Mark Schmitt

NPR LIBERALISM. Right on, Sam! Very well put. I read George Sciallaba‘s multi-book review last night on the bus, and the section Sam noted made me want to call The Nation and demand that they Cancel My Subscription, except the operator in Sioux Falls would probably point out sweetly that according to their records, my […]

THE GINGRICH INEVITABILITY. According to Josh Marshall, John McCain “is going nowhere” as a presidential candidate. (I agree. His high-wire pandering act just got old; it cost him his already long-outdated appeal to New Hampshire independents without gaining him the real trust of social conservatives, and his support for escalation in Iraq is probably the […]

IT MUST BE SOMETHING IN THE PURE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SPRING WATER. What is it with senators from Colorado? I was perfectly happy to hear that the robo-conservative Wayne Allard had announced that he would not seek reelection to the Senate, opening one of many great opportunities for Dems to build their margin in 2008. But […]

SHORTER TOM SCHALLER. Tonight my wife and I are having dinner with friends who are in DC for the swearing-in of a good friend of theirs who is a newly elected senator (hint: It’s not Bob Corker.) I think I’ll offer a simple toast: Here’s to the first Democratic majority — ever — that is […]

THERE’S A WORD FOR THAT “TENSION.” IT ALSO BEGINS WITH “T.” I know that the words Deficits Don’t Matter are engraved over the doorway to the American Prospect offices, so I’ll put a little at risk here by pointing out that while the current deficit is entirely manageable, as Ezra says, the fiscal outlook for […]

THE EX-PRESIDENT FACTOR. I see the point of Garance’s defense of Senator Clinton against the argument that she is too compromised by her husband to win/deserve election to the presidency, but comparing her to 1984 vice-presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro does Clinton no favors! As it happens, I also just read an account of Ferraro’s brief […]

OBAMA-ADJUSTED POLLS. Observing all due caveats about early horserace polls, it’s possible to learn something if you remember that these polls are basically distorted by unequal name recognition. When I was a kid, the polls used to always say that Ted Kennedy was going to be the next president, later it was Mario Cuomo, etc. […]

PARTY OF BIG IDEAS WATCH. A colleague sends word of what should be quite an interesting lecture next month: The Poverty Issue at the End of History Lawrence M. Mead, New York University Monday, January 8, 2007, 5:30 � 7:00 p.m. Wohlstetter Conference Center, Twelfth Floor, AEI 1150 Seventeenth Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20036 Please […]

JAILBIRD ROCK? Newt Gingrich (who I still believe will be the Republican nominee in 2008, so get used to him) got some attention in New Hampshire this week for giving a speech at “First Amendment” dinner and declaring that the War on Terror called for “a totally different set of rules” on speech. But what […]