that John McCain is surrounded by lobbyists on his campaign has gotten lots of attention today. It's key context for understandi
Two Hillary campaign sources -- an adviser and a major donor -- have provided to me the argument that Hillary's advisers and pollsters are privately making to donors and supporters as to why it's too
A new set of SurveyUSA polls is a mixed bag for both Hillary Clinton's and Barack Obama's arguments about electability. Obama does better than Hillary against John McCain in some states â Kansas, Mi
The Obama camp continues to press the argument that he's the more electable Dem today, sending out a memo highlighting what it wants us to see as the key moment from yesterday's debate: Hillary's crit
Gov. Janet Napolitano, a key backer of Barack Obama, was asked on CNN a little while ago about the photo of Obama in Somali garb that Drudge said unnamed Hillary staffers had "circulated." From her re
On a conference call with reporters just now, Hillary spokesperson Howard Wolfson strongly denied any official campaign role in pushing the photo of Obama in a turban and Somali garb.  Drudge reported
Hillary spokesperson Mo Elleithee, traveling with the campaign, offers  some more push-back against the Obama camp's criticism over the Drudge story saying Clinton staffers "circulated" a photo of Oba
Matt Drudge is leading with a  story saying that Clinton staffers "circulated" a photo of Obama in a turban and Somali village elder garb over the weekend.  Drudge's story doesn't report who the photo
In recent days, the Hillary campaign has audibly turned up the volume of its attacks not just on Barack Obama, but on the news media, too.  The sight of Hillary advisers attacking the press is suddenl
Hillary's campaign has over a dozen press secretaries -- in Texas alone. Obama's campaign has 16 field offices in the state. And Texas has an astonishing number of media markets: Twenty in all.  The s
Uh oh -- the pre-general election skirmishing over Iraq is starting in earnest. At an event today, John McCain  mocked Obama for saying at yesterday's debate that he would act as president "if Al-Qaed
Barack Obama was questioned at Tuesday night's debate by Tim Russert and Hillary Clinton about repudiating Louis Farrakhan's endorsement -- which Obama said was unsolicited -- in the strongest terms p
More infighting in Camp Hillary? Clinton adviser Harold Ickes seems to stick the knife in Mark Penn in  an interview with The New York Observer...  âMark Penn has run this campaign,â said Ickes in
Roy Norton, the minister of public affairs for the Canadian embassy, is flatly denying that any Obama campaign official spoke to the Canadian ambassador in recent days or told him that Obama's anti-NA
A key labor surrogate for Hillary,  International Association of Machinists president Tom Buffenbarger, has now opened fire on Obama over the Canadian TV report suggesting that a senior Obama official
Hillary hit the 3 A.M. phone call theme herself at an event in Texas a little while ago, defending herself against Obama's denunciation of her new ad as fear-mongering by saying: "I don't think people
Okay, Obama has now directly responded to Hillary's ad asking who you want in the White House at 3 A.M. when the red phone rings and your kids are safely asleep.  And his reply suggests that the Obama
Yesterday, the Canadian embassy  adamantly denied a report on Canadian TV that an Obama campaign official had privately reassured a Canadian official that Obama's anti-NAFTA talk on the stump was mere
The Texas Democratic Party has taken an interesting step for the upcoming hybrid primary/caucus: Asking the campaigns not to sue. "It has been brought to my attention that one or both of your campaign
With less than 72 hours to go until the voting begins in what could be the race's final contests, Obama and Hillary are set to hit each other hard in speeches today.  Obama, according to prepared rema
Here are Hillary's talking points on that 3 A.M. White House phone call meme, emailed out to surrogates for use this weekend and forwarded to us by a source.  The talking points suggest that Camp Hill
Today's New York Times has a  big take-out on a topic we  addressed at some length here the other day: The Hillary camp's claim that the press is way tougher on her than on Barack Obama.  The mere exi
Here's a rundown on some stuff that's happening today, some 48 hours (!) before voting starts being tallied in the contests that could determine the outcome of the race....  * The Times's Frank Rich a
Hillary is already out with a statement hitting Obama over  the Associated Press story reporting that a Canadian official said in a memo that Obama economic adviser Antan Goolsbee privately suggested
Obama economic adviser Austan Goolsbee did characterize Obama's stance on NAFTA as being "more about political positioning than a clear articulation of policy plans," according to a long memo written
CNN and MSNBC call Ohio for Hillary, virtually ensuring that this contest will continue for the foreseeable future. The spread right now: 57%-41% with 53% reporting.  Hillary looks poised to grab this
The Washington Post's Peter Baker pulls back the curtain and reveals the Hillary campaign's  long shot strategy for winning despite a seemingly insurmountable pledged delegate disadvantage:  The Obama
The NAFTA-Gate controversy has taken another turn, one that could potentially boomerang back on Hillary Clinton after initially damaging Barack Obama.  The Canadian Press â Canada's domestic equival
A lot of readers have wondered why the Texas caucuses have been so slow to report to the media. The answer: They're not reporting in great numbers anymore, and they don't actually have to.  Nonetheles
Gov. Charlie Crist (R-FL) seems to be backing away from a trial balloon that he would support a new Democratic primary in Florida â and he's joined by Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) in standing
Some super-delegates, such as Donna Brazile, are suggesting that the time soon may be ripe to intervene in the Dem primary if it gets nastier, but the ultimate super-del -- Nancy Pelosi -- is warning
Obama campaign advisers are already making good on  promises to confront Hillary much more aggressively on new fronts, hammering her on a conference call over her failure to release her tax returns.
This morning we gave you the latest delegate hard count from NBC, which gave Hillary Clinton a 46-34 delegate edge on the Texas primary, with 46 delegates yet to be allocated. As it turns out, the Tex
So how many delegates did Hillary and Obama pick up last night, and what sort of gain, if any, did she make on him?  According to  MSNBC's preliminary analysis, here's how the delegates broke down in
Despite Hillary's big wins in Ohio and Texas last night, some super-delegates are already suggesting that a continued contest risks damaging the party and are  calling on Howard Dean and other party l
Obama spokesperson Bill Burton is out with this statement on tonight's results:  âTonight was the Clinton campaignâs last best chance to make a significant dent in our lead in pledged delegates an
Howard Dean told Florida Senator Bill Nelson in a private conversation today that he wouldn't agree to funding a revote in the state, despite the Senator' demand today that the DNC fund a rerun of the
Surrounded by retired military leaders at an event today, Hillary  continued with her strategy of spotlighting McCain's national security credentials as a way to argue that she's the Dem who can beat
In an extraordinary haul, the Obama campaign confirms that it raised an astonishing $55 million in February.  More than $45 million of it was raised online.  Woah.  Remember, when the Hillary campaign
This is interesting: Although the Clinton camp's official position is that they oppose a revote in Florida, a top Hillary supporter in the state just expressed support for the idea and confirmed he's
Hillary spokesperson Howard Wolfson, on a conference call with reporters just now, drew an intriguing comparison between Obama and a somewhat-forgotten figure who is still deeply hated by Dems...  "Wh
On the trail today in Wyoming, Obama responded to the  revelation that top foreign policy adviser Samantha Power had suggested that he might not rely on his campaign pledges when crafting a withdrawal
The skirmishing over Samantha Power continued on an Obama campaign conference call moments ago, with the action shifting over to  this recent interview with Power about Obama's commitment to withdrawi
Here's her statement, just sent out by the campaign:  âWith deep regret, I am resigning from my role as an advisor the Obama campaign effective today. Last Monday, I made inexcusable remarks that ar
Now Bill Clinton is saying it. Here he is,  floating the idea of a joint Hillary-Obama ticket at a town-hall meeting today in Mississippi:  "She said yesterday and she said the day after her big wins
Here's another key number buried in the  new Newsweek poll: It shows that Dems are pretty much evenly split on whether the super-delegates should back the candidate who wins the pledged delegate count
From Newsweek:  Sen. Hillary Clinton's primary victories in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island have revived her near-dead campaign and brought her into a statistical dead heat with Sen. Barack Obama among r
Obama responded at length at an event today to the possibility -- being floated by Bill and Hillary -- of a Hillary-Obama ticket.  Key line from Obama: "If Iâm not ready, how is it that you think I
There was a pretty telling moment on a Hillary campaign conference call a few moments ago: Hillary advisers were asked by reporters how it is that Hillary could raise the possibility of Obama as her v
MSNBC and Fox call Mississippi for Obama. No totals yet.  So how does this effect Obama's delegate lead? Pretty much no matter what happens, he'll equal -- based on tonight's results alone -- Hillary'
The battle over Ferraro is rapidly heating up right now, and the latest twist in the story is a surprising one: Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams is suggesting that it's the Obama camp that pla
Many of you readers have written in to flag  this Op ed piece in The New York Times by Harvard Professor Orlando Patterson about Hillary's  3 A.M. ad.  In the piece, Patterson makes an intriguing insi
The drama in New York over whether Spitzer is going to resign is getting more curious by the moment: In the latest twist, Spitzer's would-be successor, Lieutenant Governor David Paterson, says he has
A few days after the Hillary campaign successfully claimed Samantha Power's scalp, the Obama campaign is out to force the Hillary camp to dump one of its own: Geraldine Ferraro.  On a conference call
The Hillary campaign is already out with a memo hitting back at the Obama  memo from earlier today saying there's no support for her claim that she's passed the "commander in chief test."   It tries t
Signaling a sustained and more aggressive counterattack against Hillary's "commander-in-chief test" assault, the Obama campaign has a new memo out from foreign policy adviser Greg Craig that goes afte
For the first time by our reckoning, Obama himself  has chastised the Hillary campaign over the allegation made by Matt Drudge that unnamed Hillary staffers "circulated" that pic of Obama in Somali ga
In a private meeting in D.C. with her top fundraisers from all over the country today, Hillary gave a rousing pep-talk in which she flatly predicted, "we're gonna win this," according to a fundraiser
Today was day three of Obama's Commander-In-Chief tour.  For the third day in a row, Obama stood at an event with retired military brass and touted his commander-in-chief credentials â yet another s
Not sure what to make of this. Obama campaign manager David Plouffe has repeatedly said in conference calls that the Obama camp's position on revotes in Michigan and Florida is that it will abide with
One thing to keep in mind about the Obama camp's  electability arguments is that they're being amplified right now for a reason: It's the argument over who's more electable that could very well play a
The Obama camp is seizing on a comment made by Clinton adviser Harold Ickes to today's New York Times to broaden its case that Obama's far more electable in a general than Hillary is.  Ickes, speaking
One of the Hillary campaign's central claims in recent days has been that her advantage over Obama in Pennsylvania suggests she's a stronger general election candidate than Barack Obama.  Today Hillar
From the no-rest-for-the-weary-of-debates department comes this release just out from the Clinton camp...  The Clinton campaign today announced that Hillary has accepted an invitation to participate i
From the Associated Press comes  this news about a press conference today in Florida where the head of the Florida Dems expressed extreme pessimism about a solution to the revote standoff...  TALLAHAS
On the Clinton campaign conference call today, chief strategist Mark Penn discussed Pennsylvania, and made a rather strong statement about the significance of the state. He  said the following about H
A key Clinton surrogate, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, has just given voice to a Clinton campaign argument that's been bubbling below the surface but is rarely voiced quite this explicitly: The id
In a  long blog posting at The Huffington Post, Barack Obama has made his most detailed and extensive reply yet to the questions he's been hit by in recent days about his pastor, Jeremiah Wright.   In
On a call with some of his major California donors yesterday, Barack Obama acknowledged that Pennsylvania will be a steep uphill battle, and said that his aim is to get within 10 points of Hillary the
In an  interview with a Pittsburgh newspaper, Obama personally addresses the  revelations that Obama's pastor said "God damn America":   Q: I don't know if you've seen it, but it's all over the wire t
The Obama campaign's Michigan co-chair says that all the momentum right now in private negotiations between Michigan Dems is behind the option of having a redo primary in the state, suggesting that an
Top fundraisers for Hillary Clinton have begun to exert direct and personal pressure on DNC chair Howard Dean, urging him to show more leadership to bring about some sort of resolution to the Florida
The Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago has put out a press release condemning the media attacks against retired pastor Jeremiah Wright as an attack upon the whole African-American religious tr
As I noted below, Bill Kristol had to  append a correction to today's column, after the Obama campaign convinced him that his claim that Obama had attended a controversial Jeremiah Wright sermon was,
In a statement, Florida Dem party chair Karen Thurman has just made it official: Florida state officials have nixed the possibility of a revote altogether:  Last week, the Florida Democratic Party lai
The Obama campaign confirms that they received a proposal today for Michigan revote legislation -- and says they're considering it.  Here's the statement, just out from Obama spokesperson Tommy Vietor
In an  interview to be broadcast on PBS, Obama gave an answer to the Wright and Rezko questions that we haven't heard before.  The gist of it was that he hasn't distanced himself from these figures as
If the numbers in  this new Rasmussen poll are an accurate reflection of the electorate's sentiments, it would seem that Obama has not sufficiently distanced himself from his pastor, Jeremiah Wright,
Hillary Clinton gave her big speech about the Iraq War this morning, setting out to dominate the news cycle on the issue as we come upon the five-year anniversary of the original invasion.  The speech
Last week we reported here that a compromise on a redo primary in Michigan was looking more likely.  But now it looks as if the plan's in limbo -- because the Obama campaign and its Michigan co-chair
Hillary Clinton is set to deliver a major speech this morning outlining her policies for Iraq, part of a planned week-long offensive on the issue coinciding with the five-year anniversary of the invas
Top Hillary supporter and Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell privately appealed to billionaire George Soros for cash to help fund a new primary in Michigan -- a request that Soros is declining, a source
The Hillary camp cranked up the pressure on the Obama campaign over the Michigan revote today, demanding that Obama make a public and active push to make a revote happen by supporting the current prop
One of Hillary's most important supporters in Michigan, former Governor Jim Blanchard, went way off message in a conversation with me moments ago, saying that even if a revote were held in the state,
One other interesting moment from Obama's speech, which has now concluded.  Obama's speech, throughout, asks its listeners to transcend themselves -- it asks them to choose nuance over cartoonish poli
We have a full transcript of Obama's big race speech for you after the jump. He's set to deliver it in Philadelphia within moments.  Reading it, you can't escape the fact that in various ways it repre
Obama's big speech today on race, which is set to start within minutes,  grew from his sense that he'd failed to adequately explain his relationship to Jeremiah Wright:  After removing Mr. Wright from
Yesterday I reported that top Hillary supporter Ed Rendell had been rebuffed by billionaire George Soros when he asked the billionaire for help raising cash to fund a new Michigan primary.  Now, howev
Obama did an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper today which is set to air tonight, and CNN has  posted some excerpts.  This, in which he acknowledges that the Wright controversy has "shaken" him, an
There are  reports today that the Michigan revote is dead, and Obama's Michigan co-chair is  saying that the votes aren't there in the state legislature to get a revote proposal passed.  But oddly eno
With Hillary Clinton moving to get a new primary held in Michigan, the question is this: Even if she got her way, and a revote did happen, would it even make much of a difference to the overall contes
In a direct shot at Hillary's claim that she has the "experience" to take on John McCain, Obama gave a speech today on the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War amplifying his case that his ability to dra
The DNC, whose role in the fight over the Michigan revote has been largely a behind-the-scenes one, goes public this morning with its blessing for the current revote plan:  We have recently been asked
In a sign that the Obama campaign is effectively ruling out a new primary in Michigan, Obama campaign attorney Robert Bauer has put out a memo laying out all the legal and logistical difficulties that
I missed this earlier, but it must be flagged. Asked about today's big story that her advisers are telling the super-dels that the Wright controversy should make them nervous about Obama's hopes in th
One of the big stories of the day is  this one reporting that Hillary advisers say they've been using Jeremiah Wright to convince uncommitted super-delegates that Obama has an electability problem.  B
A McCain campaign aide actively pushed an incendiary, racially-charged  video that uses the controversial words of Barack Obama's pastor to tar Obama as unpatriotic -- despite the fact that McCain him
In a sign that the Obama camp is moving aggressively to switch from playing defense on race to hitting Hillary Clinton on issues, the campaign has put out a new memo/press release attacking Hillary fo
The  new CBS News poll we posted on below has some numbers buried in the internals that might give Obama supporters pause.  They show that Obama's 10-point lead over McCain among independents has disa
For the second time in two days, Obama is delivering a sweeping speech about the Iraq War -- and today he again is using the occasion to focus listeners on his presumed general election standoff with
After months and months of touting the national polls when Hillary led in them, followed by a period of relative silence about them when Obama took the lead, Hillary pollster Mark Penn is back to trum
Two Florida pols are floating an intriguing new proposal to get the state's delegation seated -- and calling on Hillary and Obama to support it.  The proposal is the work of state senators Steven Gell
I  noted below that I was going to try to establish whether the Obama campaign really was peddling the story that Camp Hillary was somehow behind the security breach surrounding Obama's passport files
The latest FEC reports appear to suggest  that the Hillary campaign may be in the red:  Despite a strong month of fund-raising in February in which she brought in $35 million, Senator Hillary Rodham C
In a sign that the Obama camp may recognize that they haven't pushed back aggressively enough against Hillary's questioning of his electability, Obama advisers went after her electability today on a c
Bill Richardson, the New Mexico governor and former presidential candidate who earlier in the race had appeared anguished about having to decide whether to support Hillary or Obama, has decided to thr
A couple quick Richardson updates.  First, here's an explanation from Clinton spokesperson Phil Singer of Mark Penn's  suggestion yesterday that Bill Richardson's endorsement of Obama was "not signifi
Hillary has now weighed in on the flap over her statements about coming under sniper fire when visiting Bosnia in 1996 -- and she's conceding that she got it wrong.   She gave an interview to the Phil
As we've seen again and again in this race, it's striking how quickly, and unabashedly, the campaigns have converted expressions of grievance about alleged slights into appeals for money -- as if ther
The main spectacle in the presidential race today was the sight of Bill Clinton re-emerging with a vengeance as a major issue in the campaign.  After a months-long lull, during which Bill had reverted
Another key moment from the Hillary campaign conference call: Hillary spokesperson Howard Wolfson acknowledged that she "misspoke" when she claimed a couple of weeks ago that as First Lady she had to
Obama is out with a statement on the death of the 4,000th American in Iraq...  "It is with great sadness that we have reached another grim milestone in Iraq, with at least 4,000 of our finest American
Hillary Clinton gave her big speech on the mortgage crisis today in Philadelphia, laying out various proposals for restructuring debts, an important issue to many blue-collar voters in this key primar
On a conference call with reporters just now, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe came as close as possible to alleging outright that the Clinton campaign has a "history" and a "pattern" of questioni
At the presser today, Hillary answers multiple questions about Wright, reiterating -- and amplifying -- her suggestion that Obama should have left Wright's church...    A couple quick things. Note how
The Wright Stuff is coming fast and furious from Hillary and her supporters.  First Hillary  criticized Obama today for not sufficiently distancing himself from the controversial pastor.  I've now lea
Okay, here we go. In an  interview today with reporters and editors of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Hillary made what I think are her first extensive critical remarks about the Jeremiah Wright contr
The  new NBC/WSJ survey has some interesting new polling of registered voters on the Wright controversy, finding that it's been a mixed bag for Obama:  On that issue specifically, 32% of folks said he
Obama spokesperson Bill Burton responds to the  letter from top Clinton fundraisers demanding that Nancy Pelosi say publicly that super-dels shouldn't feel bound to support the pledged del count leade
Yet another turn in the Michigan voting saga.  The Hillary campaign, which has seen its hopes for a state-run revote effectively dashed by opposition from Obama and local officials, has just called fo
Meet the GOP candidates for Senate in New Jersey. They're quite a colorful bunch.  One of the most frustrating Senate races for the Republicans this cycle has to be New Jersey, where the GOP has been
Twenty top Hillary fundraisers and donors have sent a scathing private letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, chastising her for publicly saying that the super-delegates should support the winner of th
An interesting moment from Bill Clinton on the trail today -- he  openly mocks all the calls for resignations of staff aides that are flying back and forth between the two campaigns:  "I don't think a
Here's the full text of John McCain's big speech on foreign policy today.  While he advocates hawkish stances on both Iraq and Iran, in many other ways the speech is an attempt by McCain to distance h
Another interesting tidbit from  Mark Halperin's interview with Hillary: Asked what her most likely path to victory is, she said...  CLINTON: Well, first I think that it's important to point out that
Yesterday I flagged a new Gallup poll showing that 28% of Hillary supporters say they'll flip to McCain if Obama is the Dem nominee, while only 19% of Obama supporters would do so if Hillary won.  Tod
After reviewing some of the comments the Clinton team made about the Pelosi letter on the conference call today, I realize I was remiss in not flagging another part of it: While Hillary advisers did s
This is a bit late, but here's the response from a Pelosi spokesperson to the letter from Clinton fundraisers demanding that she back off her position that the super-dels should support the winner if
We have the full text of Obama's big speech on the economy, after the jump.  In the speech, Obama criticizes the deregulation of the 1990s and the status quo of this decade as a poor alternative to wh
Time magazine has an  interesting look at precisely what Hillary is thinking right now, as she ponders the very difficult decision as to whether to continue the race in the face of very daunting odds:
Here it is: The Election Central Idiot's Guide To The Credentials Committee.  The other day Hillary said in  an interview that if the Florida and Michigan voting standoffs don't get resolved by the ca
The Wall Street Journal  reported today that seven North Carolina House Dems were set to endorse Obama as a group -- prompting some talk in political circles today that the long-awaited break of super
In an interview with me this morning, senior Hillary adviser Harold Ickes confirmed that Reverend Jeremiah Wright is a key topic in discussions with uncommitted super-delegates over whether Obama is e
Hillary appears to have adopted a concerted strategy of telling local media in states that will vote after Pennsylvania that Obama and his supporters are opposed to allowing those states' residents to
Here's a case study in the problems that the Republicans have been having recruiting House candidates: The man they thought would be a top get for an open Dem-held seat decided that not only is he not
Everyone's been talking today about Karl Rove's  big interview with GQ magazine, but I wanted to highlight this bit, in which Hillary's red phone ad earns praise from the master of fearmongering himse
I've just obtained a copy of a new and rather voluminous fundraising letter that the Obama campaign sent out in Maryland, attacking Hillary for dirty politics and suggesting that she embraces Presiden
As the race heads into the fourth quarter, top Hillary advisers and supporters are wrestling with a big question:   Is it really politically feasible for her to continue to try to woo super-delegates
Here's an interesting peek at some of what was going on behind the scenes in Chicago during the controversy over Jeremiah Wright, the pastor at Obama's Trinity church.  I'm told that top Obama adviser
Time magazine's Karen Tumulty interviews prominent Hillary backer and  Fox News fan Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, and  finds him in a particularly feisty mood about the press' coverage of Hillary and Ob
When Congressman Rob Andrews (D-NJ) announced two days ago that he'd be challenging incumbent Sen. Frank Lautenberg in the Democratic primary, a lot of readers from outside the state were probably rea
It's really, finally, definitely official now. The Michigan re-vote is dead, with the state Democratic Party releasing the following statement:  The Michigan Democratic Party has carefully reviewed se
In Indiana this morning, Obama gave a speech marking the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.   One interesting bit: Obama brought up his recent speech on race relations, a
The Obama campaign had some trouble when former foreign policy adviser Samantha Power suggested that Obama's campaign promises on Iraq might not fully guide his actions as president, and now it looks
Here are some nuggets that have been ferreted out of Bill and Hillary's 2000-2006 tax returns, which were released yesterday:  * Their $10 million in charitable contributions  all went to a family fou
Here's an interesting postscript to the saga of Mark Penn, who stepped down from his role as Hillary's chief strategist yesterday:  Penn had an earlier version of the infamous 3 A.M. ad that was much
The Obama campaign says it's not dispupting  this account by The Huffington Post's Off the Bus of some remarks Obama made at a California fundraiser last night, including this:  "I traveled to Pakista
The GOP is defending nine â count 'em, nine â Senate seats in this fall's elections.  The Democrats are defending all of ... one.  That's the conclusion we reached after a close look at the map of
After leaving this to surrogates for a couple days, the Obama campaign is ratcheting up the pressure on onetime Hillary chief strategist to ax Mark Penn once and for all, in the apparent hope that kee
A new Quinnipiac poll shows that Obama has cut into Hillary's lead in Pennsylvania, where she needs a decisive, if not overwhelming, win to keep her presidential hopes alive.  She leads Obama by six p
Yesterday we brought you our roundup of the Senate races, showing that the Democrats are poised to expand their majority in that chamber. Now we've taken a look at the overall picture for the House.
This is just astonishing:  Barack Obama has spent a record breaking $60 million to run more than 100,000 political television ads in pursuit of the Democratic presidential nomination, a new analysis c
As you may have heard by now, a Federal probe has  concluded that Ned Lamont's campaign did not bring down Joe Lieberman's campaign Web site with a hack attack, as the Lieberman camp charged on Electi
Hillary's big and very high-profile fundraiser tonight -- which will feature a performance by Elton John at Radio City -- will bring in $2.5 million, Hillary finance chair Hassan Nemazee confirms to m
Dick Cheney, in an  interview today, fiddles with his deck of cards and fingers the one with the big "W" on it:   âI've watched what's going on on the Democratic side with great interest, and sort o
And around and around we go: Here's  Obama's new radio ad responding to  Hillary's ad from yesterday accusing Obama's earlier ad of being misleading because it said Obama doesn't take money from oil c
This passed unnoticed, but John Edwards popped up and spoke out publicly the other day -- he penned a  letter to the editor of The New York Times, demanding that the paper and other media be more accu
Montana governor Brian Schweitzer is sometimes mentioned as a possible running-mate for Barack Obama. And thus far he's neutral in the presidential race.  But in an  interview with ABC News, he was su
Hillary has just taken a hard shot at Obama over some comments he was reported to have made about small town America, saying of Obama that "Pennsylvanians don't need a President who looks down on them
Okay, this McCain-Soros story just keeps on giving.  McCain sent out a  fundraising letter yesterday attacking a planned third-party Dem effort because it's being funded by George Soros, a reliable vi
Change to Win, the coalition of unions backing Obama, is upping the pressure on the Hillary campaign to dump Mark Penn, releasing a new statement demanding that she "sever all ties" with Penn and laun
This is a fun one: John McCain is attacking a new pro-Dem third party group because it's being partly funded by George Soros -- even though a group McCain co-chaired took one hundred and fifty thousan
Obama,  today in Indiana:  âI think it was surprising to me that a high ranking, if not the highest ranking, member of Senator Clintonâs team would be engaged in business activities and lobbying t
This morning, Obama will call for "passage of his legislation to require corporations to hold a nonbinding shareholders vote on compensation packages offered to executives," according to his campaign.
Updated below.  Hillary chief strategist Geoffrey Garin dramatically raised the stakes in the battle over Barack Obama's  comments about small-town America, saying in an interview that they would be "
The skirmishing around Obama's  remarks about small town America intensified this morning, with Hillary hammering them as "elitist and out of touch" -- language strikingly similar to that used by McCa
Hillary chief strategist Geoffrey Garin told us in  an interview over the weekend that Obama's "small town" comments were fair game for use in a political ad, and Hillary has now gone up with a new sp
The Obama campaign continues its push-back on criticism of his "small town" remarks with this new robocall from a key surrogate, Mayor John Brenner of York, PA.  The call, which was pumped into PA hom
Rep. Geoff Davis (R-KY) has publicly apologized to Barack Obama after it was reported that he referred to Obama as "that boy" at a GOP fundraiser.  "My poor choice of words is regrettable and was in n
An intriguing pattern has emerged in two special elections for the House in Louisiana and Mississippi: Both of the candidates backed by the National Republican Congressional Committee have had a bit o
Obama picks up the support of Steelers owner Dan Rooney, the campaign announces.  Rooney releases an open letter detailing his reasons, and the letter is mostly boilerplate, but in it, he does assert
Camp Obama's push-back on Hillary's criticism of his "small town" remarks continues this morning -- in a speech before the Alliance for American Manufacturing in Pittsburgh, he again acknowledges erro
The woman who broke the Obama "small town" story for The Huffington Post may have come under relentless fire from some Obama supporters after the news broke, but she has one word to describe the respo
From a novel Obama campaign fundraising email that seeks to raise money off the dust-up over the "small town" comments...  A few days ago, Barack spoke about the frustrations that working people in th
The Pennsylvania polls are coming fast and furious today -- and while most show a slight uptick in support for Hillary, they all appear to indicate that Obama's "small town" comments are not yet causi
A few last-minute odds and ends on the debate...  * There were questions about Wright, "small town," and Obama's flag-pin (or lack thereof), and none about Mark Penn or Colombia. The Clinton camp, whi
It appears that ABC is working hard to prove that it's capable of fielding debate moderators who bow to no one in their capacity for inanity, not even Tim Russert. After asking questions about Wright
Asked about Obama's pastor, Jeremiah Wright, Hillary slips a reference to the fact that the 9/11 attackers hit "my city" into her critique....  Obviously, one's choice of church and pastor is rooted i
We'll be blogging tonight's debate, which starts at 8 P.M on ABC, right here at TPM Election Central.  Meanwhile, here's some good happy hour reading to kill the time until the debate gets underway...
I'm a bit late posting this, but I wanted to flag it -- there's an interesting number buried in the  new Washington Post poll:  18. (ASKED OF LEANED DEMOCRATS) The Democratic nomination may be decided
Gallup is just out with  the most fine-grained polling analysis I've seen yet on whether Obama's "small town" comments have hurt him, and it finds that the answer for now is No.  Gallup looked at the
Here's a glimpse into Hillary's ad strategy in the final stretch of the Pennsylvania primary:  In most of Pennsylvania's markets, the only TV ad Hillary is running right now is a negative one -- the
At some point amid the hailstorm of criticism that greeted ABC's handling of yesterday's Dem debate, moderator George Stephanopoulos received an email -- one of the many, many missives about the debat
On an Obama campaign conference call moments ago, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe offered a novel push-back against Hillary's claims that she's better prepared for a general election.  Plouffe ar
David Corn of Mother Jones and Hillary spokesperson Howard Wolfson went at it hard on the Hillary conference call today -- with Corn repeatedly demanding to know what Hillary thinks of the fact that h
On a Clinton campaign conference call this morning, Hillary's advisers were asked directly what their basis is for  denying outright that she said "screw 'em" about white working class southerners in
Well, this should get anti-war voters angry with Hillary Clinton -- and be a real political headache for the home stretch in Pennsylvania.  The Huffington Post has gotten their hands on a secret tape
Hillary gets a super-del -- Ohio Rep. Betty Sutton, her campaign announces.  "On March 4th, the majority of Democratic voters in the 13th Congressional District and Ohio chose to support Senator Hilla
Two of Hillary Clinton's most prominent fundraisers tore into Howard Dean in interviews with me today, sharply criticizing the DNC chair for  saying yesterday that super-delegates should say which Dem
Former Senators Sam Nunn and David Boren, in a joint statement, throw their support to Obama -- giving him two high-profile southerners that are both key foreign policy voices in the Democratic Party.
