Jamelle Bouie

According to a new survey from Quinnipiac University, in Florida Rick Perry’s Social Security message — “it’s a Ponzi scheme” — resonates with a whole lot of GOP voters. Among Republicans, the only voters allowed to participate in the state’s Republican primary, 52 percent say that a “Ponzi scheme” is a fair way to describe […]

Since entering the Republican presidential primary in August, Rick Perry has led the pack in South Carolina — according to Public Policy Polling’s most recent survey of the state, Perry led the entire field by at least twenty points. Shortly after that poll was released, I spent some time in South Carolina, and found that […]

While liberals cheered President Obama’s speech on deficit reduction, New York Times columnist David Brooks was disappointed. “This wasn’t a speech to get something done,” Brooks writes, “This was the sort of speech that sounded better when Ted Kennedy was delivering it. The result is that we will get neither short-term stimulus nor long-term debt […]

With $580 billion in cuts to mandatory spending, $1.1 trillion in savings from the drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan, and $1.5 trillion in tax increases on the wealthiest Americans, President Obama’s recommendations to the Super Committee – unveiled this morning in a speech at the White House – are the most liberal deficit-reduction proposals in […]

As far as the Constitution is concerned, each state is allowed to determine how it allocates its Electoral College votes. Most states hew to a winner-take-all system, but a few – Maine and Nebraska – allocate theirs by congressional district: your electoral vote total depends on the number of congressional districts you win, not your […]

If the economy were a little stronger, and unemployment a little lower, there’s a good chance that New York’s 9th District would have remained in Democratic hands despite the indiscretions of its former congressman, Anthony Weiner. But the economy is weak, unemployment is high, and voters are unhappy with President Barack Obama. In yesterday’s special […]

Texas Governor Rick Perry is still the front-runner in the Republican presidential contest, but according to the latest Public Policy Polling survey, his standing has slipped in head-to-head matchups with President Obama. As of this week, Obama’s lead over Perry has grown from 6 points in the August national survey to the current spread of […]

When it comes to Republican presidential debates, we’re reaching a point where the behavior of the audience overshadows the rhetoric of the candidates. At last week’s debate in California, for example, audience members cheered when Texas Governor Rick Perry defended his frequent use of the death penalty. It’s hard to believe, but that paled in […]

If I were tasked with crafting the Republican Party’s legislative strategy in the wake of President Obama’s jobs speech, here’s what I would suggest: Instead of mindless opposition to the president’s proposal, craft a small-bore plan and pass it as the American Jobs Act. When this neutered bill fails to produce the benefits promised by […]

Throughout his failed campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, Tim Pawlenty positioned himself as the anti-Mitt Romney. In campaign ads and speeches, Pawlenty defined his campaign in opposition to Romney’s: Where Romney was once pro-choice, Pawlenty was always against abortion; where Romney pioneered the individual mandate for his Massachusetts, Pawlenty always stood against universal health […]