Taegan Goddard gives Quote of the Day honors to Barack Obama for this: I think families are off limits. I would never consider making Cindy McCain a campaign issue, and if I saw people doing that — I would speak out against it. And the fact that I haven’t seen that from John McCain I [...]

Had the 2004 election been held on May 29th, John Kerry would have won handily: Five years later, it’s Obama 266, McCain 248, Tie 24. Via Andrew Sullivan, who presumably is trying to illustrate that Obama doesn’t have it wrapped up quite yet and needs to keep pushing on, who in turn got it via [...]

While there’s still plenty of counting to be done, it looks like today’s primaries went as expected: a comfortable Obama win in North Carolina and a solid Clinton win in Indiana. The only surprise, really, is the margin of the victories. Barack Obama swept to victory in the North Carolina primary on Tuesday but fell [...]

Jake Tapper, notes the contrast between DNC chair Howard Dean’s statements about John Kerry’s military service in 2004 and McCain’s in 2008. Commenting on John McCain’s new “The American President that Americans Have Been Waiting For” ad yesterday, Dean said, “While we honor McCain’s military service, the fact is Americans want a real leader who [...]

Mike Huckabee won the Republican vote by a much wider margin than expected and Ron Paul came in a distant fifth place — but ahead of ostensible national frontrunner Rudy Giuliani. Barack Obama won on the Democratic side but one could argue that it was essentially a three way tie, since he got only one [...]

Famed oilman T. Boone Pickens has offered $1 million to anyone who can disprove claims my by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth against John Kerry — and John Kerry has taken him up on it. Sen. John Kerry, whose 2004 presidential campaign was torpedoed by critics of his Vietnam War record, said Friday he [...]

Andrew Gelman posts the familiar Red-Blue map of the 2004 election with a twist: What if only poor people’s votes counted? Only the middle class? Only the rich? The results are posted at right. Visually, at least, it’s a Republican blowout if the poor are excluded and a Democratic landslide if only the poor vote. [...]

Publius draws some parallels between the Fred Thompson’s current campaign and Wesley Clark’s ill-fated 2004 effort. The Clark and Thompson campaigns have eerily similar pre-histories. Because the party elites and rank-and-file weren’t very happy with the slate of candidates, Clark and Thompson’s names got floated for months. Party members didn’t know much about them, so [...]

The Federal Election Commission has fined the Kerry-Edwards campaign over $1.3 million dollars for exceeding federal spending limits by about that much in the 2004 campaign. The Kerry-Edwards team plans to appeal and challenges the FEC’s calculations, which are based on some arcane accounting of the value of various donated services. I have no real [...]

John McCain has a new campaign video out, entitled “Service With Honor.” It’s pretty powerful. As good as it is, I think the letter accompanying it by Marine legend Orson Swindle, who was imprisoned with McCain in the same camp, is even better. (Although the story Swindle tells in the video, about why McCain didn’t [...]

James Hamilton does a pretty good job debunking the Great Gasoline Conspiracy about how the recent decline in gasoline prices is due to a clever Rovian plot. An Econbrowser reader calling himself “Alan Greenspend” calls our attention to a post by Russ Winter detailing how George Bush might be responsible for falling gasoline prices. After [...]

Awww….. it’s so cute when politicians play the “history would have been different!” card. U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D- Mass., who was in town Sunday to help Gov. Jennifer Granholm campaign for her re-election bid, took time to take a jab at the Bush administration for its lack of leadership in the Israeli-Lebanon conflict. “If [...]

AP reporter Larry Margasak has written a piece headlined “Phone-Jamming Records Point to White House” by YahooNews. Perhaps a better headline would have been “Republican Operatives Call Political Affairs Office.” Key figures in a phone-jamming scheme designed to keep New Hampshire Democrats from voting in 2002 had regular contact with the White House and Republican [...]

Bombshell disclosure at the Smoking Gun…

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that four Kerry-Edwards staffers who slashed tires of Republican Party vans that were to take voters to the polls have been allowed to plead guilty to misdemeanor charges. In an unexpected twist in the Election Day tire slashing trial, four former Kerry-Edwards campaign staffers, including the sons of U.S. Rep. Gwen [...]

John Kerry, who was beaten by George W. Bush in last year’s presidential race, was also narrowly edged by the Texan as a student at Yale. Yale grades portray Kerry as a lackluster student (Boston Globe) During last year’s presidential campaign, John F. Kerry was the candidate often portrayed as intellectual and complex, while George [...]

Jim Lampley argues at THP that John Kerry really won the 2004 election. His evidence? At 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on Election Day, I checked the sportsbook odds in Las Vegas and via the offshore bookmakers to see the odds as of that moment on the Presidential election. John Kerry was a two-to-one favorite. You [...]

