Ken shares his thoughts on political news and history in his blog.
Once, he was the most powerful and perhaps the most feared member of the House. Now, at 87 and more mellow, and five years removed as chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. John Dingell has announced he will not seek another term to the seat he was first elected in 1955. Nearing 60 …
Read moreJohn Dingell, History’s Longest Serving Member Of Congress, Will Retire
In using illustrations of campaign buttons to accompany these political postings, we have often come across buttons whose origins have escaped us. Thus, every now and then we’re going to post some of these unknown items, in the hope that you can identify some of them. Here’s another selection of campaign items of candidates whose …
Rep. Doc Hastings, a Washington State Republican who chairs the House Natural Resources Committee, announced last week that, at 73, it was time for him to retire. A close ally of John Boehner, the decision has to be another disappointment for the speaker, who pushed the House to pass a clean debt ceiling bill on …
Turnarounds in politics are not new. Think Richard Nixon, after his 1962 defeat in California and his farewell news conference, only to be resurrected in 1968. Or Bill Clinton, thought to be mortally wounded after being dogged by the Gennifer Flowers and Vietnam draft controversies, only to go on to defeat a sitting president in …
Read moreIllinois’ Pat Quinn, Once The ‘Most Unpopular Governor,’ Headed To Easy Renomination
No matter how old we are, no matter how young we were, we always loved Shirley Temple. Adorable, precocious, she was everyone’s sweetheart. We couldn’t take our eyes off her. And so, when we heard this morning about her death, we said with a fair amount of incredulity, “She was 85 years old? How is …
Read moreShirley Temple Black: Irresistible Child Movie Star, Less So As A Candidate
Some pretty big news that came out of the Republican retreat last week about immigration. More than seven months after the Senate passed its own bill on overhauling the nation’s immigration laws, Speaker John Boehner indicated that there was some movement among the House Republicans on the issue. Boehner and the GOP had steadfastly refused …
Read moreThat Imminent Immigration Bill May Not Be So Imminent
And then there was none. The announcement on Thursday (1/30) that Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) will retire after this year means that the Democratic House class of 1974 — the group of 75 Democratic “Watergate babies” who came to Congress in the election of November 1974 — will be no longer. Waxman and his fellow …
Read moreWaxman Departure Marks End Of Watergate Dem Class Of 1974
The congressional career of Trey Radel (R-Fla.) lasted just one year but it sure was memorable. That’s what happens when you’re a conservative Republican and you get arrested for purchasing 3.5 grams of cocaine from an undercover cop not long after voting for a bill that would allow states to test people on food stamps …
Read moreRepublicans All But Assured Of Keeping Radel House Seat
Those of us who love to curl in front of our computers, with popcorn and Twizzlers in hand, to observe internecine political battles — primary fights among Republicans or Democrats — lost a potential doozy earlier this month when Liz Cheney ended her challenge to GOP Sen. Mike Enzi in Wyoming. But we were rescued …
A special congressional election is on the horizon, in Florida’s 13th District, which has been vacant since the October death of Rep. C.W. Bill Young. At the time Young was the longest serving Republican in the House, having first been elected in 1970. But there have been some major demographic shifts in the CD in …
Read moreDems, Needing Win In Florida Special, Hope It Will Be Sign Of 2014 House Comeback