Brian Faughnan

In 2010, South Carolina will elect a new Governor to replace the term-limited Mark Sanford. Today there is a new entrant into the race: America's first Indian-American Republican legislator. Nikki Haley - first elected to the South Carolina statehouse in 2004 - is a 37-year old accountant, and a…

Congressman Joe Sestak appeared on Good Day Philadelphia today, and it sounds as if he's all but decided to challenge Arlen Specter in next year's Democratic Senate primary: Not only does Sestak sound as if he's ready to make the run, it seems he already has his campaign themes. He mocks the D.C.…

It seems that one of the most important parts of Arlen Specter's deal to change parties is the assurance that he won't face a Democratic primary next year. Specter's votes for Justices Alito and Kennedy, his opposition to Card Check, the support he has received from people like George Bush and Rick…

With the move to reimpose a moratorium on offshore oil drilling, to impose a cap-and-trade system or a straightforward carbon tax, and to block the establishment of a permanent storage site for nuclear waste, the Obama administration is setting the U.S. on a course to much higher energy costs. But…

Jon Stewart must be an incredibly sick individual to work so hard to get laughs out of something he considers to be torture. And his audience too, must be awfully sick to find so much humor in it: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart M - Th 11p / 10c We Don't Torture thedailyshow.com Daily Show

Later this year, the United States will join other U.N. members in negotiations in Copenhagen to update the Kyoto accord on greenhouse gas emissions. While the Obama administration says it is devoted to the treaty, reaching an agreement will be difficult. One of the most contentious issues facing…

Congressional Quarterly reports that Representative Jane Harman was caught on tape promising to lobby for reduced charges against two accused spies, in exchange for help securing the chairmanship of the House Committee on Intelligence: Rep. Jane Harman , the California Democrat with a longtime…

In his joint press conference with Mexican President Calderon yesterday, Barack Obama reaffirmed his support for an assault weapons ban. At the same time, he seems to regard it as an essentially unachievable goal: I have not backed off at all from my belief that the gun -- the assault weapons ban…

This has to be embarrassing: U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd appears to have looked everywhere but his home state to fuel what pundits anticipate will be one of the most hotly contested races in the nation in 2010. The five-term incumbent reported raising just $4,250 from five Connecticut residents during the…

It's starting to look as if yet another Republican candidate has won the vote counting on election night, only to fall behind as absentee and other ballots are counted: This morning, the state elections board, updated its numbers and now shows Murphy widening his lead to 167 votes (79,404 to…

One of the topics to be addressed today by President Obama and his Mexican counterpart is the unilateral violation of NAFTA signed into law by Obama: The trucking pilot program was created in 2007, and statistics show that the few Mexican trucks allowed to operate in the U.S. do better on safety…

Will Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Brian Moran return the $50,000 donation he has received from a man who's had run-ins with the police, whom some believe has committed both spousal abuse and child abuse, and who has a history of anti-Semitic remarks? I'm speaking of course about…

If the Obama administration has taken flak for suggesting that conservative groups might be home to domestic terrorists, it looks like some House Democrat leaders are willing to go even further: But in an interview on Fox TV in San Francisco, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) chalked up the GOP…

Yesterday, Congressman Paul Ryan, the senior Republican on the House Budget Committee, laid out the problems with the House Democrats' budget resolution: Simply put, President Obama has promised so much that it's impossible to deliver it all. What's worse, it's impossible to even come close to…

Mickey Kaus and Jennifer Rubin have opined recently on what the retailer-proposed compromise on Card Check means. While Rubin argues that card-check is 'going nowhere, and that the compromise is a sign of defeat for Big Labor, Kaus says: But the danger for union skeptics--including but not limited…

The Mexican government announced several days ago that it would impose higher tariffs on 90 different products imported from the United States. Today the list was released. The National Association of Manufacturers provides an unofficial translation here. Mexico imports a range of agricultural and…

The U.S. is only one of many of the world's advanced economies considering dramatic moves to promote economic growth. Among our leading trading partners, Australia and China are both considering how to accomplish this feat -- and both have considered retaliation against the U.S. for the 'Buy…

When Barack Obama nominated Timothy Geithner for the post of Secretary of the Treasury, he said Geithner had the right skill set for getting the economy back on track: Having served in senior roles at Treasury, the IMF and the New York Fed, Tim Geithner offers not just extensive experience shaping…

A survey of the morning headlines: Washington Times - Obama Bank Plan Skids on Wall Street Washington Post - Wall Street Slams Plan with Sell-Off Wall Street Journal - Market Pans Bank Rescue Plan New York Times - Bailout Plan: $2.5 Trillion and a Strong U.S. Hand You can always count on the Times…

Hilda Solis shouldn't get too flustered about this, there's always room for more under the Obama bus, and the House Ethics Committee might give her the same treatment they're giving Charlie Rangel: ...According to the report, American Rights at Work collected "at least $1 million in contributions…

Can any Representative or Senator (or President) defend this plan? Congress's own budget office -- whose current Director was selected by Democrats, and whose former Director now heads up OMB for President Obama -- says that each of the 'stimulus' plans being debated in Congress would reduce…

I wonder if Markos Moulitsas has started hanging around with Republicans. I've heard this joke a few dozen times over the last week or two, but it's now apparently OK for liberals to recite as well: The Moulitsas Deficit Reduction Act of 2009 by kos... Here's how it works: Since the only time rich…

Barack Obama wants to invest billions in green energy -- such as wind and solar -- because it is the wave of the future, and because it will give birth to millions of good-paying jobs here in the United States. There's just one problem: according to a study by a coalition of liberal and…

No, it's not Tom Daschle -- at least not yet. A few weeks ago Barack Obama proudly named Nancy Killefer as the first Chief Performance Officer of the federal government. Her chief responsibility would be to root out waste in the federal government. Although curiously enough, in her previous career…

Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) appeared on Fox News this morning to discuss his concerns about the 'stimulus' bill that the Senate will take up next week, and his effort to suggest changes that could lead to a stronger bipartisan vote. From his tone, it sounds like there may be a number of Democratic…

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently chose to reconstitute the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct (the Ethics Committe) with new members. That means that the panel investigating Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel has to start from scratch. While one of the new members --…

In a spending plan that will ultimately cost taxpayers more than $1 trillion, it's not surprising that significant details are only emerging now, while many more are unlikely to come to public attention for weeks or months. One such detail, which has received almost no attention, is that the bill…

The House of Representatives will today pass President Obama's $900 billion stimulus bill, despite the beliefs of many economists that it will do nothing to help the economy, and despite concerns that it's nothing more than an aggregate of the spending wish lists of Washington Democrats, saved up…

While analysts continue to debate whether America is a center-right or center-left country, Rasmussen shows that the American people still pretty much agree with Ronald Reagan: Paul Krugman, last year's winner of the Nobel Prize for economics and a regular columnist for the New York Times, recently…

On January 21, President Obama signed an Executive Order requiring ethics commitments for officials of his administration. As has been covered here, that commitment has already been compromised. Interestingly however, the 'Ethics' section of the White House website went down that day, ostensibly to…

While Barack and countless other Washington Democrats have spoken repeatedly about the need to depoliticize the Department of Justice, it looks like the president is handing a top job there to a former senior aide for Senator Chuck Schumer. Matthew Miller, who spearheaded the communications…

The Wall Street Journal reports on the suspicious case of OneUnited Bank, which received a TARP bailout thanks to Barney Frank, despite running afoul of state and federal regulators due to shady investing and lending practices, as well as the perks it granted to senior executives. The case is an…

In his interview on Meet the Press over the weekend, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel made an interesting point when he addressed the problem of the deficit: MR. EMANUEL: Yeah. Well, as you probably know, that there--over the last decade, the last eight years there's been actually a--there…

Faced with a slow economy and a large deficit, Democrats in Washington are going to try to solve the problem by adding more than $1 trillion to the national debt. Many governors face similar challenges, and some at least, are trying a different approach. One noteworthy example is Minnesota's Tim…

This might be the first presidential honeymoon that ends before inauguration day: Ten committee chairmen in the Senate and House said that Obama's advisers did not alert them ahead of time about the incoming president's Cabinet selections. Nine of them learned of the picks from the media, even…

Early in this Senate cycle attention has been focused on the news that four Republicans will not seek re-election in 2010. In a way of course, this is good news. Knowing about these retirements early gives NRSC Chairman John Cornyn (R-TX) plenty of time to line up credible candidates. And it…

Yesterday the president-elect met with his Mexican counterpart, Felipe Calderon. While Obama's Nafta two-step has drawn the headlines, the Mexican press is reporting today that Obama committed to enacting immigration reform. My translation: The president-elect of the United States, Barack Obama,…

Cato's Michael F. Cannon writes: On This Week with George Stephanopolous, president-elect Barack Obama proposed eliminating the ENTIRE Medicare Advantage program... Medicare Advantage allows seniors to choose a private health plan rather than get their health coverage from the traditional Medicare…

Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama have now both promised that the upcoming economic stimulus bill won't include any earmarks. Both have used Clintonian language to limit the scope of their promises, but that hasn't gotten all that much attention. Barack Obama has said that the stimulus bill will…

Public Policy Polling has completed a survey of New York voters, testing how Republican Peter King would fare in a Senate run against either Caroline Kennedy or Andrew Cuomo. The results lead you to question whether the dream is still alive: Public Policy Polling's newest New York survey finds that…

The New York Times reports on Arlen Specter's floor speech yesterday about the nomination of Eric Holder as Attorney General, but they gave short shrift to Specter's explanation of his objections and concerns: A leading Republican senator issued a broad attack on Tuesday on President-elect Barack…

Can Harry Reid really deny Roland Burris a Senate seat? As Pejman Yousefzadeh points out, the Supreme Court seems to have ruled definitively on whether or not the Senate can refuse to seat a designee simply because they oppose the governor who named him. Yousefzadeh reviews the Supreme Court's…

Bill Richardson has broken the first rule of political scandals: don't let yourself be filmed running from questions. Jim Geraghty has more. Richardson's staff offers the implausible claim that Richardson did not hear the KRQE reporter. But if that's all it was, why is his spokesman unwilling to…

Marc Ambinder reports that Arkansas's Blanche Lincoln -- who faces re-election in 2010 -- has declared her opposition to Card Check: That's.... 57 votes in favor of cloture now. In-cycle Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas formally opposes the Employee Free Choice Act. She says it's "not necessary"…

Forbes's Jerry Flint points out an important difference between Ford and the other two Detroit-based automakers: Ford doesn't need a federal bailout: Long run, Ford has the ability to grow. For the past two months the Dearborn, Mich., manufacturer has held its own in share against the prior year,…

Roll Call scoops everyone with an interesting piece that suggests how Governor Blagojevich may have sounded out Barack Obama about his vacant Senate seat, as well as giving a candidate for identifying 'Adviser B': Blagojevich has relied heavily on political advice from inside-the-Beltway…

The Trust for America's Health has issued its annual report card on how states are doing in preparing for disease, disaster, and bioterror. Five states earn a perfect 10 out of 10: Louisiana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Virginia, and Wisconsin. At the bottom of the scale -- earning just 5 out of…

In the run-up to election day we heard a great deal about Tony Rezko, and how his criminal associations reflected poorly on Obama. Little did we suspect then that the biggest crook Rezko knows is the governor of Illinois. With the arrest of Governor Blagojevich this morning, it becomes clear that…

I don't know anyone who's completely happy with the proliferation of television ads for all manner of new drugs. I suspect we'd all be happy never to see "Bob, the Enzyte guy" again. But the general distaste over drug ads notwithstanding, Henry Waxman's cure seems likely to be worse than the…

