ChrisWeigant.com

Archive of Articles for July, 2008

The Politics Of Oil In An Election Year

[ Posted Thursday, July 31st, 2008 – 16:51 UTC ]

Republicans think they've discovered the way to beat Democrats in this year's election, with a strategy that can be summed up as: drilling for votes. Democrats, confident that logic is on their side in the oil drilling debate, may be ignoring this at their peril. It is too early to tell, of course, but the Democrats need to come up with a way to frame the debate to their advantage fast, or else they risk appearing as if they have no idea what to do about high gas prices.

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A Speech For Obama To Give... In Alaska

[ Posted Wednesday, July 30th, 2008 – 14:48 UTC ]

Barack Obama made a campaign promise to visit the state of Alaska before the election. And what better time than right now to follow through on this promise? Obama should fly to Alaska the first chance his campaign schedule allows and make a speech at a rally with Mark Begich (and any other Democratic candidates for Alaskan office who care to join in). Begich is currently the Mayor of Anchorage, and is running to unseat the Republican Senator Ted Stevens. You may have heard Ted Stevens' name in the news recently. Which is why the time is now for Obama to make the trip.

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Vice Presidential Picks And The Consequences

[ Posted Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 – 17:15 UTC ]

Today we look at Barack Obama's vice presidential picks, by popular demand. I have so far resisted jumping into the VP fray, mostly because I don't have anything to say that hasn't already been said by dozens of others. I can't pretend I can see inside Senator Obama's mind better than anyone else, and to my way of thinking the whole silly-season exercise of trying to guess who it will be is a lot of sound and fury, which ends up signifying nothing. But I've been noticing one facet of the choice hasn't really been adequately addressed: the consequences of such a pick.

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Sixty Years After Desegregation, Ending "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

[ Posted Monday, July 28th, 2008 – 15:58 UTC ]

Sixty years ago, on July 26, 1948, President Harry S Truman singlehandedly desegregated the United States military.

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Friday Talking Points [40] -- Obama Shines, McCain Whines

[ Posted Friday, July 25th, 2008 – 16:17 UTC ]

Be careful what you wish for, John.

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The Third-Party Factor

[ Posted Thursday, July 24th, 2008 – 17:21 UTC ]

Since this week seems to be "Numbers Week" here at CW.com, I'd like to take a very close look at two recent polls, because they show something astonishing which everyone appears to be either ignoring or missing: When pollsters ask about four candidates instead of two, Obama's lead goes up. When Bob Barr and [...]

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Exclusive Interview: An M.I.T. And A Yale Professors' Cure For The Electoral College

[ Posted Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 – 13:53 UTC ]

I had the chance recently to interview two professors in the field of statistics (from Yale University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology), who have jointly come up with an interesting plan for replacing the Electoral College. Their plan would retain the electoral advantages small states currently have, but would remove the winner-take-all system we have now.

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What Would You Ask Barack Obama?

[ Posted Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008 – 16:58 UTC ]

So I open up it up to the field instead: if you could ask Barack Obama one question, what would it be? I would especially like to hear the response of anyone who has not made up their mind yet on Obama -- in other words, what would close the deal for you?

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Charting The Electoral Math Looks Good For Obama

[ Posted Monday, July 21st, 2008 – 14:42 UTC ]

Now, I don't want anyone to be swept up in untimely exuberance, and firmly caution against prematurely popping champagne corks here. There's a lot of time left in this race, and anything can happen. But things are undeniably looking good for Obama's chances of winning versus McCain's.

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Friday Talking Points [39] -- Republican Elitism Edition

[ Posted Friday, July 18th, 2008 – 16:21 UTC ]

For only the fourth (or fifth, depending on how you count) time in his presidency, George W. Bush had a veto overridden by both houses of Congress this week. This is big news, since it doesn't happen very often.

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