I've just obtained audio of a harsh new robocall the Hillary campaign is pumping into Pennsylvania -- it directly accuses Obama twice of lying about his position on the Second Amendment, and says expl
Is the  new ad just released by Hillary -- which flashes imagery of Bin Laden and says that if you can't stand the heat, you should get out of the kitchen -- a positive or negative ad?  According to H
Bloomberg News takes a look at what Hillary needs to do to earn a popular vote win, and finds that she basically needs to do the political equivalent of  pitching a no-hitter, hitting for the cycle, a
John McCain is kicking off a new campaign tour to focus on poverty in America, a sign that his campaign might be feeling the heat of the latest Democratic attacks against him as being out of touch on
Obama just kicked off his Pennsylvania concession speech, and when he mentioned Hillary, there were boos from the audience. But Obama pushed back, and said:  "No, no. She ran a terrific race."  Late U
MSNBC, Fox, ABC and CBS call it for Hillary.  With three percent reporting, it's 53%-47%.  Late Update: Clinton spokesperson Mo Elleithee  gives us the instant spin from the Hillary camp about the imp
You're supposed to use that teeth-grindingly awful cliche on days like today, so I thought I'd give you a whole post with that name.   So here, in no particular order, is today's reading list on expec
Bill Clinton, in a  new interview, appears to deny that he said yesterday that the Obama camp was playing the race card on him:  NBC/NJ: "Sir, what did you mean yesterday when you said that the Obama
This is an interesting little battle that says a great deal about just how complex the causes really are of job loss in aging industrial states like Pennsylvania -- a phenomenon that's really driving
In a major upset that shows just how strong opposition to the Iraq War is in even very red states, the Democratic candidate came out on top in the first round of the special election to succeed Sen. R
Here's something to keep an eye out for. In the wake of Hillary's Pennsylvania victory yesterday, one meme many in the political press will be eager to sound is that Obama will now be forced to go muc
John McCain promised at a town-hall meeting today that he would bring "every pressure to bear" to stop the North Carolina GOP from running that ad hitting Obama over his controversial pastor, an issue
Jeremiah Wright had some tough words for his media detractors in an interview with Bill Moyers -- his first since YouTubes of his sermons put him in the national spotlight -- and some backhanded remar
A bunch of you have written in to express skepticism about the Hillary campaign's claim that they raised $10 million in the 24 hours following her Pennsylvania victory.  But the Hillary camp is now sa
Howard Dean -- trying to soften up McCain even as the Dem candidates continue bludgeoning each other -- is jumping into the battle over the North Carolina GOP's anti-Obama ad, demanding that McCain sh
There's a pretty interesting debate about Obama's supposed likeness to past Dem nominees simmering on various sites around the web, so I'd be remiss if I didn't set up a thread for it here.  * It all
The McCain camp has just blasted out a statement saying that Obama's alleged "endorsement" by Hamas will "definitely be an issue in the election," an indication that McCain intends to honor his promis
Updated below.  As I've noted here before, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann has a bizarre tendency to listen to the substance of criticism against him. Even more strange, considering that he's a top-shelf medi
In the meeting with the Indy Star edit board that's  going on right now, Obama pushed back against the National Journal's recent rating of him as the number one liberal in the Senate, a ranking that w
Here is Hillary's long-shot best-case-scenario game plan, as best as I can understand it:  1) Make North Carolina unexpectedly close, showing that she can compete on his turf and using this to try to
A senior Obama adviser vows that he will "take Fox on" when he appears on the network this Sunday, though it's unclear yet just how.  Obama's decision to go on Fox News has  prompted a lot of discussi
Hillary Clinton is upping the pressure on Barack Obama to hold new debates before the next round of primaries, challenging him to what she referred to as Lincoln-Douglas style debates, sans moderators
John McCain is reversing his previous view that he wouldn't make an issue of the Jeremiah Wright controversy -- and claiming the blessing of Barack Obama himself in calling it a real political issue.
The Fox News Sunday interview is over. And Obama didn't take on Fox at all in any meaningful sense.  On Friday, a senior Obama adviser responded to criticism of his decision to go on Fox with a  bunch
The American Leadership Project -- the 527 that was put together by Hillary-supporting unions and major donors -- is spending $700,000 on a new ad in Indiana targeting Obama on the economy, the ALP's
Adam Green, a spokesperson for MoveOn, a major Obama supporter, has just hit the Illinois Senator hard for his Fox appearance in a  piece for The Huffington Post:  It was a mistake for Obama to go on
In the wake of Jeremiah Wright's  sudden reappearance in the presidential race today, Hillary chief strategist Geoff Garin was just asked on MSNBC whether Obama should do more to distance himself from
With the Hillary campaign portraying Obama almost daily as culturally out of touch with blue collar folks, a  debate is unfolding inside Camp Obama as to how he can improve his efforts with those vote
Howard Dean, on ABC this morning, makes it absolutely clear that he and all the other "party elders" want the race to end well in advance of the convention:  "The rules say [superdelegates] can make u
So why did Hillary  agree to go on The O'Reilly Factor and will she be taking on O'Reilly in some way, as Obama was criticized for not doing during his interview with Fox's Chris Wallace?  I just pose
At a press conference today, Barack Obama took some of his most aggressive steps yet to distance himself from his controversial pastor, claiming that the pastor who appeared at yesterday's Q-and-A wit
This is an interesting little scuffle.  On the campaign trail today, Hillary repeated a tale she often tells on the stump: It concerns an American company in Indiana that laid off all its workers afte
Barack Obama is suffering a serious erosion in his support among white working class Dem primary voters, the new Pew Research poll finds.  A month ago, Hillary held a 50%-40% advantage among white Dem
The Hillary campaign has hit back at former DNC chair Joe Andrew's surprise switch to Obama yesterday, releasing a letter from eight former DNC chairs that makes the "electability" case for Hillary.
The battle between the two Dems over the "gas tax holiday" heated up on the trail today over Hillary's assertion that she was going to propose gas-tax-holiday legislation to see if members of Congress
Hillary, breaking with the time-honored (and unbearably hackneyed) tradition of depressing expectations in advance of elections,  says on the trail today that she extremely bullish on her chances this
I've just obtained a new mailer that the Hillary campaign has dropped in Indiana that attacks Obama for inconsistency on the Second Amendment -- and also reminds voters of the comments Obama made abou
On Meet the Press, Obama was asked to respond to Hillary's recent tough talk towards Iran -- her claim that if Iran considered attacking Israel, "we would be able to totally obliterate them."  "It's n
John and Elizabeth Edwards have finally made their endorsement plans -- or lack of them -- official.  On the eve of potentially decisive voting in Indiana and North Carolina, with political tensions a
A last-minute intra-labor war...  Change to Win, the powerful labor coalition backing Barack Obama, has just put out a scathing statement attacking AFSCME in response to our  story below reporting tha
So what will happen tomorrow in the Indiana and North Carolina primaries?  If you look at the totality of all the polls thus far, they suggest that in terms of both the pledged del count and popular v
This is interesting. Here's a leaflet that I've just obtained that is being distributed in Indiana by AFSCME on behalf of Hillary.  The leaflet, which touts her "leadership" and "experience," doesn't
Hillary goes up in Indiana and North Carolina with yet another negative spot hitting Obama for not supporting the gas tax holiday...    "Barack Obama wants you to keep paying; $8 billion in all," the
The Obama campaign has just sent me a newspaper clipping it says shows that Obama publicly favored lifting Federal oversight over the Teamsters union back in 2004.  The Obama camp argues that this sho
With less than 48 hours to go before the polls close in North Carolina and Indiana, the Hillary campaign has opened up a new front against Obama -- this one concerning a private assertion that the Ill
Presuming the Dem race continues, Hillary is expected to rack up big wins in Kentucky and West Virginia. No one expects that this won't happen.  But does the certainty of her wins in those states -- e
Tonight's big win in North Carolina has Obama advisers increasingly confident that they have a shot at effectively putting away the race by May 20th, an Obama campaign aide confirms.  The idea is that
Obama's victory speech in North Carolina, which just concluded, opened with a couple of little jabs at Hillary's prediction that North Carolina would be a "game changer" and at her claim to having won
Al Gore did  an interview with NPR in which he said some interesting things about the state of the presidential race -- for instance:  "Even though it has gone on much longer than is normal in the age
Looks like Hillary top adviser Terry McAuliffe is really upping the ante when it comes to Hillary's ability to throw back shots with the best of 'em.  Hillary, of course, famously downed a shot of whi
Forget the presidential race -- there's a big down-ticket primary going on tonight in North Carolina that could serve as a test case for Republican members of Congress who dare to come out against the
With the action in the presidential race shifting over to the super-delegates in Congress that the campaigns are fighting over, sentiment appears to be mixed on Capitol Hill as to whether Hillary shou
Hillary, at a press conference moments ago:  "Well, I'm saying in this race until there's a nominee. And I obviously am going to work as hard as I can to become that nominee."  This means either...  (
As I  reported here last night, yesterday's results have left Obama aides increasingly confident that a potentially game-ending milestone is within their reach:  On May 20th, the day of the Kentucky a
On the Hillary conference call, Hillary chief strategist Geoff Garin made the case for her electability in some of the most explicitly race-based terms I've heard yet.  Garin argued that the North Car
I just got off the phone with Rep. Melissa Bean, who is one of Obama's chief super-delegate whip-counters. She said two things of interest:   First, she predicted that it was "entirely possible" that
Senator Dianne Feinstein caused a big stir yesterday by  suggesting that the drawn-out Dem primary was producing "negative dividends" and indicating that she would ask Hillary what her real game plan
On one of the morning shows today, top Hillary adviser Terry McAuliffe  said that the Dem primary will not -- repeat, not -- be going to the convention:  "It'll be over early June," McAuliffe said. "W
Looks like another extremely high profile Hillary backer may have  threatened Nancy Pelosi in an effort to help his gal:  In a heated phone call with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi late last month, Hillar
This aired last night, but it's worth a quick look as a sign of what's to come.  Here is top Hillary adviser Terry McAuliffe, talking up the idea of a joint ticket in rather glowing terms in an interv
Talk about pivoting to a general election footing.  Barack Obama just gave a speech on the economy today in Oregon, and the prepared remarks just landed in my inbox.  Number of paragraphs drawing a co
Stepping up its efforts to push her case with super-dels and party leaders, the Hillary campaign is emailing out a Power-Point presentation to all Dems in the House touting her electability and her ab
Hillary held a private rally-the-troops conference call with her super-delegate supporters this afternoon, urging them to believe that "this race is not over," vowing to them she'd promote Dem unity a
Okay, it's not quite happy hour yet, but that's something we're willing to be very flexible about here at TPM Election Central. So here's some must-reading...  * Ben Smith has an  excellent take-down
AFSCME is going to put "real money" behind independent expenditures for ads on Hillary's behalf in remaining Democratic primary states, a union official just confirmed to me.  On Friday I noted that o
Barack Obama is giving a speech right now on veterans' issues in West Virginia in which he hits John McCain for failing to back Jim Webb's 21st Century version of the GI bill -- a measure that would c
Is there anything at all Joe Lieberman could do in the presidential race to get Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to take punitive action against him?  Or will Lieberman, who supports McCain, be free
Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), chairman of the NRCC, did something very interesting in his statement on tonight's result in Mississippi: He didn't even try to spin the loss of a seemingly safe GOP seat in a sp
We have witnessed tonight a momentous election with far-reaching implications for the country -- in Mississippi, where the Associated Press is projecting that Democrat Travis Childers has won the spec
The NRCC is complaining that a DCCC mailer, distributed at the last minute in today's Mississippi special election, makes a false accusation when it says GOP candidate Greg Davis offered to have his t
Aside from today's West Virginia primary, there is another election going on that is being watched intensely by strategists from both parties: The special election for the House from Mississippi's Fir
We've obtained a copy of the campaign e-mail sent out to a reported 60,000 people by House candidate Kevin Mannix (R-OR), in which he re-distributes a 2006 e-mail accusing his primary opponent Mike Er
With Hillary Clinton simultaneously expected to win big today in West Virginia but lose overall for the nomination, the campaign has sent out a memo insisting that Barack Obama shouldn't be allowed to
It doesn't get much nastier than this among Republicans. In a tightly fought GOP primary for a swing House seat in Oregon, one candidate is now openly accusing the other of paying for a younger woman'
Obama spokesperson Tommy Vietor confirms that Edwards will indeed endorse Obama today.   Edwards couldn't have picked a safer time to endorse -- he did it after it became obvious that the nomination w
With the House Democrats already up three seats from special elections, a lot of eyes are now looking to another potential pickup in either a special election or this Fall: New York's 13th District, h
Okay, we've been digging into this question of whether Hillary really outperforms Obama against McCain among blue-collar whites -- an argument that's a pillar of her claim that she's more electable th
Check out this little nugget buried in  today's Washington Post piece on the efforts by the Obama and McCain campaigns to steer donors away from third-party groups:  "We will attack Obama viciously on
Barack Obama is sticking by his defense of same-sex unions, despite the likelihood that it will flare up as a general election issue because of today's California Supreme Court decision legalizing it.
On a conference call with conservative bloggers this afternoon, John McCain launched what may be his most direct attack yet on Barack Obama's national security credentials, saying flat out that Obama
A few weeks ago, Media Matters' David Brock  announced to great fanfare that he was taking over Progressive Media USA, a third-party group that would, he vowed, raise $40 million for ads to soften up
WaPo's Garance Franke-Ruta has a nice get: It appears that  the ferment continues in the pro-choice movement over NARAL's surprise endorsement of Obama yesterday...  NARAL Pro-Choice America affiliate
Offering yet another reminder of why his approval rating hovers in the 20s, President Bush yet again hauled out a political tactic that has been failing for the GOP for literally years now,  likening
In a sign that John McCain recognizes the political pitfalls of his plan to stay in Iraq for practically forever, his speech this morning laying out his vision for his first term contains an interesti
It needs to be restated that John McCain has settled on his message and is sticking with it. It's the essentially same message we've heard from the GOP for the last three elections now: If you elect m
When John McCain answered a question about diplomacy with the Hamas government in the Palestinian territories by saying that sooner or later we'll have to "deal with" the group, what did McCain mean?
Before dropping out of the presidential race, John Edwards secured a private commitment from Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton that they'd undertake a poverty tour during the general election as the De
Here at Election Central, we've been following the thrilling GOP primary for the Dem-held swing House seat in Oregon -- partly because it's a truly brutal affair, and partly because the worse it gets,
Here's the response from McCain spokesperson Tucker Bounds to Obama's speech hitting McCain and Bush on foreign policy today:  "It was remarkable to see Barack Obama's hysterical diatribe in response
In remarks in South Dakota just now, Barack Obama hit back hard at George Bush's and John McCain's foreign policy attacks yesterday, stating flatly that a debate with the two Republicans over foreign
The McCain campaign is hitting back at a widely-circulated Washington Post  Op ed published today by foreign policy expert Jamie Rubin.  Rubin claims that McCain said in a 2006 interview with Rubin th
Under the shadow of tomorrow's presidential primary, there's another very big race with national implications taking place in Oregon: The Dem Senate primary, where two candidates are locked in a bruta
Barack Obama, in Montana, responded moments ago to McCain's  ridicule of the Illinois Senator for saying that Iran is a minuscule threat compared to the former Soviet Union.   McCain said this reveale
At a speech this morning in Chicago, McCain hit Obama again on Iran -- this time ridiculing the Illinois Senator for his completely uncontroversial  remark yesterday that the Iran threat is minuscule
Al Gore is set to do a major fundraising event uniting top Hillary and Obama donors on behalf of the Democratic National Committee on May 31st, a sign that the Dem fundraising establishment is beginni
Obama's speech in Iowa is now underway, and as expected, he declares that he's clinched a majority of pledged delegates, framing it as a major milestone reached after a very long journey that began in
This is a fun one: It appears John McCain has just given an interview in which he inadvertently revealed a key flaw in his attack on Barack Obama over Iran.  McCain has been hammering Obama for suppos
Okay, we've got some more for you on that wonderful attack ad we posted on earlier that Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO) is running -- it connects his Dem challenger to Nancy Pelosi, San Francisco values, and (
CNN sends over an advance transcript of an interview Obama just got through taping with Wolf Blitzer.  In it, Obama repeatedly hits back at McCain's foreign policy attacks, and broadens his case that
Senator Jim Webb -- whose new book has stirred talk that he's raising his profile in an effort to bring about an Obama-Webb ticket -- continued his veep tour last night, hobnobbing with a bunch of hig
Rep. Tom Cole's authority as head of the House GOP's campaign committee is being curtailed in the wake of three defeats in red House districts, defeats which threatened his job security as NRCC chair.
Hillary advisers have publicly said that they expect a Dem nominee to be chosen by early June, but it looks like  Hillary is envisioning a scenario under which this contest could go all the way to the
National Dems are breathing a sigh of relief today, because the results of a GOP primary in Oregon yesterday suggest that Dems are now more likely to hang on to a key seat in an open Dem-held swing di
Yesterday we  had a bit of fun with John McCain's claim that Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the leader of Iran.  McCain has been whacking Barack Obama for his willingness to meet with Ahmadi
Okay, here's some more detail on Hillary's fundraising numbers for April. The $22 million they  announced raising for last month doesn't tell the story.  The bottom line: The Hillary campaign is in th
Earlier today, John McCain responded to Obama's criticism of him for not supporting Jim Webb's 21st Century G.I. bill by  saying: I served in the military; you didn't.  Here's Obama's response:  "I am
The controversy surrounding John Hagee's endorsement has finally gotten to John McCain. In the wake of new quotes being circulated by the Huffington Post in which Hagee called Hitler an instrument of
This is noteworthy: John McCain is now officially making a campaign issue of Obama's lack of military service.  On the Senate floor today, Obama hit McCain for  not supporting Webb's 21st Century G.I.
The Republican National Committee is hiring one of the party's toughest oppo-researchers -- former Karl Rove protege Tim Griffin, who was also at the center of the U.S. Attorney scandal -- to dig into
The fundraising figures for April show that the Democratic party committees continue to dominate in total cash-on-hand, despite a surge of support for the Republicans as they settled on John McCain as
During a meeting with the editorial board of the Argus Leader, Hillary appeared to accuse the Obama campaign of being behind the story CNN  aired today reporting that there are "talks" between the two
In a move that could foreshadow a public push from the Hillary forces to get Barack Obama to invite her on the ticket, Hillary's top campaign fundraising official said in an interview that there's a "
Via The Page, Hillary has written an exclusive Op-ed piece for Sunday's New York Daily News in which she discusses her comments about RFK's assassination and  hits unnamed critics for taking her remar
In a piece for The Politico, prominent Hillary supporter Lanny Davis  lays out what he calls compromise proposals for Michigan, and urges the Rules and Bylaws Committee to act accordingly:  The Rules
It's become accepted wisdom in this campaign that Obama's problem with working class voters is largely confined to Appalachia. But in the current issue of Newsweek, writer Evan Thomas  claims that eve
The skirmishing around Hillary's RFK assassination remarks went into a second frenzied round on the Sunday shows yesterday, with a top Obama adviser coming under questioning as to whether the Obama ca
The Obama campaign is hitting back at McCain's  speech today attacking Republicans and Democrats for failing on nuke proliferation.  Camp Obama's response is kind of fun: They're basically thanking Mc
In yet another sign of the disastrous recruiting difficulties that continue to plague the GOP, a top New York Republican has just acknowledged in an interview that most of the party's choices to repla
Not long ago we  brought you word of a new mailer that Hillary-backer AFSCME had dropped in Indiana.   The piece didn't have the acronym "AFSCME" anywhere on it and didn't identify the source of the m
This is kind of fun. In a big speech John McCain just delivered on nuclear proliferation, there was an amusing little nugget that seemed like a pretty obvious effort to dispel worries about his age:
Hillary's up with two new ads in South Dakota -- positive spots, suggesting she continues to be more or less committed to an ad strategy that will end this on a gentle note.  There's this spot on the
I want to heartily recommend Hendrik Hertzberg's  discussion of Hillary's popular vote endgame in the current New Yorker. Hertzberg brings to his analysis a level of nuance and fairness that's been mi
The Obama campaign is hitting back at McCain's  attack today over Obama's refusal to accompany McCain on his next "Baghdad Stroll."  And the Obama camp has some choice ammo at its disposal: Former Whi
On the Hillary conference call, there was a bit of a curious moment: Harold Ickes, who's Hillary's chief delegate hunter, seemed to suggest -- perhaps wishfully -- that she would wind up the primaries
One thing that had all but vanished from the campaign with Obama close to winning were the daily conference calls that Hillary and Obama advisers had been convening to push the day's spin.  But today,
Signaling a renewed push to super-dels in advance of Saturday's meeting on Florida and Michigan, Hillary has sent a letter and memo today directly to the super-dels that once again presses her electab
Many people -- myself included -- have argued that Hillary's performance in states she won against Obama doesn't necessarily tell us anything about who would be better in those same states against McC
In what could potentially be a blow to Hillary's electoral hopes, such as they are right now, the Democratic National Committee's lawyers have declared that the Rules and Bylaws committee  lacks the l
In a quick phone interview with me just now, prominent Hillary supporter James Carville diverged from the Hillary campaign message on several key "electability" questions, saying that he thinks Obama
MSNBC reports on a  possible new compromise for Florida and Michigan:  This plan would halve the votes for all of the Florida delegates, netting Clinton 19 and, more importantly, counting that popular
So what's Obama's route to the White House in a general election? How can he make the electoral map work for him? How dramatically does he have to remake that map to gain the Oval Office?  Here's a fi
The Obama camp releases a letter from his doctor detailing the health of the would-be next president...  His family history is pertinent for his mother's death from ovarian cancer and grandfather who
Here's a bit more on what the actual impact could be of the DNC's  legal memo yesterday saying that the Rules and Bylaws Committee only has the authority to seat half the delegations.  It appears that
Here's one other nugget I meant to bring you from yesterday's Obama campaign conference call: Obama top adviser David Plouffe said flatly that reports saying Obama has a massive number of super-delega
You couldn't ask for a clearer declaration from the Obama campaign that the general election is underway -- and the primary is behind us -- than this.  The Obama campaign has just sent out a fundraisi
The Obama campaign is in good spirits as Friday's happy hour rolls around, chiefly because they clearly won today's political skirmishes with John McCain. They got McCain to  admit he was wrong to use
As the DNC prepares to decide the fates of the Florida and Michigan delegations tomorrow, a key question has to be asked: Did those rogue primaries truly reflect the will of their states' Democratic v
The Obama and McCain campaigns are battling it out today over whether a McCain comment about Iraq troop levels was a gaffe that betrayed his lack of knowledge of the facts on the ground -- and the ear
The Hillary campaign has taken a great deal of heat for their demand that Hillary be awarded all her delegates in Michigan and that none of the so-called "uncommitted" delegates go to Obama.  On a con
With Barack Obama and John McCain battling again today over foreign policy, the question is worth asking: Which candidate is actually winning the argument over Iraq right now?  The  new Pew poll we po
As noted below, the McCain campaign is already using a member of the military -- General Petraeus, to be precise -- as a prop in an attack on Obama, sending out  a campaign email bearing Petraeus' ima
Looks like the skirmish between Obama and McCain over Iraq is going to continue today -- and this time, General Petraeus is getting dragged into the fray.  The Obama campaign is holding a conference c
The editorial board of the Argus Leader of South Dakota -- to whom Hillary made her  remarks about Robert F. Kennedy's assassination -- gives her a  glowing endorsement today:  Her mastery of complex
In a huge blow to Hillary's hopes, such as they are, the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee has now voted in favor of a compromise measure for Michigan, giving 69 pledged delegates to Hillary Clinton and
And now for some real political drama.  On the trail today in South Dakota, Barack Obama will keep up the pressure on John McCain for  wrongly saying that the troop numbers in Iraq are now at "pre-sur
Howard Dean delivered some strong words in his opening remarks at Rules and Bylaws, telling an anecdote about his bitter, hard-fought loss in 2004.  "I was very very angry at my party for some of the
Hillary spokesperson Mo Elleithee, on the campaign plane today, says  she isn't going anywhere, thank you very much:  "I think its pretty clear that she is not conceding." Elleithee said, "I think its
Hillary's top campaign fundraising chair, Hassan Nemazee, confirms that her top donors and fundraisers have been invited to join Hillary at her Tuesday evening party celebrating the last primary -- bu
Obama's missed vote on the Kyl Lieberman Iran amendment -- which declared the Revolutionary Guard a terrorist group -- emerged as a major issue in the primary, allowing Obama to contrast himself with
A new media study sheds some light on one aspect of how Barack Obama was able to win the race, presuming he does: He dramatically outspent Hillary Clinton on TV ads.  The study by the University of Wi
Here's the key line, from the prepared remarks of Barack Obama's planned speech tonight in St. Paul, Minnesota, at the site of the planned 2008 Republican convention:  Tonight, after fifty-four hard-f
There's  some dispute about what exactly Hillary said on a conference call with New York Congressional supporters today -- over whether she said she's open to being Obama's Veep or not, and over who b
In addition to the presidential race, there are two high-profile Senate primaries on the ballot today.  Democrats are favored to win both races this Fall, so there's not too much at stake here for Nov
Camp Hillary is pushing back against  reports that Hillary told New York legislators on a conference call that she'd be "open" to being Obama's vice president.  Here's the statement from her campaign:
Obama's haul of super-delegates is turning out out to be very heavy today -- and that's before any actual votes are counted from tonight's primaries, increasing the likelihood that he will clinch the
The Associated Press  weighs in with another big one (and with a bit of luck on the news orgs' part, this one will turn out to be accurate)...  Barack Obama effectively clinched the Democratic preside
Ben Smith of The Politico has written  an astute piece on why Hillary keeps going, and going, and going, against insurmountable odds.  As Smith writes, "winning, for Clinton, has been surviving." Smit
As I  noted below, a bunch of uncommitted Senators met yesterday to discuss how or whether to go public with an endorsement, but Obama advisers don't expect a group of them to endorse today.  Now ther
One of the more interesting subplots of Campaign 2008 has been the Hillary camp's efforts -- in some ways successful -- to repair relations with the Netroots, who were from the outset highly skeptical
A senior Hillaryland source confirms to us that reports Hillary will drop out of the race on Friday and endorse Obama are accurate.   NYT:  Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is moving to suspend her camp
Black Entertainment Television founder Robert Johnson, a prominent Hillary supporter, just told me in an interview that he has "no doubt" that Hillary privately assured him that she would definitely t
Democrats got some good news in a major House race last night, with Republican nominating the candidate who is probably their weaker option for this open deep-red district.  In the Fourth District, wh
During his press conference today in Baton Rouge, John McCain declared in strong terms that he's voted for every investigation of Hurricane Katrina.  The only problem, as the DNC has been pointing out
There's so much stuff coming out right now on Hillary-as-Veep that we thought we'd bring you a quick roundup of the latest:  * Top Hillary supporter Ed Rendell had some surprisingly tough words about
The statements from Dem party leaders declaring the Dem primary over and crowning Obama the nominee are starting to come fast and furious now.  This morning we already got such statements from DCCC ch
So with every last primary and caucus now over and done with, here are the final stats for the delegates and popular votes:  â¢ Barack Obama has passed the 2,118-vote finish line and now has 2,158 vo
A bunch of people have reported this morning that Robert Johnson, the founder of BET and a key Hillary supporter, has launched a public campaign to get Obama to offer her the Veep slot.  But it's in
From the be-careful-what-you-wish for department...  John McCain sends a letter -- just released by his campaign -- to Barack Obama proposing that he agree to join him in a series of weekly free-form
Chris Van Hollen, the chair of the DCCC, breaks his neutrality and endorses Barack Obama, explicitly naming him as the party's nominee.  From a statement his office sent over...  "Our nominee Barack O
So now that Obama has clinched the nomination and Hillary still hasn't conceded, what will party leaders do to end this thing?  From a statement just out from Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean, an
More Dem elected officials continue to coalesce behind Obama: A bloc of four Members of Congress from Florida who previously backed Hillary -- including one of Hillary's most loyal supporters -- is co
This is really something. We already knew that House Dems are expected to rack up major victories this fall, but this latest development is really eye-opening.  The Cook Political Report, whose rating
Inquiring minds want to know if there is anything at all that Joe Lieberman could say about the Democratic presidential nominee that would get Harry Reid to tap the Connecticut Senator on the shoulder
Rep. Rob Andrews (D-NJ) seemingly gave up a safe House seat to make his failed primary challenge against Sen. Frank Lautenberg.  Or did he actually give it up, and do the inner workings of New Jersey
Jim Webb takes a crack at proving that he can be an effective high-profile surrogate for Obama in an  interview with The Huffington Post.  The key takeway from the interview is that Webb is clearly tr
At around 1:30 A.M. today Hillary sent out an email to her supporters offering her first public comments on her decision to drop out and vowing that she intends "to deliver" on her promise to strongly
Is it possible that the bogus Michelle Obama rumor you've all heard by now is actually based on a work of fiction?  The rumor in question is one that's been circulating in recent weeks to the effect t
Has the Obama campaign flip-flopped on the "surge"? Did Obama wrongly predict last year that the "surge" would fail, only to see his advisers argue today that people always knew it would be a success?
In the latest bit of trouble in Al Franken's quest to pick up a blue-state Senate seat for the Democrats, Franken has apologized for offending anybody with his 2000 comedy essay in Playboy.  The essay
Adam Parkhomenko, the head of the Obama-Hillary-ticket-supporting group  VoteBoth, tells me that on Monday, he'll announce via press release that his group has collected over 25,000 signatures in supp
The McCain campaign is touting an email that Joe Lieberman sent out to McCain's list announcing a new effort that Lieberman is chairing called "Citizens for McCain," whose chief  mission is to reach o
Obama watched the speech on the Internet and put in a call to her after it concluded, we're told. He was informed by her assistant that she was, understandably, speaking with supporters at the time.
Aside from her passionate insistence that her supporters get behind Barack Obama, I think this might be the most important line in her speech:  "Our lives, our freedom, our happiness, are best enjoyed
Her speech in Washington, where she will concede defeat and endorse Obama, starts in moments. Watch it streamed live  here.  What today's speech really represents is the kick-off of the grueling battl
As may know, Congressman Rob Andrews (D-NJ), who just lost a long-shot primary bid for the Senate against incumbent Frank Lautenberg, has made a serious accusation against the Hillary Clinton campaign
In the latest salvo in the battle for the reformer mantle in the general election, John McCain personally took a shot at Obama over  reports today that one of the members of his Veep selection committ
The Huffington Post gets a bit of  detail on the behind-the-scenes negotiations that are taking shape between the Hillary and Obama camps -- who's doing the talking for the Hillary team, and what they
Barack Obama just wrapped up his speech in Raleigh kicking off his "change that works for you economy tour," and with the economy at the top of the list of voter concerns, the stakes couldn't be highe
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe is set to give a private presentation on the general election to a group of top Hillary fundraisers, in a session that is being described as an effort to bring the
We're now hearing around three dozen Hillary supporters a day make the case for her as Veep, but it's pretty seldom that you  hear a prominent Obama supporter like the Reverend Jesse Jackson doing the
John McCain is already pushing to consolidate support among Cubans in Florida, running a new Spanish-language radio ad attacking Barack Obama, without directly naming him, for wanting to negotiate wit
Now that Joe Lieberman has emerged as John McCain's lead attack dog against Barack Obama -- even going so far as to  suggest that Obama's judgment could pose a danger to our safety -- there's some ver
As recently as one week ago, Hillary was still being widely depicted as a Lady Macbethian figure, a kind of she-demon who was still potentially scheming to take the race to the convention, thus destro
Here's an episode that illustrates rather neatly that down-ticket Dems are really wasting their time if they're trying to avoid getting attacked by the GOP in their campaigns by distancing themselves
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe  sends an email to supporters promising an unprecedented national operation in the general election:  People like you have been the heart of Chairman Howard Dean's
We've been keeping you abreast of the ongoing behind-the-scenes battle between Barack Obama and Joe Lieberman, who is fast emerging as the front man for John McCain's attacks on Obama as unfit to defe
Remember "Mean Jean" Schmidt, the Ohio Republican who famously called retired Marine Jack Murtha a coward for advocating withdrawal from Iraq?  Now she's lived up to her "Mean Jean" nickname name agai
Bobby Jindal, the 36-year old governor of Louisiana, is being  taken seriously by the national press as a candidate on the shortlist to be John McCain's Vice President. No one doubts that he's a polit
The other day, EMILY's List president Ellen Malcolm  revealed that she's not over her "anger and grief" at Hillary's loss, but that hasn't stopped her from coming out with a full-throated endorsement
The McCain campaign is battling back hard against the criticism of his claim today that it's "not too important" when the troops come home from Iraq.  The McCain camp sent out this video of the fuller
McCain's  incendiary quote from this morning -- in which he said the timing of the return of troops from Iraq is "not too important" --  is now at the center of today's battle between the two campaign
The McCain campaign has sent me a statement on the quote we posted on below, in which McCain appeared to say that the timing of when the troops in Iraq come home is "not too important."   The story is
Uh oh. It's one thing to say we need to keep the troops in Iraq indefinitely because it's somehow central to maintaining our national security. But it's another thing entirely to suggest that bringing
This is kind of fun: Check out how Republican National Committee chair Robert Duncan bobbed, weaved, ducked, and dithered when  asked directly by reporters if the GOP would rule out use of footage of
A Democrat with knowledge of the Obama campaign's  rapid takeover of the Democratic National Committee today points out to me that this is partly about ensuring that the Illinois Senator avoids the fa
John McCain has claimed that he doesn't want independent groups to attack Barack Obama, but in a new interview he says that, well, there  really isn't anything he can do about it if those groups do de
GQ is about to post a very interesting, and long, interview with Mark Penn that has a bunch of news in it.  We have some advance excerpts. Here, for instance, is Penn saying that he recognized early o
Tim Russert has died of a heart attack, his family  has told The New York Times.  No further details are available. More soon.  An emotional Tom Brokaw announces the grim news:    "This news division
Five joint appearances between the two presidential candidates between now and Election Day isn't enough?  That's the McCain campaign's claim, now that it has rejected Obama's offer to conduct three t
Though Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said the other day that Obama can win without Ohio and Florida, the campaign is moving aggressively this week to beef up its efforts in the Sunshine State.
