The Star That Burns Brightest Burns Fastest

On this 4th of July holiday, amidst all of the celebrations, let’s take a moment to note the passing of Sarah Palin’s political career; it was just 17 years old and in the last year briefly captured our attention and a few hearts along the way. The cause of death is still unknown, but it’s [...]

Last Look at the Electoral Cage Match

What a long, strange trip it’s been.  I’m very excited to see how it all plays out tomorrow.  As Willy Wonka put it, “The suspense is terrible; I hope it will last.”
Here’s where we are…The pollsters and pundits differ slightly on the details, but not on the direction of the election on this last day [...]

John McCain Throws His Running Mate Under the SNL Bus

John McCain did a nice job on Saturday Night Live this evening with an elaborate intro sketch.  He did a workmanlike job delivering his lines and reminded us that he has a pretty good sense of humor.  The writing was a bit forced as – far more than any other political celebrity walk-ons I’ve seen [...]

McCain’s “Hail Sarah” Finally Comes Down…and Falls Incomplete

Back on August 29th, when Alaska Governor Sarah Palin burst onto the national political scene, I called it McCain’s “Hail Sarah” pass and thought it spoke of desperation among the McCainites.  It took two months for the ball to reach the top of its arc and fall toward the endzone but based on the story [...]

Walk Softly and Carry A Big Quote

One of the most effective things anyone in a debate can do is use credible third parties to make their points for them, especially when the third party is an ally of your opponent.
Well, in the waning days of the presidential campaign, Barack Obama is being called a socialist by John McCain, Sarah [...]

Unfavorable politics begets unfavorable coverage

The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism has published findings from a study that examines the tone of coverage of the presidential campaign between Sept. 8 and Oct. 16.
Perhaps the most significant finding is that the coverage of Sen. McCain has been, by a pretty fair margin, largely negative. Coverage of Sen. Obama, [...]

Running Against Himself

John McCain on George Bush’s failures during his time in office:
Spending, the conduct of the war in Iraq for years, growth in the size of government, larger than any time since the Great Society, laying a $10 trillion debt on future generations of America, owing $500 billion to China, obviously, failure to both enforce and [...]

Arne Carlson Comes Out

“Arne” is about useful as “Barack” in the political realm (don’t even get me started on “Elwyn”) so maybe it was the sympathy factor that led former Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson to cross party lines and endorse Barack Obama today.
According to the Pioneer Press, Carlson told a crowd at the State Capitol that, “We have [...]

How McCain Can Win

John McCain has exactly one chance to thread the needle in the next 12 days and it requires him to win an uphill battle for Pennsylvania and its 21 electoral votes.*  Nothing else matters.
To understand this, let’s pretend we’re flies on the wall of Team McCain’s sanctum sanctorum, his top-secret war room. Above the [...]

Fifth Look in the Cage…

Last two weeks, time for a new color for the countdown calendar.
With just 14 days to go before the big dance, it’s pretty ugly in the cage, particularly if your heart runs to the Red side of the aisle.  Despite the “tightening” of the race in recent days, something that usually happens in the last [...]