LIKABILITY. There’s this new narrative that’s been developing in the press that John Edwards is no longer running as the sunny, bright, optimistic candidate of 2003. I haven’t been sure that’s entirely correct, because even though he has been running a much more pointed and aggressive campaign than he did in 2003-2004, he never seems […]
Garance Franke-Ruta
Garance Franke-Ruta is a former senior editor at the Prospect. Her work has also appeared in The Washington Post, The Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and The Wall Street Journal, among other publications. She was a 2006 recipient of a fellowship at the Joan Shorenstein Center on Press, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard University.
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THE ENDORSEMENT RACE….
THE ENDORSEMENT RACE. If you had to guess which Democratic presidential candidates had been endorsed by the most Iowa legislators, you’d think John Edwards, the long-time front-runner in that state, surely would be in one of the top two spots. But, no, reports Iowa Independent today. Joe Biden is now in second place, with 8 […]
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OBAMA ONCE PROUD…
OBAMA ONCE PROUD TO BE CALLED “ARTICULATE.” Illinois Sen. Barack Obama‘s 2004 Senate campaign fliers boasted that he was “the most…articulate contender in [the] field,” according to handouts paid for by Obama for Illinois, which I found while cleaning out my files earlier this week. (I travelled with the then-state senator for a couple of […]
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MORE IOWA TIPS….
MORE IOWA TIPS. Ann‘s the real Iowa expert around the TAP offices, but my three weeks in the state recently also taught me a few critical distinctions: Field corn is the stuff you see growing all over the state. It is used to make animal feed, corn syrup, various starches, and ethanol. The stuff you […]
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SO MUCH ROOM….
SO MUCH ROOM. President Bush‘s forthcoming announcement, perhaps as early as Thursday, that he plans reduce troops in Iraq by 30,000 by next summer — after increasing troops in Iraq by roughly that amount just as pressure mounted for him to start drawing them down earlier this year — reminded me of the classic Jewish […]
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THE CAP FACT-CHECK….
THE CAP FACT-CHECK. The Center for American Progress fact-checks Gen. Petraeus‘ testimony and the Petraeus Report: –Garance Franke-Ruta
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SOFT ON HUCKABEE….
SOFT ON HUCKABEE. I spent some time last night looking further into former-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee‘s record and have been racking my brain for an explanation as to why the national press has been so willing to accept his aw-shucks Mr. Nice Guy act without scrutiny (I’m sure commenters will have plenty of explanations of […]
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THE HOLBROOKE SCHOOL….
THE HOLBROOKE SCHOOL. To add to Ezra‘s item on John Edwards‘ foreign policy advisors, I think it’s fair to say that Derek Chollet is definitely of the Holbrookian school that Tom Edsall identifies with Sen. Hillary Clinton, in that Derek used to work as a speechwriter for Holbrooke and also helped him write a book. […]
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NON-MEAN-SPIRITED SUPPORT FOR…
NON-MEAN-SPIRITED SUPPORT FOR RAISING TAXES ON THE POOR. I don’t mean to pick on Mike Huckabee, but he’s the sort of political figure who has so far been so thoroughly evaluated on personality grounds, instead of policy ones, that I believe some correction is in order. After all, he’s running for president, and not for […]
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LUNTZ’S FOCUS GROUP…
LUNTZ’S FOCUS GROUP GIVES THE DEBATE TO MCCAIN. Watching Fox News now, Frank Luntz‘s focus group attendees said that John McCain impressed them most, especially by clarifying and moderating his position on immigration, and that Rudy Giuliani came off the worst, by being overly focused on New York during the debate. –Garance Franke-Ruta