Just what you all have been waiting for: Our long and detailed rundown on the coverage of Hillary during 2008.  This is being endlessly debated right now on television and elsewhere: Was the media bia
If there were any doubts that the Obama campaign would respond aggressively to the sort of soft-on-terror attacks that felled John Kerry four years ago, Obama put them to rest today.  Here's Obama on
After spending nearly $60 million to discover that his 9/11 magic carpet just didn't quite have the power to carry him into the White House, Rudy has suddenly resurfaced again in the presidential race
This is a fun one. A few days ago, the McCain campaign  proudly released a list of "prominent Democrats and Independents" supporting his candidacy. The idea was to appeal to disgruntled Hillary suppor
Richard Clarke made an appearance as an Obama surrogate on a conference call with reporters moments ago, hitting back very hard against the McCain camp's  claim today that Obama has a "September 10th
Today's Times comes through with a  very user-friendly chart detailing all the ways that McCain is the McSame as Bush.   Job one for McCain is achieving separation from the man he would succeed in the
Aggressively moving to shift the debate away from domestic issues to national security, the McCain campaign hit Obama with some of the most incendiary language of the campaign, accusing Obama on a con
Barack Obama  continues hitting back hard today at the false McCain/GOP assaults on him for allegedly seeing terrorism as only a law-enforcement problem...  "I refuse to be lectured on national securi
Okay, this Rudy-as-counter-terror genius story just keeps on giving.  The latest: It turns out that John McCain himself even said that Rudy has no national security experience.  As we've noted here re
The McCain campaign has enlisted Rudy Giuliani as the leading communicator of the message that Barack Obama can't be trusted to defend us against terrorism.  But even one of McCain's own foreign polic
Last fall, Joe Biden famously dismissed Rudy Giuliani's campaign rhetoric as little more than "a noun, a verb, and 9/11."  So I thought it would be a good idea to check in with Biden again, now that R
The McCain campaign is charging that the Democratic National Committee "attacked" Cindy McCain this morning -- and argues that this is at odds with Barack Obama's recent insistence that family members
Rudy is now officially John McCain's lead crooner when it comes to singing the GOP's Dems-are-weak-on-terror golden oldie.  On a conference call with reporters just now, Rudy bashed Obama and Dems as
On a private conference call moments ago, Hillary urged her top fundraisers in no uncertain terms to throw their weight behind Barack Obama, and directly asked them in surprisingly candid terms to giv
On a conference call just now with reporters, McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds and campaign general counsel Trevor Potter sought to hold Obama to his promise of a year ago to "aggressively pursue" negot
This isn't terribly surprising, but it's noteworthy: Judging by a new statement McCain just put out slamming Obama, the McCain campaign has clearly made an internal decision to ratchet up its efforts
We like this one. To amplify its message that opting out of public financing was necessary to combat the onslaught of outside 527 ad spending that's likely to hit Obama in the months ahead, the Obama
Those who predicted that Hillary's harsher attacks on Obama would be recycled by the GOP during the general election were proven right again today.   The Republican National Committee just blasted out
The statements are starting to trickle in from good-government types in reaction to Obama's big decision today to opt out of the public financing system, with one expert viewing the move as one of nec
Barack Obama has cut a radio spot for conservative Dem Rep. John Barrow of Georgia, who favors staying in Iraq and favors immunity for the telecom companies, and he's taking a beating from liberal blo
The McCain campaign kept up its attacks on Barack Obama as weak on terror for the third day in a row today, falsely charging on a conference call that Obama opposes capital punishment for Osama Bin La
The battle has begun over Barack Obama's  decision today to take a pass on public financing, with the McCain camp slamming Obama as a "typical politican" who broke an earlier pledge not to do this...
Keep an eye out for this one, because it's a none-too-subtle GOP smear we'll be hearing a lot of before long.  Here is GOP strategist Alex Castellanos -- the same worthy fellow who made that 1990 Jess
Barack Obama made a big announcement this morning via YouTube: That his campaign is opting out of public financing for the general election, and foregoing $80 million in government money:    Obviously
Last time we checked in on Rep. "Mean Jean" Schmidt, the Ohio Republican facing a tough challenge from Dem Victoria Wulsin, she was busy demonizing her opponent as someone who conducts grisly scientif
Here's what's so dispiriting about it. One of the riveting things about Barack Obama's candidacy is that since the outset of the campaign he's seemed absolutely dead serious about changing the way for
Obama's statement on the FISA "compromise" is in, and suffice it to say that it won't make opponents of the Dem cave-in very happy. He's supporting it.  Here's the key part:  "Under this compromise le
Barack Obama is keeping his position on the new FISA bill close to the vest -- so close, in fact, that even his aides don't know what it is!  During a conference call this afternoon with reporters, Ob
MoveOn, the advocacy group supporting Barack Obama, has decided to permanently shutter its 527 operation, partly in response to the Illinois Senator's insistence that such groups should not spend on h
This is really funny. Did GOP Sen. Norm Coleman, who's in a really tough fight to hold on to his key Minnesota Senate seat, digitally fake an appearance of domesticity between himself and his wife for
Does the Obama campaign really believe Indiana is in play?  Team Obama has assigned one of its most valued campaign staffers to the state,  reports the Indianapolis Star. The staffer, Emily Parcell, w
The Politico has a terrific story today reporting that there  really isn't any frightening apparatus of right-wing independent groups gearing up to Swift Boat Obama -- even though the specter of such
Strategist: Obama Could Raise Up To Half A Billion! Barack Obama's decision to forego public financing might just net him a whole lot more than the $80 million the government would have given him, wit
Obama And McCain's Fundraising Nearly Equal For May The new fundraising numbers for May show that Barack Obama only took in $21.9 million for the month, just barely ahead of John McCain's $20.9 millio
MoveOn To Pressure Obama On FISA Bill MoveOn.org, which endorsed Barack Obama in the Democratic primaries, is clearly not happy with his decision to support the new FISA bill that includes lawsuit-imm
The Obama campaign is going after the McCain camp over top adviser Charlie Black's  claim that a terror attack on U.S. soil would help McCain politically.  Here's the statement from Obama campaign spo
The hotly-contested race for the New York 13th Congressional District, a major pickup opportunity for Dems, was seriously shaken up over the weekend with the sudden and tragic passing of GOP candidate
At a D.C. gathering of GOP insiders today today, Karl Rove  previewed the next GOP attack line on Obama, one that has overtones of "uppity fellow thinks he's better than you," but with a curious twist
Okay, we've got some more news for you on the bizarre House race for the open Dem-held seat in Oregon, where GOP nominee Mike Erickson is facing allegations that he pressured a woman into getting an a
This blog took a fair amount of heat for suggesting during the primary that Maureen Dowd's nonstop catty columns about Hillary had an obsessive, even unhinged quality to them. So it was pretty gratify
NYT Goes After Obama On Ethanol Barack Obama's squeaky-clean image is targeted in a new article this morning in the New York Times, challenging his support of corn-ethanol subsidies. "And when it come
You might not have noticed this, but there is in fact a hotly-contested Congressional primary tonight in Utah. And here's why it matters: One of the most entertaining gaffe-machines in Congress, GOP R
This is a good one. Check out this new ad that GOP Senator Gordon Smith, who's locked in a tough re-election fight in Oregon, has just released. The spot highlights his work with Barack Obama, who, la
In a speech Barack Obama is set to give in Las Vegas, he really ratchets up the attacks on John McCain on energy, a battleground that will only increase in importance with new polls showing that energ
So how far will the pundits go to protect McCain's reputation as a "maverick" -- and how far will they go to explain away his many reversals and flip-flops? The answer could help decide the presidenti
Did McCain actually flip flop on the question of whether scenes of international violence help him politically? Looks that way.  The Obama campaign is keeping up the pressure on the McCain campaign ov
NYT: Muslims Disaffected By Obama Campaign TacticsThe New York Times reports this morning that many Muslim voters are feeling disaffected by the Obama campaign's efforts to distance the candidate from
At a presser today, Obama weighed in again on the FISA cave, and suffice it to say that what he said won't make opponents any less unhappy about Obama's position than they were already.  Asked specifi
They just can't seem to get enough of this one. It looks like another Republican is still pushing the idea that China is drilling for oil in deep ocean waters near Cuba -- Rep. Sam Graves of Missouri
This is a live one. John McCain  said he strenuously disagrees with top adviser Charlie Black's comment that a terror attack on U.S. soil would help McCain's campaign -- but more evidence has just eme
The Obama campaign has thus far refrained from calling on McCain to fire Charlie Black, the top adviser who stirred up a big brouhaha the other day by saying that a terror attack on U.S. soil would he
Wow, John McCain is really upping the ante in the energy wars today. We think he is, anyway.   In a speech he's set to deliver today in Nevada on energy, he'll guarantee "strategic independence" from
This is pretty interesting: A focus group conducted in Pennsylvania, among Hillary supporters and key swing voters,  sheds some light on the challenges ahead for Obama with regard to overcoming questi
Barack Obama has begun privately calling Hillary's top fundraisers and making personal appeals for their support, and in some cases is getting some criticism in return, suggesting that the delicate ta
Obama Campaign Targeting 14 Red States In their efforts to expand the playing field, Obama deputy campaign manager Steve Hildebrand told the Politico that the campaign will be putting resources into 1
A bunch of new polls of Senate races around the country paint a very bright picture of the Democrats' prospects, with Dem candidates running strong all over the map. But it's not entirely good news:
The GOP's prospects for holding onto a key House seat in New York -- once practically assured in their Staten Island stronghold -- have rapidly gotten bleaker and bleaker, to the point where the seat
The Obama and McCain campaigns are battling it out today over the  Supreme Court decision striking down the D.C. handgun ban, and McCain's team moved aggressively to put Obama on defense over an issue
Not sure how to account for this one. Take a look at these numbers on Iraq buried in the  new Quinnipiac polls of Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin...    As you can see, in every one of thes
Obama Camp Gives Donors Fundraising Goal For Hillary's Debts The Obama campaign has put some teeth in its request to donors to help Hillary Clinton's campaign retire its debts, assigning them an offic
We knew the Republican brand is in trouble, but this is just ridiculous. Two statewide Republican candidates in this year's elections in Washington state are choosing to run without that pesky R-word
This just keeps getting more and more absurd. Now the tall tale about China drilling for oil off American shores has found its way into a House GOP candidate's campaign flyer.  And to make matters eve
This is pretty novel. Obama campaign manager David Plouffe has filmed a new Web video of himself, using a laptop in his office, in which he rallies the troops with a PowerPoint about the campaign's st
Senator Chris Dodd has emerged as a hero for the netroots and for opponents of the Dems' FISA cave-in because of his steady opposition to telecom immunity and his promise to filibuster it.  So it's no
This is great. We now count three House Republicans who have continued to peddle the myth that China is working with Cuba to drill for oil in the Gulf of Mexico, even though Dick Cheney had already ad
Obama And Clinton Today: Unity In Unity Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will hold their first public campaign event together since Hillary dropped out of the race -- an important step in sending the
Obama To Tour Foreign Countries The Obama campaign has announced that the candidate will be embarking on an overseas tour and  meet with foreign leaders -- an important step in establishing a credible
McCain Meets With Billy And Franklin Graham John McCain met today with Billy Graham and his son Franklin, himself an influential Christian, in an opportunity to reach out to Christian conservatives wh
Wesley Clark is not backing down from the controversy created by his statements about John McCain on Sunday.  In a statement released tonight to reporters, Clark reiterates that he respects McCain's w
Oh boy. We've now spotted two more Republicans who have continued to push the idea that China is drilling for oil near Florida, even after Dick Cheney retracted the claim and GOP Sen. Mel Martinez of
And now for a bit of happy hour comic relief. A group called the National Black Republican Association -- which previously achieved minor infamy for some really inflammatory and historically-inaccurat
Barack Obama delivered a big speech on patriotism today in Missouri in which he sought to do something that John McCain has done extensively with his war service throughout this campaign: Define patri
The Obama campaign has a new statement out condemning Wes Clark's comments in an  interview yesterday in which he questioned whether John McCain's military service means he has the qualifications to b
Oh, this is fun. Today the McCain campaign held a conference call unveiling a new "truth squad" Web site designed to defend McCain from attacks on his military record.   This was in response to Wes Cl
Obama To Show Missouri A Patriotism Speech Barack Obama will be at the Harry Truman Memorial Building in Independence, Missouri, where he will deliver a speech this morning on "what patriotism means t
Oh, man -- we knew the Repubs were in trouble in this fall's Congressional races, but this is just comical.  A leading GOPer in the House, whip Roy Blunt, sent out a release today touting a new fundra
This is fun: A campaign staffer for a leading GOP Senator has been busted posting fake posts on liberal blogs under an alias.  Burnt Orange Report, the premier state-level liberal blog in Texas, has d
Now the McCain campaign is accusing the Obama campaign of coordinating with Jim Webb to "attack" McCain's war service.  On MSNBC last night, Webb  told McCain that he should "calm down" with the use o
The McCain campaign, keeping up the pressure over Wes Clark's comments, is holding its second conference call on this topic in two days -- but now the story has taken a new turn, with a McCain surroga
The McCain campaign hits Obama over Wes Clark's comments for the third day running, releasing yet another statement...  "Yesterday, Barack Obama's campaign said he rejected Gen. Clark's attack on John
Barack Obama's prepared speech on faith-based initiatives is in, and in it, the candidate strikes a delicate balance between expanding the role and clout of religious charities, while at the same time
Obama To Promote His Version Of Faith-Based Social Programs Barack Obama will be speaking today in Ohio, where he will deliver a speech calling for an expansion of government cooperation with faith-ba
Brian Beutler, a well-known progressive blogger, was shot and seriously injured during a mugging last night in Washington, D.C.  One bullet damaged Beutler's spleen, and he had it removed during surge
The McCain campaign, which spent weeks beating up on Barack Obama for not visiting Iraq, is now moving to put a negative spin in advance on his planned trip to that country, which Obama has announced
A McCain aide confirms to us that there's been something of a shake-up at the top of the McCain campaign, as  first reported by Jonathan Martin:  Steve Schmidt is taking over the day-to-day operation
Here's yet another variation of the GOP-pushed tall tale that China and Cuba are drilling for oil off American shores.  This latest one comes courtesy of GOP Senator John Sununu of New Hampshire, who
WaPo: Obama Got Discounted Home LoanThe Washington Post casts a critical eye on Barack Obama's reformer image this morning, with a report that he received a home loan in 2005 with a below-average inte
For the first time, Barack Obama has publicly addressed the group that was formed on his Web site to urge him to change his position on the FISA cave-in bill.  Obama responded with  a long statement o
That was quick. Today on the trail Obama suggested that he would "continue to refine" his Iraq plans in consultation with commanders on the ground, and the big news orgs are already getting this wrong
Looks like John McCain is the first out of the box with a "contrast" ad of sorts. He's going up in the swing states of New Mexico and Nevada with Spanish-language radio spot that goes after Obama by s
We now have our eleventh big-name Republican spreading the China-Cuba Oil Myth -- the idea that we need to drill offshore because the Chinese are already grabbing our oil in concert with Cuba. Even Di
We've assembled a time-line of most of Barack Obama's public statements about FISA and telecom immunity.  The Senate could be voting on the FISA bill containing immunity as early as next week, and on
At a fundraiser last night, Obama shared with his donors a bit more detail about his private chat earlier week with Bill Clinton, saying that the former president indicated he was bullish about Obama'
Obama Increases Big-Money Fundraising Events The Obama campaign is stepping up its focus on big-money fundraisers, with the candidate set to go to a dozen events over the next two weeks -- many of the
Republicans struggling to "define" Obama  Leading Republicans are  beginning to complain that the McCain campaign hasn't yet settled on a way of "defining" -- a.k.a. "sliming" -- Barack Obama, prompti
Obama And Hillary Teaming Up For Fundraising Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are set to work together this coming week to bring in a lot of money for the Obama campaign and the DNC. First up is a D.C
New RNC Ad: McCain For "Balance" On Energy, Obama "The Party Line" Here's the Republican National Committee's new ad on energy policy, which is airing in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Th
In yet another sign of the disarray gripping GOP ranks, a top Republican in New York is now flatly stating that the party is such a mess that they are very likely to lose a key House seat in the state
Woah -- we think we're not alone in saying we didn't see this one coming.   Jim Webb -- the perfect on-paper Vice President for Obama and a target of much Veep-oriented speculation -- just put out a s
The McCain campaign has responded to our request for clarification of its plan to take all the money saved by victory in Iraq and Afghanistan and devote all that booty to balancing the budget.  Yes, t
It's official: The Democratic convention's organizing committee has just sent out a press release confirming that Barack Obama will be giving his acceptance speech in Denver at Invesco Field, a footba
Obama Will Deliver Acceptance Speech At Football Stadium The Obama campaign is expected to announce this week that the candidate will deliver his acceptance speech outside of the Democratic convention
It looks like Barack Obama is taking the fight to John Mccain on immigration. In a speech today, Obama aggressively targeted the Arizona Senator on the issue, charging that McCain had been friendly to
David Corn at Mother Jones asked  an interesting question today: Is the McCain campaign screening questions from reporters on its campaign conference calls, in order to protect the candidate or his ad
Here at TPM we've been chronicling some of the  more ridiculous reporting on the presidential election that's been produced by the Associated Press.  But now we think we've found the most Pulitzer-wor
WSJ: Clinton's Convention Role Still Being NegotiatedThe Wall St. Journal reports that negotiations are still ongoing over a serious issue for the Democratic convention: Will Barack Obama be nominated
As you may have heard by now, Barack Obama voted for the FISA cave-in bill in the Senate today, and Hillary voted against it.  Hillary has now explained her vote in a new statement...  The legislation
And now for a little happy hour comic relief.  A GOP Senate candidate in Louisiana who used to be a Democrat has flip-flopped on Social Security, saying he now supports privatization when news reports
I've just confirmed that Progessive Media U.S.A. -- the independent group that was formed  to great fanfare by David Brock to bludgeon McCain with ad spending before Obama put the kibosh on such outsi
With the  news today that Iran's Revolutionary Guards test-fired nine medium and long-range missiles, the campaign battle shifted today over to what to do about Iran. And just moments ago, the McCain
NYT: Obama Donors Not Rushing To Relieve Hillary's DebtsThe New York Times reports that many of Barack Obama's donors aren't joining in on the candidate's request to donate money to retire Hillary Cli
A new series of ads by the Oregon Democrats raises an interesting question: Is the state party trying to evade campaign finance rules by running so-called "issue ads" -- which ostensibly aren't suppos
Over the past several weeks, a whole bunch of you have written in from all over the country to say that it seems like John McCain is outspending Barack Obama on ads in your areas.  Well, here's someth
There's been an interesting twist in the ongoing behind-the-scenes discussions over whether Barack Obama will deliver a speech on July 24th at Berlin's historically-charged Brandenburg Gate.  A new re
Hoping to force John McCain to own Phil Gramm's  assertion that we're in a "mental recession" and are a "nation of whiners," Barack Obama himself has just hit his foe over the remark.  "One of his top
The McCain campaign is distancing itself from national campaign co-chair and top economic adviser Phil Gramm's  claim that we're in a "mental recession" and are a "nation of whiners." The campaign  ha
John McCain's campaign has explicitly said that questions about Obama's patriotism are off limits, but McCain's highest-profile surrogates have embarked on a new round of efforts to raise questions ab
If the Dems have their way, McCain top economic adviser Phil Gramm's  claim that we're in a "mental recession" and that we're a "nation of whiners" will be the lead story of the day.  The Democratic N
Hmmmm. This really won't do much to allay John McCain's big disadvantage among voters who cite the economy as a leading concern.   Check out what Phil Gramm, the top economic adviser to McCain, had to
Obama Reaching Out To Women Voters Today Barack Obama's campaign will be focusing heavily on women voters today, starting with this morning's high-profile fundraiser in New York City with Hillary Clin
These  new national poll numbers just out from Newsweek are a bit startling:  A month after emerging victorious from the bruising Democratic nominating contest, some of Barack Obama's glow may be fadi
A source sends over a copy of a sharp new radio ad the Obama campaign will release a bit later today responding to  this earlier RNC ad claiming Obama will hike taxes.  The Obama ad hammers McCain for
We're going to bring you every bit of info we can find on the campaigns' national ad spending, and this is kind of a fun one.  It appears Obama is vastly outspending McCain on ads at the late Jesse He
It looks like the story that the Bush administration pressured the German government to nix an Obama speech at Berlin's historic Brandenburg Gate is getting shakier.  The Treasury Department has just
We've just obtained from a Democratic source a long list of 31 races that the DCCC has decided to target with ads this fall -- a list that offers a glimpse into the national Dems' view of which Republ
Yesterday I  noted that Germany's Der Spiegel had reported that the Bush administration was privately trying to block Barack Obama from making a speech at Berlin's historic Brandenburg Gate.  Now Der
New McCain Ad Makes Appeal To Hispanic Voters John McCain has a new ad set to air in Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico, in which the candidate makes a direct appeal for Hispanic voters who have largely
Report: Hillary's Biggest VP Impediment Is Bill Jill Iscol, a donor to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, told the Los Angeles Times that Barack Obama personally told her that Hillary Clinton wa
Obama: Hagel And Reed "Good Guys" Speaking to reporters last night on his campaign plane, Barack Obama acknowledged that Senators Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Jack Reed (D-RI) could be accompanying him to I
There's something of a history-making event set for tonight: The first African American Democratic Presidential nominee is set to address the NAACP at 8 P.M., at the group's 99th annual convention.  A
It looks like we may be on the verge of finding out whether Barack Obama will opt to deliver his July 24th speech before Berlin's historic Brandenburg Gate, which would associate Obama with JFK and Ro
At his press avail today, John McCain referenced current relations between Russia and, um, a non-existent country.  From a  transcript...  "I was concerned about a couple of steps that the Russian gov
There was a striking moment just now on an Obama campaign conference call with reporters: Top Obama supporter Joe Biden said that all the military commanders he talks to privately say they want Barack
The McCain campaign, which has said it doesn't question Obama's patriotism, is now doing something awfully similar: Claiming that Barack Obama and the Democrats are dedicated to losing the war for the
There are two facts about Joe Lieberman that the big news orgs simply can't bring themselves to tell their readers and viewers.   The first is that during the 2006 campaign against Ned Lamont, Lieberm
Obama Camp: New Yorker Cover "Tasteless And Offensive" The Obama campaign has condemned as "tasteless and offensive" the new cover of the New Yorker:    Cartoonist Barry Blitt defended the cover, in a
New Washington Post/ABC News  numbers have mixed news for Barack Obama. On the one hand, he holds a healthy national lead of eight points among registered voters, besting McCain 50%-42%.  On the other
With the candidates dueling over Iraq today, what are the polls telling us about where the public is on the war?  The latest round of polls on Iraq adds up to a clear message: The public widely believ
Barack Obama has just given a lengthy interview to PBS' Gwen Ifill about his views on Iraq, and according to advance excerpts, he elaborated on his desire to hear input from the commanders on how to w
Perhaps not surprisingly, the first main theme in John McCain's Iraq speech today, which just concluded in New Mexico, was that he was right about the surge, and Obama was wrong.  Key quote:  Today we
Now that Barack Obama has just wrapped up his  big Iraq speech, it's worth noting how big a gamble he's taken at key moments during this race -- by insisting on elevating the discussion to a higher pl
Obama's big Iraq speech in Washington, D.C., has just started. The full text of the speech is after the jump.  It would be hard to overstate how high the stakes are here. Video and more soon.  Late Up
Barack Obama goes up on the air with a new national security ad that doesn't mention Iraq but seems timed to coincide with his big Iraq speech today laying out his fundamental foreign policy differenc
This news broke late yesterday, but people seem to have missed the domestic political implications of this: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad  plans to attend the United Nations General Assembly i
Poll: Obama Ahead By Nine Points, But Iraq Verdict Unclear The new Quinnipiac poll gives Barack Obama a 50%-41% lead over John McCain among likely voters, beyond the Â±2.4% margin of error. But the po
Barack Obama may be making major news this morning with a big speech on Iraq in Washington, D.C., and excerpts from the speech have just been released by his campaign.  The speech will be closely watc
Senator Evan Bayh's appearance today with Barack Obama at the "21st Century Threats" summit has stirred a lot of talk in the press about the possibility of him being on Obama's Veep short-list.  But w
There's been yet another bizarre turn in the GOP's eternal quest to find a candidate for the key House seat in New York's 13th district, which is expected to be one of this fall's most hotly-contested
The New York Times's Adam Nagourney has sent me a long and detailed response to the Obama campaign's  complaint that his story today on the paper's big poll on race omitted key info that would have be
With polls showing that John McCain holds a big lead on foreign policy readiness, and with McCain constantly arguing that Obama would surrender in the war on terror, one of Obama's chief political cha
The Obama campaign is taking issue with The New York Times this morning over the paper's  front-page piece today on the Times poll released last night, critiquing the story for omitting a great deal o
Planned Parenthood Ad Hits McCain On Birth Control Planned Parenthood Action Fund is launching this new ad against John McCain in the swing states of Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Wi
I just watched the  McCain campaign's new "documentary" on Iraq a few times, and while it does find scattered inconsistencies in Obama's positions, it doesn't really draw blood.  Let's dive in.  The f
Here's an interesting House race that national Dems are watching very closely, because it gives them a shot at picking up an open seat in deep-red territory: The battle over Alabama's Second District.
Here's a bit more detail on Obama's $52 million June haul: According to the Obama campaign, some $50 million of this was raised for use in the primary, and $2 million was raised for the general.  Does
GOPers and McCain aides are seizing on the fact that a huge media retinue is planning on following Obama to Europe in order to argue that the  press is favoring Obama:  The coverage also feeds into co
Obama: Dems Wouldn't Attack Spouses Like Fox Does With Michelle In an interview with Glamour magazine, Barack Obama went after Fox News and other right-wing media outlets for attacks on Michelle Obama
From an email to supporters from Obama campaign manager David Plouffe:  We have some big news we want to share with you.  Because of your generosity and commitment, we're reporting to the press today
The McCain campaign has released the following statement from Phil Gramm, as part of a continuing effort to distance itself from the controversies caused by Gramm's "Nation of Whiners" remark:  "It is
The McCain campaign is declining to disavow a top surrogate's assertion that "the Muslims" have said that "either we kneel or they're going to kill us."  As  noted below, the comment was made by Bud D
We now know that the Obama campaign and the DNC had a very good fundraising month for June, banking a total of $92 million in cash on hand -- putting them very close to the $102 million that John McCa
Check out this  interesting polling from Pew Research that goes into a fair amount of detail about a much-discussed topic: How Obama is faring with female voters.  On the down side, the poll warns tha
Obama To Meet With Merkel Next Week Barack Obama will be meeting this coming Thursday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has opposed his campaign's floated idea of speaking at the Brandenburg G
The presidential campaigns battled today over the significance of Nouri al-Maliki's endorsement of Barack Obama's proposed 16-month withdrawal timetable -- with the McCain campaign making the rather c
Obama Arrives In Afghanistan Barack Obama has arrived in Afghanistan, meeting with American General Jeffrey Schloesser, commander of NATO forces. "I want to, obviously, talk to the commanders and get
In a sign that senior Democratic officials remain deeply concerned that post-primary bitterness could imperil Barack Obama's chances, two top Democratic officials have emailed a sharply-worded letter
Some of the details of Obama's world tour were kept secret for security reasons but once Obama landed in Kabul Saturday the embargo on that portion of his trip was lifted.   Here's an early pool repor
The McCain campaign appears to have come up with their response to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's endorsement of Barack Obama's withdrawal proposal: Dig in, and keep insisting that U.S. comman
Obama Meets With Karzai, Calls For More Troops In Afghanistan Barack Obama met this weekend with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a leader whom he has criticized for a lack of effectiveness in fighting
The Washington Post's Dan Balz  gets at a point I've been hitting here pretty regularly: That one of the keys to Obama's success is that he's projecting a degree of confidence on foreign policy that h
As you know, we've been posting here regularly about the GOP's frequent pushing of the myth that China is drilling for oil off American shores.  Well here's another outlandish oil-drilling line: If no
The New York Times has just responded to the  accusation lobbed today by the McCain campaign that the paper was displaying bias against the Republican candidate by asking him to rewrite an Op-ed about
Wow, this is getting kind of surreal. As I  noted below, The Washington Post has yet to do a stand-alone story on al-Maliki's endorsement of Obama's troop-withdrawal timeline.   Now look how WaPo is r
You may have heard that Matt Drudge "rules our world" -- the "we" in question being members of the political media, who helplessly march off like pod people to cover stories when Drudge tells them to
The Associated Press  adds some more detail about the quote we  noted below from the Iraqi government official saying he wants the troops out by 2010:  Al-Dabbagh said the government did not endorse a
Obama Arrives In Iraq Barack Obama has arrived in Iraq, a big part of his overseas tour and his efforts to pitch his proposals on getting out of Iraq and refocusing on Afghanistan. On the agenda: A me
Okay, here's where McCain's claim that Obama got the surge wrong is headed: Obama isn't merely denying that the surge succeeded; Obama is also denying the success of the troops.  In an interview set t
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Dem party committee that has the most money in the bank, has now allotted practically all its available cash on hand for ad time this fall, with a
Republicans are  trying to argue that they've caught Obama in a gaffe because he flew into Jordan today in an Osprey aircraft -- despite the fact that last year he spoke out against funding the aircra
Obama's presser in Jordan has now wrapped up, and one thing that was striking is how aggressively -- again -- he moved to appropriate Republican rhetoric about the war on terrorism.  Obama said he'd d
Barack Obama's press conference is underway now in Amman, Jordan, and he's detailing the private conversation he had last night with General David Petraeus.   Obama told reporters that Petraeus asked
Obama Arrives In Jordan Barack Obama's foreign policy tour continues, with the candidate having arrived in Jordan after his two-day tour of Iraq. Obama is set to hold a press conference expected at ar
Okay, this afternoon John McCain  pushed back on criticism of his Anbar-surge timeline flub by arguing, in effect, that the overall strategy change that made the Anbar Awakening possible began before
The Republican National Committee has just unleashed a tough new radio attack ad that hits Obama for voting against the Iraq supplemental without withdrawal timelines last year, casting it as a vote a
Is the Obama campaign selectively referring to his long-absent father in some ads and not in others, depending on the target audience?  The question -- which was answered by the Obama campaign with a
Pro-war Washington Post editorial page editor Fred Hiatt has come up with a creative way to deal with al-Maliki's inconvenient endorsement of Obama's pull-out timeline: Pretend it never happened.  A W
McCain Credits Surge For Event From Before The Surge John McCain has been been caught in a big foreign policy slip, saying during his interview with CBS Evening News that the surge was responsible for
Every now and then we like to check in on the latest antics surrounding GOP Rep. Jean Schmidt -- the Ohio Republican who called Jack Murtha a coward on the House floor. And boy oh boy, her latest does
Barack Obama's Berlin  speech has just concluded, and to whatever degree it was intended for a domestic audience, as well as an international one, it seemed designed to achieve a number of key goals.
