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Michael Barone is a senior writer for U.S.News & World Report and principal coauthor of The Almanac of American Politics. He has written for many publications–including the Economist and the New York Times. Barone graduated from Harvard College and then Yale Law School and was an editor of the Harvard Crimson and the Yale Law Journal. |
2004 Columns
Searching for Mr. Wilson: The first Bush administration has fallen far short on promoting its values abroad. (12/27/04)
Reshaping the electorate: Bush's popular vote was up 23 percent in the 13 battleground states that decided the election. (11/29/04)
The 51 percent nation: The results cannot be dismissed as an accident. We are now a Republican majority, as, once again in America, love has proved stronger than hate. (11/15/04)
The second Bush term: Will George W. Bush use his Republican majorities to guide public policy in new and interestingly different directions? (11/3/04)
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The late-breaking election: One theory: voters will decide not to switch presidents in time of war and will surge toward Bush. (11/1/04)
If the House decides who's president: With an even number of electors, a tie is possible–all the more so in an election like this one, in which the voters seem about equally split between the candidates. (10/29/04)
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Hawaii is in play: It's just possible that Hawaii could put Bush over the top. (10/25/04)
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What the polls are telling us: The debates helped John Kerry but evidently not enough to put him ahead. (10/20/04)
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OK, curb your enthusiasm: Republicans and Democrats have been pulled different ways, and the outcome still hangs in the balance. (10/18/04)
The Duelfer report's case for war in Iraq: The report actually makes it plain that George W. Bush had good reason to go to war in Iraq and end the regime of Saddam Hussein. (10/8/04)
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Peaceful regime change: Maybe someone will ask the candidates what they would they would do to encourage peaceful regime change in Iran and North Korea. (10/4/04)
The Metroliner effect: Among the 16 battleground states, Kerry leads by more than 2 percent in only two. (9/24/04)
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The Democrats' real problem: When Kerry changes the subject, he seems to change his mind. (9/20/04)
What are the candidates' policies on North Korea?: We speak as if foreign policy is set by the president, but on some foreign policy issues involving human rights, Congress has taken an active and useful role. (9/17/04)
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The president takes control: Bush has the megaphone of the presidency. (9/13/04)
A culture war truce?: Both parties are concentrating on rallying the troops on their side. (9/6/04)
The Jacksonian Persuasion: In his convention speech, Sen. Zell Miller was careful to say that he was attacking not the patriotism but the judgment of John Kerry. (9/2/04)
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Toward a level playing field: In some respects, John McCain, Rudolph Giuliani, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Laura Bush all made stronger cases for Bush's policies than Bush has done himself. (9/1/04)
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Courting the pro-Israel vote: George W. Bush's support of Israel, his refusal to deal with Yasser Arafat, and his support of Ariel Sharon's fence has obvious appeal to Jews (not all Jews) and others (and there are many) who care about Israel. (8/31/04)
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Winter in Cambodia?: Some of Kerry's statements over the years–not all, but some–count against his character. (8/30/04)
A Democratic House?: Democrats need to pick up not a net 11 but a net of at least 15 non-Texas seats in order to get a majority. (8/27/04)
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Exit polls in Venezuela: Independent exit polls are one of the guarantors of democracy in countries emerging from or under authoritarian rule. (8/20/04)
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A choice on trade: A win-win situation, but not for farmers in the United States and Europe (8/16/04)
Kerry's risky strategy: To get the ringing reception he needed in the hall, Kerry indulged in the Bush-bashing that his strategists have been saying turns mid-electorate voters off. (8/9/04)
The Boston Democrats: Massachusetts politics has deep roots, some going back to Puritan folkways. (8/2/04)
Edwards night–A tale of two hotels: The Edwards speech was an attempt to win votes in the center at the risk of losing them on the left. (7/29/04)
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A star is born: Barack Obama clearly has the political skills to be a serious national candidate. (7/28/04)
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My heart belongs to Daddy: Bill Clinton on Monday night set the bar high, and Kerry has to jump higher than he has ever before to exceed it. (7/27/04)
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Waiting for the speech: John Kerry's Thursday night speech in Boston seems to be one of the less scripted moments of the convention. (7/26/04)
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The company they keep: Democrats may want to think twice about embracing Michael Moore. (7/12/04)
Looking at a close election: Bush strategists say they expect Kerry to emerge from his convention with a lead, and that certainly seems possible. (7/1/04)
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He stands in history: Reagan and Roosevelt stand now, in history, the two most consequential presidents of the 20th century. (6/21/04)
Ronald Reagan vs. Robert Kennedy: Who believed in 1967 that Reagan would win 93 out of a possible 100 states in those two general elections, that he would bring about the end of Communism's evil empire and that he would be buried as a revered president on a hillside near a piece of the Berlin Wall? (6/17/04)
