The cynic in me says that today is the culmination of a process in which partisans choose who the rest of a growing non-partisan nation get to select for President.

This NYT article offers an extended account of Hillary Rodham Clinton's Methodist faith, which seems to focus on forgiveness and social action. The one Bible verse mentioned (the reference to James, "faith without works is dead") was a staple of the 2004 Kerry campaign. And the talk about forgiveness seems to come at the expense of talk of sinfulness and human limitations.

In other words, HRC is very much the candidate of a religious Left inclined mostly to challenge us to be more "generous" in our social policy. read more »

Disclaimer: Mitt Romney is not my candidate, at least not yet. This post is not meant to introduce a discussion of Romney per se; it's meant to introduce a larger discussion.

What do you think of the charge of flip-flopping as a criticism for a politician? I find the area fascinating for several reasons. First, that charge seems to be greatly feared by candidates, greatly focused on by the media, and hardly considered at all by voters (I don't have the data at my fingertips, but polls back this up). Patrick Ruffini's blog today suggests that presidential candidates tend to govern by the flop and not the flip: "If you look at history, how candidates run -- regardless of what they believed earlier in their career -- is how they govern once they win." Which would make the public's shrugging at flip-flop charges actually quite rational. read more »

Expat has declared his support and official advocacy for the presidential campaign of New Mexico governor Bill Richardson. Expat, I hope you will receive this post in a goodnatured way, for it's an opportunity for you to make your case. (By the way, I have no problem with you posting and being an advocate, as long as you issue the disclaimer, which you did.) So why hasn't the Bill Richardson campaign gotten more traction? We have here a former ambassador, a former cabinet secretary, a governor of a Western state, and one who can appeal to the growing Latino population in the United States. Granted, he's gotten a little Joe-mentum in some polls, but he's certainly not treated as a top-tier candidate yet.
I think one answer to this question may be found in Richardson's recent debate and interview appearances. In a nutshell, uh, things haven't gone so well in the eyes of pundits who play an instrumental role in shaping perceptions about candidates. read more »

I saw Will in the room and promised to cross-post what I wrote for NLT. Here are my first thoughts. There will be more, and I'm sure Will will favor us with his views as well.

Giuliani spoke to a packed room of 250, most of whom responded well to what he had to say, both in his stock remarks and in his off-the-cuff responses to questions. He led with (what he and I regard as) his strengths--national security and domestic economic policy--and avoided (what I at least regard as) his weaknesses--social policy, like abortion. (The closest he came to that was in response to an off-the-wall question about killing unwanted animals: he’s against it, would promote adoption, and doesn’t regard it as a federal issue. Should we read something into this?) read more »

One of the unintended consequences of the Edwards' blogger "scandal" is that bloggers now are less likely to be hired by campaigns if they've said anything inflammatory on their blogs. I'm not sure that is bad thing, but it does mean two things.

1. Intelligent, articulate folks with expertise will be less likely to blog if they believe someday they'll go into public service. This hurts the overall conversation in the blogosphere. Only those whose voices are shrillest and whose prejudices deepest will be willing to stick their heads out there, since they probably didn't plan on getting into politics anyway. The blogosphere is enriched when experts lend their knowledge to discussion and investigation (Dan Rather's use of incorrect documentation is a perfect example). However, daily individuals bring their inside knowledge to the blogosphere and all the readers are enriched.
2. It also means that folks like me, who understand that Google has a better memory than our own mother, are not going to use their own name. I've considered on several occasions to come clean on my identity, but each time I get nervous that 20 years hence, my future employer will find out that I once considered the flat tax a good idea or Bush a fascist. My identity could be figured out with some digging, but it would take more effort than it was worth at the moment. But let's be honest, a pseudonym is not the preferred method of communication. We all have real identities and real lives and pseudonyms obscure that.

So the Edwards-Blogger "scandal" has pushed me even further into my online presence. Expat Teacher I shall stay.

I for one, am glad to see that there were not many of these types of cases in the most recent election (at least not that we heard about).

Jennings challenges 369-vote loss in congressional race

State officials have certified the winner in the 13th Congressional District, but the loser is suing for a new election. read more »

Over the past few weeks and months many people have been trying to make predictions of today's election. I am not going to bother with this silly exercise. I don't think that there are many people who truly have the pulse on enough races nationally to really have much insight into what is going to happen.

Instead, I am going to make some predictions as to how each party is going to spin the results, no matter what they are. read more »

I bailed on Governor Ed Rendell today.

Oh don't get me wrong. He's still getting my vote. But I bailed on him. I just walked out. See ya, Gov.

See, I had volunteered to help out at his HQ today. I was scheduled to arrive at noon and stay until 3pm. I had the impression that they were counting on me. That's what they said on the phone. "We're counting on you, Dustin." They even called 3 times this week to confirm that I was coming. That's a lot of human resources devoted to securing the volunteerism of yours truly. read more »