Working Man’s PhD

In my Indiana-North Carolina postmortem, I noted my hatred for the term "working class" because "it implies that those putting in 60 hours a week at high paying jobs don’t work." Recently promoted full professor Dan Drezner, who is about to enjoy three months off from work ("if you don't count editing one book, writing part of another book, prepping ...

Fox Assistant Fired for McCain Worship

A young Fox News staffer was fired for telling John McCain she'd voted for him, Chris Ariens reports. Insiders tell us the assistant, identified as Jennifer Locke, was on assignment with a camera crew to cover the entertainment angle of the event. When Sen. John McCain walked by, the assistant said, "I voted for you in the primary, you're going to ...

Obama Wants to be President of all 57 States

An amusing gaffe from Barack Obama: "Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go. Alaska and Hawaii, I was not allowed to go to even though I really wanted to visit, but my staff would not justify it." Presumably, he meant to say ...

‘Sociopaths’? Really?

I know that Andrew Sullivan is a fan of hyperbolic rhetoric ("fifth column", anyone?), and I also know that a lot of time I enjoy his hyperbole, even when I don't agree with it. But the past few weeks of his tirades against the Clintons have gotten tiresome, and I say that as someone who was never a fan ...

Sorenson Admits ‘Profiles in Courage’ Role

Ted Sorenson has finally admitted that he had a large role in writing Profiles in Courage, for which John F. Kennedy won a Pulitzer Prize as a solo author. According to a Wall Street Journal review, Sorensen says, for the first time, that he "did a first draft of most chapters," "helped choose the words of many of its sentences" and ...

Hillary Clinton Losing Millions

Hillary Clinton may take a hit to her personal finances in excess of $11 million, Bret Schulte reports for U.S. News. With rounds to fight running out, the self-described Rocky Balboa of politics will soon be forced to assess the damage sustained by the most expensive primary bout in history. Sen. Hillary Clinton doled out $6.4 million of her own money ...

Heath Shuler Endorses Clinton

Always the master of timing, Democratic superdelegate Heath Shuler announced that he would support Hillary Clinton the morning after her poor showing in North Carolina convinced just about everyone that she was toast. This is especially interesting given that the first-term congressman represents North Carolina. Don Frederick describes the play thusly: A cynic might note that in announcing his support for ...

McCain Reaches Out to Latino Small Business Owners

John McCain goes Español in his latest ad campaign. Matt Yglesias calls the ad "shrewd," noting that Latinos tend to vote based on their interests rather than as a bloc, that McCain needs to distance himself from the "I hate immigrants" wing of the party, and that "given the tendency of small business owners everywhere to love the GOP a specific ...

Hillary’s Math Problems

George Will notes, as I have many times, that Hillary Clinton, rather than being almost a sure loser, would have had this thing wrapped up a long time ago had the Democrats operated on rules similar to those the Republicans use. [S]he was too late in understanding how much the Democratic Party's mania for "fairness," as mandated by liberals like her, ...

Going Out Like Al Gore

Tom Edsall argues that Hillary Clinton would get some "Big Rewards" if she drops out of the race now. She has ruled it out, but a prompt withdrawal from the contest for the Democratic nomination offers Sen. Hillary Clinton the prospect of major rewards. One of the most inviting is the near certainty that the Obama campaign would agree to pay back ...

Hillary Clinton Fighting On

As predicted, we'll continue to have Hillary Clinton to kick around: Hillary Rodham Clinton says she will remain in the presidential race "until there's a nominee." The former first lady declined to say whether that meant through the roll call of the states at the Democratic National Convention this summer. I'm not convinced she'll drop out then, either. UPDATE (Alex Knapp): For ...

Hillary Clinton to Surrender?

After falling further behind last night, Hillary Clinton is "returning to Washington, D.C. today to meet with advisers and discuss the future of her campaign," Taegan Goddard reports. Given that her campaign is about out of money, can't win absent a miracle, and most party activists want her to withdraw from the race, could it be that she's going ...

Indiana and North Carolina Postmortem

Barack Obama moved to within 200 delegates of securing the Democratic presidential nomination yesterday, scoring a 56-42 blowout in North Carolina while narrowly losing, 49-51, in Indiana. Barring revelations that would make the Wright affair look insignificant in comparison, the race is all over but the shouting. Obama Wins the Night AP's Calvin Woodward: On the rebound, Barack Obama left Hillary Rodham ...

Clinton Wins Indiana, Obama Takes North Carolina

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 behind Hillary Rodham Clinton ...

Obama Losing Two-Front Race War

Andrew Sullivan fears that, whatever the outcome of tonight's primaries, the press will frame it as about race. [W]hat Obama has been subjected to is a classic pincer movement: the Clintons have attacked from the right, subtly and not-so-subtly framing Obama's candidacy as a racial one, and evoking Bill's own Bubba identity and Hillary's totally fabricated working class white credentials. And ...