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It wasn't always easy for the Gipper: As new facts emerge, voters may conclude that Bush, like Reagan, was wise to stay the course as he did. (6/10/04)
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Forging ahead in Baghdad: If Americans can see clearly that progress is being made in Iraq, they will follow the president's lead. (6/7/04)
Forgetting the Founding Fathers: Are our great universities abandoning the study of the American Revolution and the Founding Fathers? (6/3/04)
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Ownership society, anyone?: Economic issues may work for Bush if he frames them a different way. (5/24/04)
The Pentagon's new map: Thomas Barnett is one of the most important strategic thinkers of our time when it comes to planning the continuing war on terrorism. (5/20/04)
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No, it's not the American way: We hold ourselves to high standards, so it's only appropriate to expect others to hold us to them, too. (5/17/04)
Poll-gazing--Are the numbers moving?: There may be changes in the patterns of partisan support in the 2000 election. (5/11/04)
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New Europe vs. old: Tony Blair's U-turn makes it less likely the European Union constitutiton will ever be adopted. (5/10/04)
Permission to gerrymander: So long as the courts continue to enforce the equal-population standard, we do not need the courts to step in and decide which redistricting plans are too partisan. (5/6/04)
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The state of play in British politics today: Americans, whose presidents have found Tony Blair a strong and steady ally, must think about dealing with a post-Blair Britain. (4/29/04)
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An election on a knife's edge: Bush must work to explain events in Iraq, but he has a reservoir of good will among undecided voters. (4/26/04)
Blair reduced to ordinary political leader: Blair's switch on a referendum on the EU Constititution gets him out of some short-term political trouble but could damage his reputation for honesty and candor. (4/23/04)
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The long shadow of Vietnam: George W. Bush, unlike John Kerry, does not define himself by the events of the 1960s and early 1970s. (4/12/04)
The jobless recovery may not have been jobless: March job reports haven't stopped Kerry and the Democrats from claiming that the number of jobs has fallen by two million since Bush became president. (4/7/04)
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Has Bush clinched re-election?: Poll numbers suggest that the Bush campaign’s negative ads against John Kerry have hit home. (4/2/04)
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Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence: Clarke and others who state with certainty that we know of no ties between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein’s regime are simply wrong. (3/24/04)
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Heartening progress in Iraq: What is remarkable about our occupation. . .is not that it has gone badly but that it has gone so well. (3/22/04)
Kerry takes both sides: He is like the politician who says, "Some of my friends are for the bill, and some of my friends are against the bill, and I’m always with my friends." (3/17/04)
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What the polls are–and aren't–showing: What the Democratic primaries revealed was that there are a large number of Democrats who are viscerally and vitriolically opposed to George W. Bush. (3/11/04)
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In the steps of JQA and FDR: Like his predecessors, George W. Bush is emphasizing pre-emption, hegemony, and deterrence. (3/8/04)
Current polls reflect election 2000 outcome: Looking at the national and state polling figures, it looks like we are back to 1998 and 2000 again, at least temporarily. What are George W. Bush and his campaign going to do about it? (3/4/04)
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Bush's reelection campaign: Bush makes it clear that the main brunt of his attack will not be that Kerry is a dove but that he is a politician who tries to get on all sides of too many issues. (2/25/04)
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After Wisconsin: John Edwards's strong second-place finish to John Kerry in Wisconsin keeps him in the race as a credible candidate. (2/18/04)
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But what would Kerry do?: He denounces the Bush presidency as "ideological," but what principles would animate his administration? (2/16/04)
After Virginia and Tennessee; Bush's job approval (2/11/04)
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By the numbers: Primary turnout numbers seem to pitch the party well to the left of where the general electorate will be (2/5/04)
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After February 3: John Kerry has a clear flight path to the nomination. But John Edwards and perhaps Wesley Clark still have a chance to win. (2/4/04)
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The shape of things to come: Democrats need an idea that will resonate with the general electorate, but so does President Bush. (2/2/04)
After New Hampshire: John Kerry is in good shape to win the Democratic nomination. But he is not in ideal shape to win it in a way that maximizes his potential as the Democratic nominee. (1/28/04)
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After Iowa: What worked for John Kerry in Iowa? Will it work for him in New Hampshire? (1/21/04)
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The new shoe-leather politics: Information-age technology seems to be producing more active personal involvement. (1/19/04)
Tuesday's tracking numbers are bad news for Dean; Trouble looming in Bolivia (1/14/04)
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Waging the last campaign: It is surprising that so few of the Democratic candidates have put together campaigns suited for 2004. (1/12/04)
An end to evil; New black candidate; Texas redistricting (1/8/04)
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