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Mark Trail Comic Strip Dabbles in Politics
Tweet Share on Facebook October 19, 2010 Comment (1)Jack Elrod, the cartoonist of the long-running Mark Trail comic strip, doesn't have it out for politicians, even though they are the evildoers in his current story line about hunting tame deer. "I didn't even think about it," he says, when asked why he has a senator and gubernatorial candidate hunting fenced-in animals. Instead he was more focused on his simple message: "It's not a good idea to adopt wild deer."
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Alaska Fishing Plane Crash Survivor Tells Story To Dateline
Tweet Share on Facebook October 18, 2010 Comment (2)Ten weeks to the day of a fishing plane crash that killed former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens and four others, former NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe is finally reporting for work, according to family friends.
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Bush, Clinton, JFK Scribes Recall Presidents Behind the Scenes
Tweet Share on Facebook October 18, 2010 CommentLife on the inside as a presidential speechwriter isn't always what it's cracked up to be. Michael Gerson, a former U.S. News staffer who was President George W. Bush's guy, says his nerves were so bad after handing over major speeches that he couldn't bear to see them delivered. TV's Chris Matthews, who toiled for Jimmy Carter, says the prez rarely liked anything that was written for him. Bill Clinton, reports speechwriter Michael Waldman, would cross out fancy phrases and mutter, "Words, words, words."
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Obama's Trouble: Connecting With Voters
Tweet Share on Facebook October 15, 2010 Comment (4)Pollster John Zogby updates our weekly Obama Report Card with a grade on the president's performance. Zogby uses his polling, expert analysis and interaction with major players to come up with a grade and some comments that capture how he sees the president's week ending.
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Republicans Eye 60 Seats in Senate by 2014
Tweet Share on Facebook October 15, 2010 Comment (2)Republican political strategists have a plan: Take control of the House this year, the White House in 2012, and build a filibuster-proof Senate in 2014. "This would be our second chance," says a key strategist. "We think the public will give us one more shot to make a good impression." The hardest to get might be a 60-seat Senate majority, something the GOP is already working on. One strategist on that project says the GOP hopes to have 47 Republicans in the Senate with the elections this year, 54 in 2012, and 60 after the 2014 vote.
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Meg Whitman for President 2012?
Tweet Share on Facebook October 14, 2010 Comment (3)She hasn't even won the governor's race in California and GOP presidential playmakers are talking about Meg Whitman running against President Obama in 2012. "You have to consider it, given the size of the state," says Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. And the ex-eBay boss is wealthy. For her part, Whitman, who is trailing opponent Jerry Brown, says she doesn't want to run for president.
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CIA Looks for a Few Good Hispanics
Tweet Share on Facebook October 14, 2010 Comment (1)The CIA wants a few good . . . Hispanics. Seeking Hispanics for Langley, CIA Director Leon Panetta has partnered with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities to hire more. The goal is not just to add Spanish speakers to the staff. "We simply can't afford to have a workforce of people who all think alike" he says.
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Beyonce, Bon Jovi, Jay-Z, Top Obama's White House Visitors
Tweet Share on Facebook October 14, 2010 CommentIf you can tell a man by the company he keeps, then President Obama and his team pretty much fit the stereotype of a liberal Democratic organization. The official White House visitor log, which U.S. News will be updating monthly, finds that celebrities, liberal advisers, pundits, and big labor bosses are regulars to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Among the names on the list of 750,000 visitors, several big shots stand out. Celebs include singer Beyoncé and hubby Jay-Z, rocker Jon Bon Jovi, and talker Whoopi Goldberg. Liberal media types include Arianna Huffington and Daily Kos's Markos Moulitsas. Union chiefs have worn down the welcome mat. AFL-CIO head Richard Trumka has visited 17 times this year. Other guests were the leaders of the Service Employees International Union, including former President Andrew Stern, who is tied to a federal corruption probe.
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Why @Clairecmc, AKA Claire McCaskill, Doesn't Follow Anyone
Tweet Share on Facebook October 13, 2010 Comment (2)Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill is always among the top five congressional users of Twitter. She has over 42,000 followers but unlike Congress's other leading tweeters, she follows nobody, a contrast she's coming under fire for.
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Tea Party Might Be Good For D.C. Voting Rights
Tweet Share on Facebook October 13, 2010 CommentGiving Washington, D.C., greater congressional representation is usually seen as a Democratic cause. Republicans have repeatedly hampered the progress of D.C. voting rights bills in Congress, and the GOP also does not warm to the idea of giving full congressional representation to the heavily liberal city. So it may come as a surprise that one of Washington, D.C.'s congressional delegates sees potential allies in some of this fall's most conservative congressional candidates.