It's after the jump. Dig in. Video and more soon.  Late Update: Here's the vid...    			Thank you to the citizens of Berlin and to the people of Germany. Let me thank Chancellor Merkel and Foreign Min
Barack Obama's speech today in Berlin will be a major international story, a global event, and Jake Tapper has  a good post quoting Obama on his campaign plane talking at length to reporters about wha
Obama's Big Berlin Speech Today Today is the big day of Barack Obama's tour through Europe, with him set to address a crowd in Berlin that is expected to be simply massive. Speaking to reporters on th
Okay, John McCain just wrapped up his interview with CNN, and there were a couple of real live ones in there that should juice up your happy hour a bit.  First, McCain dealt with Nouri al-Maliki's inc
John McCain has unveiled a new slogan against Barack Obama: That Obama's attitudes on Iraq represent "the audacity of hopelessness"!  In his speech today at the American GI Forum convention in Colorad
Here it is: We've created a comprehensive time-line of John McCain's statements on Iraq, from the inception of the conflict to the present.  You can view it  right here.  Our time-line casts some doub
I've just gotten clarification from the Pentagon on what really happened with regard to Barack Obama's  canceled visit to an Army base in Germany, something the McCain campaign has been using to hit O
Obama In France Today Barack Obama is headed to Paris today for the next leg of his overseas tour, which has focused on the idea that he can repair America's relationship with allies and forge an inte
In London, Obama Defends Overseas Tour Barack Obama is spending the day in London, where he took some tough questions from reporters about the validity of his overseas trip. "This was important for me
Stephanopoulos Corners McCain On Timetables During John McCain's interview today on ABC's This Week With George Stephanopoulos, McCain got noticeably flustered when he denied having called 16 months "
As noted here on Friday, we've compiled a  vast (perhaps too vast) timeline of McCain's statements about Bush administration policy on Iraq -- and it casts some doubt on McCain's claim that he was a b
Okay, this is interesting: It looks as if the  new McCain ad falsely attacking Obama over his canceled troop visit may not really have a lot of money behind it, suggesting that its real purpose isn't
Here's another reason why it's so critical that the media report accurately on the McCain attacks on Obama's canceled troop visit: The McCain camp's efforts to make sure this keeps boiling away as a m
I've just done a lap through the coverage by the big news orgs of the ad John McCain put out this weekend attacking Barack Obama for canceling his visit to a U.S. Army base in Germany.  CNN has a piec
Obama Talking About Economic Issues Today Barack Obama is holding an economic summit today in Washington, DC, where he'll be discussing issues such as job losses, financial markets, and rising prices
The McCain campaign has repeatedly attacked Barack Obama as weak on terror,  accusing him of a "September 10th mind-set" and hitting him for favoring a law-enforcement approach to terrorists as "crimi
So what's the best way to debunk the false Obama smears?  Lots of folks are weighing in today on the  union mailer we posted on below that knocks down the more scurrilous rumors making the rounds abou
Huge, huge news out of Alaska: In a major development that all but ensures that Dems will make a major Senate seat pickup in a state that hasn't elected a Dem to Congress since 1974, incumbent GOP Sen
In a sign that the big labor unions are about to ratchet up efforts to woo Rust Belt union Dems towards Obama, the AFL-CIO is  set to blitz four swing states with a pair of mailers targeted directly a
McCain: Iraq Withdrawal Could Take 16 Months -- Or Even One Month! John McCain is continuing to hedge on how long it might take to withdraw from Iraq, at once ruling out a timetable and hinting he mig
We  speculated below that the McCain campaign's new Obama-Britney ad, which is supposedly running on national cable and in "key states," might not have any real money behind it and could be designed m
The McCain campaign has launched their big push to define Obama -- they're hoping to define him in the public mind as a puffed-up dandy.  The McCain camp has a euphemism for this: "celebrity." But puf
Okay, just when we get done  saying how great The Washington Post was for knocking down McCain's false troop visit attack, along comes a really, really bad one.  The "big story" of the morning is  thi
Progress! Today's Washington Post comes through with a  great front-page piece devoted entirely to debunking McCain's false attack on Obama's canceled troop visit. Here's a key excerpt from the piece,
McCain's Attack Ad Played Almost Entirely By News MediaThe New York Times reports that the McCain campaign's ad falsely attacking Barack Obama over the canceled troop visit has only run as paid commer
An Obama supporter forwards me a fundraising email that's going out from Barack Obama himself to his supporters slamming McCain for  claiming earlier today that he's "proud" of the Britney ad:  A few
CNN asks John McCain if it's fair for his campaign manager to  accuse Obama of playing the race card in his  comments about the Britney ad, and McCain  replies...  "I'm sorry to say that it is. It's l
Under fire from Al Franken, GOP Senator Norm Coleman claimed he'd dumped the contributions he got from indicted Senator Ted Stevens. But it turns out he's only gone halfway in dumping them -- and a pe
This gave me a bit of a sense of deja vu. On a conference call with reporters just now, the Obama campaign moved swiftly to charge that McCain's recent attacks prove he's chosen a low road at odds wit
Did Barack Obama cry racism and xenophobia in responding to the Britney ad? Last night, Obama  turned up the volume a notch in response to the spot:  "Since they don't have any new ideas the only stra
Quinnipiac: Obama Ahead In Pennsylvania, Ohio And Florida A new set of Quinnipiac polls has some very good news for Barack Obama, with him leading in all three of the largest swing states, albeit with
Okay, here are two new twists on the GOP myth that China is drilling for oil off America: We now have a GOP Rep. who is apparently raising campaign cash off the tall tale -- and as an added bonus, her
The Daily News made a big splash this morning by  reporting that Hillary had decided against being nominated for president at the Dem convention at the end of August.  The piece, which relies on an an
On the morning shows today, McCain adviser Rick Davis and Obama adviser David Axelrod continued hammering away at each other over the McCain camp's claim that Obama played the "race card," with each s
As noted below, John McCain gave a speech today to the Urban League, a minority group, a day after accusing Barack Obama of playing the "race card."  It just wrapped up. No mention of race in the spee
A high-ranking campaign staffer for John McCain lobbied for years on behalf of a major corporation in favor of repealing economic sanctions against Cuba, a position that is directly at odds with McCai
WaPo's Kurtz: McCain Has "Decided To Go Tabloid" In a sign that John McCain's usual friends in the establishment media are catching on to his new campaign tactics, Howard Kurtz has a new article in th
The Obama campaign has just accepted the proposal  put forth in June by the Commission on Presidential Debates that suggests a framework of three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate
Obama: McCain Team Aren't Racist -- They're Cynical Speaking to reporters today in Florida, Barack Obama said the McCain campaign has tried to district voters from the real issues by focusing on his b
Paris Hilton's Mother Objects To McCain Ad Paris Hilton's mother Kathy Hilton -- who has donated $2,300 to John McCain -- has responded to McCain's new ad using her daughter as a means of attacking Ba
Here's still more on the Rocchios, the pair of unlikely uber-donors to the RNC-McCain effort.  As  noted below, Alice Rocchio, a Hess office manager, and her husband, Pasquale Rocchio, an Amtrak "trac
As we  reported below, ten Hess Corporation executives and Hess family members each gave $28,500 to the RNC's committee to elect John McCain president, just days after he reversed his previous opposit
Ten senior Hess Corporation executives and/or members of the Hess family each gave $28,500 to the joint RNC-McCain fundraising committee, just days after McCain reversed himself to favor offshore dril
Weaker and weaker. As you may have heard, the GOP is having a grand old time today  mocking Barack Obama for making the perfectly reasonable suggestion last week that one thing Americans can do to sav
Obama Ad: We Can't Afford Another President In Big Oil's Pocket The Obama campaign has announced this new TV ad, which ties John McCain to both the oil companies and to George W. Bush. "After one pres
The whole tire gauge dust-up is useful because it sheds light on the different species of mockery the two campaigns are directing at each other -- the realm of mockery being one where the GOP has enjo
You may not have noticed, but there are actually some key primaries going on today in a few states -- and the results will be coming in tonight. Two races in particular bear watching:  â¢ In Michigan
Looks like we have yet another point in common between John McCain and George Bush: Both are responding to Nouri al-Maliki's inconvenient endorsement of Barack Obama's 16-month withdrawal timeline by
In this new ad, John McCain tries to achieve separation from George Bush by saying flat out that "we're worse off than we were four years ago." At the same time, McCain sidesteps direct criticism of t
Now this is some novel push-back. In a sign of just how worried Republicans are about Dem efforts to tie GOP Senators to Bush, the Minnesota GOP is charging that a new Al Franken attack ad linking Sen
It looks like McCain's recent attacks on Obama are working, in the sense that the McCain campaign is now getting as much media coverage as Obama, according to  a new study from the Project for Excelle
The Los Angeles Times  digs up some more detail on the Hess Corporation-McCain story, reporting that the big fundraiser where all the Hess execs chipped in huge sums took place just before McCain reve
New Obama Ad: McCain Has Voted Against Fixing Energy For 26 Years Barack Obama has a new ad on energy issues, following through on one of the key attack lines from his speech yesterday -- that John Mc
Is John McCain stuck in an "energy trap"? The Huffington Post's Sam Stein  asked the question today, and it's a good one.  Polls show McCain's position of combining offshore drilling with other measur
Is the new Time poll -- which gives Barack Obama a narrow lead in the horse race but a steep deficit on national security issues -- in line with other polls? And can we figure that out easily, when ev
Over at his new gig, TPM alum Paul Kiel  has some more on our new friend Harry Sargeant, the top McCain bundler who was  alleged to have relied on a Jordanian connection to swing a huge contract deliv
A  new poll just out from Time magazine shows Obama holding a five-point national lead over McCain, but the numbers are far from uniformly good for the Illinois Senator.  The poll finds him besting Mc
This brutal new attack ad from House candidate Nikki Tinker, who is challenging liberal Tennessee Rep. Steven Cohen in tomorrow's Democratic primary, just might be the nastiest, most race-baiting (and
Ben Smith  posts some good video of Barack Obama again mocking John McCain today over the tire-gauge stunt. It's worth a watch -- the scene illustrates again that the GOP doesn't hold the same advanta
Today's Washington Post has a  much-discussed piece about a top McCain fundraiser named Harry Sargeant, who has "bundled" a huge amount of campaign contributions for McCain from a host of unlikely don
Whoa. The McCain campaign is sticking with the "celebrity" sneer, releasing a new ad that again refers to Obama as the "biggest celebrity in the world" and develops the contrast a bit more by asking w
New Obama Ad Uses McCain's Own Words About Supporting Bush The Obama campaign has a new TV ad in response to John McCain's "Original Maverick" ad, rerunning a video from 2003 of McCain himself boastin
It appears the McCain campaign has gotten a bit of a break in the energy wars, with OpenSecrets.org  issuing a new report that says Obama has received more from execs and employees  at the very bigges
Guess what: The Democratic primary challenge by attorney Nikki Tinker against incumbent Rep. Steve Cohen -- you know, the one that has involved a seriously Jew-baiting TV ad -- will be settled tonight
Bill Clinton took a bit of heat for supposedly refusing to say in  an interview the other day that Obama was ready to be president...  The former president said he would not divulge his full thoughts
Okay, here's some more on the ties between the McCain campaign and the Hess Corporation, the company whose senior executives all  dumped $28,500 apiece into the RNC-McCain fundraising committee at aro
Daschle: McCain's Ads Having An Effect Former Senate Dem Leader Tom Daschle told the Financial Times that he thinks John McCain's new round of attack ads painting Barack Obama as an empty celebrity ha
The New York Times has elaborated on the story of Harry Sargeant, the McCain bundler who has collected some interesting donations from people who are either apolitical or actually profess to be agains
Elizabeth Edwards posted this statement tonight at Daily Kos:  Our family has been through a lot. Some caused by nature, some caused by human weakness, and some - most recently - caused by the desire
The Obama campaign signaled today that they'll be making a major issue of job losses in the big swing state of Ohio -- and aggressively tying John McCain and his campaign manager Rick Davis directly t
Here's a self-flagellating statement from John Edwards himself on his affair:  In 2006, I made a serious error in judgment and conducted myself in a way that was disloyal to my family and to my core b
The McCain campaign has unveiled a new message today, amplifying their theme about Obama's life being "grand": When Obama talks about job losses, he's just exploiting the working class -- and they've
This is interesting: A good government group is set to ask the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into the two big McCain stories of recent days -- the bundled contributions from Hess
While you were watching that Jew-baiting House candidate go down in flames, another potentially far more significant contest played out last night: A GOP primary challenger ousted GOPer David Davis fr
ABC News has the story  from John Edwards himself:  John Edwards repeatedly lied during his Presidential campaign about an extramarital affair with a novice filmmaker, the former Senator admitted to A
The Obama campaign is circulating  this post from Marc Ambinder which asks a pretty good question:  If there were a group of questionable donations all with the name Abdullah that were funneled throug
You may have heard by now that former MoveOn chief Tom Matzzie has  set up a new third-party effort with the somewhat unorthodox goal of targeting big GOP donors who support Swift Boat Vet-style effor
Did McCain Web Ad Paint Obama As The Antichrist?The Wall St. Journal reports this morning that the new McCain Web ad likening Obama to a messianic figure could have a hidden message: Obama is the Anti
New Obama Ad In Nevada Attacks McCain On Yucca Mountain The Obama campaign has a new negative spot airing in the perennial swing state of Nevada, hammering John McCain on the proposed Yucca Mountain n
Report: Penn Wanted To Deride Obama's Americanness In a revelation that will lower his stock in Democratic politics even further than it already has been, a newly-released set of internal memos shows
In addition to the garden variety Mark Penn sliminess we  posted on below, there's plenty of other good stuff in Josh Green's Atlantic article, which collects a  bunch of internal Hillary campaign mem
Josh Green's big piece in The Atlantic on all the behind-the-scenes drama that gripped Hillaryland during the campaign  has just been posted online, and the  host of internal campaign memos he's obtai
Barack Obama has released the following statement on the Russia-Georgia War:  Good morning. The situation in Georgia continues to deteriorate because of the escalation of Russia's use of military forc
To our knowledge the Obama campaign didn't release it to the national press, but Team Obama is airing a new radio spot in Wisconsin -- the home of Harley-Davidson -- attacking John McCain over his rec
I'd been wondering when Camp Obama would do this: Campaign manager David Plouffe is now trying to raise money off McCain's "celeb" sneer ads, ratcheting up the counterattack on the spots by painting t
A new survey of Colorado by Public Policy Polling (D) shows Barack Obama's lead holding steady in this Western swing state, a historically Republican area that Barack Obama is making a major play for
What's in the water Dems are drinking today? Don't they want Obama to win the presidential race?  First we had Bob Kerrey  praising McCain as someone whose war service shows he "can deal with a crisis
The Democratic National Convention Committee has unveiled a novel theme for the Denver convention: "America's Town Hall," complete with questions from the public.  Kasnas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius announ
John McCain is upping his hawkish rhetoric on Russia's military action against Georgia, blasting Russia's bombing of the smaller country as "unacceptable" and demanding that the United Nations bring a
New Obama Ad: McCain Has "Been Washington's Biggest Celebrity" The Obama campaign has a new national cable ad firing back at the McCain campaign's "celebrity line," pointing out that McCain has "been
Okay, this is significant -- the McCain campaign appears to be officially endorsing Joe Lieberman's claim earlier today that Barack Obama has not always "put the country first."  Below we  linked to a
Here's something else that could create political complications for John McCain in key swing states as he continues to defend measures that would maintain tax breaks for the oil industry: He recently
The Obama campaign rolled out their new group, "Republicans for Obama," on a conference call with reporters today, and the GOPers on the call offered full-throated endorsements of Barack Obama's appro
I just reached former Hillary spokesperson Howard Wolfson to ask him for comment on Josh Green's  big piece in The Atlantic reporting that chief Hillary strategist Mark Penn suggested a big effort to
Today's New York Times profiles Senator Evan Bayh as a Veep candidate and  hits on a point we've been banging away at here: Bayh's Veep prospects are clouded considerably by the fact that he co-chaire
GOP Preparing Legal Effort To Challenge Voter RegistrationsThe Wall St. Journal reports that Republican lawyers are preparing an organized response to Democratic voter-registration efforts, with a tra
Wow, such perfect timing! Below we noted at some length that the national media was failing to hold the McCain campaign accountable for its surrogates' pattern of questioning Obama's patriotism.  Now
In what is emerging as a clear pattern, high-profile McCain surrogates have been questioning Barack Obama's patriotism and his roots in American culture, without drawing any objection from the McCain
Jerome Corsi, the writer of "Unfit for Command," which provided the basis for the Swift-Boat-Vets attack on John Kerry, is out with a new book that has the same lofty goals, but this time, the target
Mark Warner To Keynote Dem Convention The Obama campaign has announced that former Virginia Governor Mark Warner, who is on track to pick up a Senate seat this November, will be the keynote speaker at
Another major news org, the Wall Street Journal, has now picked up on a topic we've been fairly obsessed with of late: Senator Evan Bayh's co-chairing of the neocon Committee for the Liberation of Ira
In stark contrast with the Kerry campaign in 2004, the Obama campaign is mapping out an aggressive counter-attack against the new Swift-Boat-Vet style book targeting Obama -- including plans to dig mo
At this point, the pattern is overwhelmingly clear: Again and again, John McCain's attacks on Barack Obama have been virtually identical to the ones Hillary waged against him during the primaries. We'
As expected, Obama and Hillary have just released a joint statement confirming that her name will be placed in nomination at the Dem convention.  The key to the statement, though, is this sentence:  S
This is really, really perplexing. It turns out that according to a  new analysis, troops deployed abroad have donated six times more money to the candidate who wants to bring the troops home from Ira
The Hillary and Obama campaigns have finally reached an official deal on how to handle her role at the convention -- her name will be placed in nomination, as a way to assuage her embittered supporter
Barack Obama and the DNC are seizing on Social Security's 73rd anniversary to launch a series of attacks on John McCain on the issue that try to link McCain with the original opponents of the program
In a move that signals a major new effort to woo elderly voters to Obama, the AFL-CIO is dropping a scorching new mailer in battleground states hammering John McCain on Social Security and directly re
Obama Running Negative Ad In Indiana Barack Obama is running a targeted negative ad against John McCain in Indiana, reusing footage of McCain saying during the primaries that the economy was just fine
The Obama camp is pushing a new theme in Pennsylvania tomorrow -- it's called the "Buy American, Vote Obama" campaign.  Here's the new logo, to be unveiled tomorrow and to appear on stickers and flyer
The Obama campaign, eager to make it known that it's responding forcefully to the new Swift-Boating book by Jerome Corsi, is jumping on a John McCain moment today where he appeared to sidestep an oppo
Here's the response from Obama spokesperson Hari Sevugan to McCain's  ad from this morning calling Obama a "celebrity" and the "taxman":  "This ad is just more of the same old false and discredited at
One name that's conspicuously absent from the  current lineup of speakers at the Dem convention: Jim Webb.  This, even though Obama is making a major play for Virginia. This, even though Webb would be
WaPo Takes Closer Look At McCain's Shadow Foreign Policy On GeorgiaThe Washington Post points out this morning just how odd John McCain's move has been in sending his own delegation to Georgia. "They
DNC Out-Raises RNC For First Time This Cycle The Democratic National Committee has announced that they raised $27.7 million for the month of July, just edging out the RNC's $26 million, the first time
From the Obama campaign's release:  Senator Barack Obama's campaign announced today that more than 65,000 new donors contributed to the Obama campaign during the month of July, bringing the total rais
Dem Party leaders call on Obama to run sharper race on economy Some leading Dems,  worried that the race against McCain looks tougher than they imagined, want Obama to sharpen his economic message and
Matt Drudge is -- ahem -- "reporting" that the New York Times has learned that Obama has made his Veep choice, and lots of folks in the political world are chattering away about this as if it's true.
The McCain campaign has outspent the Obama camp by hundreds of thousands of dollars, and in some cases by as much as a million dollars or more, in virtually all of the dozen battleground states where
Early on in the general election, the McCain campaign announced to great fanfare that they were going to make an all-out effort to pursue the female vote and win over disaffected Hillary supporters.
The Obama campaign is trying out a new message in response to McCain's endless discussion of his own POW experiences: Describe Obama's time as a community leader and public servant as akin to military
A bunch of folks have pointed out already that  yesterday's long New York Times piece on John McCain's response to 9/11 is really, really good.   With McCain today  questioning Obama's judgment on Ira
John McCain is ratcheting up his attacks on Obama over Iraq in a speech this morning, declaring flatly that Obama wants the U.S. to fail in Iraq because of "ambition."  In the  speech, which is going
The  new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll is out, and it finds that McCain's barrage of "celeb" ads and smears on Obama's alleged lack of patriotism has worked to produce a dead-heat:  Barack Obama's
Okay, not so much mindless speculation. Mostly real news. Here's a quick roundup of the latest Veep and convention updates...  * The Obama campaign announces a battleground state tour leading up to th
The McCain campaign keeps the "celeb" sneer attack ad campaign going with this new Spanish-language radio ad that tweaks the main theme a bit: "Fame must be grand for Barack Obama. But is he ready to
One thing that frequently gets this blog in a funk is the rather astonishing ability of some pundits to see questionable or even reprehensible political behavior on the part of McCain and his top advi
There's been a ton of buzz on the web for the last day or so -- beginning with  this Daily Kos diary -- suggesting that John McCain patterned his story about a Vietamese captor drawing a cross in the
Barack Obama is giving his speech before the Veterans of Foreign Wars right now. With some Dems questioning whether he's hitting back hard enough against John McCain's attacks, Obama went out of his w
In an apparent effort to regain the offensive, the Obama campaign launched a broad attack on McCain today, portraying him as reckless on foreign policy, a hot-head who's too willing to use force and n
Oh, it's just so great to have Rudy back!   On a conference call with reporters just now set up to attack Obama over his  foreign policy adviser's trip to Syria, the pro-choice Rudy basically said tha
The McCain campaign is likely going to try to make an issue today over  this report in the New York Sun saying that a foreign policy adviser to Obama provided advice to the Syrian government last mont
Responding to Obama's  demand yesterday that John McCain stop saying mean stuff questioning his patriotism, McCain himself will take up the issue today on the stump and deny that he'd ever done such a
It's instructive to compare the two ads that the campaigns unleashed today attacking each other on taxes.   McCain is up with a  new radio spot that keeps up the attack line that Obama is a "celebrity
It's time to acknowledge the possibility that the "celeb" hook may be in deep.  This  new poll from Reuters/Zogby, which finds McCain up by five points, might be the first national poll to find Obama
An  odd little scoop from Pennsylvania's Scranton Times:  A brother of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and local Democrats who backed her unsuccessful presidential campaign socialized privately Monday w
In a possible sign that a real third-party attack apparatus could take shape and swift-boat Barack Obama with ads, a new entity calling itself the "American Issues Project" has produced a new spot goi
Here's a fun little find that is likely to give Dems more ammo to blast away at John McCain's number-of-houses gaffe.  It turns out that a few months ago, a McCain family corporation closed on a secon
John McCain's number-of-houses gaffe may well be remembered as an important turning point in the campaign. It's a moment Dems have been waiting for that is serving as a catalyst for a much more intens
Here's McCain campaign spokesperson Brian Rogers' response to Obama's  hit on McCain today for not knowing how many houses he owns.   It hits just about every Obama-is-elitist hot-button known to exis
The Democrats are going after John McCain over some choice quotes he gave in a Politico interview on the subject of wealth -- lines that could seriously undermine his attempts to cast Barack Obama as
The Obama and McCain campaigns just jointly announced that they've reached an agreement on the format for three presidential debates and one veep one.  The agreement features an interesting variety of
All the daily blocking and tackling over things like McCain's number-of-houses gaffe can easily lead you to forget the larger context in which this campaign is playing out. A  new Pew poll offers a br
This is a sign of the unique historical nature of this presidential race, and an interesting twist on the old campaign game of raising expectations for your opponent.  The McCain campaign has just bla
If John McCain's number-of-houses gaffe made his efforts to paint Obama as an out-of-touch elitist all the more ridiculous, the McCain campaign apparently hasn't gotten the memo yet.  McCain is up wit
As all you regulars know, the McCain camp's constant evocation of his P.O.W. past as an all-purpose shield against any and all criticism is a singular obsession of this blog.  So it's gratifying to se
Here it is: The official TPM tally of precisely how many homes the McCains own. Everyone -- apparently including McCain himself -- has been working feverishly since yesterday to nail down this elusive
Report: McCain Running Mate Will Be ... ??? Various reports are coming out about John McCain's veep-hunt, with Mark Halperin reporting that GOP sources say it will be Mitt Romney. On the other hand, t
Joe Biden just wrapped up his first speech as Obama's veep candidate, and it offered a glimpse of his role on the ticket beyond offering foreign policy expertise.   Biden, who has struggled at times w
Barack Obama is currently introducing his new running mate at an event in Springfield, Illinois, and he's offering strong testament to Biden's foreign policy expertise and character, which Obama notes
In choosing Joe Biden as his running mate, Barack Obama is gambling that Biden's many strengths will compensate for his own weaknesses as a candidate, rather than serve as a backdrop against which tho
Here's the email from the Obama campaign making it official that Joe Biden is indeed his Veep choice, as earlier reports indicated:  Greg --  I have some important news that I want to make official.