The Chicago Tribune leads with a stunner: Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has been taken into custody by the Federal government: Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff John Harris were arrested today by FBI agents on federal corruption charges. Blagojevich and Harris were accused of a…

The logic is elegant: One Black lawmaker from the Motor City, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), weighed in following the presentations of options by the automakers that appeared to be filled with gloom and doom. Conyers wants the new administration to elevate United Auto Workers President Ron…

ABC News reports that congressional Democrats are giving President Bush an "ultimatum": extend billions in taxpayer-funded loans to Detroit, or else: "Your decision to utilize the TARP funds, or to work with the Federal Reserve to make available assistance through its existing lending programs, or…

On election day 2008, voters decided the vast majority of races for the House and Senate, but sent three separate races to runoffs. Barack Obama endorsed Jim Martin over Saxby Chambliss in the Georgia Senate runoff, in which Chambliss prevailed. Now Obama has weighed in to help Democratic…

The Star reports on the plans of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to present parliament with a new stimulus package to address the problems of Canada's Big 3: Flaherty stressed that the government has tried to stave off an economic slowdown by using lower taxes - he brought in a six-year, $60…

Harry Reid told the Detroit Free Press that he expects comprehensive immigration reform to be passed relatively early in the next Congress: Q. With more Democrats in the Senate and the House and a Democrat in the White House, how do you see congressional efforts playing out on such issues as health…

It sounds like that international crisis he promised may already be on its way: A Russian navy task force will sail into Venezuela tomorrow as President Medvedev undertakes a tour of Latin America to challenge the dominance of the United States. The nuclear-powered Peter the Great, one of Russia's…

Hillary Clinton's move to Foggy Bottom will set off an intriguing parlor game among Democrats in New York state. Whom will Governor Paterson appoint to succeed Clinton? And how will it affect the gubernatorial and senate races in New York in 2010? New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has long…

Presumably this is the first of many commemorative Metro cards to be issued by the DC transit system: obamametro.jpg I can't wait to buy my 'Jindal/Palin' metro card four years from now.

Quin Hillyer profiles congressional candidate Joseph Cao, who faces 'Dollar Bill' Jefferson in a Louisiana runoff on December 6. Cao sounds like a singular person -- a Vietnamese immigrant who fled to the United States before the fall of Saigon, eventually became a Jesuit novice, then elected to…

Roll Call reports that Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid is giving up on a potential bailout for the Big 3 automakers -- at least for now: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on Wednesday that they would try to work out a Thursday vote on a…

National Journal reports that Barack Obama has selected CBO Director Peter Orszag to head up the Office of Management and Budget. Orszag is widely respected on both sides of the aisle for his professionalism and his command of budgetary detail. The Orszag appointment also suggests that one of…

Senate Democrats have chosen not to give Joe Lieberman a reason to leave the party: Senate Democrats backed away from a major rebuke of Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.) on Tuesday morning, keeping their colleague as the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in the next…

Roll Call covers the after-action report by Chris VanHollen (D-MD), Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). VanHollen gets credit for the 24-seat gain (so far) Democrats achieved in the 2008 election. He's quick to point out that despite the impressive Democratic gains,…

The Army Times reports on the views of American soldiers toward the incoming administration, including why some members of the military backed Obama rather than a decorated veteran. Notwithstanding Barack Obama's promises to help our men and women in the armed services by pulling them out of Iraq,…

National Journal links to a new advertisement by the AFL-CIO in support of the Employee Free Choice Act: It looks like Big Labor's strategy for selling the EFCA can be summed up in one word: obfuscation. There's no mention in this ad of any of the provisions of Card Check--wiping out the secret…

The Hill reports that Congressman Charlie Rangel (D-NY) has at last hired a forensic investigator to review his financial records and ethics filings: Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) has hired the accounting firm of Watkins, Meegan, Drury and Company to investigate his financial records and prepare a…

TPM reports that American labor leaders are coming to Washington to meet and spell out their priorities for the incoming Obama administration: According to a senior AFL-CIO official, the labor leaders -- who could include AFL-CIO head John Sweeney, AFSCME chief Gerald McEntee, and others -- will be…

The bailout of the Big 3 automakers is going full speed ahead--if GM can survive until the check comes, that is. Business Week reports that GM barely has enough in cash reserves to keep the doors open until the end of 2008. And President Bush seems less than eager to dispense billions in taxpayer…

Thomas Frank got a lot of attention a few years ago for his book What's the Matter With Kansas, in which he wondered why lower-income voters would back candidates who offered them little in the way of expanded government services. Frank and a host of liberal analysts found it astounding that so…

Professor Bainbridge makes the case that the best help one could give to GM is to allow it to file for bankruptcy: Let's focus on GM. GM's problems are manifold, but at the top of the list are: 1. An incredibly inefficient bureaucracy... 2. An excessive number of brands, which results in…

The Associated Press previews a very disturbing possible outcome to the dispute over the Minnesota Senate race between Norm Coleman and Al Franken: The Minnesota election law envisions Senate involvement. Once a result is contested in district court - which must come within a week of the…

The New York Times today engages in a little revisionist history and plain old bias: A Dreadful Jobs Report Recalls the 1980s Today's jobs report was dreadful - much worse than economists had anticipated - and you will be hearing a lot of comparisons that try to put it in context. This one may be…

It was months ago--back when Hillary Clinton was still inevitable as the next president of the United States--that Rahm Emanuel first laid out his "New Deal for the New Economy." He talked about it again in his speech at the Democratic convention. I suspect it has been well poll-tested and is…

Vladimir Zhirinovsky takes the prize for the oddest assessment of Barack Obama yet: Barack Obama is the "American Gorbachev" who will ultimately destroy the United States, militant Russian nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky said on Tuesday. Credited in the West for leading the former Soviet Union…

Several outlets (including Roll Call) report that Joe Lieberman will meet with Harry Reid on Thursday to discuss Lieberman's place in the next Congress. Speculation is rampant that Reid will strip Lieberman of his chairmanship: A growing number of Senate Democrats have been pressuring Reid to…

