Campaigns & Elections

Following correspondent Andrea Mitchell referring to Iowa as "Too white, too evangelical, too rural" on Sunday's NBC Nightly News, on Monday's Rock Center, correspondent Willie Geist spoke to University of Iowa Professor Stephen Bloom, who similarly fretted: "It's basically a white, very, very Christian state." Geist explained how Bloom has been "in hiding" since writing a scathing article…

Some are sanguine about Mitt Romney's chances of wrapping up the nomination if he wins Iowa and New Hampshire—but Joe Scarborough's  prediction in such case was nothing short of sanguinary.   On Morning Joe today, Scarborough predicted "there will be blood" among conservatives if they see Romney cruising to the nomination.  Video after the jump.

The year 2011 has drawn to an end, and as I look back, I see several of my predictions that appear pretty sound. President Barack Obama is dead in the water and will be beaten in 2012. I have made that prediction over and again this year and I think it will be borne out. Another observation I've made is that liberalism is dead. By the coming election, it will be the rare psephologist who…

On December 31, 2003, looking ahead to the upcoming 2004 election year, an Associated Press reporter -- I think it would have been Jennifer Loven at the time -- wrote about how George W. Bush was going to spend as much of the next 10-plus months as possible figuring that "he no longer needs Congress to promote his agenda." Therfore, he would use "aggressive campaign fundraising and use…

Is there anything more ridiculous than being accused of saying “despicable and ugly things” by...Al Sharpton? On Thursday’s Morning Joe, MSNBC brought in Sharpton as part of a tag-team interview with presidential candidate Rick Santorum. Isn't Sharpton a little too sharp-elbowed for the so-called civility squad at Morning Joe? “I could argue with you about some of your ugly statements on the…

Ed Morrissey at Hot Air put it best on the latest Obama campaign video: "You know, nothing says classy in a presidential campaign like having to bleep out a word from the national campaign manager in a prepared video." Campaign manager Jim Messina tells supporters it's "bulls---" that Obama will run a "billion-dollar campaign." In the shadow of Occupy Wall Street, will the media help Obama…

Twenty-four years ago, Los Angeles Dodgers VP Al Campanis was forced to resign his position for saying on national TV that blacks lack "the necessities" to be baseball managers and executives.   On today's Hardball, Chris Matthews was so enjoying himself mocking Rick Perry's intelligence, that he decided to use a slightly mangled version of the same line on the Texas governor. Video after…

Has Andrea Mitchell appointed herself hall monitor of the 2012 elections?  On her MSNBC show today, Mitchell asked Mitt Romney whether he had "an apology to make to the voters" for the negative ads against Newt Gingrich being run by Romney-friendly Super PACs. For good measure, Mitchell scolded: "is that the kind of campaign you want to run: a negative campaign?" Video after the jump.

In the upcoming presidential election, two issues are more important than any others: repealing Obamacare and halting illegal immigration. If we fail at either one, the country will be changed permanently. Taxes can be raised and lowered. Regulations can be removed (though they rarely are). Attorneys general and Cabinet members can be fired. Laws can be repealed. Even Supreme Court justices…

With not one Republican primary vote cast yet, we're getting way ahead of ourselves by speculating about whom Mitt Romney might pick as his vice-presidential running mate.  But Willie Geist did invite Politico's Mike Allen to make his "bold predictions" for 2012.  And Allen delivered, prognosticating that Romney would pick Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman as his ticket-mate. Mark Halperin…

Is Ed Schultz's expression of respect for Rick Santorum a Machiavellian maneuver designed to sow chaos in the Republican field?  I actually don't think so.   Watching the MSNBC host in action this evening, I got the sense that Schultz, out on the Iowa campaign trail with Santorum, came away with a sincere respect for the former Pennsylvania senator, calling him "impressive" among other…

Is there, or should there ever be, a point when a state is no longer penalized for its discriminatory past? Not according to the Department of Justice, which last Friday rejected a South Carolina law that would have required voters show a valid photo ID before casting their ballots. Justice says the law discriminates against minorities. The Obama administration said, "South Carolina's law…

In an item which still has a breaking news tag, Josh Funk at the Associated Press (saved here for future reference, fair use, and discussion purposes) call retiring Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson a "centrist," and almost seemed to mourn over "an increasingly polarizing climate" which made it clear that Nelson's reelection would have been a steep uphill fight. Of course, there was no mention of the…

At the Associated Press on Friday, reporter Jim Kuhnhenn provided yet another reason why characterizing the wire service as The Administration's Press is perfectly appropriate. In wake of President Obama's use of a "signing statement" objecting on constitutional grounds to congressionally-imposed "restrictions on his ability to transfer detainees from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo…