There were two headlines from last night’s debate. One surprise: The candidates not named Joe Biden got the message that attacking former President Obama might not be a great way of appealing to a Democratic electorate that reveres him. Less of a surprise: The debate did more to solidify the […] Read more »
Democratic Debate Analysis: Who Has the Right to Question Biden’s Competence?
It’s likely that even those analysts who love to declare winners, losers, and game-changing moments (a practice largely eschewed here at Honest Graft) won’t find all that much fodder in Thursday night’s Democratic debate. The biggest pre-debate media hype focused on the opportunity for a dramatic personal showdown between Joe […] Read more »
Why won’t Democrats say they want government to solve problems?
They didn’t come out and say what they really mean. AP Photo/Eric Gay Jennifer Mercieca, Texas A&M University All 10 Democratic candidates in the Houston debate Sept. 12 spoke about investing public money – taxpayer dollars – in education, health care and economic opportunity for Americans. Those ideas depend on […] Read more »
Can Republicans Escape Racism?
Is the Democratic Party prematurely winnowing its crop of presidential candidates? This week on “The Argument,” the columnists discuss the narrowing 2020 field. … Then, can American conservatism exist free of nativism? The columnists debate whether the political right can escape racism. And finally, Ross builds up a British television […] Read more »
Why the GOP victory in North Carolina spells disaster for Democrats in 2020
Republicans’ special election victory Tuesday in North Carolina’s 9th District is the latest evidence that 2020 will be a very different election from 2018. Rep.-elect Dan Bishop didn’t just overcome his Democrat opponent’s two-year head start and millions of dollars in out-of-state money. He also outperformed the GOP candidate’s 2018 […] Read more »
The Question of “Electability”
There is an underlying tension shaping the Democratic presidential primary. Ninety-seven percent of Democratic primary voters say it is extremely or very important to beat Donald Trump, but less than half think it is extremely or very likely that we will do so. The effect of this divergence is that […] Read more »