Genghis Khan is becoming a heroic figure as Mongolian nationalism reasserts itself. Mongolia sees Genghis Khan’s good side (IHT) “Genghis Khan wasn’t really a bad guy,” Elbegdorj Tsahkia, the Mongolian prime minister, said with a grin. “He just had bad press.” He was only half joking. Ever since Mongolia emerged from the Soviet Union’s shadow [...]

Kerry’s expenses: That’s the tickets (Boston Herald) Sen. John F. Kerry tapped campaign funds for Red Sox tickets and to pay nearly $300 in overdue Boston parking tickets in March, records show. Kerry’s Senate campaign committee wrote a $287 check to the City of Boston Parking Clerk on March 31, 2005. The Bay State senator [...]

Zogby International conducted a national poll to see how the 2004 election would go if it were held today. While support for President Bush has declined, he still leads: hat tip/graphic from National Journal’s Hotline ($). Of course, the 2004 election is not being held today, there has not been a campaign since last November, [...]

Zell Miller illuminates his feud with Chris Matthews Former Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.) had a beef with “Hardball” host Chris Matthews before he ever appeared on the show immediately after his fiery speech at the Republican National Convention last year. The famously disloyal Democrat reveals in his new book, A Deficit of Decency, that before [...]

Wary Democrats discover a severe ‘parents gap’ – The Washington Times: Nation/Politics – April 25, 2005 An analysis by a Democratic think tank argues that Democrats are suffering from a severe “parent gap” among married people with children, who say the entertainment industry is lowering the moral standards of the country. The study, published last [...]

Adam Nagourney takes a look at the relationship between John Kerry and John Edwards, who ran against each other for the 2004 nomination, paired up on the ticket, and are now each apparently vying for the 2008 nomination. From Rivals to Running Mates to Rivals (NYT rss) John Kerry and John Edwards, rivals turned running [...]

I subscribe to Imprimis, the “national speech digest of Hillsdale College”. The Jan 2005 issue features an adaptation from a speech by Zell Miller, given on Dec. 9, 200r at the Hillsdale College Churchill Dinner. A couple of exerpts; In the 2004 election, the American people confronted the ghost of Vietnam and considered the threats [...]

Teresa Heinz Kerry hasn’t lost her outspoken way (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) What made Teresa Heinz Kerry [sic -- She's now just plain Heinz. -ed.] so refreshing to some voters, and threatening to others on the 2004 campaign trail, is summed up when THK talks about her speech to last year’s Democratic convention: “Nobody told me what [...]

Who won illegal votes of felons? (SPI) Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire won more votes from urbanites in the 2004 election while Dino Rossi, her Republican opponent, got more rural votes. Gregoire had probably more women’s votes and Rossi more from men. OK, but which candidate captured the hearts of the convicted felons who broke the [...]

Teresa Heinz drops ‘Kerry’ (PittsburghLIVE.com) A campaign convenience is no more. According to The Washington Times, Teresa Heinz, the erstwhile Teresa Heinz Kerry, has stopped using the last name of her husband, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, last year’s Democrat presidential nominee. Preceding its Women Who Make a Difference Awards dinner next month, the National Council [...]

Some in U.S. voting with their feet) (IHT) Christopher Key knows exactly what he would be giving up if he left Bellingham, Washington. “It’s the sort of place Norman Rockwell would paint, where everyone watches out for everyone else and we have block parties every year,” said Key, a 56-year-old Vietnam War veteran and former [...]

Gregoire receives death threat (Seattle Times) The Washington State Patrol is keeping close watch over both Gov. Christine Gregoire and her Republican rival, Dino Rossi, after Gregoire received a death threat and emotions over the contested election continue to run high. Gregoire told reporters today she received a death threat and that she plans to [...]

Unlike the other reports, I did not have a problem with long lines going though the swearing-in security checks for the inauguration, but it depended on which section you were in, and which entrance you used. I had tickets for the Gold area, the largest and furthest of the ticketed areas, being a standing area [...]

Liberal press watchdog Media Matters counted noses on the cable news networks and found No room for progressives on primetime in inauguration coverage: Republican and conservative guests and commentators outnumbered Democrats and progressives on FOX News, CNN, and MSNBC during primetime inauguration coverage on January 20, just as they had done earlier in the day [...]

My anecdotal observations of poorly arranged security measures making it impossible for some to enjoy the inaugural festivities were apparently a widespread occurence, as this front page story in this morning’s WaPo makes clear: Tickets in Hand Were No Assurance of Access Some people who had wonderful tickets for the inauguration never reached their seats [...]

Reactions from the punditocracy was mixed and mostly–but not entirely–divided along ideological lines. Tom Shales, shockingly, was not impressed. It’s a wonder, really, that the words didn’t fly right off the page. “Soaring” and “lofty” were the adjectives most often used by network chatterboxes in describing the Second Inaugural Address of George W. Bush, delivered [...]

