Ken shares his thoughts on political news and history in his blog.
The fascinating debate over historical accuracy in the movie “Selma” and the respective roles the real President Lyndon Johnson and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. played continue. One thing not in question: LBJ believed in solving things through politics, while King hoped to influence politics and policy through action. And while King and Johnson were …
The Senate campaign news of the week was the retirement announcement by Barbara Boxer, the 74-year old California Democrat who said she would not seek a fifth term next year. Usually, when a Senate incumbent steps down, it’s good news for the opposite party. But there hasn’t been good news for the Republicans in the …
How’s that for a cryptic headline? Rep. Paul Ryan, the Wisconsin Republican who was his party’s nominee for vice president in 2012, announced this week — to little fanfare — that after great deliberation, he would not seek the presidency in 2016. The decision was not a surprise: he had just assumed the chairmanship of …
Read moreWith Paul Ryan Saying No, FDR Remains The Last To Do It
What makes a successful politician? We often don’t fully know the answer to that until they are gone from the scene, and even then the answer is not clear. Harry Truman, for example, left office in 1953 with abysmal polling numbers (22% approval according to Gallup), but in the decades since his departure his stock …
In the scheme of things, it may be more about bragging rights than anything else. As the Miami Herald told it, Florida Gov. Rick Scott couldn’t contain himself. “Today’s news of Florida officially becoming the third most populous state is exciting,” he said on Tuesday. “I look forward to more people and more job creators …
The election of Rep. Bill Cassidy (R) to the Senate on Dec. 6 makes Louisiana the 33rd state where both U.S. senators are from the same parties. Here’s the list, and how long it’s been effective: TWO REPUBLICANS (18): Alabama (1996): Jeff Sessions (R) elected to replace the retiring Sen. Howell Heflin (D). Alaska (2014): …
With Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) losing her seat to Rep. Bill Cassidy (R) in the Dec. 6 runoff, Democratic senators are now completely shut out of representation in the Deep South for the first time in history. Here is the last time Democrats held Senate seats in Deep South states: Alabama 1996 — Sen. Howell …
Think way way back, back to October 2014, when we still weren’t sure how the midterm elections would turn out. One of the unknowns at the time was which party would wind up controlling the Senate. And one of the uncertainties was wow, wouldn’t it be something if we didn’t know who would win control …
Well, it’s been a long year of following midterm candidates, tracking polls, analyzing political controversies, and scuttling buttons. Now that December is upon us, we’ve got a couple of special episodes coming later this month to take a look back at the year 2014 on the Political Junkie, and we want to invite you to …
We left you last week with a handful of races that hadn’t been called. Here’s the latest update: CALLED: Alaska Senate — Dan Sullivan (R) was declared the winner over Democratic incumbent Mark Begich on Nov. 12. He held a lead of about 8,000 votes; even though there are thousands still to be counted, the …