Thursday's CNN Democratic debate in California revealed two fundamentals truths. First, Democrats as a whole were very well served by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, two candidates who each delivered sterling, civil performances. Their thoughtful exchange stood in sharp contrast to the second inescapable conclusion, the banality of the moderator, CNN's Wolf Blitzer. On a […]

For the second time in just under two weeks, a late-breaking backlash vote upended the conventional wisdom in a Democratic primary contest. In New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton won a stunning victory when her original voters came home, partly in reaction to media coverage perceived as both unfair and sexist. Tonight in South Carolina, it was […]

Last week on this site and over at DailyKos, I expressed my disappointment in the "attack dog" role that former President Bill Clinton had assumed in his wife Hillary's campaign. In making his leadership role among Democrats and esteemed position among most Americans subservient to Hillary's nomination, I argued, Bill Clinton had put his legacy […]

With the Nevada caucuses and the South Carolina Republican primary now history, it is once again time for the post-mortem. From the blatantly obvious to the possibly outlandish, here are five observations from Saturday's presidential primary action. 1. The Incredible Shrinking Legacy of Bill Clinton On Friday, I worried that Bill Clinton's descent into attack […]

Perhaps the only development more disappointing than the injection of racial politics into the Democratic primary process has been the descent of Bill Clinton into attack dog politics. It seems that with each passing day, the still very popular former President sacrifices his good name - and the huge reservoir of good will he enjoys […]

Once again demonstrating its gift for fiction, the Wall Street Journal offered a hilariously pathetic treatise on the hate-mongering and intolerance of liberals. Just three weeks after Bruce Bartlett took to the Journal's opinion pages to insist that Americans overlook the Republicans' racist present to instead focus on Democrats' racist past, Arthur C. Brooks today […]

While the clown-car that is the Republican presidential field seemed headed over a cliff, Democratic primary voters enjoyed a generally high-minded debate among candidates they generally liked. That is, until the New Hampshire primary. Now, the simmering feud between the Clinton and Obama campaigns over supposed racial politics is casting a pall over what had […]

Two days after Hillary Clinton's stunning comeback victory in New Hampshire, the imbroglio over the pollsters' dismal performance continues unabated. But while the speculation centers on the potential impact of latent racism or a feminist backlash among New Hampshire Democrats, the exit polls suggest a more simple explanation. In a nutshell, Hillary's voters originally made […]

In New Hampshire Friday, John Edwards was offering his best Gary Hart impersonation. Like Hart in 1984, Edwards claimed his second place showing behind Barack Obama in Iowa had transformed the Democratic nomination into a two-man race. But no one is buying it, probably including Edwards himself. Sadly, Edward has misread the history and lessons […]

Lost in the media focus on the victories of the supposed "change" candidates in Iowa last night are the dramatic differences in the priorities of each party's voters. As Iowa Democrats headed to their caucuses in record numbers last night, the sputtering American economy topped their list of concerns. But in a disturbing hint of […]