Tim Fernholz

Via my benevolent editor, an interesting press release appeared in my inbox: this map of where foreclosures are concentrated. It may point to a reason for Obama’s resurgence in Florida, Colorado, and Nevada, all battleground states where foreclosures are high. It also includes lists of the most- and least-affected congressional districts that include at least […]

Most of John McCain‘s recent attack ads have included someone saying a variation on “How [bad word]” in a weird tone of injured disgust/outrage. For instance: How disrespectful… (from the “Lipstick” ad, which was pulled from YouTube)… How dishonorable… How Dangerous … And the latest, How hypocritical… I have to imagine that weird construction is […]

Via Andrew, this video of John McCain asking who Barack Obama is and getting the answer “terrorist!” has been bouncing around the internets: For this entry in the annals of amateur political psychology, take a look at McCain’s face after one of his supporters shouts his answer. He looks a little surprised, no? We’ve wondered […]

Hmmm: In 21 months, during hundreds of speeches, town halls and debates, I have kept my promise to level with you about my plans to reform Washington and get this country moving again. McCain has yet to explain what his plan is to end the War in Iraq, or even describe what victory looks like. […]

So folks are of various minds about the Obama campaign’s decision to unveil it’s mini-documentary on the Keating 5 scandal. Does bringing up the scandal lower Obama to McCain’s level, removing his advantage as the perceived “high road” candidate? Look: Obama needs to be respond to Palin’s “palling around with terrorists” crap and the McCain […]

Far be it from me to start a tiff with Warren Buffett, but watch out, because it’s on — sort of. Via Marginal Revolution, some folks are using this excerpt from an interview from the Berkshire Hathaway magnate as an argument against regulation: QUICK: If you imagine where things will go with Fannie and Freddie, […]

Noam Scheiber has a fascinating profile of, yes, Sarah Palin, that you should go read. But even more interesting — and a little creepy — is this document [PDF] Scheiber discovered while in Alaska. It’s the back of some city budget paperwork, where Palin had doodled what looks to be her early strategies for a […]

Running down the last month of election season, things are about to get cash-money serious as every political actor in the country plows their remaining funds — and likely some borrowed funds, though who knows with this credit crisis — into political communications. Take a look (here for some paper filings that don’t make the […]

In Sunday’s NYT magazine Peter Baker has a long profile of Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia and how he’s giving up on Congress because it’s just too partisan. An example: The way Davis sees it, the system has become dysfunctional. Bush has so destroyed the party’s public standing and Congress has become so infected with […]

My friend Noreen Malone makes a good point about Sarah Palin’s claim that she’s connected to the Heartland: It’s very different to be sitting around the kitchen table in Wasilla worrying about those things than it is in Ohio, where your local economy isn’t hemorrhaging just jobs, but entire industries. The “heartland” she references so […]