This week’s CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll numbers aren’t startling because they weren’t different from others we’ve seen recently. The president’s job ratings are bad. Congress’ job rating is low. A majority of Americans think the country is headed off on the wrong track. But while National Republican Congressional Committee operatives have acknowledged the national mood is […]
Once upon a time, there was a Congress. And that Congress was made up of leaders and followers. The most important among them were the majority leaders, their whips and, in the House of Representatives, the Speaker. And the leaders were powerful men (yes, Virginia, they were always men in the old days) who marshalled […]
Last week, The Hotline published an interesting collection of responses to the question, “Should media outlets, including The Hotline, run informed ballots of head-to-head match-ups?” “Informed ballots” are ballot tests asked after those being polled are read descriptions of candidates and/or their accomplishments and positions.The question arose after I e-mailed Hotline editor Chuck Todd and […]
One Supreme Court justice down, one Supreme Court justice to go. For Republicans, the next Supreme Court fight isn’t just another test of President Bush’s salesmanship or the party’s muscle in the Senate. It isn’t merely an opportunity for conservative interest groups to rally evangelicals, social conservatives and the business community. And it isn’t only […]
With House Republicans resigned to the idea that they will spend this cycle defending their own turf rather than targeting takeover opportunities, much of the focus will be on Democratic efforts to knock off GOP incumbents and win open seats held by retiring Republicans. Democrats need a net gain of 15 seats to reach the […]
While high gas prices, the war in Iraq and political fallout from Hurricane Katrina have taken their toll on President Bush’s job approval ratings, Republican voters remain loyal to their commander in chief. But that could change unless Republicans on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue can agree on an agenda than unites and energizes the […]
Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry (D) came out swinging recently against President Bush, but it’s unclear whether he’s simply still fighting the last war – the ’04 presidential campaign – or positioning himself for 2008. Minutes after Bush finished his Sept. 15 address to the nation promising action to help the people of the Gulf Coast, […]
Four years ago, a national tragedy transformed a controversial mayor, New York’s Rudy Giuliani (R), into a national celebrity. It also transformed a president with sinking poll ratings, George W. Bush, into a symbol of national unity (at least for a year). Hurricane Katrina has had a very different effect on at least one politician. […]