So now we know. The clues, actually, made this case easy to solve. It didn’t take forensics or truth serum or even a lie detector. No, it wasn’t Col. Mustard in the conservatory with the rope or Professor Plum in the hall with the candlestick. It was Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele (R). In the restaurant. With his…
Chances are, if you are following the midterm elections in general, and the fight for control of the Senate in particular, you’ve heard of Mike McGavick. He’s the former CEO of Safeco, a major insurance company that he turned from a basket case into a profitable business. I write neither to praise McGavick nor to bury him. I…
The new July 28, 2006 print edition of the Rothenberg Political Report is on its way to subscribers. (Click here for subscription information.) Minnesota Senate: A Takeover or a Makeover?By Barry Casselman The open U.S. Senate seat contest in Minnesota resembles one of those new super rides at an American amusement park, the ones that go wildly up…
While most of the nation’s attention is focused on the Democratic Senate primary in Connecticut and the future of Sen. Joe Lieberman (D), the political career of Rhode Island Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee is no less in doubt. Not everyone accepts this assessment. Some continue to believe that Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey isn’t a serious threat to Chafee…
The Democratic Congressional polls keep rolling in, and almost all of them look very, very good for the party’s House hopefuls. For example, a Cooper & Secrest survey for Democrat Joe Donnelly showed him leading Republican incumbent Rep. Chris Chocola by 10 points, 48 percent to 38 percent, in Indiana’s 2nd district. Two years ago, Chocola defeated Donnelly…
I’ve been writing about House and Senate campaigns and elections for more than 25 years, and I don’t think I can recall an election cycle in which so many candidates failed to qualify for the ballot because they did not submit the requisite number of signatures. Let’s be brutally honest: You have to be running a pretty inept…
By Nathan L. Gonzales The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee fired off an indignant press release Thursday on the heels of a Philadelphia Inquirer story detailing the work history of Christopher Lyon, a opposition researcher for New Jersey Senate nominee Tom Kean, Jr. (R). Lyon’s work experience includes research for the 1988 Willie Horton ad, which effectively demonized Democratic…
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee fired off an indignant press release Thursday on the heels of a Philadelphia Inquirer story detailing the work history of Christopher Lyon, a opposition researcher for New Jersey Senate nominee Tom Kean, Jr. (R). Lyon’s work experience includes research for the 1988 Willie Horton ad, which effectively demonized Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis,…
A recent trip to Israel got me thinking about a question that I can safely say I had never considered before: If it plays well in Petah Tikva, a Tel Aviv suburb, can it also play in Peoria, Ill.? The Israeli political system is very different from ours, since it is a parliamentary system. But the dramatic change…
The new July 14, 2006 print edition of the Rothenberg Political Report is on its way to subscribers. (Click here for subscription information.) New Jersey Senate: It Depends on Your Definition of ChangeBy Nathan L. Gonzales In the New Jersey Senate race, both candidates are claiming to be the candidate for change. The winner of that argument could…