RSS

Terence Samuel

Terence Samuel is a Prospect senior correspondent and the author of The Upper House: A Journey behind the Closed Doors of the U.S. Senate, published in May by Palgrave Macmillan. Follow him on Twitter.

Recent Articles

Step Right Up Indiana

Like many late primary states, Indiana is feeling the flush of increased voter registration, national media attention and money from the DNC. Democrats are hopeful that this will auger well for down-ticket races in the fall.

Terence SamuelMay 02, 2008

Despite a deepening despair among Democrats that the never-ending primary season is severely damaging the eventual nominee, Dan Parker, chair of the Indiana Democratic Party, is almost gleeful about what is happening in his state in advance of next week's presidential primary. "Anybody who tells you different doesn't know anything about politics," he said, "This is a good thing for the Indiana Democratic Party."

On the 2008 Primary and Black Anger

The Clintons do not seem to understand that the kind of revulsion they are generating in what was once the heart of their base is not your garden-variety political frustration.

Terence SamuelApr 25, 2008

I encounter it much more frequently than ever these days -- a seething, barely-contained rage that convulses some black people when they talk about the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination.

This is the Obama base -- frustrated by his recent reversals and, frankly, running a little bit scared. They worry that, despite all the analysis showing that Clinton has virtually no chance of winning the nomination, the cards are stacked against Obama and the house will find a way to win. "They are going to change the rules, you watch," one man told me.

Why Obama Will Win Pennsylvania

Barack Obama has shown himself capable under attack, and managed to rally support beyond Philadelphia. It may be enough to stop Hillary Clinton.

Terence SamuelApr 21, 2008

That creaking noise you hear is the sound of me going way out on a limb to predict that Barack Obama will win the Pennsylvania primary on Tuesday, finally ending Hillary Clinton's presidential ambitions.

After all the sound and fury, the race in Pennsylvania will come down to the strength of get- out-the-vote (GOTV) operations, and I think the Obama campaign's organizational advantages will be enough to push Obama past Clinton by almost two percentage points. He's got money, he's got energy and enthusiasm (despite his debate performance on Tuesday), and he's got Philadelphia and its suburbs

The Democrats' Struggle to Maintain Unity

As the Democrats gear up for the Pennsylvania primary, they could find themselves on shaky ground as the party's old personality disorders begin to resurface.

Terence SamuelMar 11, 2008

After Sen. Barack Obama's win in Saturday's primary in Wyoming, Democratic voters in the 11 remaining contests, from Mississippi to Puerto Rico, will decide how to dole out a total of 599 delegates between Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton. And, since there is no way in which those outcomes could decide the nomination, the decision will the fall to the now-infamous super-delegates. The long, messy fight for the Democratic presidential nomination will only get longer and messier.

The Final Word

The Clinton-Obama contest has opened up some unexpected divisions in the Democratic Party among people who have invested their deepest selves into one candidacy or another. Democratic chances in November may depend at least as much on what the loser says as who the winner turns out to be.

Terence SamuelFeb 25, 2008

March 4 is the new Feb. 5, and, depending on whom you listen to, the race is already over on the Democratic side, with Obama needing just one more win to end the Clinton Age in American politics. After 10 losses in a row, the Clinton Inevitably Strategy now looms as one of the great strategic blunders of our time. How Hillary Clinton lost Wisconsin by 17 points would be a head-splitting political puzzle, if it didn't come at the end of a long string of defeats and was not the smallest loss-margin of the last 10.

Pages