Patrick Caldwell

After a meandering debate performance in which Rick Perry dared to show an ounce of humanity, media outlets have been quick to proclaim that he’s lost his chances of gaining the GOP nomination. That narrative was backed up by the polls released over the past week, which have shown Perry dropping from his front-runner status. […]

My article in the Prospect‘s October issue is up at the homepage. It’s a long feature, but here’s a quick version: After the Iowa Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in 2009, social conservatives at the local and national levels joined forces to attack the court. They used a once-obscure procedure of judicial selection to kick […]

While Obama’s jobs proposal and the Super Committee have dominated Beltway chatter this week, the more urgent issue of the moment is the looming threat of a government shutdown. Here’s where things stand: The House and Senate have yet to pass the 12 appropriations bills that will fund the government’s 2012 budget, and current spending […]

(Photo: Flickr/simminch) Comparisons between Rick Perry and George W. Bush have become routine since the current governor announced his presidential campaign. It’s a natural assumption given their shared conservative credentials and Texas backgrounds. But at last night’s debate, Perry showed himself to be even more extreme than Bush in at least one area: their description […]

The Bachmann campaign announced over the weekend that campaign manager Ed Rollins would be vacating that role and assume the more auxiliary position of “senior advisor.” Rollins’ health was cited as the explanation for the move. Though it does seem possible that the daily grind of a campaign could get to a 68-year-old, it looks […]

(Photo: Flickr/Gage Skidmore) By most accounts, Rick Perry has become the Republican front-runner less than a month after he entered the race. He not only leads by wide margins in national polls, besting former leader Mitt Romney by 15 percent in a survey released yesterday; he appears to hold the edge in many of the […]

Rick Perry has already been declared the front-runner to gain the GOP nomination less than a month after launching his campaign. He’s posted a significant lead in recent polls over previous front-runner Mitt Romney. The only problem is that national polls mean nothing at this point in the election cycle — it’s all about how […]