As noted yesterday, I attended President Bush’s second inaugural and the Constitution Ball. We got last-minute tickets to the parade, but decided fighting the crowds wasn’t worth it, especially since it would have made getting changed for the ball rather hectic. The view at the swearing in was somewhat disappointing but it was a good [...]

Dominant Strategist for Democrats Ends Consulting Career (NYT) Bob Shrum, one of the dominant Democratic political strategists and speechwriters of the last three decades, said Wednesday that he was ending his formal consulting career and moving to New York, where he would write and teach at New York University as a senior fellow. “I wanted [...]

John Fund has a provocative piece in today’s WSJ entitled, “Don’t Count Rossi Out – A stolen election in Washington state? Not if bloggers can help it. ” The new media–talk radio, bloggers and independent watchdog groups–have followed up their success in exposing Dan Rather’s use of phony memos by showcasing another scandal: Washington state’s [...]

Dead voted in governor’s race (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) At least eight people who died well before the November general election were credited with voting in King County, raising new questions about the integrity of the vote total in the narrow governor’s race, a Seattle Post-Intelligencer review has found. The evidence of votes from dead people is [...]

Rossi given fresh hope as ‘mystery voters’ grow (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) Thousands of “mystery voters” in the counties of King, Pierce, Snohomish, Clark and Kitsap appear to be Republican Dino Rossi’s best prospect for challenging the legitimacy of the closest and most contentious gubernatorial election in the state’s history. The state Republican Party yesterday called on [...]

Experts: Tsunami disaster might ease terrorism (CNN) While most of the world’s attention was focused on the tsunami last week, Osama bin Laden issued another audiotape. Somehow listening to al Qaeda’s leader offer his endorsement of Abu Musab al Zarqawi and his murderous ways in Iraq seemed trivial next to the devastation in places like [...]

Ohio Recount Ends, Shows Vote Closer (AP) Election officials finished the presidential recount in Ohio on Tuesday, with the final tally shaving about 300 votes off President Bush’s six-figure margin of victory in the state that gave him a second term. The recount shows Bush winning Ohio by 118,457 votes over John Kerry, according to [...]

Recounts and Partisan Bickering Tire Washington Voters (NYT) Washington voters, confused by the bizarre turn of events in the excruciatingly close race for governor after more than seven weeks of vote counting, legal wrangling and partisan battling, are starting to sound quite flustered. *** Other voters said the close results and newly found and erroneously [...]

It’s Gregoire by 130; is it over? Rossi says this wasn’t a clean election (Seattle Times) It took three counts of nearly 3 million ballots, four lawsuits, seven weeks and discovery of a series of embarrassing mistakes in King County, but Democrat Christine Gregoire yesterday won the race for governor by 130 votes over Republican [...]

David Freddoso reports: According to the official documents displayed on the website of the National Archives, the Empire State’s 31 electoral votes all went for someone named “John L. Kerry” from Massachusetts. No such person could be found in the phone book, although there is a John T. Kerry in Plymouth. New York Deputy Secretary [...]

Democrats: Gregoire wins by 8 votes (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) Democrat Christine Gregoire will defeat Republican Dino Rossi by eight votes in the governor’s race recount when King County reports results today, state Democratic Party Chairman Paul Berendt said last night. “We are absolutely confident that she is going to be the next governor of the state [...]

John Fund poses the question, “Ukraine gets to revote. Why can’t Washington state?” There is no provision in Washington state law for holding a new election. It would have to be ordered by the state Supreme Court or by a special session of the legislature. But now is the time to raise the issue because [...]

Cheating suspected in vote (Washington Times) Republicans in Washington state suspect Democrats, with 500 patronage jobs at risk, are cheating in what is now the unprecedented third counting of the 2,883,341 ballots cast in the Nov. 2 election for governor. In the current hand recount, Democrats keep discovering untabulated ballots. The state’s Republicans, who thought [...]

WaPo reports today that retiring Georgia Senator Zell Miller is Bound for K Street: Sen. Zell Miller, the Georgia Democrat who turned on colleague John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and campaigned for President Bush, will be trying his hand at government relations in the private sector when he retires from the Senate next month. Miller is [...]

Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Bing West has an interesting piece in Slate entitled “Fallujah, the Morning After.” Here’s the ending: Militarily, the battle of Fallujah was an unqualified success. Zarqawi has been deprived of his sanctuary. He will spend more time on the run and have less time to blow [...]

Sharpton Was Paid to Aid Kerry Campaign (AP) All of John Kerry’s one-time rivals in the Democratic presidential primary eventually lined up to support him as the nominee, but only one got paid for it — Al Sharpton. The Democratic National Committee paid Sharpton $86,715 in travel and consulting fees to compensate for his campaigning [...]

Al Kamen (“In the Loop,” WaPo) There are rumblings that, despite a recent discovery of $15 million in leftover campaign money, some of the Kerry campaign advance team are having trouble getting paid for the last several weeks of the campaign. Worse, many of them have not seen a per diem check since the end [...]