Marathon Pundit notes an extraordinary irony in today's ballot: Barack Obama and Bill Ayers had the opportunity to vote today on whether to extend the term of Cook County Circuit Court Judge Richard Elrod -- a tragic victim of the Weather Underground: Elrod is a parapalegic. His neck was broken,…

The Black Panthers guarding the polls in Philadelphia have attracted a lot of attention. Why are they there? The Black Panther website explains: "We will not allow some racists and other angry whites, who are getting upset over an impending Barack Obama Presidential victory to intimidate Blacks at…

I note that the Prowler reports that Barack Obama's campaign team was aware that his aunt was living in Boston illegally, and elected to do nothing about it: Instead, according to the source, Axelrod reached out to his former client, [Massachusetts Governor Deval] Patrick, who had retained…

Regardless of who wins Tuesday's election, the next great argument in Washington is whether there will be a second 'stimulus bill' (ie, bailout). Constituencies are already lining up. House leaders have heard from mayors, governors and state transportation officials, looking to Washington to save…

NBC news reports that the Justice Department has begun an investigation into whether Countrywide Financial Corp used the 'Friends of Angelo (Mozilo)' program to buy influence with Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT), Kent Conrad (D-ND), and others. According to a senior Countrywide official who handled its…

The Hill gives a preview of the congressional Democrat agenda once the election is behind them: hundreds of billions in new spending (with more and more governors calling for a state bailout), an end to secret ballots for union organizing, and tax increases: A certain starting point for Democrats…

They're not showing up in Nevada -- at least not yet: Analysts have predicted that new voters, young voters and Hispanic voters will turn out in record numbers in this election. But as Nevadans continue to flock to the polls, turnout among those three groups is lagging, at least in the early going.…

The Hill suggests that Harry Reid is preparing to do what he's been expected to do for months: Lieberman, a former Democrat who supports Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for president, is likely to lose his gavel on the Homeland Security Committee he has chaired since January 2007, say the sources who…

The Heritage Foundation has written to the Obama campaign and asked them to withdraw an ad that erroneously claims the think tank's support for his tax plan: The print ad on your Website as well as your ad entitled "Try This" reference a quote from policy analyst Rea Hederman. In fact, Mr. Hederman…

Last week, the Columbus Dispatch reported that it appeared that employees of state and local government agencies improperly delved into Joe Wurzelbacher's personal records after his name was brought up during the last presidential debate: Public records requested by The Dispatch disclose that…

According to Roll Call, Rangel hasn't yet hired the forensic auditor he promised 6 weeks ago, and there's no assurance from Democratic leaders that they'll renew the ethics investigation next year: An attorney for House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (N.Y.) acknowledged Monday that more…

The liberal lion Ted Kennedy still pushing for socialized medicine. From his sickbed, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy has secretly been orchestrating meetings with lobbyists and lawmakers from both parties to craft legislation that would greet the new president with a plan to provide affordable medical…

Years before Barack Obama enraptured the nation by pronouncing at the 2004 Democratic National Convention that "there is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America -- there's the United States of America," he compared the oppression of minorities in Los Angeles to…

Those who dismiss concerns about Barack Obama and his decision to launch his political career from Bill Ayers' living room would have us believe that Ayers involvement with the Weather Underground was more a 'youthful indiscretion' than anything else. The truth is that Ayers was a traitor who…

As the presidential campaign winds down, an important question toward predicting the outcome is how undecided voters break. For years now, the conventional wisdom has held that these voters are unhappy with the incumbent (or his party) and most will vote for the challenger when they enter the…

When Sarah Palin spoke in Grand Junction, Colorado the other day, a group of protesters tried to block her motorcade. CNN caught the incident on camera: Embedded video from CNN Video Here's a pretty pathetic video put up by the protesters, hoping to catch an example of the police abusing them. That…

When John McCain suggested the creation of a bipartisan commission to investigate the reasons behind the recent credit crash, and to recommend a new regulatory regime, Barack Obama said he was passing the buck. Now Barney Frank -- Chairman of the House Banking Committee -- says he believes Congress…

Paul Rubin warns Americans to get ready for a new New Deal: But if the coming wave of new regulation from an Obama administration is harmful to the economy, Mr. Obama will take a page from FDR's playbook. He'll blame Republicans for having caused the market crash in the first place, and so escape…

The McCain campaign today introduces an ad I really like: one which captures simply and effectively how Barack Obama's redistributive message conflicts with the aspirations of working Americans: No word yet on where it will run, but given the focus on middle-income workers in Pennsylvania, it seems…

From Chicago Business News: The best-funded political campaign in American history says news organizations will have to pay-in some cases almost $2,000 each-if they want to cover Barack Obama's election-night celebration in Chicago. A memo sent to news organizations on Tuesday by the Obama campaign…

Barack Obama is a generous reviewer, if he offered such kind words about a book written by a guy he hardly knew. obama_ayers_review.jpg Obama spokesperson Bill Burton says that Barack Obama "did not write a blurb" about the book. When Obama strategist Robert Gibbs was asked if Obama blurbed Ayers's…

The New York Post takes a look at why ACORN hands in so many fraudulent registrations: Desperate canvassers sometimes resorted to trading cigarettes, cash and food in exchange for registrations, according to Elder and two other former ACORN workers, Jaymes Sanford, 18, and Selvin Cunningham, 23.…

Barack Obama's short time on the national stage means he offers little in the way of a track record as to how he would govern as president. One of his great successes as a candidate is to be all things to all audiences. As National Journal points out, that's particularly true on school choice. It's…

An ordinary citizen speaks up about how federal policies affect his family and his pocketbook, and bloggers dive into his personal life. His finances, his address, his background and family connections are all splashed all over the Internet as bloggers line up to debate whether the instant…

A few weeks ago Congressman Tim Mahoney led his Republican challenger by 7 points, according to the challenger's own polls. Now he trails by 26: A new Republican poll indicates Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-Fla.) is the most endangered incumbent in the country days after a news report showed he paid a former…

In his comments at New York's Al Smith Dinner, McCain had the audience in stitches from start to finish. My personal favorite line: "It's gonna be a long, long night at MSNBC if I pull this off." HT: Ace

John Murtha has taken some pretty stiff criticism for slandering his constituents as racists -- and deservedly so. But it's worth looking at the rest of his recent interview to get a sense of how he views the credit crunch. Here's how Murtha describes how we got into this financial mess: Six months…

It seems Barack Obama inspires the desire to make bizarre paeans even among Marxists outside the U.S.: If John McCain wants to win the presidency, he ought to point out that an Obama win is only going to increase the flow of this dreck.

