Ken shares his thoughts on political news and history in his blog.
The retirement announcement of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid was deservedly front-page news, but it’s hard to make the case that it was a surprise. The 75-year old Nevada Democrat suffered serious eye and facial injuries in a New Year’s Day exercise accident, his numbers at home were not great and, for the first time, …
Rand Paul has a dilemma. The first-term Republican senator from Kentucky is a clear favorite for re-election next year. But he also wants to run for president as well. The rub? State law prohibits him from seeking more than one post at the same time. (Marco Rubio of Florida is in the same predicament: the …
It’s hard to imagine that Rahm Emanuel, the mayor of Chicago with a $15 million war chest, is in trouble in his April 7 runoff with Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, the Cook County commissioner who got enough of the vote in the initial Feb. 24 election to keep Emanuel from winning a second term outright. Reports …
He has a solid campaign organization, tons of money, and even the president of the United States in his corner. But if reports are to be believed, Rahm Emanuel is running scared in his bid (on Tuesday, Feb. 24) for a second term as mayor of Chicago. Not that anyone thinks he will finish anywhere …
One of the more entertaining aspects of following politics is watching how journalists cover Sarah Palin. To a person, they swear up and down that they’ll never write about her again. Then she’ll say something – as she did last month, when she told a reporter that she’s “seriously thinking” about running for president – …
You can’t figure out what Seattle coach Pete Carroll was thinking when he called for that ill-fated pass play during the Super Bowl? How do you think we feel when we can’t figure out who all these local campaign buttons refer to?? As you know, every so often we come across campaign buttons for candidates …
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 …
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 …