John McCain himself is now POW-POW-POW-ing to deflect criticism of his number-of-houses gaffe.  McCain slipped a reference to his war captivity into an   interview McCain did with CBS that's airing to
John McCain is up with his second spot in two days hitting Obama over his veep choice, this one whacking him for not picking Hilllary:    The spot makes a kind of double-barreled bid for embittered Hi
Some advance excerpts of Michelle Obama's convention speech have just been sent out by the campaign, and her mission tonight will clearly be to demystify the Obamas' background, biography, and heritag
The McCain campaign today effectively endorsed the tactic used in an ad Swift-Boating Obama for his ties to former Weatherman William Ayers -- but four months ago McCain unequivocally pledged to join
Here's video of the ad we reported on below that the Obama campaign is running in Ohio responding to the earlier Swift-Boating spot tying Obama to former Weatherman Bill Ayers...      "With all our pr
Former Hillary spokesperson Howard Wolfson appears to officially confirm, on the record, that there's a real rift between Bill Clinton and Barack Obama,  writing openly about it in The New Republic to
The Obama campaign goes up with a lighthearted negative spot hitting McCain on the economy:    The ad is set to the old Sam Cooke tune "Wonderful World," and features a singer belting out the lyrics "
A key challenge for Hillary was to persuade her supporters that the raw passions unleashed in them by her candidacy are about something larger than her, and are instead about the causes and goals and
Hillary kicks off her speech immediately hitting the key point: She is a supporter of Barack Obama, and there will be no questioning this fact; Obama must win the presidency for the sake of the future
Along with all the convention hoopla going on tonight, there's also a big primary race you should keep an eye out for: The Republican House primary in Alaska, where the result could have a huge effect
Yesterday I  noted that Joe Klein had sat in on a focus group of 21 undecided voters and had discovered that character questions were way more important than issues in determining their presidential p
As I've noted before, it's impossible to write an item about former Hillary supporter Ed Rendell without using the word "blunt," and  this blunt assessment of Obama from Rendell certainly won't quiet
Here's a development that really bears watching: In stark contrast to John Kerry's 2004 campaign, the Obama team has developed a very aggressive response to the growing Swift-Boating apparatus that is
This is  causing some consternation in Dem circles today:  Former Gov. Mark Warner plans to offer a lesson in Virginia-style bipartisanship to thousands of hardcore Democrats in his convention keynote
John McCain is cranking up his attacks on Obama's internationalist approach to foreign policy by giving a speech today that hits Obama for not giving America enough credit for winning the Cold War --
Newsweek digs into yesterday's news about a possible plot to assassinate Barack Obama and  confirms the arrests:  A law-enforcement official familiar with the investigation has told NEWSWEEK that thre
Tonight: Hillary's Big Speech Hillary Clinton will be giving her much-anticipated convention speech tonight, in which she rallies her own supporters to Barack Obama's candidacy. Expect Hillary to talk
On the day that Hillary's set to address the Dem convention, the McCain campaign goes up on the air with a new spot that evokes her most controversial ad hitting Obama -- the 3 A.M. spot:    McCain's
After Joe Biden's speech, Obama made a surprise appearance at the convention and hailed the Biden family while offering strong words of praise for, and reconciliation towards, both Clintons, on the la
Bill's ability to frame the big choices in a campaign is legendary, so it's worth looking at his speech's framing of the choice in this election:  The choice is clear. The Republicans will nominate a
Bill Clinton did two things in his speech: Offered a full-throated endorsement of Obama's readiness to do the job he did; and harnessed the emotional power of nostalgic memories of his own victory and
Clinton aides  start leaking details to the Associated Press about Bill's big speech tonight, promising that Bill will unequivocally argue that Obama is ready to assume the job he did for eight years:
A new round of polls today shows a continued close race in four key battleground states that all voted for George W. Bush in 2004, but there is reason for cautious optimism about Barack Obama.  A new
At a press conference today, Rudy pulled a bit of a whoopsie, saying: "This is not the time to have somebody who has no executive experience as President of the United States."    That's a bit off mes
The House GOP campaign committee's new batch of ad reservations clearly shows that the GOP has completely given up on even trying to regain the House -- they're just doing their best to limit another
On Fox News just now, Howard Wolfson unleashed a broad attack on MSNBC and its top on-air personalities, slamming the network's coverage of Bill and Hillary, hitting back at Chris Matthews and Keith O
(The following is an interview of Senator Joe Biden, conducted by Josh Marshall in early Summer 2004.)  Josh Marshall: There's several points I wanted to touch on, and a number of these -- if you can
There's a bit of buzz this morning about the fact that anonymous Hillary advisers supposedly suggested to The New York Times that her speech last night was partly driven by the fact that she would run
The new McCain ad released this morning attacking Obama on Iran rips Obama's words out of context so egregiously that it amounts to a distortion at best and an outright smear at worst.  The ad's narra
New McCain Ad: Obama "Dangerously Unprepared" To Deal With Iran The McCain campaign has a new ad out, which the campaign says will run in "key states," attacking Obama as "dangerously unprepared to be
The ultimate irony of  tonight's speech may be that John McCain's attacks on Obama as a celeb lighweight may have actually forced Obama to make a stronger, more grounded, and more politically-effectiv
One noteworthy nugget in his speech: Obama delves into his biography and directly takes on  McCain's "celeb" sneer attack.  Obama runs through the story of his mom, who raised him and his sister and o
To Chairman Dean and my great friend Dick Durbin; and to all my fellow citizens of this great nation;  With profound gratitude and great humility, I accept your nomination for the presidency of the Un
The challenge for Al Gore is that criticizing the Bush years inevitably becomes a discussion of the 2000 election and a condemnation of the decision not to elect Gore (or not to grant him a big enough
Some excerpts of Obama's speech have just been sent out by the campaign, and they suggest that tonight Obama will do what he's done to such great effect for the last 18 months: Insist that his audienc
Okay, this is interesting: The Obama campaign is now running ads responding to the Swift-Boating Obama-Ayers spot at a significantly faster pace than the original spot itself is running.  It's yet ano
This is starting to get more and more attention today: In an  interview with the Dallas Morning News, a health care policy adviser to John McCain appeared to suggest that anyone with access to an emer
POW-POW-POW hyperinflation alert!  In an  interview with KDKA radio in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, John McCain POW-POW-POWed when asked about charges that he's an elitist who's out of touch with the Ame
Tonight: Obama's Acceptance Speech, And Good Weather Barack Obama will give his big speech tonight at Invesco Field, ceremonially accepting the Democratic nomination before a packed football stadium o
John McCain and the Republican National Committee are significantly expanding the map of their ad spending, and have now reserved ad time in North Carolina and statewide in Virginia, as well as in new
McCain's surprise choice of Sarah Palin is a gamble that picking a solid conservative and non-Washington insider with a bit of a reformist record will outweigh the clear downside: That choosing someon
Report: McCain Veep Isn't Romney Or Pawlenty -- Who Is It??? John McCain is holding his big event at 12 p.m. ET today in Dayton, Ohio, where he will announce his running mate. MSNBC is reporting this
This is  starting to get attention on  liberal blogs and elsewhere: It appears that earlier this year, Palin took heat for standing by and giggling on the air while a radio host called her political f
We already noted this in today's roundup, but if anything deserves its own thread, this one does.   Check out how a top McCain adviser is  now defending the decision to put Sarah Palin within reach of
New Obama Ad: Regardless Of VP Pick, McCain Just More Of The Same The Obama campaign has a new ad on national cable, responding to Sarah Palin's selection as John McCain's running mate. The ad says re
Bush Now Unlikely To Be At GOP Convention President Bush will probably not be attending the Republican convention anymore, a last-minute schedule change on account of the imminent landfall of Hurrican
On the same day that the Republicans were forced to dramatically cut back their convention activities, the Palin Meltdown unfolded with extraordinary speed. It's worth pondering the totality of what h
Stranger and stranger:  The 17-year-old daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is pregnant, Palin said on Monday in an announcement intended to knock down rumors by liberal blo
This seems worth digging into a bit. The Alaska Independence Party, which was  formed with the goal of seceding from the union and establishing Alaska as an independent state, says that Palin addresse
Republican Convention Starting Today, But Prime-Time Cancelled The Republican Convention is officially beginning today in St. Paul, but it has been seriously scaled back out of respect to Hurricane Gu
Breaking: Lieberman fibbed!  Tonight at the convention, Joe Lieberman will attack Obama -- even though he expressly promised not to do this last month.  In early August, Lieberman said  this about his
The founder of the Alaska Independence Party -- a group that has been courted over the years by Sarah Palin, and one her husband was a member of for roughly seven years -- once professed his "hatred f
Sarah Palin clearly doesn't have a problem mixing politics and religion.  The Huffington Post has unearthed a video of Palin speaking to her former church, the Wasilla Assembly of God, a few months ag
It turns out the gender card isn't just for liberal feminists -- Republicans can play it, too.  McCain surrogates and other prominent Republican commentators are now expressly selling Palin's candidac
A prominent Republican writer says it's legit to bring up McCain's age -- and makes the interesting argument that the choice of Sarah Palin as Veep candidate should make us put McCain's age front and
Ron Fournier, send in the cavalry!  On a day when The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and McClatchy all weighed in with tough pieces on the weak vetting of Sarah Palin, the Associated Press  ri
This one is noteworthy, because it's a first stab at directly taking on McCain's war service in a sustained way by arguing that his POW experience has rendered him temperamentally unfit to be presiden
Republican Convention Reconvening Today, Minus Rudy The Republican National Convention will be meeting again today, with prime-time programming set to go ahead after yesterday's cancellation from Hurr
The Obama campaign's response to Sarah Palin's speech, from spokesperson Bill Burton, acknowledges its clearly successful delivery but seeks to highlight its slashing and partisan nature in hopes of t
Here's some  new polling from CBS News that drives home how high the stakes are for Sarah Palin's speech tonight:  Even after Sen. John McCain named her as his running mate on Friday, Alaska Gov. Sara
Some advance excerpts of Sarah Palin's big speech are  now available, and they offer a glimpse of how she'll parry criticism of her lack of experience.  Palin plans to suggest that critics who have sa
The AFL-CIO is readying a major anti-McCain blitz timed to McCain's big convention night tomorrow, unleashing 10,000 volunteers that will deliver fliers hitting McCain to some 200,000 households in fi
The Obama campaign has been promising to hit McCain hard over campaign manager Rick Davis'  unfortunate claim that the campaign "is not about issues," and Obama himself made good on this promise today
The Repubs really do need to get their message straight about the allegedly vicious and destructive media assault -- otherwise known as "journalism" -- on Sarah Palin.  As you've heard already, McCain
Reverend Jeremiah Wright  said this:  And they will not only attack you if you try to point out what's going on in white America, U.S. of K.K.K.A.  ...and  this:  "The government gives them the drugs,
Tonight: Palin's Big Speech Sarah Palin will be delivering her acceptance speech as the Republican vice-presidential nominee tonight, a second chance to make a good impression on the voting public aft
John McCain told powerful stories about his own heroism tonight. He suffered in a way few of us can imagine.  But why do we have to accept the idea that he's also modest and reticent to discuss his ow
Not a lot to say about McCain's speech -- the full text is after the jump -- but how on earth did they not avoid this:    Prediction: There will be little to no bounce out of tonight; indeed, McCain's
Here's the first round of excerpts from McCain's speech tonight -- they feature as direct a reference as you could possibly want to McCain's service, and Obama's lack of it:  "I'm very proud to have i
Here's some comic relief while you're waiting for the Republican Convention programming tonight: Some wacky down-ticket ads.  First up is this spot from GOP Senator Elizabeth Dole, who is in a close r
Here it is: The bio video of Sarah Palin that was supposed to air at the Republican convention last night before her speech.  You should watch it. The video, which was leaked (surprisingly) to Fox New
Tonight: McCain's Acceptance Speech John McCain will deliver his acceptance speech to the Republican convention tonight, laying out how he can overcome Obama's current lead in the polls with a combina
Okay, the  McCain-Walter Reed Middle School backdrop debacle is getting weirder by the second. Now the principal of the school is hammering McCain for using footage of the school during his convention
Nielsen's detailed ratings on McCain's speech last night are  now available, and they're eye-opening. McCain's speech was watched by half a million more than Obama's was...  More than 38.9 million peo
Sarah Palin made her post-convention debut on the campaign trail today in Wisconsin, and left little doubt that she's going to keep playing her "pit-bull with lipstick" role with gusto.  Palin seized
As many of you know, one of the odder aspects of McCain's speech last night was the image of an unidentified mansion-like building on the big screen in the background behind him.  The image first appe
There are two big pieces out that offer somewhat different versions of what Democrats are planning to do about Sarah Palin.  The New York Times has a  long story reporting that the Obama campaign is m
GOP Congressman: Calling Obama "Uppity" Wasn't Racist Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, a Georgia Republican, released the following statement in defense of his having called Barack Obama "uppity": "I've never
Obama and McCain To Visit World Trade Center Site Together The two presidential nominees have announced that they will make a joint visit to Ground Zero in New York this Thursday, the anniversary of t
McCain Campaign: No Palin Interviews Until She's Treated With "Deference" McCain campaign manager Rick Davis told Fox News this morning that Sarah Palin won't be doing any media interviews "until the
A new set of Rasmussen polls, all conducted yesterday in the middle of John McCain's post-convention bounce, suggests that this race remains close on the state-by-state level.  â¢ In Colorado, Obama
McCain and his advisers are now conceding that, yes, Sarah Palin was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it -- but they're casting this as more proof of her reform credentials.  In so doi
A  nice catch from Ben Smith: In an interview on MSNBC today, McCain spokesperson Jill Hazelbaker appeared to suggest that Sarah Palin will do an actual press conference with reporters one of these da
Today's polls confirm that John McCain is enjoying a post-convention bounce, though it might not be all that drastic in terms of the big picture:  â¢ Today's Gallup poll has McCain again 49%-45%, out
Has ABC News' Charlie Gibson become the McCain campaign's favorite network anchor?  The question is a fair one in light of the news that Gibson has  landed the first exclusive interview with Sarah Pal
New McCain Ad: McCain And Palin "The Original Mavericks" John McCain has a new ad out on national cable and in key states, pitching both himself and Sarah Palin to voters as "the original mavericks."
The McCain campaign is up with a new ad attacking Obama on education that makes some rather strong insinuations about sex:    There's a lot to chew on here. But we want to focus on one particularly pe
In an unusual move, the McCain campaign has quietly started buying ad time on the national networks, a strategy that for the most part hasn't really been pursued on a large scale in presidential campa
This seems like a big deal: Is the GOP trying to confuse voters and rig the election against the Democratic candidate in a hotly-contested race for a plum Senate seat?  It seems that way to quite a fe
Hillary is set to do what is likely to be her only high-dollar fundraiser for Obama before the election -- an intimate dinner in Manhattan where she's planning to raise at least $500,000 for the Illin
In Obama's  ad hitting McCain on education this morning, there's this throwaway line:  "He even proposed abolishing the Department of Education."  What's the basis for this charge? It turns out that i
Unchastened by the multiple media outlets who have pointed out that Sarah Palin's claim to have said "thanks but no thanks" to the Bridge to Nowhere is a lie, she repeated the falsehood again today on
The Anchorage Daily News, which knows Sarah Palin as well as anyone, weighs in with  an editorial today posing some tough questions that Palin should be forced to answer:  * Why have you reneged on yo
New Obama Ad: McCain "Doesn't Understand" Education The Obama campaign has launched this new ad against John McCain, hitting McCain for voting to cut education funding and having an economic plan that
Hillary defended Obama from the GOP lipstick brigade at a  D.C. news conference today, saying that Obama's comment was "in no way meant as an affront" and accusing McCain's campaign of trying to "dive
Oh, the layers upon layers of irony...  The McCain campaign may be decrying Obama's use of the "lipstick on a pig" line, but it turns out that a woman who wrote a book called Lipstick on a Pig actuall
On the trail in Virginia just now, Obama answered the McCain "lipstick" attack, refusing to engage the central phony charge and using it to cast McCain as unwilling to discuss serious issues.  Obama a
As you know, the McCain campaign is  pretending to be outraged by Barack Obama's use of the common phrase "lipstick on a pig," with McCain surrogates pretending that they believe that Obama was tacitl
AP Calls Out Falsehoods In McCain's New Ad The Associated Press did a fact-check on the McCain campaign's new ad that claims Barack Obama wants to teach kindergartners about sex before they can read.
More  excerpts from Charlie Gibson's interview with Sarah Palin are now available, and this excerpt, in which Palin says that war with Russia would "perhaps" be necessary should that country invade a
The first round of Charlie Gibson's interview with Sarah Palin has just been posted over at ABC's site, and as expected, it's  pretty dispiriting stuff:  GIBSON: Governor, let me start by asking you a
One of the McCain campaign's chief assaults on Barack Obama is that McCain is insisting that the troops return only after "victory" in Iraq, while Obama refuses to use that word -- a position the McCa
Not that you needed it, but here's more on the extraordinary lengths the McCain campaign is going to in order to protect Sarah Palin from genuine media scrutiny.  This coming Saturday night, CNN is ru
If you would, take a minute to watch this video of a Democratic contributor to CNN demonstrating what seems like an effective way of going on the offensive against the GOP on national security.  The s
This  story in The Huffington Post got only a bit of attention yesterday, but it deserves a lot more. It appears that Sarah Palin's now-infamous decision to put the state-owned jet plane on eBay might
Polls: Obama Ahead In Ohio And Pennsylvania, Behind In Florida In a sign that John McCain's convention bounce hasn't really changed the race in the key swing states, a new set of Quinnipiac polls show
In the newest installment of Charlie Gibson's interview with Sarah Palin, airing tonight, she was pressed to explain her frequent claim that she said "thanks, but no thanks" to the Bridge to Nowhere,"
The down-ticket races are following the lead of the presidential race -- and getting dirtier and dirtier by the day. Here are the latest developments:  New Coleman Ad: Al Franken Is A Foul-Mouthed Clo
Here's something that could complicate the McCain-Palin reform message a bit: It turns out that McCain's national finance co-chair, Wayne Berman, is a paid lobbyist, and has been one for years, for tw
The Obama camp has just unleashed one of its toughest hits on McCain's character yet, signaling a newly aggressive effort to hammer McCain's supposed honor and integrity over the lies and adver-sleaze
There's a spirited debate going on this morning over whether it matters that Sarah Palin betrayed a clear  lack of knowledge of the Bush Doctrine during last night's ABC News interview.  Richard Starr
Welcome to our newest feature here at Election Central -- a roundup of the latest news on a lot of those important down-ballot races.  The presidential race is obviously the biggest thing out there, b
WaPo: Palin Falsely Links Iraq And 9/11The Washington Post reports that Sarah Palin appears to have publicly linked the Iraq War with 9/11, a long-discredited view. Palin told a brigade of Soldiers ab
The Obama campaign, sensing a shift in the media narrative in response to McCain's constant lies and adver-sleazements, keeps up the hits on McCain's character with this scorcher from spokesperson Bil
Obama Cancels SNL Appearance, Scales Back Campaigning Due To Ike The Obama campaign has seriously downsized its campaign appearances for today in recognition of Hurricane Ike, most notably canceling t
Wow. This is a bit like being labeled a sleaze merchant by Bob Guccione or Larry Flynt.  The Obama campaign is calling attention to Karl Rove's  appearance on Fox News today, in which he actually told
New Obama Ad: McCain's White House Will Be Run By "Super-Lobbyist" The Obama campaign has rolled out another ad attacking John McCain's links to Washington lobbyists, set to air on national cable and
Among the many startling accusations against Sarah Palin in the new profile of her in The New York Times, this one truly stands out: Not only did Palin want the Wasilla librarian to ban books, but she
The already topsy-turvy race for New York's 13th Congressional District could get even crazier. According to the New York Daily News, incumbent  Rep. Vito Fossella, who was forced into retirement by a
In a sign of just how nervous senior Democrats are about Barack Obama's situation, top Democratic Party operatives are privately urging the party's major donors to get serious about putting big money
The presidential race really could not be closer in the key swing states, according to a new round of Rasmussen polls, with ties in two states and near-ties in three others -- though on balance it's d
Here's this evening's rundown on the Congressional races: We've got a whole lot of ads running in these campaigns, with the GOP mounting a huge negative offensive in an effort to minimize their losses
This just might be the most brutal attack ad we've seen all cycle: Incumbent GOP Senator Gordon Smith, who's locked in a tough reelection fight, has a new spot that accuses Dem opponent Jeff Merkley o
Obama's Colorado campaign sends over  audio of a new radio ad running in the state and in other battlegrounds pushing back on claims that an Obama presidency would be a disaster for gun owners.  The n
In a speech today in Colorado, Barack Obama is seizing on today's financial news -- and McCain's claim today that the "fundamentals of our economy are strong" -- to further paint McCain as out of touc
Joe Biden is currently speaking in Michigan, where he seized on John McCain's  claim this morning that the "fundamentals of our economy" are strong in order to unleash an extensive populist attack tha
Here's today's rundown on the Congressional races: The money is flowing like water, as more and more candidates in close races are hitting the airwaves.  Senate GOP Candidates In Possible Financial Ho
Robert Greenwald's Brave New PAC goes up on national cable with a new 30-second spot starring fellow McCain POW Phillip Butler, who says he knows from personal experience that a POW background is not
It looks like Joe Biden will be playing a lead role in the Obama campaign's ratcheted-up assault on McCain's decision to run a campaign dominated by non-stop lies and adver-sleazements.  "The campaign
New McCain Ad: Only McCain And Palin Can Fix The Economy John McCain has a new ad out this morning, touching on the subject of the financial crisis. It probably won't be as memorable as the Obama camp
Here's the rundown on today's Congressional races: The theme for today is ethics -- and how everyone is saying their opponents don't have any.  House Dems Demand DOJ Get Involved In Miss. Senate Race
Terry McAuliffe irked plenty of Obama supporters with his eternally jovial but aggressive advocacy for Hillary during the Dem primary, but now McAuliffe is set to make amends -- he's finalizing plans
On MSNBC moments ago, senior McCain economics adviser Carly Fiorina just sought to clarify her  remarks earlier today that Sarah Palin isn't qualified to run a major corporation -- but she may have in
In Colorado, Obama is currently hammering McCain again for his claim that the "fundamentals of our economy are strong" -- another sign that the Obama team thinks they've got McCain in a serious gaffe
Here's a rundown of the latest developments on the down-ticket races: The Dem party committees are going on offense, hitting the air with a new round of attack ads against the Republican candidates.
If McCain gets away with his strategic gamble that he can tell non-stop lies without paying any kind of price for it, it will be because of people like CNN's Candy Crowley.  Crowley's performance last
A new spate of ads suggests that outside groups are finally getting serious about gearing up to assist the Obama and McCain campaigns in a vital task: Attacking the opponent.  Here's an ad from Born A
New Obama Ad Lambastes McCain's "Fundamentals" Line The Obama campaign has this campaign ad out today, set to run in targeted states, targeting John McCain on the economy and ridiculing his line about
Here's tonight's rundown on Congressional races: Republicans across the country are getting desperate in the face of some very stiff Dem challenges -- so they're accusing their opponents of various ki
A new round of CNN swing state polls holds encouraging news for Obama: It finds that McCain's waning convention bounce hasn't translated into leads in key states, and indeed, Obama is leading in two k
The AFL-CIO and an affiliated independent group are preparing to unleash an unusually large blitz of mailers targeting at least 1.5 million households in battleground states and across the country --
Barack Obama has now edged into a narrow lead in most of the national polls released today, suggesting John McCain's bounce may be subsiding after he had been leading over the last week and a half.  F
John McCain's efforts to remake himself as a fire-breathing, regulation-wielding populist who will take on Wall Street continued again today with a speech in Michigan.  Notably, in an effort to put hi
Chris Cillizza of The Washington Post never tires of telling us how influential Matt Drudge is. It's a frequent topic on the self-confessed Drudge-ologist's otherwise valuable blog, The Fix.  But toda
Here's this morning's rundown on the Congressional race: Economic insecurities are taking a greater and greater role in the Congressional races, with candidates giving their responses to corporate mal
A group of civil rights lawyers is launching what it bills as the largest voter-protection effort in American history, planning to raise and spend millions of dollars to station hundreds of lawyers an
New McCain Ad: I've Taken On Tougher Guys Than Wall St. John McCain has this new ad out on the economy, saying that he can reform the financial system while Barack Obama is just "talk and taxes," a co
The Obama campaign goes up with a two-minute ad in which Obama directly addresses the camera as he lays out his plans to rescue the economy:    The Obama campaign seemed caught off-guard by McCain's r
The McCain campaign is up with a new ad that hits Obama on the economy, by attacking Obama for his associations with former Fannie Mae head Franklin Raines (who happens to be black):    The ad suggest
Here's tonight's rundown on the Congressional races: It wasn't a good day for the GOP, with a mixture of legal defeat, the wrong candidate winning the nomination for a key seat, and tough counter-atta
The current dynamic of the race -- with Obama on the offensive daily on the economy, and McCain struggling to limit losses on the issue -- showed no signs of abating today, as Obama reeled off hit aft
Not sure we've ever seen this one before. The McCain campaign has just blasted out a statement attacking Barack Obama for something he hasn't even said and might say later today!  From McCain spokespe
One thing Sarah Palin cites as proof of her reform credentials is a pay cut she says she took when she became Mayor of Wasilla in 1996.   "As mayor I took a voluntary pay cut, which didn't thrill my h
Finally -- real minority outreach from the GOP. The Virginia Republicans have a big rally coming up this Saturday that's designed to reach out to minority voters in Fairfax County.  Guess who is one o
I just got off the phone with the Miami reporter who interviewed John McCain and elicited the Spain-goof answer that we've been  writing about on the front page of TPM -- an interview in which McCain
Here's today's rundown on the Congressional races: It's shaping up to be a pretty good day for the Dems, with good poll results and new lines of attack emerging against their Republican opponents in k
There's a lot in the  internals of the new New York Times poll to chew over, but I wanted to highlight a few numbers that seem to suggest that Obama's holding up pretty well under the withering assaul
McCain Ad: Obama Wants More Taxes And Spending John McCain has this new attack ad out, set to air nationwide, depicting Obama as a big spender who will raise your taxes:    Missing from the ad, of cou
This got a bit of attention earlier this week, and we're surprised it hasn't attracted the notice of the bigger news orgs, because it's a pretty interesting mystery: Who, exactly, is funding the distr
Here's tonight's rundown on the Congressional races: The Dems have had a pretty good day, scoring key endorsements and getting some good poll data, though it wasn't all bad news for the GOP.  GOP Sena
Here's a bit of interesting polling data from around the Web. The new  CNN poll of polls finds virtual dead heats in Ohio and Indiana:  According to averages of several recent surveys from both states
I've just obtained some records from the city of Wasilla that confirm that Sarah Palin's pay as mayor went up, despite her claim that she took a pay cut.  One thing Palin has frequently claimed as pro
John McCain has come out with this new Spanish-language in Florida, usuing a tried-and-true tactic for courting Miami Cubans: Linking your opponent to Latin American Marxism, in this case Castro-ally
Barack Obama just delivered a sober and somber statement on the economic crisis, stressing the need for "bipartisan spirit" and calling for he and McCain to "come together" -- implicitly contrasted hi
Here's today's rundown on the Congressional races: The momentum so far today seems to be with the Dems, with some decent poll numbers and strong ad campaigns.  Stevens Tries To Get Ads Against Him Pul
In a speech today in Green Bay, John McCain kept up with his efforts to grab control of the debate over the economy by hitting Obama's ties to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  McCain cast himself as the a
McCain: Obama Puts Himself First, Not His Country John McCain has stepped up his attacks on Barack Obama's patriotism. "Country first or Obama first," McCain told a Green Bay rally last night, then go
McCain Raised $48 Million In August, His Best Ever John McCain collected a very impressive $48 million in August, less than Barack Obama's $66 million but still his best month ever. On top of that, th
Dems And GOP At Financial Parity For General Election The two presidential nominees and their parties entered the general election on roughly equal financial footing -- Barack Obama and the DNC had $9
A new raft of polls today have Barack Obama doing well nationally and in key states, though it's not a perfect picture by any means:  â¢ The new CNN national poll gives Obama a 51%-47% lead, with a Â
Here's tonight's run-down of the Congressional races: The political attacks today have been particularly rough, with candidates being charged with exporting jobs, crafting legislation to benefit thems
An emerging meme on the right, one that's being championed by the likes of Neil Cavuto and others, is that the mortgage crisis happened not because of deregulation, but because brokers were pressured
Hillary just held a private conference call with Ohio Governor Ted Strickland and dozens of donors to her campaign and to Ohio Dems, urging them to plow funds into the coffers of the Ohio state party
The McCain camp has just blasted out to its list a fundraising email by Sarah Palin claiming that Obama-Biden Democrats are waging frequent attacks on her family. From the email:  Friends, in the cour
Obama is currently giving a big speech on the economy in Green Bay, WI. In it, he launches a broad assault on McCain that ties together a number of Obama campaign themes, criticizing McCain's pro-dere
In a speech on the economy today in Scranton, PA, John McCain spat populist fire as he railed at the high executive compensation and golden parachutes enjoyed by top Wall Street executives. From the p
Here's this morning's run-down on the Congressional races: The Dems' chances of taking a key Senate seat have just gone up considerably, and the party overall is spending heavily in key races.  Polls
The Obama campaign is going after McCain over a story in today's New York Times  reporting that McCain campaign manager Rick Davis took a staggering $30,000 a month for five years as the head of a gro
McCain Ad: Obama "Born Of" Corruption The McCain campaign has this new national TV ad out, accusing Obama of being "born of the corrupt Chicago political machine," connecting him to former fundraiser
In a sign that the Obama campaign is getting serious about tapping his financial advantage over McCain with six weeks to go, Obama's overall spending on TV ads has jumped 50% in the last two weeks, wh
Here's tonight's run-down on the Congressional races: The Dems are leveraging their big financial advantage over the GOP into an extensive round of attack ads against the Republicans, in order to pick
Both candidates held dualing press conferences today amid the meltdown, with McCain just wrapping up his first one in 40 days.   But the pressure on McCain to leave a bigger footprint today was arguab
A  new Pew poll directly measures voter sentiment on the question of which candidate is best equipped to handle the current crisis, and it finds Obama ahead by double-digits, even among independents:
In remarks this afternoon on the bailout, Barack Obama sharpened up his critique of the President and the bailout plan's "my-way-or-the-highway" aspects, invoking bad memories of past Bush haste and "
Events are moving fast, so the state of play isn't immediately clear. But it appears a major standoff has developed between the McCain campaign and the big news orgs over access -- or lack thereof --
Here's today's rundown on the Congressional races: An avalanche of polls shows the Democrats running ahead or close behind in several seats that have been in GOP hands for years -- suggesting the poss
New McCain Ad: Dems Don't Know What To Do About The Market The Mccain campaign has another ad out on the economy, depicting Democrats as clueless on the economy -- and using some very interesting imag
Here's tonight's run-down on the Congressional races: National Democrats are spending big, but a new round of polling could give the GOP some hope in key races.  Lieberman Defends GOPer Norm Coleman F
Readers familiar with  Josh's Republican Bitch-Slap Theory of electoral politics will recognize that Obama has thus far handled McCain's call for a suspension of the debate in precisely the right way.
An aide to Harry Reid tells me that John McCain called Reid this afternoon, only to be told by Reid that it wouldn't be helpful if McCain came to Washington.  The aide adds that Reid read aloud to McC
At a press conference just now, Barack Obama rejected John McCain's demand for a suspension of the debate.  "I believe we should continue to have the debate," he just said. "I believe it makes sense f
McCain campaign spokesperson Brian Rogers offers his chronology of the phone calls between the two candidates in a statement:  Senator Obama phoned Senator McCain at 8:30 am this morning but did not r
John McCain will say later today in New York that he's suspending his campaign in response to the economic crisis, and is calling on Barack Obama to delay Friday's debate. From the prepared remarks ju
The lengths the McCain campaign is going to in order to shield Sarah Palin from questioning are reaching truly comic dimensions.  Check out this nugget from the pool report,  via Jonathan Martin, on J
The New York Times, under fire from the McCain camp over an earlier piece probing McCain campaign manager Rick Davis, responded today with a second piece that hits Davis very hard,  reporting that Dav
Here's today's run-down on the Congressional races: GOP candidates are on the defensive on the economic crisis in a big way -- and in their fumbling efforts to respond are digging themselves in deeper
In a sign of alarm in the McCain camp, McCain aides are aggressively working to discredit the new ABC/Washington Post poll finding that Barack Obama is ahead of McCain nationally by 52%-43%.  The McCa
More polls are showing just how dramatic Obama's advantage over McCain is on the economy -- and how big his edge is on the economic meltdown in particular.  * In the Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll r
Joe Biden is set to jump back into one of his major roles as Obama's Veep candidate -- front man for attacking McCain on foreign policy -- by giving a speech in Ohio today designed to frame the nation
Poll: Obama Ahead By Nine Points, Above 50% Mark The new ABC/Washington Post poll has some very good news for Barack Obama, with him leading John McCain among likely voters by a 52%-43% margin, in com
The financial meltdown, and McCain's campaign "suspension," have resulted in one advantage for McCain: They've reduced the focus on Sarah Palin. But there's plenty of Palin palaver out there today.  H
Survey USA, which did some snap polling yesterday finding big majorities think the debate and campaign should proceed, had  another crack at it today, after news of McCain's campaign "suspension" had
Here's tonight's run-down of the Congressional races: More polls show that the Democrats have a very good chance of picking up some tough seats, thanks to the economic crisis and anti-incumbent fervor
If two new polls are any indication, all the lying and adver-sleazements coming out of the McCain campaign could be starting to take a toll on his maverick straight-talker image.  Some  advance number
CBS News has  just posted video of a  chunk of Katie Couric's interview with Sarah Palin that will air tonight. It's indescribable. That's not meant as snark. Just try to describe the part where she e
Though the McCain campaign announced yesterday that it's pulling all its ads, in reality the logistical challenges of doing that are so daunting that it's unlikely all of McCain's ads will be off the
Here's a wrap-up of the four major national tracking polls for today, with Barack Obama in a narrow lead over John McCain:  â¢ Gallup: Tied Obama 46%, McCain 46%, with a Â±2% margin of error, compare
McCain's suspension of his campaign apparently doesn't apply to his own advisers.  Despite McCain's claim that he's put his campaign on hold, two of them directly attacked Barack Obama in political te
Here's today's run-down on the Congressional races: The Dems are hammering away at Republicans over the financial crisis, raising questions on everything from regulation to the potential impact on Soc
Barack Obama, speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative, offered a read on the politics of the bailout that was strikingly at odds with  McCain's read earlier this morning. From Obama's prepared remar
We've finally gotten to speak with the people behind the mass distribution of Obsession, a DVD warning viewers of the threats of radical Islam. And they're actually claiming that their mailing of the
MoveOn Ad Blames McCain's "Friends" For Economic Crisis In a sign that this campaign is certainly not being put on hold as John McCain would like, MoveOn has this funny new one-minute ad on national c
John McCain seemed to be the candidate on the offensive tonight in some key exchanges, and the economic meltdown didn't prevent the debate from being mostly about national security -- turf favorable t
The debate shifts over to foreign policy, and Obama takes his best shot at McCain over Iraq, laying out the whole case:  John you like to pretend like the war began in 2007. You talk about the surge -
Obama's challenge is to keep the focus on the fundamental ideological differences between the parties on the economy, as a way of distracting from McCain's claims to differences between himself and th
With the debate about to start, it's worth reading former Hillary adviser Howard Wolfson's  interesting post diagnosing the McCain campaign's problems.  Wolfson argues that McCain's campaign suspensio
Here's tonight's run-down on the Congressional races: The economy continues to dominate the down-ticket races, and it's looking more and more like Dems stand to make significant gains off the crisis.
In a development that could have a significant impact on the presidential race, the rise in registered Democrats has far outpaced Republican registration in many key swing states, giving Dems a clear
Ben Smith  reports that the Republican National Committee is going to sink some six-figure advertising cash into Indiana, a state where Obama's been making a heavy play.  With its own polling presumab
MSNBC has notified an independent group running an ad questioning John McCain's health that it will no longer air the spot, only a half day after Fox's Bill O'Reilly attacked NBC's corporate bosses on
Barack Obama had some  tough words for McCain yesterday, decrying the injection of presidential politics into the bailout discussions. But today, with the general mood swinging in the direction of opt
John McCain will attend the debate. From his campaign:  Senator McCain has spent the morning talking to members of the Administration, members of the Senate, and members of the House. He is optimistic
Here's today's run-down on the Congressional races: With GOPers scrambling to staunch the political bleeding amid the meltdown, all signs point to Dems gaining in multiple down-ticket races.  Bachmann
Tonight: The Debate The first presidential debate is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET tonight at the University of Mississippi. Barack Obama will be showing up, while John McCain has not committed to coming ye
Obama Ad: McCain Said "Zero" About Middle Class The Obama campaign is quick out the gate with this new TV ad on the economy, criticizing McCain for saying nothing about the concerns of the middle clas
On reflection, last night's debate is best understood by what McCain failed to do do. With the dynamic of the race hardening daily in Obama's favor, McCain needed to force a moment where Obama's suppo
Okay, we thought that McCain had a slight upper hand tonight (though we also said it wasn't a game changer, which is basically another way of saying that McCain didn't do what he had to). But the init
McCain Retracts Palin's Agreements With Obama On Pakistan Appearing today on ABC's This Week, John McCain was forced to disavow Sarah Palin's agreement yesterday with Barack Obama about attacking al-Q
In the latest installment of the ongoing horror movie otherwise known as Sarah Palin's interviews with CBS News, John McCain just made a cameo appearance -- and blamed Palin's recent Pakistan flub on
Here's tonight's run-down on the Congressional races: The GOP may be panicking in the face of more poll numbers showing serious losses from the economic crisis, with a new round of nasty attack ads ag
John McCain just now delivered a statement to the press about the bailout collapse, and called for the finger-pointing to stop -- barely two hours after his campaign directly blamed Obama in unequivoc
Now that the bailout has failed in the House, it's worth contrasting the immediate responses from the campaigns.  In Colorado today, Obama called for calm and predicted ultimate success. Here's what h
In political terms, John McCain needed this bailout bill to pass. Now that it's  failed in the House, it's clear that this could pose a serious blow to his campaign -- and that his big campaign suspen
According to advance text sent our way by an Obama aide, Obama will use McCain's affection for gambling as a jumping off point to portray the Arizona Senator as a risk we can't afford to take on the e
Here's a wrap-up of the four major national tracking polls for today. Barack Obama continues to hold a big lead in post-debate polling:  â¢ Gallup: Obama 50%, McCain 42%, with a Â±2% margin of error,
Here's today's rundown on the Congressional races: The Wall St. bailout is dominating the discussion in the down-ticket races, with many Republicans taking political damage from the bad economic news.
