Category Archives: US Politics

The NYT magazine has a great profile of John Edwards, titled ‘The Poverty Platform’. A few snippets: About a month after the 2004 election, Edwards met with his most loyal advisers at his cluttered home on P Street in Georgetown. … Continue reading →

My mother-in-law has alerted me to the fact that if I’m feeling especially ambitious for my son, I should be campaigning for John McCain to win the presidency. There’s presently some uncertainty over whether a ‘natural born citizen’ encompasses someone … Continue reading →

Senator Barack Obama officially announced today that he’s running for President. My favourite paras from his speech. It was here, in Springfield, where I saw all that is America converge – farmers and teachers, businessmen and laborers, all of them … Continue reading →

US Senator Barack Obama has created an exploratory committee for his presidential bid. While this has been billed as big news by some local journos, the betting markets seem to have regarded it as being as predictable as the next act … Continue reading →

In yesterday’s Sydney Morning Herald, I had a review of Barack Obama’s new book, The Audacity of Hope. They cut it down a bit, so the full version is over the fold. Shorter AL: Obama for Prez.

Ed Kilgore mentions something that hadn’t occurred to me. The junior senator from Connecticut is an Independent. The other irony, of course, is that Democratic control of the Senate now depends on Joe Lieberman. Nobody has any reason to think … Continue reading →

So the Dems have won the House, and maybe the Senate. If George Allen loses the Virginia Senate race (by what would be the slimmed of margins), surely YouTube deserves partial credit for handing control of the Senate to the Democrats. … Continue reading →

CNN’s early exit polls have been leaked to ThinkProgress (assuming they’re not lying to us, that is). If they’re accurate, the Dems have won the House, and may have won the Senate. Tradesports now (6.20pm US EST) have the GOP … Continue reading →

After the exit poll debacle of 2004, it doesn’t look like anyone’s relying on exit polls this time around. Above is the trade price and volume on the Tradesports contract for GOP House control (current estimate: 17%). 

Many of the great delights in the world are cross-cultural. One is the splendid discovery that the best way to eat vegemite is on proper fresh-cooked American bagel. But now, it seems that may have all come to an end. … Continue reading →

According to the NYT, Barack Obama is now countenancing a run for President in 2008. If it turned out to be Obama vs McCain, that would be a race worth moving to the US to watch.

Lieberman’s not looking good to stay a Senator – with 25% of booths reporting, the NYT has him trailing 45/55. Update: Lieberman has lost the primary, but says he’ll run as an Independent. My understanding is that he’d romp it … Continue reading →

One of the great things about being in the US is being able to watch the C-SPAN channel. Last night, it carried Bill Clinton’s July 24 speech supporting Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut primary. It’s a terrific speech, and if a … Continue reading →

A friend who follows US politics very closely gave me his best guess as to how 2008 will play out.  Gore beats Hilary (and Kerry, Edwards, Bayh, Warner, etc) to win the Democratic primary. McCain easily wins the Republican primary. McCain elected president. … Continue reading →

The Democratic Leadership Council presents an impassioned defence of Senator Joe Lieberman (full text over the fold). Ironically, he’s currently under challenge by Move On, who should.

Those following the “Where should the Democrats go now?” debate in the NYT may be interested in a new paper by labour economist Stephen Rose, put out by the Progressive Policy Institute. The paper argues against Thomas Frank’s argument that … Continue reading →

I’m all for research into weapons that have minimal collateral damage. But after Austin Powers, I find it very hard to read stories like this with a straight face.