A primary defense of ACORN against allegations of election fraud is that ACORN's leaders are unable to stop its own workers from submitting fraudulent applications. But ACORN entered into a consent decree in Washington state in 2006 which requires the organization to adhere to a set of guidelines…

Keith Olbermann led off his 'special comment' yesterday with an attack on Sarah Palin for her failure to denounce an audience member who allegedly shouted out 'kill him' during the comments of the local Congressional candidate. What Olbermann failed to mention was that Palin had not yet arrived…

The New York Times reports on Democratic representative Tim Mahoney, who's Congressional career seems likely to come to an abrupt end after revelations of an affair. He sounds like a wonderful guy: The affair began in 2006, when Mr. Mahoney was running for Congress, Democratic staff members said.…

If Barack Obama can't count on the Grey Lady to cover up his campaign's ethical challenges, who is left to trust? An analysis of campaign finance records by The New York Times this week found nearly 3,000 donations to Mr. Obama, the Democratic nominee, from more than a dozen people with apparently…

The Cleveland Leader reports this morning that Barack Obama is lying about his involvement with the group ACORN, which recently added Missouri to the list of states in which its activities are under investigation. While Obama's site maintains that he never trained ACORN activists -- whose training…

Yonkers City Councilman and New York State Senate candidate John Murtagh was interviewed this morning regarding Bill Ayers and the ever-changing accounts from Barack Obama about how close the two men were. Murtagh noted that Michelle Obama and Bernadine Dorhn (Ayers' wife and a former Weather…

Jim Geraghty points to a story in the Cleveland Plain Dealer about the voter-registration group ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. It seems that in the process of soliciting, collecting, reviewing and turning in registration applications, it really can't do much about…

devobama2.gif The pride of Akron, Ohio, has weighed in on "the most important election in recent history." Devo is playing a benefit concert in support of Barack Obama: In the final month of this historic presidential race, the band DEVO is making an urgent trip to their native Akron, Ohio to rally…

Would Senate Democrats dump Harry Reid if Barack Obama is elected president? That's the question from veteran Senate watcher Kirk Victor, after talking to several Democratic staffers and strategists: Still, when a new administration takes office next year, along with a likely Democratic-controlled…

There's a clamoring in the blogosphere for the McCain campaign to go after Obama and the Democrats for their successful efforts to block reform of Fannie and Freddie. Mary Katharine wrote about it here, and others are hopeful that McCain will make it a central theme of his campaign. But regardless…

Make room under the bus William Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, Tony Rezko, Fr. Pfleger, and Kwame Kilpatrick! Barack Obama has another friend of dubious moral character in the news. Meet Larry Walsh: Two FBI agents spent more than an hour in the Will County Office Building on Wednesday morning as part of…

There are a couple of stories in the news today that illustrate the main street impact of what many currently view as a Wall Street problem. Does a stunning tightening of credit affect the man in the street? You bet: AT&T this week announced they're feeling the strain of the credit crunch, with…

Roll Call reports that Congressman John Shadegg -- former chairman of the Republican Study Committee -- has signalled that he's likely to support the Senate market rescue bill when it comes to the House for a vote: Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) signaled Wednesday that changes being discussed for the…

DJ Drummond takes a close look at the fluctuation in presidential polling over the last few weeks, and digs down into the partisan identification of respondents. He discovers something curious: multiple polls show John McCain holding steady or gaining among every partisan subgroup, yet losing…

The other day I posted the latest ad on behalf of Al Franken's Minnesota Senate bid. The ad is here. First let me say that the loss of a child is a tragedy -- no less so if the child is a full-grown man who's decided to re-enlist in the military over a span of several decades. Upon further review…

Jack Cafferty adds his voice to the growing chorus that proclaims Obama will only lose because of racism. That's what a sitting Democratic governor has said. It's what Democratic activists say. And a state Democratic official in Ohio agrees: "Race - that's the only reason people in the Valley won't…

The Senate race in Minnesota has gotten close, and that has apparently led to frustration on the part of Al Franken's supporters. I can think of no other reason that they would resort to such a despicable advertisement as the one they're starting to run:

Soren Dayton is apparently signed up as an Obama volunteer in Virginia. He just received this E-mail from the campaign: ...you live right next door to a state that is once again shaping up to be a crucial general election battleground -- Pennsylvania. And Obama supporters from across the northeast…

It looks like the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has succumbed to the pressure of expectations. After months and months of speculation over whether Democrats would gain 15 seats this year or 30, recent polls now suggest their gains may not even be that high. And according to veteran…

With the Left eager to assert that John McCain has just claimed to have invented the Blackberry, it's worthwhile to take a look at what was said: Asked what work John McCain did as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee that helped him understand the financial markets, the candidate's top…

It looks more than ever as if the panic on Wall Street is going to become a major issue on election day. If the next President is forced to decide which firms deserve taxpayer bailouts and which don't, who's more likely to be impartial? Take a look at the top recipients of campaign donations from…

From the Detroit Free Press: Several municipal clerks across the state are reporting fraudulent and duplicate voter registration applications, most of them from a nationwide community activist group working to help low- and moderate-income families. The majority of the problem applications are…