The McCain campaign is up with a new radio spot hitting an earlier Obama ad for lying about his record on stem-cell research:    Here's the key text of the  Obama ad that the McCain camp is objecting
We now have two non-snap-polls that have measured a key question: Whether Obama gained or lost voter confidence on national security in the wake of the debate. Here's the  operative number from the  n
This morning, Chuck Todd and the rest of MSNBC's political team crunches the polls and shifts its electoral map in favor of Obama, with a couple of real surprises:  Four new states have been added to
McCain Campaign Orders Palin To Sedona For Debate-CrammingThe Wall St. Journal reports that Sarah Palin will be headed to John McCain's Sedona ranch this week for a few days of intensive debate prepar
Here's a fun postscript to John McCain's appearance yesterday afternoon -- the one where he  appeared to blame Obama and the Dems for the bailout implosion and then call for an end to the finger-point
Here's tonight's run-down on the Congressional races: The Democrats are aggressively exploiting the political opportunities presented by the economic crisis -- while the Republicans are running in the
We usually don't post Web ads, but this latest from the McCain campaign is so comically misleading that it really is a must-see:    The ad shows footage of Obama that's edited down to make him say thi
I missed this yesterday, but it's really worth a quick mention. Buried in  this New York Times piece about NBC anchor Tom Brokaw and his efforts to patch things up between his network and the McCain c
Now that John McCain's first effort to corral Congress into passing a bailout has proven a bust, the question is how aggressively Barack Obama will thrust himself into the center of the action at a mo
In public remarks a little while ago, John McCain professed his disappointment with the "lack of bipartisan good will" in dealing with the financial crisis, and called for everyone to "come together i
With the economy continuing to dominate the political discourse, Republicans are taking two tacks: Proclaiming their heroism in killing the bailout, or just plain changing the subject.  Bachmann: Pelo
The pro-war group Vets for Freedom is going up on the air tomorrow with a new ad -- which the group hasn't yet released -- that hits Obama on an array of foreign policy fronts, chastising him for supp
The AFL-CIO -- which has taken on a lead role in trying to persuade working class voters in swing states to vote their economic interests -- keeps up the economic assault on John McCain with this new
RNC Ad Bashes Bailout, Says Obama Will Make Things Worse The new RNC TV ad, targeted for key states, seriously undercuts the attempts at political consensus from President Bush, John McCain and Barack
Here's tonight's run-down of the Congressional races: Dems are continuing to hammer the Republicans on the economy, as the GOP faces some more bad poll numbers.  GOP Rep: I Wouldn't Have Picked Palin
For the third day in a row, the McCain campaign has directly faulted Barack Obama for the bailout implosion -- even as it continued to decry partisanship and finger-pointing amid the crisis.  On a McC
The wingers are in full ref-gaming mode today,  hammering away at the idea that PBS' Gwen Ifill can't possibly be a fair moderator for the Biden-Palin debate because she will be releasing a book this
Bill Clinton -- doing some powerful campaigning in Florida for the first time on Obama's behalf today -- laid out an interesting argument against McCain-Palin, claiming that the economy will consume s
In an unusually candid interview, a top official for the largest union backing Obama said that internal union polling shows that the race remains much more volatile and fluid in key battleground state
Two new national polls show Barack Obama expanding his lead over John McCain to a seven-point margin, thanks in large part to two big problems for McCain. The first one is the economy -- and the secon
Here's today's run-down on the Congressional races: The Democrats are barreling ahead with more attacks against the GOP for the financial crisis, and more polling data is showing the economy dragging
One key thing about the new Quinnipiac polling released today is this: It is now the fourth recent public to find Barack Obama ahead in Florida, a state most observers have previously thought would be
Sarah Palin has an answer to her media critics who say she isn't fit to be next in line for the presidency: They hate me because I represent the average "Joe Six-Pack" American.  Palin called in yeste
Polls: Obama Ahead In Florida, Ohio And Pennsylvania A new set of Quinnipiac polls gives Barack Obama the lead in all three of the largest swing states: He's up 51%-43% in Florida, 50%-42% in Ohio, an
The first round of snap polls give the debate to Joe Biden, by sizable margins.  CBS  polled 473 uncommitted debate-watchers, and found that 46% say Biden won, 21% say Palin won, and 33% say it was a
As long as Joe Biden is hitting John McCain directly on Iraq, directly facing the camera, the debate is on safe ground for Dems.   In fact, CNN's dial sessions were skyrocketing as Biden drew the cont
One big question hovering over tonight's debate was how each Veep candidate would focus the discussion on the opposing presidential candidate.  Joe Biden trains fire on McCain first, hitting him on hi
We keep hearing that Sarah Palin's public implosions on CBS and elsewhere have lowered "expectations" for her, to the point where all she needs to do in order to get solid grades is avoid vomiting on
Here's another key piece of info from that McCain campaign conference call earlier this evening: The McCain campaign announced that the RNC took in a whopping $66 million in September.  "The RNC had i
The McCain campaign just wrapped up a big damage-control conference call with reporters, and in it, they seemed to make a striking concession: That the race is uncomfortably close in two reliably red
Here's tonight's run-down of the Congressional races: The bailout and the economic crisis continue to dominate the campaigns -- which is never good news for the GOP -- while the Republicans are fendin
I just got in touch with the McCain campaign, and they're not contesting  this big news from Jonathan Martin that the McCain campaign is pulling out of Michigan:  John McCain is pulling out of Michiga
Be afraid. Be very, very  afraid:  Sarah Palin plans to go on the attack in tonight's debate, hitting Joe Biden for what she will call his foreign policy blunders and penchant for adopting liberal pos
A leading pro-life organization is preparing to unleash a scathing radio ad campaign across the country charging that Barack Obama's position on abortion is "extreme" and that he, in effect, allowed b
Here's today's run-down on the Congressional races: Republicans are reacting to the economic crisis and the bad poll numbers with some apparently twisted and phony attacks against the Dems.  GOP Accus
In a speech just now in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Barack Obama departed from the prepared remarks and unleashed some of his most empathetic language yet about people's economic distress.  Obama reiterat
Tonight: The Veep Debate Tonight is the big night for Joe Biden and Sarah Palin, with their debate in St. Louis. The debate will begin at 9 p.m. ET. Palin's challenge at this point is simply to overco
Here's tonight's run-down on the Congressional races.  Minnesota GOP Accused Of Playing Up Racial Angle In House Race Now this is awkward. The Minnesota Dems are circulating this tracker video of a st
And now for a little Friday happy hour entertainment. John McCain, in a statement just out on the passage of the bailout bill, shatters all his previous "do as I say, not as I do" records:  "Washingto
The McCain campaign has now shifted virtually 100 percent of his national ad spending into negative ads attacking Obama, a detailed breakdown of his ad buys reveals.  By contrast, the Obama campaign i
The House passed the bailout plan moments ago by a comfortable margin, 263 to 171. The political world exhales, and the strangest presidential campaign in recent memory takes yet another turn.  Now wh
One of Sarah Palin's key claims at the debate last night -- one that has gone largely unremarked on --was her assertion that Joe Biden strongly supported John McCain's Iraq policies, and opposed those
Here's today's run-down on the Congressional races: Democrats are running strong in some key races, thanks to the economic crisis -- but some other opportunities could be slipping away.  Senate GOP Ad
In a speech going on right now in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, a Philadelphia suburb, Barack Obama wades a bit deeper into the action on the bailout package, urging the House to pass it today and
An independent group is running a TV spot in Wisconsin that attacks Obama by suggesting he allowed babies to die by opposing a measure in Illinois that purportedly would have protected the lives of ba
One thing to watch for: Prominent conservatives essentially conceding that the race is over. This morning, none other than Charles Krauthammer  waves the white flag:  Part of reassurance is intellectu
New Obama Ad Hits McCain And Palin On Health Care Taxes The Obama campaign is right out of the gate with this post-debate TV ad, set to air on national cable, featuring video of Joe Biden taking apart
Many people will analyze this debate by asking whether Sarah Palin outdid her previous disastrous interview performances, and hence proved she just might have the mettle to be a Vice President, after
In tonight's debate, Sarah Palin mischaracterized statements by the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan, in which he said that an Iraq-like "surge" would not be appropriate for Afg
Sarah Palin attacked Obama's patriotism today over his association with former Weatherman Bill Ayers -- a move that makes it perfectly legitimate to raise questions about the Palins' associations with
WaPo: McCain Camp Plans New Assault On Obama's CharacterThe Washington Post reports that the McCain campaign is planning a new offensive against Barack Obama for the home stretch of the campaign, rely
McCain's Brother Insults Northern Virginia At a rally in the Northern Virginia swing area of Loudon County, John McCain's brother Joe McCain referred to the Dem strongholds of Alexandria and Arlington
As part of its new big push on health care, the Obama campaign is unleashing a massive blitz of mailers attacking John McCain's plan, an assault that includes multiple mail pieces that do everything f
A new round of SurveyUSA polls, commissioned by Roll Call, suggests that Democrats are poised to sweep those House races this year that are competitive rematches from 2006.  Some of these races are De
Here's tonight's run-down on the Congressional races:  Poll: GOP Senator Chambliss In Dead Heat For Re-Election In a very interesting development, a new Research 2000 poll gives Sen. Saxby Chambliss (
After John McCain delivered the central question of his speech today -- "Who is the real Barack Obama?" -- the first, and loudest, supporter seems to yell:   "Terrorist!"     That's what  John Aravosi
Counter-terrorism expert Richard Clarke  dares to broach publicly the scenario that most will only discuss in private: The possibility of a terror attack, or the release of another Bin Laden tape, rig
You can sense a palpable shift of tone in the remarks that John McCain is now delivering in New Mexico -- a new level of frustration, combined with his most overt implication yet that there's somethin
At a campaign event in Virginia over the weekend, John McCain's brother, acting as a McCain surrogate, told a crowd that McCain would pursue Osama Bin Laden across the border into a country that hadn'
For years, John McCain made elaborate displays of public contrition about his involvement in the Keating Five scandal, admitting that he made errors in judgment when he lobbied regulators on behalf of
The McCain campaign is rolling out attorney John Dowd to purportedly "set the record straight" on a campaign conference call about McCain and the Keating Five scandal.   So it seems worth recalling th
Here's today's rundown on the Congressional races.  Franken: My Ads Are About Norm Coleman's Record -- So They're Negative Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) debated last night against Al Franken and Independen
Sarah Palin has now attacked Barack Obama over his association with Reverend Wright -- even though John McCain himself explicitly said this spring that Wright was off limits and that attacking Obama o
Sarah Palin continues attacking Obama's character and patriotism and raising William Ayers in Clearwater, Florida, this morning, though today she adds a new layer of dishonesty to the attack, taking a
New McCain Ad: Obama "Dangerous" And "Dishonorable" To Our Troops This new McCain TV ad, set to air nationally, goes after Barack Obama by taking his comments on Afghanistan seriously out of context:
The debate's relatively low-key tone, combined with a series of exchanges that Obama won by at minimum a marginal amount, translate into a clear, even decisive win for Obama tonight. There's no point
One of the most famous moments in recent political history came when Bill Clinton, during a 1992 debate with George H.W. Bush, approached an ordinary voter in the audience and asked her to reiterate j
The debate is underway, and the first exchange is a bit of a surprise: Obama gets in an attack, and McCain, who was expected to go after Obama aggressively, doesn't.  Obama hits McCain for having supp
Senior McCain advisers have flatly declared that they want the subject of the campaign changed from the economic crisis to Barack Obama's past associations and the various things that allegedly make O
Here's tonight's run-down of the Congressional races:  New Dem Ad Dramatizes FBI Monitoring Ted Stevens Check out this stunning new ad from the DSCC, depicting fictional FBI agents monitoring indicted
In a much discussed story, the Associated Press  reported today that John McCain served in the mid-1980s on the advisory board of a right-wing group called the Council for World Freedom, which has bee
Dana Milbank -- the Washington Post reporter who wrote  this morning's piece about the Palin crowd's disgusting abuse of reporters at a rally yesterday -- tells me that the McCain camp's repeated atta
Lots of people are  linking to  this piece by New York magazine's John Heilemann, which takes a crack at explaining how exactly McCain squandered his "maverick" brand.  Heliemann's basic point is that
Here's our daily composite of the four major national tracking polls. The race is in essentially the same place as yesterday, with Barack Obama ahead by a strong margin going into tonight's debate:  â
Veterans Group To McConnell: Take Down Ad That Uses Our Name The Military Order of the Purple Heart is demanding that the campaign of Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell pull an ad in which a McConnell
Here, courtesy of the  new NBC/WSJ poll's internals, are some key numbers to chew over as we head into tonight's debate:  * Thirty-four percent feel more reassured by Obama's approach to dealing with
Tonight: The Second Presidential Debate Barack Obama and John McCain are meeting tonight in Nashville, Tennessee, for their second debate. The debate will be conducted in a town-hall format, and will
Here's tonight's run-down on the Congressional races:  The Worst Press Conference Ever? You really have to watch this excruciating press conference given by Sen. Norm Coleman's (R-MN) campaign manager
That's the logical conclusion of what Cindy McCain said when she attacked Barack Obama at the big McCain rally today in Pennsylvania.  In a move that's driving today's news cycle, Cindy McCain  went o
The last thing you need is yet more proof that the McCain campaign "suspension" was a big ruse, but this is a pretty funny postscript.  Buried in that  Wisconsin Advertising Project report I  mentione
After attacking Barack Obama's association with William Ayers for several days running, including yesterday, Sarah Palin made no mention of Ayers in her speech at a joint appearance with McCain in Pen
It would be nice if the McCain campaign explained precisely what it is they are objecting to about Obama's relationship with William Ayers. Their message on Ayers is muddled, confused, and self-contra
Here's our daily composite of the five major national tracking polls. Going into last night's debate, Obama's significant lead over John McCain was holding steady:  â¢ Gallup: Obama 52%, McCain 41%,
Speaking in Indiana right now, Obama hits McCain for a key health care answer at last night's debate, and links the attack to a ratcheted up emotional appeal on the issue, recounting his mother's twin
As we  reported here on Friday, the McCain campaign has shifted nearly all of its ad spending into negative ads by pulling its positive "Original Mavericks" spot and replacing it with an attack ad hit
The Huffington Post  catches the key moments from today's morning shows: Joe Biden threw down the gauntlet with Sarah Palin and demanded -- twice -- that she condemn the ugly slurs her supporters have
Here's today's run-down of the Congressional Races:  Dems Shell Out $7 Million In One Day On House Races The DCCC latest FEC filings from last night show that the Dems put down over $7 million for ads
As noted here and elsewhere, the words "William Ayers" appeared nowhere in yesterday's debate, despite the fact that the McCain campaign hinted for days that McCain would go hard at Obama's associatio
McCain Ad: "We All Know The Truth" About Obama's Extreme Liberalism The new post-debate McCain ad doesn't use any debate footage, but is instead a more general spot going after Obama for being a liber
When is the unhinged frenzy gripping crowds at McCain-Palin gatherings -- not to mention McCain-Palin's own role in stoking that frenzy -- going to become a big story?   Today in Wisconsin, a McCain s
Here's tonight's run-down on the Congressional races:  Franken Ad: GOP Ads Lie About Me Being Angry Al Franken, who has taken the lead in the latest polls of the Minnesota Senate race, has this new on
It's official: John McCain has now fully embraced the assault on Obama's association with William Ayers -- and he's evoking Hillary to do it.  From a McCain-voter exchange at a town hall meeting today
So General Petraeus agrees with Barack Obama -- and not John McCain -- on the question of whether we should meet with hostile enemies?  In an  interview that aired on CBS last night, John McCain, when
In a speech today in Ohio, Barack Obama will seize on John McCain's change in his housing plan to launch a direct hit on McCain's temperament and fitness to lead, in what's looking increasingly like a
McCain Camp Steps Up Attacks Against Obama Over Ayers We usually don't post on Web ads, but this new McCain piece is really something, saying that Obama is lying when he downplays his ties to Bill Aye
Here's tonight's run-down on the Congressional races:  Coleman Suspends Negative Ads, Sort Of Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN), who has fallen behind in the polls against Al Franken thanks to the economic cri
The McCain campaign is now broadening their attack on Obama's past association with William Ayers to include Michelle Obama -- even though McCain has repeatedly said spouses should be off limits durin
In an unusual move, one of the largest unions supporting Barack Obama is blitzing some 250,000 senior households in the battleground states with a 13-minute DVD that's solely devoted to attacking John
These numbers, buried in the internals of a new Fox News poll out today, are the first time a national poll has tried to gauge the impact of Barack Obama's association with William Ayers. And the numb
Here's today's run-down on the Congressional races:  McConnell Ad Ties Lunsford To Schumer And New York Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, who is facing a tough challenge from Democratic businessman B
The news orgs are beginning to weigh in with big takes on what is unquestionably one of the most important stories of Campaign 2008: The pathologically-unhinged tone that McCain-Palin supporters are d
In remarks he's giving in Ohio right now, Barack Obama seeks to make a campaign issue out of the unhinged tone that's been gripping McCain-Palin rallies of late, directly blaming the McCain-Palin tick
A funny thing seems to be happening in Minnesota: Al Franken, who trailed in the polls for a long time and whose candidacy was written off by many observers, now seems to be surging ahead of incumbent
New McCain Ad: Obama Worked With A Terrorist The McCain campaign has a new TV ad hammering Barack Obama for his past associations with Bill Ayers. Check it out:    "When convenient, he worked with ter
The controversy surrounding John McCain's rallies took another turn today, with Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), a veteran organizer of the civil rights movement, releasing a statement condemning the McCain ca
Palin Lies About Ethics Report's Finding Sarah Palin falsely told reporters this morning that the Alaska legislature's ethics report on Trooper-Gate clears her of any wrongdoing. "And if you read the
The  new Newsweek poll, which finds Obama leading McCain by 52%-41% among registered voters, also finds some serious movement among voter groups that had been reluctant to back the Illinios Senator in
Here's our daily composite of the five major national tracking polls. Barack Obama's lead may have contracted slightly since yesterday -- but the overall difference is very small, and he remains well
Sen. Graham: John Lewis Is "Playing The Race Card" Appearing today on CBS' Face The Nation, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) hit back at Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) for comparing John McCain to George Wallace, a
On Fox News this afternoon, senior McCain adviser Tucker Bounds did an unusual thing: He telegraphed a punch that he claimed John McCain is likely to throw at Wednesday's debate, asserting that it's l
Here's tonight's run-down of the Congressional races:  Foley Successor Embroiled In Own Allegations of Misconduct Democrats could end up losing a key Florida House seat that they picked up in 2006: Th
Despite a top surrogate's suggestion over the weekend that McCain would be unveiling new economic proposals, we  learned this morning  that in fact John McCain wasn't planning to announce anything of
Howard Kurtz has an  interesting piece today on something that's often struck us here at TPM: The degree to which the advent of blogs and other new vehicles for covering political campaigns make it le
Barack Obama just wrapped up his speech on the economy in Toledo, Ohio, and it needs to be said that this was an exceptionally strong speech, and perhaps even a key moment in the campaign.  Notably, O
Many Democrats believe that the strongest suit Barack Obama can play on the economy in the race's home stretch is specificity, and right now in Toledo, Ohio, Obama is delivering a big speech on the ec
Here's our daily composite of the five major national tracking polls. Barack Obama still holds a solid lead over John McCain, with the overall margin is unchanged from yesterday:  â¢ Gallup: Obama 51
Here's today's run-down of the Congressional races:  Chambliss Spokesperson: "Bomb Obama" Remarks By Supporters "Inappropriate" Michelle Grasso, the campaign spokesperson for Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-G
McCain advisers have been  promising a new, feisty, rebooted John McCain, and in a speech that he'll give in Virginia later this morning, we get our first glimpse of it.  According to the  prepared re
This seems like it might make a bit of news today. At the end of an  interview with a small TV station in Virginia yesterday afternoon, John McCain declined to condemn a Virginia Republican's comparis
McCain In Speech Today: "We've Got Them Just Where We Want Them" In his stump speech today in Virginia Beach, John McCain will seek to fire up his supporters in the face of the latest bad polls number
The Obama campaign goes up in Virginia with its first ad featuring Senator Jim Webb, who offers a strong and personal defense of Barack Obama on guns and assures Virginians that Obama will protect our
Here's tonight's run-down of the Congressional races:  Coleman Rebrands Himself As The "Hope" Candidate Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN), who dramatically announced that he was canceling his negative ads when
Here's our daily composite of the five major national tracking polls. Barack Obama's big lead over John McCain is the same as it was yesterday:  â¢ Gallup*: Obama 53%, McCain 43%, with a Â±2% margin
We knew John McCain's strategy has been to paint Barack Obama as a risky unknown, but this line, from his speech this morning unveiling his new economic proposals, seems like it's taking things to a w
In an interview that John McCain gave to local radio in St. Louis, McCain says that he was "astonished" to hear Barack Obama say recently that he was reluctant to bring up Ayers to Obama's face, and p
Here's today's run-down of the Congressional races:  Mahoney's Re-Election Chances Downgraded In a move that shouldn't really surprise anybody, the pundits are reclassifying Congressman Tim Mahoney's
Senior McCain officials, hoping to dispel the sense of confusion that's emanated from the campaign over when -- or whether -- McCain would be unveiling new economic proposals, are continuing to insist
Micro-targeting is the name of the game in this election, and the AFL-CIO is about to unleash one of its most micro-targeted pushes yet -- a blitz of mailers defending Obama on gun rights that's aimed
Polls: Obama Way Ahead In Four Battleground States A new set of polls from Quinnipiac gives Barack Obama very strong leads in four key swing states: He's up 52%-43% in Colorado, 54%-38% in Michigan, 5
Interestingly, the big exchange over William Ayers that everyone wrung their hands over takes place, and it's mostly a non-event, a rehash of stuff we've heard before that quickly gets overtaken by ot
Here's a quick run-down on the rules for tonight's debate, the final such meeting between Barack Obama and John McCain.  The rules are the same as their first debate. The moderator, Bob Schieffer in t
Here's tonight's run-down on the Congressional races:  GOP Pulls Out Of Only Possible Senate Pick-Up The NRSC is pulling out of the Louisiana Senate race, which had been the only real opportunity for
The Republican National Committee is hitting households in North Carolina with a tough new mailer that contains a striking juxtaposition: It combines an image of someone with a white hand on his heart
Here's our daily composite of the five major national tracking polls. Barack Obama is holding on to his big lead over John McCain, which has remained relatively unchanged since the financial meltdown
Ben Smith has just posted  a remarkable account offered by a Republican consultant who conducted a midwest focus group on an unreleased adver-sleazement created by an unnamed third party group.  Check
Here's today's run-down on the Congressional races:  House Dems Spend Millions In One Day, GOP Way Behind The DCCC spent a whopping $8.25 million yesterday, according to FEC records, with the vast maj
The McCain campaign and the RNC are pumping new robocalls into North Carolina that question Barack Obama's patriotism by charging that he and his fellow Dems put "Hollywood above America," another sig
The Obama campaign kicks off the pre-debate spin war with a memo from spokesperson Bill Burton that has a sly twist to it:  In tonight's debate, Chuck Todd of NBC News says, McCain needs to "figure ou
Tonight: The Final Debate Barack Obama and John McCain will meet tonight for their final debate, held at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. The debate begins at 9 p.m. ET, and will be moderate
Here's tonight's run-down of the Congressional races:  Bachmann Separates Herself From Bush, Both Physically And Figuratively Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), who famously hugged President Bush at his 20
From the presidential campaign to the lowliest down-ticket races, Republicans are throwing around a new attack line on Dems: That things may be bad now, but the Dems would only "make things worse."  T
We've obtained yet another McCain campaign robocall, and this one levels perhaps the nastiest charge yet: It claims that Barack Obama callously denied newborns needed medical attention by opposing a m
Here's yet more evidence that the Dems are poised for huge gains in Congress: The Cook Report has released a new set of updated rankings on 25 House races -- and all 25 are shifts in the Dems' directi
This McCain campaign robocall tying Obama to William Ayers may be the worst one yet.  The McCain campaign and the Republican National Committee are pumping a robocall into multiple states that directl
Here's our daily composite of the five major national tracking polls. Going into last night's debate, Barack Obama's big lead over John McCain may have been narrowing a bit, though he was still solidl
The McCain campaign and the Republican National Committee are pumping stark new robo-calls into Virginia that assert that Barack Obama isn't "who you think" he is and subtly question whether he and hi
Here's today's run-down of the Congressional races:  Coleman Ad: I'm For Hope Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) has this new ad in which he talks about how he's taken his negative ads down, and he believes in
In the race's final stretch, much of the real sludge and slime that floats to the surface will be the work not of the campaigns but of under-the-radar operations run by state parties and the like.  He
New Obama Ad: McCain May Not Be Bush, But He Sure Votes With Him The Obama campaign already has this new TV ad set to air on national cable, taking on John McCain for his declaration at the debate las
Tonight's debate reveals as clearly as you could want that the dynamic of this race is fixed, perhaps irrevocably, in Obama's favor, with little to no time left to change this fact.  That dynamic is t
NRSC: We Are Not Pulling Out Of Colorado The NRSC is denying reports that they are pulling out of the Colorado Senate race, a story that has been circulating on the blogs today. "Reports that we are p
Can it be that John McCain hired the same outfit to robo-slime Barack Obama that hit McCain himself with the scurrilous robocall campaign in 2000 that he  decried at the time as "hate calls"?  Yes, ac
In two private conference calls this week with leading fundraisers, surrogates, and prominent supporters, senior Obama advisers expressed genuine worry that his lead in the polls is creating a complac
As we  noted below, Sarah Palin appeared to describe some parts of the country as "pro-America" at a fundraiser last night, though the overall context was unclear.  Now The Huffington Post has  obtain
Here's our daily composite of the five major national tracking polls. With one day of post-debate sampling now incorporated into the three-day tracking poll, there hasn't been much of a change so far
Coleman: I Won't Say War Was A Mistake, For The Sake Of The Dead At a debate last night in the Minnesota Senate race, Sen. Norm Coleman (R) reiterated his position that he will not say the Iraq War wa
Pro-war Washington Post edit page editor Fred Hiatt throws in the towel and  endorses Barack Obama for President. One key bit:  There are few public figures we have respected more over the years than
Joe Klein adds  an important point to the evolving story about John McCain's massive robo-sleaze campaign, pointing out that McCain was once outraged by this tactic -- when he was the victim of it, th
Obama Ad: McCain Will Tax Your Health Benefits And Cut Medicare The Obama campaign has another TV ad in targeted states, warning voters that their health benefits will be taxed under John McCain's pla
The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN are now getting serious about picking up on the story of John McCain's robo-slime campaign, all weighing in with pieces that endeavor to demonstrate the
Obama About To Break Advertising And Fundraising Records Barack Obama is days away from breaking the TV advertising record set by George W. Bush in 2004 of $188 million, and has been outspending John
DNC Raises Nearly $50 Million In September The DNC announced this morning that they raised $49.9 million in September, and had $27.4 million cash on hand at the end of the month. Together with the Oba
John McCain defended his robo-slime campaign against Barack Obama today -- and as a special bonus, completely misrepresented what his robocalls actually say about Obama.  McCain's comments on robo-sli
He just announced it on Meet the Press. More soon.  Late Update: Powell elaborated on his decision in a Q-and-A with reporters moments ago. He said he'd concluded that we need a "fresh set of ideas" a
Here's tonight's run-down on the Congressional races:  Dems Preparing For Major Offensive Against Bachmann The DCCC now plans to spend $1 million against Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) in the wake of he
Prominent McCain surrogate Rudy Giuliani today urged the media to look into Barack Obama's past drug use -- even though he explicitly said last November that it shouldn't be an issue and even said he
Sarah Palin may have condemned robocalls yesterday as intrusive and a drain on people's attention spans, but that didn't stop her from recording her own robocall on behalf of the McCain campaign.  Car
It looks like yet another McCain campaign stunt may be proving a flop, at least in two key battleground states.  Check out these great numbers  buried in a new Suffolk University poll of Ohio and Miss
In remarks he's delivering right now in Florida, Barack Obama directly takes on John McCain over his robo-slime campaign, an effort to elevate something that might have otherwise remained a process-y
Bachmann Challenger's Fundraising Skyrockets The campaign of Elwyn Tinklenberg, the Democratic challenger against Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), tells Election Central that they've raised $650,000 onli
Poll: Ayers Not A Legitimate Campaign Issue, Palin's Selection Bad For McCain A new ABC News/Washington Post poll contains two particularly bad numbers for John McCain. First, 60% of likely voters sai
The Obama campaign plans to unleash a robocall in Wisconsin tomorrow that hits back hard against John McCain's robocalls in the state -- it features a small business owner from Green Bay, Wisconsin, t
Here's tonight's run-down of the Congressional races:  Bachmann: It Is "Absolutely A Lie" That I Questioned Obama's Patriotism Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) told the Washington Times that people are ly
Looks like Obama's big labor backers are entering the robocall game, too, as a way of keeping up the economic assault on John McCain in the swing states.  Working America, an arm of the AFL-CIO, is ou
In order to run a campaign like the one John McCain and Sarah Palin have run, the first order of business is to shed your capacity for embarrassment. Case in point: In a speech today, Palin attacked O
One has to wonder whether McCain and the Republicans are, in a sense, victims of their own success in playing the slime game.   They've thrown so much vicious stuff at Barack Obama via robocalls, mail
Here's today's run-down of the Congressional races:  Bachmann's Challenger Goes On The Air Rep. Michele Bachmann's (R-MN) Democratic opponent El Tinklenberg is taking advantage of the huge windfall of
Obama Cancels Campaign Events To Visit Ill Grandmother Barack Obama is canceling his campaign events on Thursday and Friday, in order to visit his ailing grandmother in Hawaii. Madelyn Dunham's health
Here's tonight's run-down on the Congressional races:  Bachmann Doubles Down On Obama = Anti-America Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has dug in further on her position that Barack Obama is against Americ
Whoa. We've just obtained a McCain campaign robo-slime call that slams Dems as "dangerously weak on crime" and hits Barack Obama and his "liberal allies" for having a "disturbing history of coddling c
We've just learned of yet another nasty McCain campaign robocall: This one hits Barack Obama over his "bitter" comments about guns and religion, and repeatedly denounces Dems as "elitists" who "don't
