Halfway through The Elephant in the Room: Evangelicals, Libertarians and the Battle to Control the Republican Party, the new book by New York Post columnist and self-described libertarian Ryan Sager, readers may find themselves torn over whether to empathize with Republican Congressman Mike Pence of Indiana. The former talk show host won a House seat […]
Thomas Schaller
Thomas F. Schaller is an associate professor of political science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and author of The Stronghold: How Republicans Captured Congress but Surrendered the White House.
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Tactics Make Perfect
A few weeks before the Democrats’ 2002 midterm disaster, I found myself at a political event seated next to a longtime Democratic congressman. During a lull, I asked him why Democrats were unable to nationalize the congressional elections as Republican Newt Gingrich did in 1994. “It’s a lot tougher for us,” he bemoaned. “We’re more […]
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Sore Loserman
A day before the Connecticut Senate primary, Paola Roy was still struggling with how she would cast her vote. Then she happened to stumble into Joe Lieberman at one of the senator’s final campaign stops, in the small town of Southington. Roy immigrated to the United States from Sicily in 1971, and not until the […]
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Cat Scratch Fever
It was moments before my panel with political consultant Dave “Mudcat” Saunders on the significance of the South to the Democratic Party at the Yearly Kos convention last week in Las Vegas. Another political consultant, Joe Trippi — who was added to the panel at the last minute by the moderator, MyDD blogger Jerome Armstrong, […]
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New Math
The conclusion from Iowa is that former Gov. Howard Dean (D-Vt.) and Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) lost because their machines were no match for the positive, resonating messages Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and John Edwards (D-N.C.) used to motivate caucus goers. That story line is only half-correct. The important back story from Iowa 2004 is […]
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I Will Survive:
Jaws dropped last week when it was learned that former President Bill Clinton drew some $9 million in speaker’s fees in the year 2001. Though seemingly determined not to overshadow the junior senator from New York who doubles as his wife, Clinton nevertheless maintains a certain rock-star status. Once Hillary’s political honeymoon ends, does anyone […]