Over the last few weeks, it has been hard to watch six-term Sen. Thad Cochran fight for political survival in Mississippi’s Republican primary without thinking of some of the lyrics from Kenny Rogers’s song “The Gambler.” In the second stanza, we hear an old-timer say, “Son, I’ve made a life […] Read more »
McDaniel’s ‘Friends and Neighbors’
In his classic book Southern Politics in State and Nation, V.O. Key Jr. wrote about the importance of “friends and neighbors” in one-party southern elections. More than half a century after the book was written, strength at home powered yet another Deep South candidate. Tuesday night featured about as dramatic […] Read more »
The Republican Case Against Republican Economics
After the 2012 presidential election, key Republicans began to criticize their party’s opposition to immigration reform and gay rights. But now party reformers are questioning something much more central: free-market orthodoxy. CONT. Thomas Edsall, New York Times Read more »
Obama Slips on International Affairs – A New Challenge on Top of the Old Ones
Barack Obama’s approval rating on handling international affairs has dropped under water for the first time in his presidency in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, a further challenge as he seeks to regain his footing in his second term. CONT. Gary Langer, ABC News Read more »
One Party, Two Factions: South’s Republicans Look a Lot Like Its 1970s Democrats
… As the Democrats’ regional fortunes have waned and Republicans have taken over statehouses and congressional delegations, the cultural and ideological divisions of the so-called Dixiecrats are now found under a different party banner. With the Republican nomination tantamount to victory in the general election, incumbents are increasingly facing primaries, […] Read more »
At Republican Leadership Conference, the struggle over the GOP’s future continues
There was plenty of strong rhetoric coming from the stage at the Republican Leadership Conference here this weekend. … In some years, the RLC gathering in New Orleans is a cattle call for potential presidential candidates — as it likely will be in 2015. This year, only a few of […] Read more »