Thomas Schaller

I received my doctorate from North Carolina, so I’m obviously not an objective observer about Duke, who lost to West Virginia Saturday in the NCAA men’s tourney. And let me say up front that there is plenty of unjustified, unchecked snobbery in Tar Heel Land, especially as directed toward those “filthy farmers” at North Carolina […]

I only have a few minutes to write this up, and I still have not seen the video version of I only have a few minutes to write this up, and I still have not seen the video version of Barack Obama’s speech Tuesday in Philly in full, and because of travels didn’t have a […]

I finally got around to opening up the March 8 issue of the National Journal, with its provocative and conventionally-wise cover story about “The New Center,” which naturally makes the always-asserted, rarely-documented case that the freshmen Democrats won because they are more centrist. We first heard this in electoral terms when they won in 2006, […]

There’s a lot of anticipation for There’s a lot of anticipation for Barack Obama’s late-starting and now just-underway speech on race. Some are expecting him to hit it out of the park. The embargoed copy of the speech certainly promises some compelling, even lyrical language. It should be well-received. And yet, overall, even if Obama […]

While she was hammering While she was hammering George Bush’s economic record (such as it is) today, I noticed that Hillary Clinton was wearing a snappy scarf with giant four leaf clovers on today to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and make an appeal to….wait for it…Pennsylvania’s Irish-American Democrats? Lest you think she is only making […]

I don’t know if he’s I don’t know if he’s Barack Obama’s or, more generally, the Democrats’ “Karl Rove”–a title which can be taken as a plaudit or insult, depending on its intent–but an interesting new piece in Business Week about the non-political, corporate side of Obama strategist David Axelrod’s business is worth adding to […]

In this interview from New Orleans with In this interview from New Orleans with ABC’s Robin Roberts, the now-chilled out Bill Clinton is calling for his wife and Barack Obama and their campaigns to “just chill out.” I have a piece in Salon today asking for the same—not about the racially-tinged stuff (though that would […]

All three remaining presidential candidates All three remaining presidential candidates voted for the earmark moratorium bill. My reaction: Whoop-dee-crap. It’s amazing—and in John McCain’s case, appalling—that candidates or other politicians dare to stake their “fiscal responsibility” creds on fighting earmarks. My venerable UMBC colleague Roy Meyers, a leading expert on federal budgeting for about two […]

I have a I have a new piece, out earlier today in The New Republic, arguing that the Clinton media team was in top form in the wake of their March 4 victories, especially in drowning out Barack Obama’s wins in Wyoming and Mississippi. For non-subscribers, here are the closing lines: In case you didn’t […]