Yesterday Obama released his August fundraising numbers, but Obama's camp doesn't say why those numbers are being released a week early. It's clearly an effort to squelch more whispering about the campaign's disappointing trajectory. Attracting much less notice are the abysmal fundraising numbers…

The latest polls in Ohio show that John McCain is establishing a consistent lead in the state. Ohio is a bellwether; no Republican has won the White House without it. If McCain can take Ohio, as well as Florida (where he also leads), he probably comes very close to re-creating the winning Bush map…

The Obama campaign seems committed to criticizing Governor Palin for having requested earmarks for her state--something that all governors do. Given Obama's unwillingness to own up to his impressive record for pork-barreling, it's useful to take a look at how Senator Obama has voted on anti-pork…

Below is an excerpt from Governor Palin's speech in at the McCain rally in Fairfax, Virginia this morning. There were in excess of 20,000 excited supporters on hand. In this clip, Palin lays out her record of reform at both the city and state level. She also went after Barack Obama on earmarks, in…

A Hillary-backer makes the case that both Barack Obama and Joe Biden are elitists who deserted a public school system that needs parents like them. Ms. Tsing-Loh -- a self-described PTA secretary in Los Angeles -- laments that the Obamas and Bidens have chosen to send their kids to expensive…

Barack Obama backed out of his public-financing commitment, simply to ensure he had more money to spend, but now it looks like he's getting his just deserts: It turns out he won't have more money after all. As a result, he has to hold dozens more fundraisers between now and election day, which both…

Jerome Armstrong looks at recent polls, and points out the elephant in the room: Neither ABC or CNN, in their polls, offered up the results broken down by partisan identification. Under this sort of scenario, the only possible way Obama could be ahead, or tied, is if party ID dramatically favors…

Why doesn't Barack go and make these promises personally? Mindful of the audience in front of her, she then touched up gay and lesbian issues. "In a world as it should be," Obama said, "we repeal laws like DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act) and ‘Don't Ask, Don't Tell.'" She also said an Obama…

Variety reports that Barack Obama is headed to LA on September 16 for a fundraiser headed by Steve Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg: Barack Obama will be in Los Angeles on Sept. 16 for a fund-raiser at an as-yet-undisclosed location. Save the date notices went out late last week from Andy Spahn,…

There was an interesting, if little-noticed piece in the Delaware press over the weekend about Joe Biden's home. It helps explain how Biden can continue to make the argument that he's an ordinary guy, despite drawing a fat Senate salary for longer than most Americans has been alive. The secret: his…

If you regard the Intrade market as a pretty reliable gauge of American politics, it's worth noting that the presidential race has moved from a healthy Obama advantage to a virtual tie. And it's happened quite quickly. Here's a snapshot of the price of a share in Obama for president over the last 3…

Phillip Butler, an American POW during the Vietnam war, has received attention for a recent ad in opposition to John McCain. The short ad is an excerpt from this longer piece: Butler is a hero whose service and bravery merit our praise and thanks. But there's no indication in anything he says here…

Those trying to tarnish Sarah Palin's speech last night have decided to criticize Palin's alleged insult of community organizers: "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities." MoveOn.org wrote in an email that Palin's speech…

I just watched CNN's Soledad O'Brien sandbag former White House Communications Director Nicole Wallace by asking her how Sarah Palin can claim to be a defender of special needs children when she cut the budget for that Alaska office by 62 percent. Wallace wasn't familiar with the charge -- which…

How many remember the story of Graeme Frost -- the 12-year old boy selected by Democrats last year to deliver a radio address on children's health insurance? Unlike The Left went absolutely bonkers over the efforts of conservative bloggers to learn more about Frost and his family, to better…

Sarah Palin is proving so popular with the Republican base, it's hard to imagine that John McCain realized just how great an asset he was bringing on board. Right now at least -- before any gaffes or problems that may develop -- Palin seems to be the more popular with Republican true believers than…

You have to hand it to former DNC Chairman Don Fowler and House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt: they sure know how to find a silver lining in a sad situation. While some consider it tragic that New Orleans may be about to be hit by a serious hurricane, they think it's something to laugh…

A reader E-mails: How come Obama and co. keep touting the fact that he gave up a Wall Street or high-paying legal career to become a community organizer? A few things to consider: What do we have more of, black community organizers or high-powered blacks on Wall Street or the bar? Wouldn't a guy…

It seems that Hillary Clinton isn't the only prominent Democrat who can't bring herself to say that Barack Obama is qualified to be president. Jimmy Carter was interviewed on CNN's American Morning today: ROBERTS: Let me remind you of something you said. It was back in November of 2006 on the…

The Left can read the polls as well as we can: The big polling news today, of course, are the tracking polls that show a tie (Rasmussen) and a two-point lead for McCain (Gallup). That is the worst showing for Obama in three months, and also the first time in three months that McCain has a net lead…

The New York Daily News has heard from a close associate of Colin Powell, and it seems he wants to knock down the vice presidential rumors pretty decisively: Informed sources told the Daily News that when McCain called on the retired general and national icon a few weeks ago, the veepship was…

Available on Democraticstuff.com cuckooforcocoapuffs.jpg Can anarchists for Obama be far behind?

