Ken shares his thoughts on political news and history in his blog.
David Vitter, beaten decisively in Saturday’s election for governor of Louisiana, announced during his concession speech he will not seek to keep his Senate seat when it expires next year. Vitter, once the clear front-runner to succeed term-limited Gov. Bobby Jindal, fell rapidly in the polls as old reports of his participation in an escort …
With just two exceptions — Steve King of Iowa and Walter Jones of N.C. — every House Republican who voted Thursday voted to tighten the screening processes before any Syrian refugee will be allowed to come to the U.S. The bill, which got the support of 47 Democrats, passed by a vote of 289-137, more …
One may wonder how it could be possible that Louisiana Sen. David Vitter (R) is in trouble in his bid to become governor in Saturday’s runoff. President Obama’s numbers are miserable in the state. No Democrat has been elected statewide since 2008. Vitter is the kind of canny politician who is known for doing whatever …
Remember the Democrats? You may have forgotten about them because there haven’t been many debates — one thus far, to be precise. But tonight they’re holding their second, in Des Moines, Iowa, and carried on CBS. Here are some pre-debate thoughts: (1) For better or worse, we’re back to the “coronation of Hillary Clinton” phase, …
Republican presidential candidates meet tonight in Milwaukee for their fourth debate of the year, this one anchored by the Fox Business Network and the Wall Street Journal at 9 pm Eastern. One noticeable difference this time: The prime-time field is down to eight candidates. Fox and the WSJ decided that the polling they relied on …
(NOTE: The following appeared in USA Today on Monday, Oct. 19. Since then, Vice President Joe Biden has pulled out of consideration for a presidential bid in 2016, and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), chair of the Ways & Means Committee, has said he will seek to become speaker of the House. Neither announcement came as …
For a debate many thought wouldn’t make news, the Democrats’ encounter Tuesday night in Las Vegas did result in some surprises. It wasn’t the food fight we saw in the first two Republican debates but there was still a bit of drama: mostly when Hillary Clinton called out Bernie Sanders about his record on guns. …
Don Edwards died last week. Those who followed the Nixon impeachment process may remember him as a liberal Democratic congressman from San Jose, California, who served on the House Judiciary Committee at the time and who fought tirelessly for civil rights and civil liberties throughout his long career. First elected to a newly-created district in …
As our fellow political junkies know, for some time now we’ve been showing photos of unknown buttons, arranged alphabetically by candidate names, for you to help identify. We can’t make heads or tails of these candidates, most of whom we’ve never heard of. And when we see a “Smith for Congress” or a “Jones for …
It wasn’t for lack of trying. Rick Perry became the first casualty of the 2016 presidential campaign on Friday, when the former Texas governor ended his candidacy. The announcement was not completely a surprise; it was reported weeks ago that he had run out of money and stopped paying staffers in Iowa and New Hampshire. …