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Michael Barone Says Goodbye to U.S. News
Tweet Share on Facebook April 10, 2009 Comment (42)By Michael Barone, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
In August 2003, I wrote my first baroneblog post for usnews.com. Today, about 700 blogposts later, I'm writing my last one. Next week, I'm moving to the Washington Examiner, where I'll be writing columns and blogs. It's a great opportunity, and I'm looking forward to it. But I'm also sad to be leaving U.S. News, where I've worked for 18 of the last 20 years, and I will miss many colleagues who have been good friends as well as fellow laborers in the vineyard of journalism. So it's time to say goodbye, and thanks, especially to Brian Kelly and Margi Mannix, Rob Schlesinger and Morgan Felchner, to the former colleagues too numerous to name with whom I've worked over the last 20 years, to the IT staff, and all those whose work has made this blog and all my writings for U.S. News possible. And thanks as well to you, my readers, for your kind comments and intelligent criticisms and even your vehement disagreements, for your corrections and your compliments, and for your attention.
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Energy Needs at Home Trump Cap-and-Trade Political Points for Senate Democrats
Tweet Share on Facebook April 3, 2009 Comment (10)By Michael Barone, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Last week I wrote a blogpost on cap-and-trade, pointing out that many Democratic senators had a political motive to oppose such a measure: Their states get most of their electricity from coal, and so cap-and-trade would raise their constituents' utility rates disproportionately to other states. This week the Senate voted on whether to include cap-and-trade in the budget resolution and, guess what 26 Democrats voted against doing so. You read it here first.
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Chris Dodd's Sinking Ship: Will He Bring Democrats Down With Him?
Tweet Share on Facebook April 3, 2009 Comment (23)By Michael Barone, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
The Quinnipiac poll, whose home base is Quinnipiac College in Hamden, Conn., has a Connecticut poll out showing Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd's job approval at 33 percent positive to 58 percent negative. In pairings against three Republicans mentioned as 2010 opponents, he trails Rob Simmons 34-50 percent, Sam Caligiuri 37-41 percent, Tom Foley 35-43 percent. He is, as Connecticut-based Ironman put it, Dodd Man Walking. These are, to put it mildly, dreadful numbers for a politician in his 29th year as U.S. senator and 35th year as member of Congress.
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Former Senator Ted Stevens Deserves Praise From Alaskans
Tweet Share on Facebook April 2, 2009 Comment (25)By Michael Barone, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Attorney General Eric Holder has dropped the charges against Ted Stevens. Here are statements from Holder and from Steven's lawyer, Brendan Sullivan of Williams & Connolly. Clearly there has been prosecutorial misconduct of a major order. Career Justice Department lawyers, going wild in their self-righteousness; at least that's what it looks like.
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Analyzing the Absentee Ballots in the New York 20 Special House Election
Tweet Share on Facebook April 2, 2009 Comment (29)By Michael Barone, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
What's going to happen when the absentee and military ballots are counted in the New York 20th district, where Democrat Scott Murphy currently has a lead of 25 votes out of 154,409 cast on election day. Still to be counted are absentee and military votes. How are they likely to go?
First, let's start with a measuring stick, the party registration in New York 20 for the November 8, 2008, election. By my count, the party registration for the district is 41 percent Republican, 26 percent Democratic and 33 percent other or "blank."
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More Satisfaction For Democrats Than Republicans In New York 20th Special Election
Tweet Share on Facebook April 1, 2009 Comment (13)By Michael Barone, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Well, it looks like we don't have a final result in the special election held in the New York 20th congressional district yesterday. Democrat Scott Murphy leads Republican Jim Tedisco by 25 votes, with absentee and military votes still left to count. They could conceivably change the result, but not necessarily: Democrats have done a good job in many places on absentee votes.
This is not particularly good news for either party.
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The Liberal Media Display Their Childish, Boorish Side on the Secret JournoList
Tweet Share on Facebook March 30, 2009 Comment (10)By Michael Barone, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Last week, Mickey Kaus exposed some postings on JournoList, the by-invitation-only website for certain young left-wing political writers. I'm glad I haven't gotten an invitation. Many of these writers produce thoughtful and intelligent pieces in print and in online venues available to the general public. But the pieces Kaus presents are childish and boorish. These guys would make better use of their time writing for everyone rather than trying to bully and badmouth each other into taking a party line on issues, which seems to be JournoList's purpose. Not all new ideas are good ones.
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Republicans Are Normal, Democrats Are Not
Tweet Share on Facebook March 30, 2009 Comment (46)By Michael Barone, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
My U.S. News column this week is on the roadblocks the Obama administration is encountering to its expansive budget and economic policies. Ours is not a parliamentary democracy like Britain's, where the majority party can push its program through the legislature without much trouble. Members of Congress are, to a considerable extent, independent operators, beholden not to the president but to their own constituents, and act accordingly. Obama's big plans on energy and taxes affect different states and congressional districts in different ways, ways that cut across party lines. So he's encountering roadblocks, and it's not clear whether he'll get around them.
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Obama Cap-and-Trade Will Meet Coal-Fired Energy Political Opposition
Tweet Share on Facebook March 25, 2009 Comment (17)By Michael Barone, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Bill Galston at the New Republic's blog provides some clear thinking on the prospects for the Obama administration's cap-and-trade legislation. His conclusion: ain't gonna happen. Galston notes that national polls show that on the question of balancing economic against environmental considerations, voters have switched and are now more concerned about the economy—as in holding down utility costs—and less concerned about the environment.
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A Nuclear Iran and Wise Words on the Middle East Dilemma
Tweet Share on Facebook March 25, 2009 Comment (9)By Michael Barone, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
At the risk of being accused of browning up the boss, let me link to Mort Zuckerman's column from the U.S. News Weekly on Iran. What can we do about Iran's nuclear weapons program, short of military action? Mort has a list:
