2010 Watch: Kinzinger versus Halvorson
Democrats won congressional campaigns in 2006 and 2008 campaigning as moderates. The party fielded candidates with attractive personal stories who did not stray far from the center. One of those candidates was former Mary Kay cosmetics saleswoman Debbie Halvorson, a freshman elected in 2008 in Illinois's Eleventh Congressional District.
This was no ordinary victory. Illinois 11 [...]
Haven’t We Heard This Before?
Haven’t we heard that speech before, practically every word of it? Maybe it was a year ago when President Obama first addressed Congress. Maybe it was during the campaign. Maybe it was at one of those town halls? Maybe Obama can’t help himself. His speeches just insist on sounding the same.
In any case, Obama delivered [...]
Happy New Year!
I spent an hour this morning on the radio with Bill Bennett and his producer Seth Leibsohn, talking about the highlights and lowlights of 2009. It was fun as always, and, even though 2009 was not a great year by anyone’s standard, in the end I think it was more positive than negative.
Two overarching [...]
The President?s Remarks, and a Letter from Ted
(President Barack Obama speaks to a joint session of Congress on health care at the U.S. Capitol Wednesday,
Sept. 9, 2009. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
We will have much, much more on the President’s remarks tonight and the plan he laid out, but for now enjoy the closing remarks. He refers to a letter [...]
The long, hot summer
Politico identifies the five members of Congress who “suffered the worst of the heat at this season’s town halls.” The headline refers to the five as “summer recess casualties,” which overstates the damage in the same way many breathless commentators are doing. Still it’s a fun list, and worth a look for [...]
Photostream: Work and Rest in August
After several health insurance reform town halls and welcoming a new Supreme Court Justice, the President enjoyed some time in August relaxing with his family. Take a look at the new photostream drop from August.
(President Barack Obama addresses a town hall meeting on health insurance reform inside
a hangar at Gallatin Field in Belgrade, Mont., on [...]













