All Political Corruption is Local

Matt Yglesias is befuddled that Michael Bloomberg is ineligible for re-election as NYC mayor: It really does seem a bit odd that a mayor with a 67 percent approval rating should be forced from office because of a term limits law. I suppose I understand the theory that presidential-level term limits serve as a check on tyranny, but there doesn't seem ...

Obama Personality Cult Redux

Sara Robinson has an interesting examination of the question of Barack Obama’s cult of personality. She begins by a look at the literature on actual cults and shows why the Obama campaign doesn't qualify. While worthwhile from a technical standpoint, though, that's not really what the debate is about. Perhaps "cult" is a poor word choice but people ...

Putin to Control Russia After Leaving Office

Vladimir Putin announced today that he plans to use next month's elections as a referendum on his continued dominance of Russian politics well beyond his constitutionally-mandated exit from office. President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday a convincing victory for the party he is leading in next month's parliamentary elections would give him the "moral right" to maintain strong influence in ...

John Murtha King of Pork

John Murtha gets more pork for his district than any other Representative. If John Murtha were a businessman, he'd be the biggest employer in this town. The powerful U.S. congressman has used his clout on Capitol Hill to create thousands of jobs and steer billions of dollars in federal spending to help his hometown in western Pennsylvania recover from devastating floods ...

Wayne Allard Retiring, Seat Open in 2008

Colorado Senator Wayne Allard, a Republican, announced yesterday that he will not run for re-election in 2008, citing his pledge to serve no more than twelve years. "I just didn't think I could back away from the (term limits) commitment. It is a matter of integrity and keeping your commitments. I have never wavered on that," Allard told the Rocky ...

California and Global Warming

In an a new attempt to show that he really isn't a Republican, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger endorses a bill that will "combat global warming", Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic leaders endorsed landmark legislation Wednesday that could serve as a national model for combating global warming and, according to Silicon Valley business leaders, spur a wave of cleaner-burning energy technologies. "This is ...

Members of Congress No Longer “Represent” their Districts

Tim Lynch at Cato at Liberty makes an interesting claim, that recently members of Congress aren't necessarily representatives of their districts. He points out that Tom Delay is on the ballot in Texas, but has also declared himself to be a Virginian. Granted in Delay's case part of the problem is the ruling of judge that is preventing ...

OTB Interview with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist

I interviewed Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R, TN) by telephone this afternoon. Unfortunately, I do not have podcasting capabilities set up so the best I can do is a text summary. The questions are pretty close to verbatim as I had them written out ahead of time; the answers are my best attempt at summarization rather than ...

Forty-Eight is Enough

Earlier this week, Robert Byrd of West Virginia became the longest-serving senator in American history, besting fellow Civil Rights laggard Strom Thurmond's record. As Steven Taylor notes, such longevity in office is probably inconsistent with the intentions of the framers of the Constitution, who could rely on 18th century biology--and a minimum age of 30--to ensure a bit more ...

Newt Gingrich: Unorthodox Visionary?

Joe Klein explains "Why Newt Is So Much Fun to Watch" in a column for Time. Basically, it's because he is an idea machine who can talk policy interestingly and reasonably. "Gingrich was certainly wild with ideas last week, flicking them off at warp speed, like a dog shaking himself clean after romping through a pond." The ideas ...