The politics of medicine, morality and free will have collided in an emotional debate over vaccines and the government’s place in requiring them, posing a challenge for Republicans who find themselves in the familiar but uncomfortable position of reconciling modern science with the skepticism of their core conservative voters. … […] Read more »
GOP Hopefuls Eyeing the Texas Hispanic Vote
… Republican presidential aspirants with ties to the Lone Star State must figure out how to hold the GOP base and attract conservative Hispanics if they want to be successful in Texas, political observers say. So how do the party’s four most prominent Texas affiliated might-be candidates — former Gov. […] Read more »
The Elevator Pitch For 2016 Candidates
There are enough potential candidates for president (on the GOP side at least) that you need an Excel spreadsheet just to keep them all straight. Instead of a complicated algorithm, I’ve boiled each candidate down to his/her most basic elements. At the end of the day, these are the things […] Read more »
A Test of Presidential Timber
Four potential Republican candidates for president ran into a nasty case of mode effects Tuesday. The results, for them, were not pretty. The term “mode effects” refers to differing results when surveys are done different ways. In this case it’s the difference between a printed ballot – Tuesday’s national exit […] Read more »
Rick Perry Revisited
A piece this Sunday on Texas Gov. Rick Perry in The Des Moines Register by the paper’s top political reporter, Jennifer Jacobs, caught my eye. Jacobs’s observations about seeing Perry on the stump in Iowa in recent days matched my impressions from a meeting with him last month. Jacobs observed […] Read more »
Huckabee, Paul, Ryan, Perry Best Known and Liked in GOP
Four potential GOP candidates for president in 2016 stand above seven others as the best known and best liked among Republicans at this early juncture in the nominating process. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry are all familiar […] Read more »