Terence Samuel

Arlen “Scottish Law” Specter will be chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and there will be at least one Supreme Court confirmation hearing in the next session of Congress. Robert Bork meets Anita Hill. Specter is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Tom “Lesbian Outbreak” Coburn is the newest committee’s newest member. Don “the […]

A lot of Democratic time and energy is being poured into the discussion about who should succeed Terry McAuliffe as chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and what that person should represent. Some are hoping to present the right face, strike the right tone, send the right message. Joe Lieberman wants a bridge-builder who […]

As has been authoritatively reported, there is an unparalleled amount of angst coursing through Democratic veins these days, both in Washington and around the country, about what the party needs to do to reverse its recent string of defeats. “Change” seems to be the consensus answer — but that’s where the consensus begins and ends. […]

GOP congressional leaders are getting ready for the new session of Congress by spending a few days at the Tides Inn, a beautiful place at the mouth of the Rappahannock in the Northern Neck of Virginia. Meanwhile, House Democrats will convene next week in a windowless conference room in the basement of the Capitol to […]

I earned political capital, and now I intend to spend it. With those words, George W. Bush set out on a second term that is sure to run against most every wish of the Democratic Party. So what should Democrats do about it? Do they fight to the death, or should they let the administration […]

In a sharp contrast with how they reacted to the close election loss of 2000, Democrats seem more ready than ever for a fight with President George W. Bush and his expanded GOP majorities on Capitol Hill. It may be that they’re just putting on a brave face, because the fact is that the string […]

It was a day that produced endless sad narratives for Democrats. Still, watching Tom Daschle concede defeat had to be among the toughest moments. Democrats, who’d watched their Senate leader stand up and poke his finger in the eye of the Bush White House time and time again, were suddenly forced to watch as he […]

George W. Bush approaches the end of his first term beset by policy and political troubles that have severely compromised his chances for re-election. Iraq, of course, tops the list, with the anemic economy an unchallenged second. But it’s worth remembering that the president’s troubles didn’t begin on September 11 or when he chose to […]

CLEVELAND — Are you ready for the dirtiest week and a half of politics since Eve got talked into that bite of the apple? A man in Defiance, Ohio, has been arrested for registering false Democratic voters in exchange for crack cocaine. The charge is election fraud, which the GOP says it is gravely concerned […]

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona — We have now entered some altered universe where a lot appears familiar but everything feels somehow different. With three weeks to go before election day 2004, our national macro politics are essentially the same as they were three weeks after election day 2000: We are now, as we were then, a country […]