A new round of CNN polls in five red states has some very good news for Barack Obama: He's leading in four out of the five, with a huge lead in Virginia.  â¢ Nevada: Obama 51%, McCain 46%, with a Â±3
It was perhaps predictable that the task of recording the worst of McCain's robo-slime -- the worst so far, at least -- would fall to Rudy Giuliani.  Giuliani has recorded a new McCain robocall in whi
The McCain campaign is now charging that the terrorists want Obama to win, while pretending they're not really saying that.  The McCain campaign just held a curious conference call with reporters in w
Here's today's run-down of the Congressional races:  National House Committees Shell Out Big Money, NRCC Finally In The Game Both parties' national House committees shelled out big bucks in the newest
More stunning numbers in the  new Ipsos/McClatchy poll:  On taxes, for example, likely voters now prefer Obama over McCain by a margin of 8 percentage points. This is despite a concerted effort by McC
New McCain Ad: "I'm Joe The Plumber" The new TV ad from John McCain, set to air in key states, features everyday people proclaiming their solidarity with Joe The Plumber against Barack Obama's tax pol
The first independent poll is out in Minnesota's Sixth District, which has been put into contention thanks to Rep. Michele Bachmann's (R-MN) McCartheyesque rant on Hardball last week -- and it shows a
Still more McCain robo-slime: The latest McCain campaign robocall hits Obama's health care plan as a "massive government takeover of health care" that will jeopardize Medicare and Social Security.  Fo
Here's tonight's run-down on the Congressional races:  New Tinklenberg Ad: "Michele Bachmann Represents The Worst Of Washington" El Tinklenberg, the Democrat running against Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-M
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has developed an intriguing habit amid her efforts to deal with the fallout over her  McCarthyesque rant on Hardball last week.   In mainstream public forums, she either t
In another sign that John McCain is on the defensive as time runs out, the McCain campaign is shifting its ad money out of blue tossup states and into red tossups and even traditionally red states, ac
The Obama camp has unleashed a tough new robocall in North Carolina featuring a Navy veteran and self-described former McCain supporter who pushes back on McCain's attacks, hammering McCain for questi
Here's today's run-down of the Congressional races:  Dems Throw Over $12 Million Into House Races The DCCC launched a massive financial assault on the Republicans yesterday, with over $12.6 million in
Still more stunning numbers, from  today's Quinnipiac poll of Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania:  By smaller margins of two to six points, voters say they trust McCain more than Obama to handle foreign
Polls: Obama Ahead In Florida, Ohio And Pennsylvania A new round of Quinnipiac polls gives Barack Obama the lead in the three largest swing states. Obama is ahead 49%-44% in Florida, 52%-38% in Ohio,
Here's tonight's run-down of the Congressional races:  AFL-CIO Takes Aim At Bachmann The AFL-CIO is now going into the race against Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), smelling blood in the water thanks to
John McCain's Pennsylvania communications director told reporters in the state an incendiary version of the hoax story about the attack on a McCain volunteer well before the facts of the case were kno
On a conference call with reporters just now, in which the Obama campaign laid out a cautious but very optimistic picture of the campaign as it now stands, they also announced some amazing figures abo
Wow. By now you've all heard about Ashley Todd, the 20-year-old McCain volunteer who claimed that she was assaulted in Pittsburgh on Wednesday night by an attacker who scratched a "B" in her cheek aft
A new set of polls from Strategic Vision (R) has some good news for John McCain, with him taking back leads in Florida and Ohio, and holding on to his lead Georgia. But all his work in Pennsylvania ha
National GOP Pulls Out Of Colorado Senate Race A national GOP source has confirmed to Election Central that the NRSC is pulling out of the Colorado Senate race, where GOP candidate Bob Schaffer has be
McCain Ad: An Obama Crisis "Doesn't Have To Happen" The new McCain ad, which will air in key states, uses Joe Biden's gaffe about how Barack Obama will be tested in an international crisis, so as to w
RNC Ad Hits Obama's Inexperience, Warns That Things Could Get Worse The new RNC ad, which will run in targeted states, continues an odd theme we've noticed in their advertising. The announcer admits t
A spokesperson for McCain's national campaign is pushing back on  our story yesterday reporting that McCain's Pennsylvania communications director was giving reporters an incendiary version of the att
An interesting pattern now seems to be coming from Joe Lieberman: He is now reminding us all how much he respects Barack Obama, even if he's for John McCain this time around.  In a conference call wit
McCain: I'm Not Bush Appearing this morning on Meet The Press, John McCain reiterated his "I am not George Bush" line. "So do we share a common philosophy of the Republican Party?  Of course," McCain
The Obama campaign goes up with a new 30-second ad designed to pre-emptively frame McCain's expected fusillade of closing attacks as the last gasps of a losing campaign:    The ad revives a line he us
The new set of Rasmussen swing-state polls shows Barack Obama continuing to lead in Colorado and Virginia, and running close with John McCain in a few other battlegrounds:  â¢ Colorado: Obama 50%, Mc
Here's tonight's run-down on the Congressional races;  NRSC's New Mailer Invites Children To Read About Pornography, Rape The NRSC has this new mailer against Al Franken, presented in the format of a
Some three dozen workers at a telemarketing call center in Indiana walked off the job rather than read an incendiary McCain campaign script attacking Barack Obama, according to two workers at the cent
The big news today in the Alaska Senate race -- that Sen. Ted Stevens (R) was convicted on all counts in his corruption trial, and now faces up to five years in prison -- might just guarantee a huge D
Barack Obama just wrapped up his  big closing argument speech in Canton, Ohio, and his remarks drive home one of the under-appreciated aspects of this amazing campaign: The similarities between Obama
Three new polls have now found Barack Obama with a clear and decisive lead in Virginia, bringing him one crucial step closer to a majority in the Electoral College:  â¢ SurveyUSA: Obama 52%, McCain 4
The McCain campaign's efforts to portray Barack Obama as a closet socialist took a turn into the burlesque today, with the McCain camp falsely claiming that in a seven year old interview, Obama said t
New GOP Ad: Al Franken "Writes Pornography," "Laughs At The Disabled" The NRSC, facing more poll data showing Al Franken taking the lead in Minnesota, is pulling out all the stops with their new ad ag
Chuck Todd and the gang at MSNBC's First Read become  the latest electoral-vote crunchers to decree that Barack Obama has crossed the 270 threshold without any of their designated toss-up states:  Aft
Obama To Deliver "Closing Argument" Speech Barack Obama is rolling out his "closing argument" speech today, with the rhetorical points he will stress for the remainder of the campaign. There won't be
The McCain campaign is up with two radio ads in West Virginia, a state that went for George W. Bush by 13 points in 2004, according to an employee at one of the state's major news stations.  One ad at
GOP Takes Out Big Loan For Home Stretch The RNC has taken out a $5 million loan in the home stretch of the campaign to give to the NRSC and Senate candidates, joining other party committees that have
Citizens United, the conservative group headed by notorious Whitewater scandalmonger David Bossie, is distributing hundreds of thousands of DVDs attacking Barack Obama's associations with Jeremiah Wri
The McCain campaign apparently thinks you don't have a very long memory -- or much regard for the truth. It has just released what it's billing as a new ad attacking Obama on Iran -- even though the M
Here's another way to assess the state of the race right now: We've drawn up a chart comparing the Real Clear Politics averages right now in 13 core battleground states with the RCP averages in the sa
In another sign that more and more GOPers are presuming an Obama victory, top McCain surrogate Mitt Romney confesses as much in a fundraising email he blasted out on behalf of GOP Senator Mitch McConn
Here's today's run-down of the Congressional races:  GOP Releases Excerpt From The Kentucky Voice Recorder The Kentucky voice-recorder saga -- involving a criminal complaint by the NRSC that the campa
On the trail right now in Pennsylvania, John McCain is keeping up with his efforts to paint Barack Obama as a closet socialist, seizing again on that 2001  interview in which Obama allegedly called fo
Over at TNR's The Plank, there's some more good push-back against John McCain's ridiculous "Barack the redistributor" attacks yesterday over that 2001 interview Barack Obama gave in which he  allegedl
New McCain Ad: He's For "Workin' Joes" The new McCain ad, set to air in targeted states, contrasts the two candidates and attacks Obama on the McCain campaign's apparent closing issue of wealth redist
A last-minute attack ad from Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), who is narrowly trailing Democratic challenger Kay Hagan in all the polls, has the Hagan campaign accusing the Dole team of crossing the line f
Ana Marie Cox gets  some great color from Sarah Palin's event today, where she rambled off her energy speech script so many times that her own teleprompter practically exploded:  Here, in Toledo, wher
Here's tonight's run-down of the Congressional races:  Another Poll Shows Tight Race For Murtha A new poll from the Las-Vegas based Dane & Associates, commissioned by GrassrootsPA.com, shows Jack Murt
John McCain and the Republican National Committee are now running robocalls attacking Obama as weak on terrorism -- in McCain's home state of Arizona, according to multiple readers from the state.  Th
The new CNN polls confirm the conventional wisdom that Barack Obama is close to locking up Colorado and Virgnia -- a combination that would would deliver him the presidency if he holds on to all the K
A quick thought on Obama's appearance today in Raleigh, where he  mocked McCain's efforts to paint him as a closet socialist by confessing to his Marxist leanings in Kindergarten.  The levity masks so
The tide of McCain robo-slime keeps rising. The latest McCain robocall hits Obama over his "20 year" friendship with "convicted felon" Tony Rezko, saying he helped Obama buy his "mansion" in a "swanky
Here's today's run-down of the Congressional races:  Right-Wing Group Jumps In Against Murtha The right-wingers smell blood in the water in the wake of Jack Murtha's comments calling his constituents
On the trail today in North Carolina, Barack Obama will hit back at McCain's efforts to paint him as a closet socialist, tightening the "desperate McCain attacking to avoid real discussion of the econ
Still more polling, this time  from the Associated Press, paints a bleak picture for McCain in at least six Bush states:  Barack Obama now leads in four states won by President Bush in 2004 and is ess
Last Friday we  reported here that McCain's Pennsylvania spokesperson fed local reporters a highly incendiary version of the hoax story about the attack on the McCain volunteer well before the facts w
In another sign of key movement in his direction, Barack Obama has dramatically improved his standing with three key constituencies in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan, according to internal polling co
The newest polls in the big three swing states paint a very clear picture: Obama seems to be pulling away in Ohio, and to a lesser extent in Florida, while his big lead in Pennsylvania is holding stea
Obama To Air TV Special Tonight Barack Obama is set to air his half-hour TV special on most of the major networks tonight, an experiment in long-form TV advertising that hasn't been attempted since Ro
Here's tonight's run-down on the Congressional races:  Hagan Files Lawsuit Against Dole Over Atheism Attack Ad, Launches Rebuttal Spot Senate candidate Kay Hagan (D-NC) has announced that she is filin
Everyone has wanted to know when or whether Al Qaeda would try to swing the Presidential election. Well, we  now may have our answer:  An al Qaeda leader has called for President George W. Bush and th
Hmm, a new twist to robo-slime-gate. John McCain appears to be pumping one of the nastier species of his robo-slime into a state where he has no chance whatsoever of winning.  A reader just outside of
Over the summer Bill Clinton was reported to be miffed that Barack Obama wasn't talking up the successes of the Clinton economy as a way of making the case that Americans are better off when Dems are
Here's today's run-down of the Congressional races:  GOP Ad: "We Know John Murtha Doesn't Respect Us" Here's the NRCC's new ad against Jack Murtha, replaying the video of Murtha calling his constituen
Polls: Obama Ahead In The Battlegrounds -- And Running Close In Arizona The new CNN state polls: Obama is up 55%-43% in Pennsylvania; up 52%-46% in North Carolina; up 52%-45% in Nevada; up 51%-47% in
Here's tonight's run-down of the Congressional races:  GOP Candidate's Ad: Democrats Have Blown Up Our (Fiscal) Houses Wow. Check out this truly amazing new ad from former Rep. Melissa Hart (R-PA), wh
The early vote, a key statistic that has been closely watched in the presidential race, appears to have already taken a toll on one Republican in particular: Sen. Gordon Smith of Oregon, whose re-elec
So has John McCain's big play for Pennsylvania, where he's hoping to poach 21 electoral votes out of the Democratic column, been paying off in the opinion polls?  The answer: Not in any way to speak o
Still more signs that John McCain is in a panic over Arizona. He now has a second slime call running in his home state, this one attacking Obama for his "present" votes in the state senate and hitting
Since John McCain is suggesting that Obama is secretly plotting to seize the wealth of masses of hard-working plumbers, builders and hockey moms in order to transfer it to lazy poor people, this  new
Here's today's run-down on the Congressional races:  Bachmann Rolls Out Attack Ads Against Tinklenberg -- With Fake Citations Michele Bachmann has unleashed a new wave of attack ads against El Tinklen
It's one of the key underplayed stories of this election, but more and more media figures are beginning to acknowledge that the onetime Ruler of Their World has lost his hypnotic sway over the media.
On a conference call with reporters just now, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said that the campaign is going up on the air in the final stretch in three states: Georgia, North Dakota, and ... Mc
New McCain Ad: Obama Endorses McCain -- And Lieberman The new McCain ad, set to air in key states, features footage of Barack Obama in a Senate hearing from January 2007, praising the McCain-Lieberman
Here's tonight's run-down of the Congressional races:  DSCC Ad: Coleman Refuses To Answer Questions About Lawsuit Allegations The DSCC ad is closing out the Minnesota Senate race with this new TV ad c
Jack Murtha, whose once-certain re-election has now been put in serious danger after he called his constituents racists and rednecks, has brought out two new weapons in his campaign: Bill and Hillary
In Colorado later this afternoon, Barack Obama will pounce on Dick Cheney's  endorsement of John McCain earlier today. From the prepared remarks:  I'd like to congratulate Senator McCain on this endor
A reader sends in a nasty mailer that just hit Philadelphia-area in-boxes, blasted out by a GOP group called the Republican Jewish Coalition, suggesting that a vote for Barack Obama could lead to anot
The Washington Post has some  amazing detail on the two campaigns' organizations in Virginia that dramatizes why Obama is outperforming in the state:  More than 10,000 volunteers are working for Obama
McCain Playing Defense In Home Stretch -- Including Arizona John McCain is spending the final days of the election by almost entirely playing defense in states won by George W. Bush in 2004. And perha
Here's tonight's run-down of the Congressional races:  Uncle Ted To Address Alaska On Election Eve Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), who is widely expected to lose re-election as a result of his recent felony
A new national poll is going beyond saying Obama is ahead: It's predicting that Obama will win by six points.  The final Pew poll predicts that the outcome will be Obama 52%, McCain 46%, with the rema
When the history of this campaign is written, a bunch of people will have to bust their butts to make sure that John McCain's non-stop lying and epic dishonesty aren't disappeared down the memory hole
A new set of state polls show Barack Obama leading in three Bush 2004 states -- one down to the wire, one by a decent margin, and one by a landslide.  A new SurveyUSA poll of Virginia shows that this
Poll: Tight Race In Virginia A new Mason-Dixon poll of Virginia gives Barack Obama a lead of 47% to John McCain's 44%, with a Â±4% margin of error, not significantly changed from a 47%-45% Obama lead
As we head into Election Day tomorrow, a look at polls reveals a fact that hasn't truly sunk in: Tomorrow is not truly Election Day, but more like the end of the Election Weeks, with the Obama campaig
Here's our final nightly run-down of the Congressional races:  GOP Senator's Campaign Denies Distributing Sample Ballot Implying He's A Dem Check this out. The campaign of Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), wh
Here's our final daily composite of the six major national tracking polls. Many national polls have coalesced around a projected 52% popular-vote share for Barack Obama, and it shows in our composite:
Here's the statement just in from Barack Obama and his half sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, on the death of their grandmother:  It is with great sadness that we announce that our grandmother, Madelyn Dunham,
A Democrat forwards me the internal talking points that the Obama campaign is distributing today to surrogates, instructing them to discuss the end of the race by discounting the polls and touting the
In the home stretch of the campaign, the final polls are starting to show some sense of convergence in predicting Barack Obama's vote total: The common prediction is that he will get about 52% of the
In a speech just now in Missouri, Sarah Palin unleashed some of the most ostentatious POW-POW-POWing of the campaign, and strongly implied that Dems think the "terrorists" are the "good guys."  After
The Republican Jewish Coalition -- which recently  hit Pennsylvania mailboxes with a mailer implying a vote for Obama could produce a second Holocaust -- is now hitting Ohio with a wave of incendiary
A new robo-slime call from John McCain hits Obama on the economy, suggesting that a vote for the Democrat is a vote for a depression, a Wisconsin reader tells us.  The call -- which is not quite as sl
A new round of Zogby state polls shows tight races in key battlegrounds -- but John McCain is not faring well in his new linchpin state of Pennsylvania, and Barack Obama has plenty of opportunities to
Quinnipiac: Obama Ahead in Big Three The final Quinnipiac polls of the largest three swing states give Barack Obama stable leads of various margins: Obama ahead by two points in Florida, 47%-45%, unch
Now that Obama has sewn up the presidency, let's swing over to the Senate races and the Dem quest for a filibuster-proof 60 seats. Here's the state of play: The Dems have so far picked up five Senate
It's over. It happened.  And we're looking at a tsunami.  The networks just called Obama the winner of the Presidential race.   Just before, CNN and Fox had called Virginia for Obama. With the Kerry s
Are you ready? With the first results due in less than an half an hour now (less than half an hour!) here's how things will unfold:  At 6 p.m. ET, most of Indiana and the first half of Kentucky will c
It's the perfect coda to robo-slime-gate.  John McCain has now recorded his own robo-slime calls, several readers report, in which he uses Joe Biden's recent prediction that Obama would be tested by a
Fox News and other conservatives on the Web are pushing hard on the story that two black panthers may be intimidating voters at a polling place in north Philadelphia.  But an Obama campaign volunteer
If Barack Obama wins all the Kerry states and their 252 Electoral College votes, as seems all but certain, and wins either Florida or Ohio, it's over. What if he doesn't win either of those states?
As I think Atrios put it on the eve of the 2006 elections, whatever happens today, we'll all get up tomorrow and just keep on working away. This is only one chapter in a much bigger story, and what a
Poll Closings Here are the closing times in some of the key states: Most of Indiana closes at 6 p.m. ET, with the remainder closing at 7 p.m. ET; all of Virginia, most of Florida and most of New Hamps
The vote count is still going on in Oregon, where the state is processing ballots under the state's mail-in vote system, but it now looks like Republican Sen. Gordon Smith has lost re-election to Demo
Because of the campaign's relentless focus on the economy, another aspect of yesterday's win has gotten far too little attention: It represented a crushing victory for globalism and true foreign polic
So here's the latest on the Senate map: We already know the Dems have picked up a minimum of five seats, but there are still four races that could go either way, with one of them leaning in the Democr
Fox and MSNBC are reporting that Rahm Emanuel has accepted a job as Obama's White House chief of staff.   But an Emanuel spokesperson we just checked in with says that's not the case. No decision has
So looking back on our polling obsession about this race, which pollsters actually did the best job of calling this race, comparing the final polls to the actual results?  Taking a look at the nationa
During the campaign the frenzied crowds at Sarah Palin rallies did seem indicative of something frightening in the air, and it turns out that there was a reason to conclude this, Newsweek  reports:  T
With 97% of all precincts now reporting nationwide, here are the statistics on President-Elect Barack Obama's victory:  â¢ Obama has just over 63 million votes, with John McCain at a little under 56
Here's a rapidly emerging media meme to keep an eye out for. From Dan Balz's Washington Post  piece on the challenges Obama faces as President:  This adviser said Obama knows that he must move strateg
So how did Dems fare in the House races? Dems have made a net gain of 19 seats so far, with a few races still too close to call.  The big Democratic gains were largely fueled by Barack Obama's success
We now live in a new America. How to even begin to make sense of what happened yesterday?  Here's one way to look at it: Obama's victory represents a potential death knell -- but only a potential one
Al Franken has released this statement on the upcoming Minnesota recount:  The Secretary of State's office reports that all but nine of Minnesota's 4,130 precincts have reported in. And this race is t
President-Elect Barack Obama (did I write that?) just spoke in Chicago's Grant Park, and cast his election as the momentous historical event that it is.   But rather than refer directly to his histori
In the private meeting today between Harry Reid and Joe Lieberman, Reid bluntly informed Lieberman that Dem sentiment against him had risen to the point where it would be tough for him to keep his plu
President-Elect Barack Obama is signaling quick movement on the economy, with his advisers moments ago rolling out a list of economic bigs who will serve on his Transition Economic Advisory Board.  Ob
Harry Reid and Joe Lieberman just wrapped up a private meeting about what Lieberman's fate will be in the wake of an election where he campaigned aggressively for McCain, said the attacks on Obama ove
Looks like we'll be hearing from Barack Obama at a news conference within a few days, and his  aides say he'll be asking the electorate for patience in solving the monumental problems he'll face as Pr
Readers: You'll be reading lots and lots of unconfirmed reports about whom Obama supposedly is appointing to this or that position. Some advice: Take these reports with an ocean's worth of salt.  Fox
Rahm Playing Hamlet On Chief Of Staff Offer Rahm Emanuel is expressing some serious reluctance about whether he'll accept the position of White House chief of staff: "I do know something about the Whi
Obama just wrapped up his first presser as President-elect, a historic moment. Here's video of the entire thing:     A couple of quick highlights. First, Obama sought to project a strong sense that he
Senator Harry Reid's office has just confirmed to me, on the record, that Reid is considering a new step: Asking all the Democratic Senators to vote on Lieberman's fate at their upcoming full caucus m
As I  reported here yesterday, Senator Harry Reid is mulling an interesting option with regard to Joe Lieberman's fate: He's considering having the Dem caucus vote at their next meeting on whether Lie
With Obama planning his transition, meeting with his economic transition team and holding a press conference today, it's worth noting the extraordinary pressure he is under to be perceived as acting q
The relentless focus on the economy has obscured the extent to which Obama's election also represents a big win for his foreign policy vision, which was resoundingly chosen over McCain's. A pair of ar
A quick personal note on the election. My seven-year-old son, who's a far sharper political prognosticator than I, confidently predicted that Barack Obama would win the election way back in the early
President-Elect Barack Obama's First Press Conference Today, after meeting with their economic transition team, Barack Obama and Joe Biden will hold a presser 2:30 P.M. It will be a major media event:
Palin: My Comments About The Country Of Africa Were "Taken Out Of Context" Sarah Palin is defending herself from the allegation that she thought Africa was a single country, and not a continent: "If t
Rahm: Obama Sets The Tone For Bipartisanship In an interview on ABC's This Week, incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel sought to downplay his reputation as a partisan bulldog, instead citin
Lots of people have  already chewed over  this article in the Hartford Courant, which reports that Chris Dodd is, disappointingly, suggesting that Barack Obama doesn't want a fight over Joe Lieberman'
Barack Obama is  reportedly sending signals that he wants Joe Lieberman to stay in the Dem caucus.  But let's not get distracted. The question isn't whether Lieberman gets to "stay in the Dem caucus"
Joe Lieberman, who is locked in a fight to hold onto his Senate Homeland Security Committee chairmanship, is lending his name to a lurid sequel of the documentary Obsession: Radical Islam's War Agains
A new Gallup poll shows that Barack Obama's post-election honeymoon period has already begun, with the president-elect sporting a very high favorable rating of 70%, with only 25% unfavorable. Any bad
Here's the latest on two key House races that are still up in the air and both seemingly headed for recounts. In one race, the Democrats may have just fallen short in a deep-red district, though there
Obama To Meet Bush Today Barack Obama will hold his first in-person transition meeting with President Bush today, with a private meeting in the Oval Office. This meeting holds extra significance for O
In another sign that Barack Obama is moving quickly to put his own stamp on the transition process, transition chair John Podesta just rolled out a series of new and reformist transition initiatives o
The full Democratic caucus will vote on whether Joe Lieberman is allowed to keep his chairmanship of the Homeland Security committee at its caucus meeting next week, a leadership aide confirms to us.
The Republicans are bringing out some big guns to save incumbent GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss in the upcoming runoff in Georgia, which is expected to have a low turnout and will be all about mobilizing th
So what's the significance of the  statement we obtained from the Obama transition team saying that Obama holds "no grudges" against Joe Lieberman and won't take a position on whether Lieberman should
Could Chris Matthews have a real shot if he goes through with running for Senate in Pennsylvania against GOP Senator Arlen Specter? The answer, according to a new poll of the 2010 Senate race -- we al
Although Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) might possibly have just been re-elected in the wake of his felony convictions, he could soon find himself with a lot less clout in Washington, thanks to a potential v
WSJ: Obama Could Keep Gates On At DefenseThe Wall St. Journal reports that Barack Obama is leaning toward keeping Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense for at least the first year of his term -- which
Now this is a good sign: The Obama transition team has just signed up two leading Web types for the transition's Internet outreach team, a welcome indication that the Obama team is moving to transfer
At a private meeting tomorrow in Washington, D.C., the most powerful and prominent leaders of the labor movement are planning to finalize the details of a major public campaign to push for what labor
Unless we're missing something, it really seems like the GOP is outworking national Democrats on the high-stakes Georgia Senate runoff, which gives Dems an outside shot at bumping off high-profile GOP
A pair of  must-reads this morning do a nice job of laying out one of Obama's top transition priorities, and the huge challenges inherent in getting it done: The closing of Guantanamo Bay.  First, Tim
On Keith Olbermann's show last night, Howard Fineman dropped a bit of a bomb, reporting that Senator Dick Durbin is now moving towards keeping Joe Lieberman as chair of the Homeland Security Committee
Poll Shows Wide Support For Liberal Agenda A new AP/GfK poll suggests a broad mandate for Barack Obama pursuing liberal policies after he is sworn in. The poll shows 78% saying that removing U.S. troo
Correction: Our source is now telling us that he thinks he misrepresented what happened in the meeting when he spoke to us. He conferred with several others who were in the meeting and says he's now c
Yesterday I  reported that the big unions were meeting today to put the final touches on plans to launch a big campaign to push the Obama administration and Congress to deliver on their agenda.  Now I
It's common enough for interest groups to wring their hands about an incoming president's priorities. But this is an important story.  There seems to be genuine worry among some health care advocates
Roll Call has the  article of the day on the behind-the-scenes jockeying over Joe Lieberman's fate, reporting that Lieberman's Senate allies are using Obama's recent statement that he holds "no grudge
As expected, former Al Gore chief of staff Ron Klain has accepted the opportunity to return in the same capacity for Joe Biden, a Democratic official confirms to us.  Klain is the second former Clinto
McCain To Campaign In Georgia Senate Race The former GOP presidential nominee is set to campaign for incumbent GOP Senator Saxby Chambliss in Georgia today. McCain's planned trip raises anew questions
Here's an interesting tidbit from the health care wars: Health care advocates are bolstering their case for the political viability of health care reform by aggressively showcasing newly-elected House
Okay, we now have a second Senator who's stepped up and joined Senator Patrick Leahy in calling on Democrats to boot Joe Lieberman from his plum slot atop the Homeland Security committee.  Bernie Sand
This is great, great stuff. Bob Geiger dreams up an  imaginary, but awfully convincing, press release that Senators can attach their names to in announcing why they intend to vote against Joe Lieberma
We now have our first Dem Senator who has come on the record and called for Joe Lieberman to be booted from his plum spot on the Homeland Security committee.  In an  interview with Vermont Public Radi
Politico has a  good rundown of all the Clintonites that have been invited into Obama's government, and what it all means.  Money quote:  "Obama is showing great good sense in making use of their expe
Here's a look at the new ad I  reported on yesterday that David Bonior's pro-labor group is launching nationally -- it's a fun spot that's pushing the new government to pass the Employee Free Choice A
The Big Story: Hillary For Sec. of State? The press is buzzing with reports that Barack Obama is considering Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State. The latest wrinkle: Reuters reports that Hillary tr
Obama Premieres The Presidential YouTube Address Barack Obama has posted the first of his weekly YouTube addresses to the nation, a modern-day replacement of the old-fashioned weekly radio addresses.
Barack Obama Has Resigned From The Senate Barack Obama officially resigned his Senate seat today, as he devotes his full time to his White House transition. "But I will never forget, and will forever
When Senate Dems caucus tomorrow, the Democratic leadership is likely to propose that he keep his Homeland Security chairmanship but lose a lesser sub-committee chairmanship instead, according to a so
Here's a sign that the Al Franken campaign is nervous about the ramifications of going into a recount trailing your opponent, even if there is the potential for pulling ahead later on.  On a conferenc
Now even one of Joe Lieberman's leading Senate allies  appears to be turning on him:  Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), a close ally of Sen. Joe Lieberman, said the Connecticut Independent should pay a price
Barack Obama and John McCain just spoke to the press poll for a few minutes in advance of their scheduled closed-door sit-down today. From the pool report:  Asked about the goal of the meeting, Mr. Ob
Pundits may be predicting that Barack Obama won't take up health care in his first year, but someone who actually knows what he's talking about on the issue says Obama will push hard to get it done ri
We now have a third Senator  stepping up and strongly condemning the idea of Joe Lieberman remaining as Homeland Security chair: Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota...     Dorgan hammered Lieberman f
Obama Meeting With McCain Today Barack Obama will be meeting today with John McCain, scheduled for 12 p.m. ET at the transition headquarters in Chicago. Also in attendance will be McCain ally Sen. Lin
Howard Dean says that he's "fine" with the Senate's decision not to kick Joe Lieberman off the Homeland Security committee and suggested that the Senate had acted in accordance with what Barack Obama
John Kerry and Obama-ally Dick Durbin were among four Democratic Senators in today's closed-door Dem caucus meeting who supported for keeping Joe Lieberman as chair of the Homeland Security committee,
Senator Harry Reid just spoke to reporters after the private caucus meeting with Dems over Joe Lieberman's fate, and he confirmed it: Lieberman will not be stripped of his Homeland Security chairmansh
There's a bit of reporting out there this morning on reactions -- both within the Clinton and Obama camps and outside them -- to the prospect of Hillary becoming Secretary of State. Here's a quick run
Today: Senate Dems Vote On Lieberman's Chairmanship Today is the day when the Senate Democratic Caucus will vote on whether to let Joe Lieberman keep his chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Gove
Al Franken won a big court victory today, one that could help him significantly in his battle to overcome Norm Coleman's current 215-vote lead in the Minnesota recount.  A judge ruled in favor of the
And so the Alaska Senate race has truly come to an end: Ted Stevens has conceded the election, after Democratic challenger Mark Begich built up a small but nevertheless insurmountable lead in last nig
As expected, the Obama team announces via press release that David Axelrod -- one of the "architects" of Obama's victory -- is heading to the White House to serve as senior adviser to the President.