National Journal has the latest from Mr. Clean: A total of 552 individuals have bundled $50,000 or more for Obama, and 36 individuals and couples bundled $500,000 or more so far, according to the watchdog group Public Citizen. All the attention lavished on the high rollers raises questions among…

In the Democratic presidential debate of July 23, 2007, Joe Biden took some heat from Second Amendment advocates for his condescending attitude toward a gun owner. Less widely noticed was Biden's eagerness to claim credit for writing the assault weapons ban: But as I pointed out elsewhere at the…

Is the plane already on its way? Steve Clemons of the New America Foundation and the Washington Note reports that a key Biden staffer has cut short his family vacation in Hawaii to return to D.C.: Biden has a few people he's had around forever and some new additions to his insider crowd. Three of…

The Wall Street Journal's latest poll contains some food for thought for Hillary backers. The poll finds that Hillary would be beating John McCain by 6 points right now, as opposed to the 3 point margin that Obama currently has. That's probably not a big enough difference to make 130 delegates…

Barack Obama has complained that John McCain and the Republicans are invoking religious imagery in their campaign ads about him. Obama argues that it's unfair to suggest that his backers demonstrate an almost religious fervor for him. In unrelated news, Obama's team of B-list entertainers prays for…

Jonathan Rauch reminds Barack Obama and the Democrats that even if the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan have temporarily quieted, the war on terror is not over. At least, Al Qaeda hasn't stopped fighting it: Still, before Obama and the Democrats move on too quickly, a gentle reminder: This is…

So if you buy the hints that Barack Obama is sending, his running mate will be Joe Biden, Tim Kaine, or Evan Bayh. If you read between the lines, Jack Reed seems entirely plausible. If however, you're a partisan looking over this list, it seems that you're awfully uninspired. And given the…

Here is an audio recording of Barack Obama on the floor of the Illinois State Senate in 2002. I suspect that doctors feel that they would be under that obligation, that they would already be making these determinations, and that essentially adding an additional doctor, who then has to be called in…

If ever there was a candidate who needed change, it's Barack Obama. In addition to the Los Angeles Times and Zogby polls showing an Obama slide nationally, the highly respected, bipartisan Battleground poll shows he has lost significant ground. Here's the 'glass-half-full' interpretation of the…

If Barack Obama was hoping to project the image of a unified party in the days before his coronation, this is a story he doesn't need: A brother of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and local Democrats who backed her unsuccessful presidential campaign socialized privately Monday with a top surrogate of…

A bipartisan coalition of House Members is pressing Speaker Pelosi to invite Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili to address a joint session of Congress: House and Senate leaders should invite Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to address a joint session of Congress, according to bipartisan…

Yesterday, while speaking to an audience in New Mexico, Barack Obama admitted that he thought it would be great if American adopted a plan for universal health care: Barack Obama said he would consider embracing a single-payer health-care system, beloved by liberals, as his plan for broader…

The presidential campaigns of Bob Dole and John Kerry had several things in common: they were veterans whose service apparently counted for little, they were personally unexciting, and they ran weak campaigns. There was one other common factor: both were fatally afflicted with the tendency to lapse…

On Saturday, Barack Obama did an interview with CBN in which he accused McCain and the GOP of invoking Messianic imagery when referring to him: Brody: Let me ask you a little about some of these ads that John McCain has been running not just on television, but on the web. Let's face it, let's call…

Russia has expressed its anger at the U.S.-Poland missile defense deal which was announced yesterday: Russia reacted angrily, saying that the move would worsen relations with the United States that have already been strained severely in the week since Russian troops entered separatist enclaves in…

David Sirota makes an interesting observation about the change that has come over MoveOn.org: In effectively OK-ing the VP nomination of a politician who has consistently voted against Moveon's organizational mission, the Moveon leadership lets us in on the secret that I reported in my book: namely…

Rasmussen conducts a regular survey on whether voters intend to support the Republican candidate for Congress, or the Democrat. Their most recent survey shows that the Democratic advantage has closed to 8 points -- the closest it has been in several months: The Republicans have tightened the gap…

It's pretty simple. If you have an adjusted gross income of between $85,000 and $100,000 or so, Obama won't raise your marginal tax rates. If you're anywhere else in the income scale, you're not so lucky. FS_Obama_Tax.jpg Although Obama is offering a new series of tax breaks, they undermine rather…

Barack Obama's supporters seem to find racism wherever they look, and have argued quietly that racism is keeping down Obama's overall numbers. But Obama is polling about the same as previous Democratic nominees among white voters. In the latest CBS poll, McCain leads Obama by four points among…

When Barack Obama was preparing to go back on his pledge to accept public financing, he said that a major reason was the fear that McCain would refuse to rein in well-funded outside groups that supported his candidacy: John McCain's campaign and the Republican National Committee are fueled by…

Roll Call suggests that Tim Kaine may be out of the running for Barack Obama's VP pick unless he can tame his unruly eyebrows: Kaine's brows - arched, wiggly and what most people remember from the Democrat's rebuttal to the State of the Union speech in 2006 - have become one of the chief objections…

In Senator Obama's defense, he would have to give up much more than just bodyboarding in order to be in Fort Hood tonight. He also has a big fundraiser scheduled tomorrow night in Hawaii. It would be awfully hard for him to attend tonight's townhall and make it to the fundraiser without suffering…

As discussed earlier, Barack Obama has a new radio ad slamming John McCain and Rick Davis for their alleged role in the potential loss of 8,000 jobs in southwest Ohio. The ad excerpts a portion of McCain's town hall exchange with the wife of one of the affected employees, Mary Houghtaling of…

Picking up on an ad put together by Ohio Democrats, Barack Obama is airing a radio commercial blaming John McCain (and campaign manager Rick Davis) for the potential loss of about 8,000 jobs in Wilmington, Ohio. Basically, Davis lobbied in support of DHL's bid to acquire Airborne Express of…

Matt Welch notices that an enterprising Californian has state approval to start collecting signatures for an initiative to buy America's oil companies, car companies, and large investment houses. How will a state heavily in the red pay for those investments? Simple: through a huge new tax on…

Rasmussen reports that the recent shift toward McCain in the national polls is accompanied by (or perhaps caused by) increased trust in his ability to handle a range of issues: The Republican also has pulled ahead on the issue of balancing the federal budget. Two weeks ago, the candidates were tied…

Exxon-Mobil is receiving plenty of attention for posting a record $11.68 billion profit in the second quarter, but I see no mention of the fact that the company paid almost three times that much in taxes in the same quarter. Go to page 8 of Exxon's second quarter financial report and you'll see…

If the objective test of the value of Barack Obama's recent European jaunt is whether or not it helped or hurt his chances of becoming president, it would seem the verdict is in. Intrade shows a steady slide since Barack left the U.S., for a total loss of about 8 percent in the value of a share of…

