Once again, here’s your chance to not only win the coveted Political Junkie button but to star in next week’s podcast! Eight states are holding primaries on Tuesday, June 3. Lots at stake. Lots of winners and losers will be declared. And you can be part of that process. Submit your predictions to the primary …
Read moreWho Wins In Tuesday’s Primaries? Your Chance To Be On The Podcast!
With 8 states holding primaries on Tuesday, June 3, the Political Junkie focuses on California, where Jerry Brown is the odds-on favorite to win a fourth, non-consecutive term for governor. KQED politics editor John Myers outlines the long path of Brown, who was first elected governor in 1974. He’s seen his share of ups and downs in his decades in politics, but …
Read moreEpisode #29: More Ginsburg, More Brown & Morticians
A solid primary Tuesday for the Republican Old Guard, and a perfect day for incumbents — not one sitting member of Congress or governor went down, though several were thought to be endangered not long ago. The big primaries of the week were the Senate contests in Kentucky and Georgia. Al Cross of the Louisville …
It’s the biggest primary day of the year (so far), with six states holding contests. Here’s what’s at stake: ARKANSAS (polls close at 8:30 pm ET): Senate — Neither incumbent Democrat Mark Pryor, seeking a second term, nor his Republican challenger, freshman Rep. Tom Cotton, is facing a primary challenge. They will square off in …
It’s going to be a long primary season. So maybe we should decide right now that the strength and influence of the Tea Party should not be determined on a week-to-week basis. As Roseann Moring of the Omaha World-Herald reports, the landslide victory of first-time candidate Ben Sasse in the Nebraska GOP Senate primary was heralded as a big win for …
What’s a primary day without talking about the dramatic Tea Party vs. Establishment feuds going on in the Republican Party? Today’s primary in Nebraska, however, is more nuanced, as the leading candidates are just about equally conservative. There’s more to it than what we’ve seen in other states. The story line from the beginning fit …
Read moreToday’s Nebraska GOP Senate Primary May Not Follow Usual Script
So we’ve had our little teases. A Texas primary here, an Illinois primary there. Throw in a couple of special congressional elections. Nice, but hardly satisfying. Well, starting this month, the primaries come non-stop: three states on Tuesday the 6th, two on the 13th and six more on the 20th. And let’s not forget the …
With the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act — and with the revived reputation of President Lyndon Johnson — comparisons between LBJ and Barack Obama are being made. Johnson, who left office in 1969 with the cloud of Vietnam hanging over him, is remembered as a master tactician who, with huge Democratic majorities in Congress, pushed a …
Read moreEpisode #23: Wild politics in LA & ME, LBJ’s comeback
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
The polls have made it clear that Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett is in serious trouble in his bid for re-election next year. An incumbent governor going down to defeat is not exactly unusual in this country, but it certainly is in the Keystone State. But Corbett has not made things easy for himself, comparing same-sex …
Read morePennsylvania Gov. Election Headed in Uncharted Waters