After an earlier round of hand-wringing about whether President-elect Obama would push off health care reform out of fear of its economic and political costs, some experts and advocates in the field a
The folks who know what they're talking about when discussing health care say that the choice of Tom Daschle to head Health and Human Services is hugely significant in two ways.  First, it's a sign th
The Republicans are stepping up their efforts in the heated Georgia Senate runoff, a sign that they may be seriously worried that incumbent GOP Senator Saxby Chambliss could lose to Democratic challen
Report: McCain To Run For Re-Election In 2010 John McCain will reportedly run for re-election to the Senate in 2010. This could end up being a big race in the coming cycle, after polling from just bef
Advisers to Bill and Hillary Clinton believe they've given the Obama transition team much if not all of the all the information on Bill's post-presidency the Obama team will be asking for, and see the
This, from the Associated Press, is  just fascinating:  More Floridians voted for John McCain than Barack Obama on Election Day, but the Democrat sealed his victory in the state by winning more early
A  very smart analysis from Steve Clemons of the rationale behind the Hillary Secretary of State pick:  The Clinton we have grown accustomed to over the last year is perceived as a spear-carrier for t
Here's another wrinkle to consider in the wake of Henry Waxman's stunning ascent to the chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee.  Congressional insiders point out that Barack Obama, in a lit
So what exactly is going on in the Minnesota recount, and can Al Franken overcome GOP Sen. Norm Coleman's statistically tiny lead from the initial vote count?  The answer is a definite maybe. Here's w
This is big, big, big. In a victory for the Democratic left, Rep. Henry Waxman has just successfully ousted Rep. John Dingell from his longtime perch as head of the Energy and Commerce Committee.  Spe
There's still more good news this morning suggesting that health care reform is  creeping closer to reality:  The health insurance industry said Wednesday that it would support a health care overhaul
The two major papers have dramatically different versions this morning of what's going on behind the scenes between Hillaryland and Camp Obama as they move towards a deal to make her Secretary of Stat
Report: Bill Clinton Has Agreed To Major Concessions With Obama Team Bill Clinton has reportedly agreed with the Obama transition team to disclose the list of donors to his charitable foundation to al
Ben Smith  points out that the statement from Hillary's spokesperson, which says today's reports are "premature," is nonetheless basically confirmation that she and Obama will reach a deal and she'll
Hillary spokesperson Philippe Reines says the  reports that Hillary has decided to accept the Secretary of State gig are "premature."  Asked for comment on the stories, Reines emails me this:  "We're
Those Cabinet appointments are finally starting to come -- and they're coming fast, too, just at a time when a tumbling economy and uncertain marketplace need to know who they're dealing with.   Barac
Here's another thing that's got some people worried about Secretary of State Hillary: Would she bring her old-guard foreign policy adviser types with her to the State Department, a cadre who are in so
Even as the recount in the super-tight Minnesota Senate race grinds on, the GOP has been running a campaign of what the Franken camp claims are massive falsehoods about the vote count -- assertions th
Since everyone is talking about how leak-prone the Obama operation has suddenly become, it seems worth making the distinction between two types of leaks.  There are strategic leaks, which are approved
If some new poll data is to be believed, the Republicans might be in for a long time in the wilderness. Let's take a look at the numbers.  The new Gallup poll shows that the Republican Party as an ins
Bill Vetting Issues Resolved; Obama "On Track" To Name Hillary Secretary Of State We first reported here yesterday that advisers to the Clintons believe they've satisfied the Obama team's vetting dema
GOP Sen. Norm Coleman had a good day in today's round of the Minnesota recount, wiping out about two thirds of the gains that Al Franken had made so far in this never-ending roller-coaster of an elect
Now this is really something. The NRSC and Freedom's Watch are now airing ads in the Georgia Senate runoff accusing Democratic candidate Jim Martin of being against cracking down on people who abuse a
Obama Calls For Major Public Works Initiative In his newest Presidential YouTube Address, Barack Obama announced a major policy initiative: A massive public-works program in order to simultaneously up
Report: Obama Promised Hillary Access And Autonomy At StateThe New York Times reports that Barack Obama capped off his effort to recruit Hillary Clinton as Secretary of state by promising her direct a
Just in case you thought the Minnesota recount couldn't get any messier...  The Franken campaign is now calling attention to yet another wrinkle in the Minnesota recount: Reports from around the  stat
Is Al Franken actually gaining on Norm Coleman from the recount? That's what the Franken campaign just argued in a reporters' briefing -- and they accuse the Coleman campaign of gaming the system to c
An interesting number from the  new ABC poll:  How much do you think Obama will be able to do to improve the economy -- a great deal, a good amount, only some or not much at all?  Great deal/good amou
The Obama transition team isn't disputing a new report claiming that Obama won't be visiting Georgia to campaign on behalf of Dem challenger Jim Martin in the high-stakes Georgia Senate runoff.  The a
A couple of quick notes about the big press conference on the economy that Barack Obama just wrapped up unveiling his economic team and preparing the electorate for the long struggle ahead.  One tidbi
Now here's a good way for the GOP to make the case that it hasn't been reduced to a southern regional rump party that's held hostage by intolerant crackpots: Elect as the new chairman of the Republica
Dem Congressional leaders are working with Obama officials to create and pass a massive stimulus package before Obama takes power on January 20th, a senior Dem leadership aide confirms to me.  The tim
Here's still more great news for those who are hoping that Barack Obama will act quickly and decisively on health care reform: The guy who's widely expected to be Obama's chief budget official says th
Obama Announcing Economic Team Today Barack Obama will officially roll out key members of his economic team today, at a 12 p.m. ET press conference in Chicago. Among the expected appointments are Timo
Barack Obama has been eerily silent on the question of whether he'll campaign in the high-stakes Georgia runoff, even as pressure is mounting on him to publicly declare whether he plans to stump for D
A couple of quick additional points on the question du jour: Whether Barack Obama's bipartisan gestures and staff picks suggest a betrayal of progressives.  First, it's worth distinguishing between tw
A key new development in Minnesota: The Franken campaign is now giving an actual figure for what they think their true current deficit against Norm Coleman is -- an estimated statistic that has proven
An interesting moment at Barack Obama's presser on the economy today: He declared in more direct terms than I've heard before that his "decisive" win has unquestionably given him a "mandate."  "We had
Here's yet another encouraging piece of news on the health care front.  I'm told that dozens of the heaviest hitters from the health care reform world met for a private retreat in Virginia last week a
The Washington Post's E.J. Dionne asks Obama advisers whether his appointments herald a shift to the center and  is told that the answer is No:  Obama's selection of a team of highly skilled pragmatis
Obama Holding Press Conference Today Barack Obama is holding a press conference today at 12 p.m. ET in Chicago, his third press conference as president-elect. He'll probably face some big questions ab
Paul Krugman -- a leading voice of worry during the Dem primary that Obama would eschew confrontation for mushy post-partisanship -- has an interesting new post that to some degree  clears Obama of th
Although some are worried that Barack Obama is betraying liberals, he sounded some sharply populist tones in an interview set to air on ABC tonight, hitting auto executives as "tone deaf," calling on
The Franken camp, faced with a big setback today, is regrouping for the moment but vowing to fight on -- and may even contest the election result in court or the United States Senate itself later on.
In a setback for Al Franken's chances in the Minnesota recount, the state canvassing board has just rejected the Franken camp's request that the board review the thousands of rejected absentee ballots
A very interesting moment at Obama's presser on the economy today: He made a strong "buck stops here" statement, and offered perhaps his most extensive response yet to concerns in some quarters that h
This Morning: Another Obama Press Conference Barack Obama is holding a press conference today at 10:45 a.m. ET -- his third presser in three days -- centered around the economy. As we posited yesterda
The Thanksgiving season isn't stopping the attack ads from running in the heated Georgia Senate runoff, in which we'll find out this Tuesday whether the Democrats can pick up another Senate seat from
Obama Briefed On Mumbai By Condoleezza Rice President-elect Obama spoke by phone yesterday with Secretary Rice to get an update on the Mumbai situation, an Obama aide says. He also received an intelli
Obama Calls Indian Prime Minister The Obama transition office has announced that Barack Obama called Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last night, offering his condolences for the people killed in
Obama To Roll Out National Security Team Tomorrow Barack Obama will be announcing his national security team at a press conference in Chicago tomorrow, scheduled for 10:40 a.m. ET. The most anticipate
Does Al Franken have a chance of catching Norm Coleman in the recount? The Franken campaign is now claiming that he continues to close the gap with the GOP Senator -- down to 73 votes with 88.6% of ba
A couple more quick points about today's Obama presser. First, it was striking how comfortable Obama appeared in a take-charge role when on a stage dominated by heavy hitters like Robert Gates and Hil
As if right on cue, Barack Obama's successful national security presser today, in which he declared that the "buck stops with me" and took full responsibility for his presidency's vision, is cast in a
Another key moment from Obama's national security presser today: In case there were any lingering doubts about how his decision to keep Defense Secretary Robert Gates might impact his promise to withd
Here, in the form of a statement from Obama transition headquarters, are President-elect Barack Obama's first public words confirming and explaining his picks of Robert Gates as Defense Secretary and
With Obama set to announce his national security team today, The New York Times offers a  valuable corrective look at his choices, reporting that despite their hawkishness, there's also another dimens
Obama Rolling Out National Security Team Barack Obama and Joe Biden will be holding a 10:40 a.m. ET press conference today in Chicago, where Obama will be rolling out his foreign-policy team: Hillary
This is huge. It's now official that Al Franken netted 37 votes from those newly-discovered 171 ballots in the St. Paul suburb of Maplewood, a potentially seismic shift that could throw the recount to
As we noted below, there's been a potentially huge development in the Franken recount: 171 new ballots have been found in the St. Paul suburb of Maplewood, reportedly because a machine breakdown preve
There are three big pieces of news just out now, from a Franken campaign press briefing, that could potentially signal a comeback for him in this long-running election vote-count:  â¢ Under the campa
James Steinberg, the deputy national security adviser under Bill Clinton, is close to being named as Hillary's deputy at the State Department, with the support of the Obama team, according to a source
We might just have our first open swing Senate seat of the 2010 cycle, with the Orlando Sentinel reporting that GOP Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida will be announcing at a press conference this morning t
This really isn't complicated. President Bush was not being "blunt" or showing "candor" when he told ABC News in an  interview published yesterday that his biggest regret was the failure of intelligen
Today: The Georgia Senate Runoff Today is the big day in Georgia: The runoff election pitting GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss, who is considered the favorite, against Democratic candidate Jim Martin. The que
Just when you thought you might know what's going on in Minnesota...  The Franken campaign, which has been voicing concern all through this recount about missing ballots, just put out a very urgent pr
Here's an interesting twist on that other piece of news from the Franken campaign today, the announcement that they are withdrawing over 600 of their ballot challenges. By doing this, the Franken camp
Here's something that will give a bit of cheer to progressives worried about the direction of the Obama administration: His rumored choice for U.S. Trade Representative, Congressman Xavier Becerra, is
In a briefing going on right now with reporters, Al Franken's lead recount lawyer Marc Elias made a stunning announcement: According to the campaign's methodology of tracking the recount results, they
This isn't terribly surprising, but it's still worth a quick note: Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office is confirming that she'll support Congressional efforts to get Hillary past the legal hurdle that the w
Is Hillary really Constitutionally ineligible to be Obama's Secretary of State, as some right-wingers are claiming?  It's hard to believe, but the Senate leadership is actually being pressed into serv
Some interesting new poll numbers find that Barack Obama's very high popularity in his honeymoon period carries with it something else: High expectations that he'll make things better -- even higher t
A  very nice piece by John Harris and Glenn Thrush of The Politico gets at a forgotten dimension to the pick of Hillary as Secretary of State: How extraordinary a moment it is in the context of Hillar
Obama Presser Today; Expected To Name Richardson For Commerce Barack Obama has a press conference scheduled for 11:40 a.m. ET in Chicago, at which he is expected to announce the nomination of Bill Ric
Former Rep. David Bonior, who has deep roots in the labor movement, has mounted an aggressive behind-the-scenes campaign, with letters and personal lobbying, to press the Obama transition team and top
Forget politics. Let's talk about food. Okay, both.  Some of the most prominent foodies and food policy types in the country have  sent a letter to the Obama team laying out some of their demands for
In a briefing with reporters just now, the Franken campaign essentially confirmed what many of us have suspected: That if those 133 ballots there were reported to be missing yesterday in Minneapolis a
So how exactly do Pennsylvania Democrats feel about the possibility of Chris Matthews running for Senate?  Abe Amoros, the communications director for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, confirmed to E
Fun times -- the chairman of the Republican National Committee is trying to argue that GOP Senator Saxby Chambliss' victory in the hard-fought Georgia runoff is proof that Barack Obama doesn't have a
A spokesperson for the Obama transition team is reaffirming the President-elect's commitment to rolling back the subsidies that oil companies enjoy, confirming that Obama's campaign promise on this sc
Obama Thanking Illinois Donors; No Biden Events Barack and Michelle Obama are holding a thank-you event for members of his Illinois finance committee, with pooled press. Joe Biden is holding private m
Kenneth Blackwell -- who gained infamy as Ohio Secretary of State in 2004, when the state threw the presidential race to George W. Bush -- has officially jumped into the race for Republican National C
This is kind of big. Health care advocates hoping that Barack Obama will fast-track health care reform had been waiting for a crucial sign: A public indication from the new Obama administration that t
Four votes.  That's how many votes the Franken campaign just said they're leading Norm Coleman by, with the hand recount now officially finished. In other words, with every single precinct in Minnesot
Fun stuff: In an  interview set to air tomorrow on "D.L. Hughley Breaks the News," Howard Dean joked about a bit of a sensitive subject: The fact that Rahm Emanuel wasn't an early fan of Dean's 50-sta
So what exactly happens if that missing envelope from Minneapolis, which is believed to contain 133 votes that heavily favored Al Franken, is simply never found? Could the recount just be certified wi
Barack Obama, responding to today's  announcement of the worst job losses in over three decades, puts out a statement heavy on the "crisis as opportunity" rhetoric:  "The 533,000 jobs lost last month,
Obama Raised Nearly $750 Million, With Over $100 Million In Home Stretch Barack Obama's fundraising for the 2008 campaign has now come to a record-breaking $750 million, a demonstration of just how su
Obama Discusses Economic Recovery Program, Focusing On National Infrastructure In his newest Presidential YouTube Address, Barack Obama discusses the recent news about job-losses and his own plan for
Obama: Economy "Going To Get Worse Before It Gets Better" In his new interview on Meet The Press, Barack Obama laid out a blunt assessment of the economy, declaring twice that, "The economy is going t
Former Obama adviser Steve Hildebrand, who touched off an explosion with his HuffPo  piece arguing that "the left" should hold its fire and let Obama do his thing, says he doesn't regret a word of the
Minneapolis has now called off the search for that missing envelope that's believed to contain 133 ballots favoring Al Franken, throwing yet another legal curveball into this never-ending recount.  Th
It looks like the GOP will hang on to a key House seat, after all. There were some doubts surrounding GOP candidate John Fleming's 356-vote lead over Dem Paul Carmouche in Saturday's election in North
It's a pretty amusing sign of just how bad the GOP's travails are and of how much the election of the first black president has shifted the political landscape: The race for chair of the Republican Na
Here's the latest on the never-ending Minnesota recount: The Franken campaign appears to be downplaying the notion that his lawyers would want to take the recount battle all the way to the Senate, as
Steve Hildebrand, the former deputy national campaign director for Barack Obama, has a new piece up at the Huffington Post, rebutting left-wing critics who say that Obama's cabinet choices have been t
Mitt Laying Groundwork For 2012, Using Leadership PAC MoneyThe Boston Globe reports that Mitt Romney appears to have his eyes on 2012 -- and he's using money from his personal leadership PAC, which wa
Obama comments on the Blago mess, as per the pool report:  "Like the rest of the people of Illinois I am saddened and sobered by the news that came out of the U.S.. Attorneys office today. But as this
The SEIU, which has a role in the bizarre Blagojevich tale, is claiming in a statement that the union did nothing wrong.  "We have no reason to believe that SEIU or any SEIU official was involved in a
A number of you have written to ask: What happens to Obama's Senate seat now? Does Governor Blagojevich still have the authority to appoint Obama's successor to the open seat, now that he's been accus
Okay, here's your Blagojevich thread. As you may have heard by now, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was  arrested today on charges he tried to sell or trade Obama's Senate seat.  According to today'
Look, this is getting ridiculous already. Is it possible that "the left" isn't a monolith that has reached a collective and uniform conclusion about the entire Obama presidency?   Today The New York T
The never-ending Minnesota recount has taken a turn into the truly surreal: The Coleman campaign is still denying that those 133 missing ballots exist at all, even though city officials have pinpointe
Poll: Obama Approval Rating Reaches 79% A new CNN poll shows Barack Obama's honeymoon approval reaching new heights, with 79% of Americans approving of him and only 18% disapproving. "That's the sort
This has already gotten a bit of attention, but it's worth a quick look: Harry Reid is circulating a letter among Senate Dems today that calls on Governor Blagojevich to step down and even threatens t
The GOP is really cranking up its efforts to use the Blago mess to tear down Barack Obama's reformist image, and bring his honeymoon period to an abrupt end.  "Americans voted for change. Barack Obama
The Franken campaign is increasing the pressure in their PR push going into Friday's state canvass board meeting -- a key meeting that could determine whether wrongly-rejected absentee votes are re-ad
This is pretty interesting: An Obama aide points out to us that the Obama transition team has just rolled out an innovative new feature on its Web site, hoping to carry through on the President-elect'
Barack Obama is calling on Governor Blagojevich to step down, an Obama aide confirms to us.   We'll have their statement and more momentarily.  Late Update: Here's the Obama team's statement:  The Pre
There's been a new twist in the Minnesota recount that means Al Franken could potentially pick up some more votes -- but it all depends on a key decision this Friday by the state canvassing board this
Hoping to milk the Blago mess for all it's worth, Republicans are demanding that President-elect Obama say whether he wants Patrick Fitzgerald to stay as U.S. Attorney -- even though he's already on r
Obama: I Will Use My Middle Name At Inauguration In a new interview with the Chicago Tribune, Barack Obama confirmed that he will use his middle name, "Hussein," as he takes the oath of office in Janu
Looks like the notion that Republicans might try to get Bill Clinton to testify at Hillary's Secretary of State confirmation hearings, as had been reported today in various places, is shaping up as a
With a special election apparently looming for Barack Obama's Senate seat from Illinois, do Republicans have a chance to snatch a Senate seat from the Democrats -- and in Obama's home state, of all pl
Barack Obama did manage to slip in a few words about health care at his presser today, and here's one of the key quotes:  "The time has come -- this year, in this new Administration -- to modernize ou
Poll: A Majority Of Republicans Approve Of Obama's Performance The new AP-GfK poll shows 73% of Americans approve of Barack Obama's performance so far as president-elect -- with 54% of self-identified
In a press briefing just now, a very exuberant Franken campaign put forward a clear message about today's big news that the wrongly-rejected absentee ballots can be counted, which the Coleman campaign
Here's the response from Norm Coleman's campaign to the big news today that the Minnesota state canvassing board sided with Al Franken on re-examining and counting wrongly-rejected absentee ballots: W
Hillary has officially agreed to the Obama transition team's request that she install former Clinton administration official James Steinberg as her Deputy Secretary of State, and Steinberg has accepte
Yet another poll is suggesting that Chris Matthews could have a real shot at being elected to the U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania, if he decides against renewing his contract at MSNBC and in favor of mo
Al Franken's chances of winning the Minnesota recount may have just gone up astronomically.  The state canvassing board just voted unanimously that absentee ballots that were initially rejected becaus
Some good news for Al Franken: The state canvasing board just voted unanimously to compensate for the loss of those 133 missing ballots in Minneapolis by going back to the recorded Election Night vote
Obama, in a new statement just out, professes his disappointment and frustration at the collapse of the auto-bailout in the Senate late yesterday:  "I am disappointed that the Senate could not reach a
Crucial Hearing In Minnesota Senate Race Today The state canvassing board in Minnesota is meeting at 10:30 a.m. ET to decide two crucial issues: Whether to count the mounting number of absentee ballot
Obama Announces HUD Secretary, Discusses Financial Crisis Barack Obama used his Presidential YouTube Address today to announce the appoint of New York City housing commissioner Shaun Donovan to be his
Madigan: Blago Could Step Down Monday, Potentially Still Receive Paycheck Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said today on Meet The Press that Rod Blagojevich could potentially still receive his p
Al Franken isn't out of the woods yet.  The state Supreme Court has agreed to hear Norm Coleman's lawsuit to stop the counting of the wrongly-rejected absentee votes, which have come to be known as th
It's been pointed out dozens of times that it's pretty cool to have an adult coming in as president, and today's Obama press conference -- now underway -- is a case in point.  At the presser, Obama ma
The Obama transition team has completed its internal probe into any contacts the Obama team has had with the Blagojevich camp over Obama's Senate seat -- but the results won't be released until next w
The Obama transition team is reaffirming his complete commitment to net neutrality and is disputing a much-discussed report today claiming that the President-elect is softening his support for it or s
It's striking: The Franken campaign really is now convinced that they're going to win this thing.  You could sense their optimism during a briefing they just had with reporters, which was convened to
The Illinois legislature is now officially getting the ball rolling on impeaching Rod Blagojevih, with state House Speaker Mike Madigan (father of state Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan) announcing the formati
We now have our first public polling on the impact that the Blago mess has had on Obama's numbers, and the results are mixed.  A new Rasmussen poll shows that the public is split pretty evenly on whet
The Wall Street Journal is causing a bit of a Web stir this morning with an  article reporting that Google is backing away from "net neutrality" and has approached major carriers with an eye towards f
The Presidential Inaugural Committee has hit on a novel way of reducing the pressure that the enormous crowd expected to show up on Inauguration Day will put on Washington: Have Barack Obama take a pr
Illinois GOP Ad: "You Deserve A Special Election" The Illinois Republican Party has this new TV ad calling for a special election to fill Barack Obama's Senate seat, rather than allow Democratic Lt. G
We're watching today's big meeting of the Minnesota state canvassing board, so you don't have to. And guess what: All things considered, things seem to be going pretty well for Al Franken, though ther
Plans for a special election to fill Barack Obama's Senate seat suddenly appear to be in serious jeopardy, after the state House Dems put the whole thing on hold last night -- a development that throw
Kicking off what promises to be a huge fight over labor's top legislative priority, a pro-business group is sinking over a million dollars into a TV ad campaign tying Rod Blagojevich to "union bosses"
Now that Caroline Kennedy has declared her interest in Hillary Clinton's Senate seat, what will Hillary herself do or say in order to influence New York Governor David Paterson's efforts to choose her
Today: The Minnesota Canvassing Board Handles Challenged Ballots It's a big day in the Minnesota recount, with the state canvassing board meeting today at 1 p.m. ET for their first day of adjudicating
This isn't going to help dispel the "Obama stiff-arming liberals" narrative. The  news today that bigoted pastor Rick Warren is going to give the invocation at Barack Obama's inauguration is sparking
The Minnesota Supreme Court just finished hearing arguments on Norm Coleman's lawsuit to stop the counting of ballots that are found to have been rejected due to clerical errors, and here's the deal:
The Huffington Post got an  advance look at the forthcoming New York Times magazine profile of Robert Gibbs, the campaign spokesperson who will be White House press secretary.  Check out the disdain t
Here's the latest on the endless Minnesota recount.  With three quarters of all the ballots the Franken campaign has challenged now reviewed by the canvassing board, which we're watching via live feed
Meet the fine fellow who will be the number one foe of the big unions as they try to pass their number one legislative priority next year: He's a D.C. cartoon villain business lobbyist who fights effo
As we  noted here a few weeks ago, foodies and others with an interest in food policy are hoping that Obama's new Secretary of Agriculture has a very expansive vision of the post.  The food types  rec
We usually don't give much attention to internal polls, but this one is interesting: The Illinois Republicans clearly think the Blagojevich scandal has put Barack Obama's former Senate seat at risk fo
Obama Holding Presser, Announcing Salazar And Vilsack For Cabinet Barack Obama is holding a press conference in Chicago at 11:45 a.m. ET, at which he is expected to announce the appointments of Sen. K
Here's the Franken campaign's response to today's state Supreme Court ruling on the issue of wrongly-rejected absentee ballots, presenting a different interpretation from what we had earlier. They say
A divided Minnesota Supreme Court has now ruled on Norm Coleman's lawsuit to stop the counting of absentee ballots that are found to have been rejected through clerical errors: The court appears to ha
Late Update: Norm Coleman's apparent lead has been cut to a mere five votes at the close of business today, according to the running vote count from the Star Tribune, down from a 358-vote lead last ni
Obama's choice of California Rep. Hilda Solis as labor secretary, which was confirmed to us by a Democratic official, is thrilling labor officials, and more than compensates for unease about Obama's e
The Associated Press says it  knows who Obama has picked as labor secretary:  A labor official says Rep. Hilda Solis of California will be nominated as labor secretary by President-elect Barack Obama.
Here's a statement on just how absurd the Blagojevich saga has become: People are so busy looking for feasible ways to get Blago out of office, even a satirical idea has to be taken into account.  Chi
Obama, at his presser today, defends the decision to choose Rick Warren to deliver the invocation as his inauguration with a restatement of his commitment to gay rights and, more broadly, to the princ
The gang of pundits at First Read  says the decision to have Rick Warren deliver the invocation at Obama's inauguration is brilliant politics, because it's getting the left to scream:  When Liberals A
Obama Holding Presser, Will Announce Key Financial Appointments Barack Obama is holding a 10:45 a.m. ET press conference in Chicago, where he is expected to announce the appointment of financial regul
In a frank and private memo sent today to Republican National Commitee members, the RNC chairman acknowledges that the GOP has grown too addicted to ideology, places politics before policy, and is ber
The Minnesota state canvassing board has finished its review of challenged ballots today, and we can now say this: When all the dust settles, comedian and progressive activist Al Franken is very likel
Glenn Greenwald has an  interesting post about the Rick Warren mess, which he uses as a jumping off point to argue that Barack Obama's "new" politics isn't really new at all.  Greenwald's basic point
Barack Obama, in a new statement, throws his support to the big $17.4 billion bailout of the auto industry announced today and offers a stern warning to the effect that the auto companies better get s
This is big: For the very first time in the Minnesota recount, Al Franken has taken the lead in the running vote count from Minneapolis Star-Tribune. As of 10:18 a.m. ET, Franken now leads by four vot
Today: Big Canvass Board Meeting In Minnesota The Minnesota state canvass board is meeting again today, at which they could end up finishing the review Norm Coleman's ballot challenges -- with Al Fran
The Franken campaign unveiled earlier today their final estimate of where this recount will end up, now that the state canvassing board has finished ruling on over a thousand disputed ballots: They be
Obama: We Will Make America The World Leader In Science Again In his newest Presidential YouTube Address, Barack Obama announced four appointees key posts on science and technology -- and said he woul
Biden Heading Up "White House Task Force On Working Families" The Obama transition team announced this morning the creation of the "White House Task Force on Working Families," which will be chaired b
In the latest piece of evidence that Al Franken is the favorite to win the Minnesota recount, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune has come up with a new number for where this should end up, based on an analy
The Coleman campaign is now definitely the one playing defense in the interminable Minnesota recount, with its path to victory increasingly narrowing and becoming dependent on winning legal battles in
In an interview with Larry King set to air tonight, Joe Biden defended Barack Obama's selection of Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration:  Barack Obama said you've got to reach out. Y
In an interview with the New York Times, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) gave the sort of language we should expect to hear from Republicans over the next four to eight years, denying that Barack Obama ha
Today: Possible New Vote Numbers From Minnesota Minnesota could potentially finish today the process of counting the ballots that either campaign had challenged during the course of the recount but la
Minnesota Public Radio reports that a major breakthrough has taken place in the ongoing fight over wrongly-rejected absentee ballots in the Senate recount, which could potentially have a big impact on
The Obama transition team has now released its much-awaited internal report on staff contacts with Rod Blagojevich and his own office, saying that members of the transition team did not behave imprope
In the state Supreme Court hearings just now in Minnesota, regarding the Coleman campaign's allegations that a small number of damaged absentee ballots were copied and then double-counted in the recou
It simply doesn't end in Minnesota. Just as the state canvassing board was meeting this morning to review and perhaps even approve the new vote totals showing Al Franken ahead by 48 votes, the Coleman
Today: Obama Team To Release Blago Report The Obama transition team is expected today to release their internal report on staff communications with Rod Blagojevich and his office, and which is reporte
Norm Coleman just got a Christmas present from the Minnesota Supreme Court: A giant lump of coal.  In a unanimous decision handed down just now, the state Supremes denied Coleman any relief in a lawsu
Today: Possible Ruling From Minnesota Supreme Court The Minnesota Supreme Court could possibly hand down a key ruling today in the Senate recount, relating to a lawsuit by Norm Coleman that alleges th
It's been an interesting day for Caroline Kennedy, giving interviews to two separate media outlets in which she made some, well, interesting pronouncements.  In an interview with the Associated Press,
As President Bush gets ready to leave office, a new CNN poll lays out the extent to which the American people despise him.  CNN asked respondents whether various positive attributes applied to Preside
Poll: Plurality Says Obama Most Admired Man Living Today A new USA Today/Gallup poll shows Barack Obama continuing to have high personal ratings, with 32% naming him the most admired man living today.
The Republican Party is starting to react to the recent actions of Chip Saltsman, a candidate for the RNC chairmanship who sent a gift bag to committee members that included a CD with a satirical song
Blagojevich: The Tapes Show Me Fighting For Illinois On Friday, Rod Blagojevich defended himself from the idea that his wiretapped conversations show him engaged in anything improper. "Even in this pr
Illinois Lt. Gov.: We Can Have Blago Out Before Feb. 12 Appearing today on Face The Nation, Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn predicted that the state legislature could successfully impeach and remove Rod B
The already-bizarre Minnesota recount just got a bit more comical, with the Coleman campaign offering up a list of rejected absentee ballots that they say should be counted, under a state Supreme Cour
So will any of the wrongly-rejected absentee ballots in Minnesota, which have been the subject of copious litigation between the Franken and Coleman campaigns, actually get counted? The latest report
Gaza Crisis Posing Tough Questions For Obama And Bush The fighting in Gaza is shaping up to be the first international crisis facing Barack Obama -- and he hasn't even been sworn in yet, while the Oba
Rod Blagojevich and Roland Burris just held their press conference to announce the attempted appointment of Burris to the Senate -- and it was a train wreck if there ever was one.  Blagojevich forcefu
It now looks like the Senate GOP could end up trying to block the seating of Al Franken, assuming he is declared the winner next week in the Minnesota recount. NRSC chairman John Cornyn put out a stat
The Senate Democratic leadership has now released a statement on the impending appointment of Roland Burris to Barack Obama's Senate seat, expressing their very strong displeasure at the situation and
It's now becoming clear that there is a good-sized contingent of Republicans who are openly defending Chip Saltsman, the former Tennessee GOP chairman and candidate for RNC chair who sent out a CD to
It's now official that Al Franken is ahead in the Minnesota recount by 50 votes, after the state canvassing board finally approved a spreadsheet of all the ballots that have been counted, recounted an
Today: Minnesota Reviews The Vote Totals (Again) The Minnesota state canvassing board is meeting at 10 a.m. ET today to review the Senate recount totals, after the campaigns had complained of clerical
Norm Coleman has done it again: He's filed a lawsuit at the state Supreme Court.  This newest lawsuit is an attempt to force the inclusion of the 650 rejected absentee ballots that his campaign wants
A spokesman for Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White (D) confirmed to Election Central that White knows he does not truly have the authority to stop the appointment of Roland Burris to the Senate,
digg_url = 'http://digg.com/political_opinion/Minnesota_Recount_Almost_Over_But_Coleman_Could_Keep_A_Fr';  Al Franken could be declared the winner of the Minnesota recount as soon as Monday, but due t
Bobby Rush: We Have Three Hispanic Senators, Two Asians, 11 Women, But No African-Americans In an appearance last night on Larry King Live, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL) kept up his racial rhetoric in backin
In a major breakthrough in Minnesota, the Coleman and Franken campaigns have resolved that about 900 wrongly-rejected absentee ballots will be counted this weekend, out of nearly 1,350 that the county
The train wreck that is the Illinois Senate seat scandal continues apace today.  Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance Gainer, a former chief of the Capitol Hill police, told the Associated Press that he d
The Minnesota Supreme Court has now responded to the Coleman campaign's lawsuit to restart the latest phase of the recount, the sorting of wrongly-rejected absentee ballots. They're taking no action f
I can't believe I'm writing this, but for the foreseeable future this is my last post at TPM.  I'm heading over to The Washington Post, where I'll be writing the lead blog on a new site that WaPo is l
With Roland Burris getting ready to go to Washington, the Senate's goal here now seems pretty obvious: To keep Burris out for as long as possible, until some other resolution to this whole mess is som
Senate Leaders Plan To Block Burris From Entering Senate Chamber This could be fun: If Roland Burris shows up at the Senate on Tuesday to be sworn in, Senate leaders have a plan for Burris to be greet
Today's events in Minnesota make it appear that a Norm Coleman victory is now pretty much impossible -- and it just so happens to have occurred on the day his Senate term officially expired. A nice ex
Obama Pushes Stimulus Plan In YouTube Address In Barack Obama's latest Presidential YouTube Address, the president-elect discusses his economic stimulus plan -- and the very serious urgency of getting
It's a big day in Minnesota, as state officials gather at 10 a.m. ET on this fine Saturday morning to sort through about 950 sealed absentee ballots that both campaigns were able to agree were wrongly
Check out this new mailer -- forwarded our way by a Dem operative -- that Hillary has dropped in New Hampshire, attacking Obama on Social Security taxes (click on below images to enlarge):      As the
Here's some detail on the internal discussions going on inside the Hillary campaign as they brace for the real possibility of a loss to Obama in New Hampshire tomorrow.  According to a Hillary adviser
Edwards senior adviser Joe Trippi has a theory about the Clinton campaign: He says that it's broke, or will be soon enough.  "There's a good chance that they're on the ropes financially," Trippi argue
This is interesting. The Huffington Post had a  blockbuster scoop today reporting that top independent expenditure groups backing Hillary are thinking of creating a massive anti-Obama "527 committee"
Fox News just reported that James Carville and Paul Begala will be re-entering the Clinton orbit by coming in to work for Hillary as senior campaign volunteers as early as tomorrow -- the idea being t