McCain adviser John Goodman explains the inequity of the current health care system, and how John McCain promises to bring fairness: Under the McCain plan, no longer would employers be able to buy insurance with pretax dollars. These payments would be taxable to the employee, just like wages.…

Rumor is that Barack Obama will soon announce Tim Kaine as his vice presidential nominee; I tend to agree with Jim Geraghty that Republicans ought to welcome such a selection. If Obama chooses to double-down on lack of experience and foreign policy credentials, it can only improve the contrast with…

If there's one person who's likely to lose his job as a result of the indictment of Ted Stevens, it's Congressman Don Young (R-AK). Young is under investigation by the FBI over his ties to Veco, as Stevens is. It would be no surprise at all if Young is indicted, too. And while Stevens is blessed to…

Mexico is our third-leading supplier of foreign oil, but Mexico's national oil company -- Pemex -- faces serious challenges. Pemex will be unable to produce from new deep-water fields without an infusion of private capital, and the Mexican constitution forbids private investment in the petroleum…

We all wish Robert Novak a full and speedy recovery. His excellent reporting, such as this story on Romney's VP prospects, will be missed while he's in the hospital. Novak writes that the reason Mitt Romney is at (or near) the top of McCain's vice-presidential list is his ability to deliver…

A new Wall Street Journal poll finds that John McCain trails Barack Obama by six percentage points in a head-to-head match up. But when Ralph Nader and Bob Barr are thrown into the mix, Obama opens up a 13-point lead: In a head-to-head match up between Barack Obama and John McCain in the latest…

One of the Democrats' signature promises when they campaigned for control of Congress in 2006 was to end the 'K Street Project.' That was the term for the pressure put on lobbyists after the 1994 elections to hire more Republicans. As Kimberly Strassel points out, the K Street Project is back, and…

Democrats continue to try to avoid a vote on offshore drilling that they are destined to lose, instead preferring to schedule votes on meaningless measures that are defeated anyway. Now even the Washington Post is calling on Senators Reid and Pelosi to allow votes on new drilling. And how does…

From New Hampshire's Concord Monitor: After a year of lagging behind his opponent in polls, Sen. John Sununu has closed the gap, transforming New Hampshire's U.S. Senate race into a dead heat, according to a new poll from the University of New Hampshire. Most surveys for the past year have shown…

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that former Georgia Senator Sam Nunn is telling friends he may be busy in August, so they should make vacation plans without him: For the past eight summers, Sam Nunn has spent a week with friends at a manor house in Scotland. The powerful men play golf at…

House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) is causing controversy on Capitol Hill for his decision to have his chief of staff serve as staff director of the committee, as well. The staffer has no security clearance--which would severely undermine his ability to deal with the sensitive…

Roll Call reports that despite the expectation that 2008 will be a banner year for Senate Democrats, many of their challengers are trailing badly in fundraising: A couple of candidates are in good shape, at least on the fundraising front. Through May 21, Maine Rep. Tom Allen (D) raised $3.9…

Barack Obama's fundraising may have hit a major speed bump. His poll numbers have taken a dramatic turn for the worse. He forgets to call on his donors to donate to Hillary to help her retire her debt, and even when he does they're not listening to him. And now there's attention to his terrible…

The Senate voted to confirm General David Petraeus as Commander of CentCom by a vote of 95-2. The near-unanimous vote of confidence is rather surprising, given the doubts expressed about Petraeus by Senate Democrats just a few months ago: SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV): Q: "…General Petraeus is going to…

I've commented before that Republicans in favor of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ought to travel to the part of the Coastal Plain where drilling might someday be allowed. Once you get there, you can see that it's not exactly something to write home about: If voters see the…

Stunning: You need to make sure your child can speak Spanish... It's embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they speak French, they speak German, and then we go over to Europe, and all we can say is 'merci beaucoup.' If Obama truly believes that immigrants are learning…

As recently as a few weeks ago, pollsters were not generally asking Americans to rate the importance of gas prices as an election issue. Since May, several national polls have included gas/energy prices as a potential poll answer, and voters have consistently ranked it quite high. It's among the…

If Bill Clinton earned a strong re-election win in 1996 by standing against the perceived excesses of a Republican Congress (who favored radical ideas like budget balancing, welfare reform, and term limits) then John McCain ought to take a lesson. Whoever is elected president is likely to be…

It's been clear for a while that Democrats were making an empty promise when they talked of treating our allies better and 'restoring' America's reputation abroad. Respected Yale University professor and Democratic foreign policy expert Stuart Gottlieb, makes the case quite effectively: The message…

Yesterday, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff David Addington refused to discuss particular interrogation techniques during a meeting on Capitol Hill because al Qaeda could benefit from such communications being broadcast on television. Democratic Congressman Delahunt replied: "I'm sure they…

While Congressmen and presidential candidates argue over whether or not the United States should tap into its own domestic supply to meet our future energy needs, at least one foreign producer is stepping up to the plate. If the United States doesn't expand domestic production, we can count on…

Classy: The Washington state Democratic Party says it will change a video ad that pictures Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi accompanied by the theme song from "The Sopranos," after a Seattle group said the ad was offensive to Italian-Americans. The Italian Club of Seattle sent a letter…

The Beltway conventional wisdom holds that to the extent that for Republicans to do well this year, they need to present themselves in the way John McCain always has: as a 'different kind of Republican.' To a large degree, that means associating yourself with McCain and boosting his campaign. But…

The effort by Democrats to crack down on oil "speculators" took a hit from an unlikely source today: Paul Krugman. The only way speculation can have a persistent effect on oil prices, then, is if it leads to physical hoarding - an increase in private inventories of black gunk. This actually…

The Washington Post looks at the fiscal challenges facing the next President, and suggests that John McCain's fiscal bona fides are more credible than those of Barack Obama: Obama has not made balanced budgets a priority. Instead, he promises numerous tax cuts likely to make the situation worse,…