Garance Franke-Ruta

The independent 527 group Democratic Courage today launched its first anti-Clinton attack ad: The spot, which focuses on an early Hillary Clinton gaffe in which she said the idea of $5,000 per child baby bonds held some appeal (perhaps mistakenly thinking of the $500 per child bonds she had earlier supported), appears to be designed […]

Joe Biden should win some kind of prize for the most outlandish, if taken literally, campaign promise of the season. His campaign this afternoon sent out an e-mail with the subject line: “I will eat Rudy Giuliani alive at a debate.” If that doesn’t grab your attention, nothing will. From the fundraising appeal: I can’t […]

Mike Huckabee has pulled statistically even with Mitt Romney in Iowa, and into third place in a Reuters/Zogby national poll — ahead of Romney. New Hampshire does not look as good for him, but at least the state has finally set its primary date, January 8. Bill Richardson is touting a surge there. The neglected […]

Michelle Obama has announced that she’s going to delay her appearance on The View, originally scheduled for Dec. 5, until after the end of the Writers Guild of America strike. “Michelle Obama will not cross a picket to line to appear on ‘the View.’ When the strike ends she looks forward to appearing,” says Obama […]

Two more Barack Obama data points worth noting: The Los Angeles Times‘ Seema Mehta reports that Iowa City college students are organizing to disperse themselves across the state for Obama in an effort to turn the problem of the early caucus date into a campaign boon: “Hawkeyes for Obama” has named “hometown caucus captains” across […]

Special Return of Obamamania edition: Yesterday’s ABC News/Washington Post poll showed a slight shift up for Barack Obama in Iowa, and a slight downward shift for John Edwards. A key graph to think about: despite widespread impressions that Obama is banking on unreliable first-time voters, Clinton depends on them heavily as well: About half of […]

Plants for Hillary, launched with much fanfare yesterday, has today been disappeared from the web. It was “just a fun one day thing to set up the debate,” says John Edwards campaign spokesman Eric Schultz. Keeping it going “takes too much ‘gardening and tending.’” –Garance Franke-Ruta

Hillary Clinton‘s opposition, during last night’s debate, to raising the Social Security payroll tax cap was taken to task by Iowa Independent‘s Doug Burns as being a pander to people in the wrong state. Clinton said of the proposed tax increase on those who earn over $97,500: It is absolutely the case that there are […]

One final thought on the debate: While it may have ended the “Clinton slipping” narrative, it won’t have changed all that much on the ground in Iowa, the most-important narrative-shaping contest going forward. There, the race remains tied. The Des Moines Register‘s political columnist David Yepsen, under the banner “That’s Why the Lady is a […]

Not to put too fine a point on it, but what the hell? Can we please have a moratorium on clothing cracks and questions directed at Clinton? Even if we all like to chatter about this stuff behind the scenes. That said, I don’t think Clinton gave the right answer. The right answer to “diamonds […]