Patrick Caldwell

If you’ve visited the Prospect‘s homepage recently, you’ll have noticed a clock counting down to midnight today. By the end of the day the federal debt will reach its congressionally set limit of $14.294 trillion. Does that mean the government will default on its debt today? Not quite. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has a box […]

Former President George W. Bush set the record straight on the important activity he was engaged in when President Obama informed him that Osama bin Laden had been killed: “I was eating souffle at Rise Restaurant with Laura and two buddies,” Bush said when asked what he was doing when he received the call from […]

He may not place very high in the polls and comes across as one of the blandest candidates in the field, but my hunch is that former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty should be viewed as the favorite to secure the Republican nomination next year. The 2012 race will likely see two types of GOP candidates: […]

The Texas legislature just can’t stop tinkering with their voting laws. Earlier this week, I detailed two new bills that are primarily designed to limit access to the polls: one requires voters to present photo identification, the other puts restrictions on who can register new voters. The state House is tacking on one more constraint. […]

I’m siding with the Prospect‘s Jamelle Bouie over Paul Waldman on Jon Hunstman‘s decision to enter the 2012 presidential field. Between his moderate record and Republican primary voters’ sharp rightward swing since the Tea Party came along, there doesn’t seem to be a viable path for Huntsman to win the GOP nomination. In a primary […]

Another day, another Republican appointee slides through the revolving door between the bureaucracy and the industries they regulate. Only four months after successfully marshalling through a merger between Comcast and NBC Universal, FCC Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker is leaving her government post to work at the new company. The Hill writes: During her term at […]

Maggie Haberman at Politico has a gushing profile of Iowa GOP Chair Matt Strawn, a largely behind-the-scenes figure who could still play a role in 2012 Republican campaigns. Haberman’s piece portrays Strawn as an expert political operative responsible for rebuilding the state party after a weak 2008 election. Strawn had resuscitated a once-broken state party […]

The Minnesota Vikings reached a deal yesterday to begin construction on a new football stadium in a town just outside Minneapolis. The $1.06 billion stadium will receive a mix of both public and private funding: The team will pay $407 million, and the rest will come from taxpayers. Ramsey County (which includes St. Paul) would […]

The Texas Legislature passed two bills yesterday that on the surface look like good governance measures but are actually efforts to discourage the Democratic base from voting. The state Senate approved a bill requiring voters to present a photo ID before receiving their ballots on Election Day. Support for the measure fell strictly along party […]

President Obama is in Texas today to give a speech laying out his plans on immigration policy. His visit is primarily interpreted as part of a grander outreach to Latinos before his re-election campaign, but there are indications that he may want to put the Lone Star State into play for 2012. The Dallas Morning […]