The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Money Problems for Rick Perry? Also: Thoughts on the Logic of Strategy

Call this the “former front-runner” problem: Texas Gov. Rick Perry kicked off his presidential campaign with an aggressive fundraising schedule that quickly made him a front-runner for the Republican nomination. But reports his campaign filed with the Federal Election Commission show that his ability to attract big money fell off steeply in September — perhaps […]

Savage Weirdness at Final Boarding: Did Team Perry Put the Blame on Rubio?

The National Affairs Desk, in the smoking lounge at Dulles International Airport, 1:10 p.m., Monday, Oct. 17, 2011 DULLES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT Less than hour until final boarding for my flight to LAX en route to Vegas, and no time to waste on trivia now. While I was checking in the one-way rental car ($164), I […]

Fear and Loathing (and, Yes, Sweet Vengeance) On the Road to Feb. 1, 2012

 Today’s the day I fly off to Las Vegas to cover Tuesday’s crucial Republican presidential debate. It’s a long flight from Dulles to LAX, then a four-hour layover before I catch the plane to Vegas. I’ll be crashing in Barbara Espinosa‘s suite at the Sands, while Smitty and Wombat — both of them got their […]

462 Days Until Jan. 20, 2013

Inauguration Day, when four long years of endless misery known as the Obama presidency come to an end. And I’m counting the days. It’s 79 days until Jan. 3: The Iowa GOP caucuses. And it’s 107 days until the Jan. 31 Florida primary. To give you a sense of proportion, it’s been 72 days since […]

Nate Silver Wonders: Will N.H. Primary Move to December Backfire for Romney?

Yesterday’s news that New Hampshire may move its primary to as early as Dec. 6 (!) was presumed to be good news for Mitt Romney, who has made the Granite State his must-win for 2012. But by a series of complex calculations, Nate Silver of Five Thirty Eight comes to the conclusion that a December […]

REPUBLICAN ARMAGEDDON LOOMS: New Hampshire Threatens December Primary Unless Nevada Moves Caucus

A big tip of the fedora to Bob Belevedere of Camp of the Saints for this alert: In a message sent by New Hampshire’s Secretary of State (see PDF here), he says that unless Nevada changes its caucus date from Jan. 14 to Jan. 17 or later, “I cannot rule out the possibility of a […]

8,000,000: Fear and Loathing on Vegas Debate Media Credential Deadline Day

Later today we will record our 8 millionth visitor to the blog. We got our first 3.3 million at the old Blogspot site (March 2008-December 2009) and, since switching to the custom domain with WordPress software in January 2010, have added another 4.7 million visits. We recently recorded our best month to date with 339,343 […]

Memo From the National Affairs Desk: Republican Nightmare Campaign Tour

“Empty feelings present themselves, and grief enters our lives on a deeper level, deeper than we ever imagined. This depressive stage feels as though it will last forever.” — Professor William Jacobson “The only thing worse than going out on the campaign trail and getting hauled around in a booze-frenzy from one speech to another […]

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