It has been almost 20 years since I started writing a best/worst end of the year column. Since I’m committed to doing them until I finally get one right, here goes this year’s attempt.
Weirdest Political Development of 2015
The nominees:
Breaking news can be hard to predict, except when it’s tied to a controversial court case.
Candidates and consultants spend their time, energy and dollars staying on message — trying to focus voters on winning issues. But breaking news, even something such as a court decision that can be anticipated,…
Next year will go a long way in defining Wisconsin’s political identity. And there is plenty at stake including 10 electoral votes and a U.S. Senate seat with the majority hanging in the balance.
The Republican presidential nominee hasn’t won the Badger State since President Ronald Reagan’s landslide re-election…
It has been almost 16 months since I wrote about the comparative positions of President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush as they approached their second midterm elections. Since then, the two presidents, and two administrations, have continued to resemble each other increasingly.
Many Republicans, no doubt,…
In a race filled with plenty of fast-talking, quick-tongued hopefuls — including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and, at one point, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal — Ben Carson stands out as very different, and not only because of his race, resume…
Every day there’s a new story exposing a candidate or a politician, and each misstep is portrayed as a disqualifier — a mistake that will lead to the candidate’s demise. It can be easy to forget that imperfect people get elected to office.
A few weeks ago, the Democratic…
Virginia is the newcomer to the list of battleground states that will select the next president of the United States.
It’s a remarkable turnaround for a commonwealth that went 44 years without voting for a Democratic presidential nominee. Barack Obama’s 53 percent to 46 percent victory in 2008 was the…
I say it repeatedly: Events matter. And for President Barack Obama, the terror attacks in Paris present a no-win political situation, at least until other, compelling news changes the subject.
That is not to say the president, the Democratic Party or the likely Democratic 2016 nominee, Hillary Rodham Clinton,…
The panic is palpable from the media and too many GOP “insiders.”
The Republican Party is going to nominate Donald Trump or Ben Carson for president, guaranteeing Barry Goldwater-style losses in the 2016 elections and threatening the Republic. Or, as The Washington Post put it on Page 1 of its…
I hear it all the time: Voters want change after one party has held the White House for eight years, and that’s why only once over the past six decades has a party held the presidency for three consecutive terms. Tough luck, Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The observation has merit,…
