President Obama gave a speech today in Ohio on the economy, contrasting his vision for the future with Mitt Romney's. The speech, on the whole, is a pretty good one -- it lays out exactly what the president believes and his political goals, and it also accurately portrays the beliefs and goals of his opponent. But what struck me was a repeated theme within the speech which Obama should start using more often.

Here is the first example, from a section where the president is describing the Republican economic plan:

Governor Romney and his allies in Congress believe deeply in the theory that we tried during the last decade -- the theory that the best way to grow the economy is from the top down. So they maintain that if we eliminate most regulations, if we cut taxes by trillions of dollars, if we strip down government to national security and a few other basic functions, then the power of businesses to create jobs and prosperity will be unleashed, and that will automatically benefit us all.

That's what they believe. This is their economic plan. It has been placed before Congress. Governor Romney has given speeches about it, and it's on his website. So if they win the election, their agenda will be simple and straightforward. They have spelled it out: They promise to roll back regulations on banks and polluters, on insurance companies and oil companies. They'll roll back regulations designed to protect consumers and workers. They promise to not only keep all of the Bush tax cuts in place, but add another $5 trillion in tax cuts on top of that.

Now, an independent study says that about 70 percent of this new, $5 trillion tax cut would go to folks making over $200,000 a year. And folks making over a million dollars a year would get an average tax cut of about 25 percent.

Now, this is not my opinion. This is not political spin. This is precisely what they have proposed.

Continue Reading »

Campaign 2012 is underway. Mitt Romney has won the right to challenge President Barack Obama for the Oval Office. The next four years of American politics hangs in the balance. One might think that, by now, we would be able to have some concrete idea of what either man would do for those four years. But sadly, this has not yet happened to any great extent.

Where are the grand messages of the campaigns? Being held in reserve for the post-convention season, perhaps? That's at least an understandable answer, but ultimately not a very satisfying one. Neither Obama nor Romney has yet clearly articulated what their big ideas are for the next four years, and both of them are missing the chance to pound their message into the American psyche for the next two or three months.

Continue Reading »

So, anything happen while I was away? Well, we'll get to all of that in due time, but today I'm going to indulge in some random reactions from the Netroots Nation conference instead. If this sort of thing does not interest you, then I guess you should check back tomorrow.

These are in no particular order, and are merely snippets of observation without deeper meaning, so please read them with that in mind.

First up, Providence, Rhode Island rocks. Great little city, and they did everything they could to roll out the red carpet for us. The mayor showed up and personally invited us to contact him if anything in our experience was lacking, which was a nice touch. Providence even held a "waterfire" for us, which was pretty special.

Continue Reading »

I certainly said a lot more than just this to the guy, but then again I can't complain, since he ran with one of the quotes I gave him. Would have been nice if he had spelled my name right, though....

[Program Note: Continuing our look back to four years ago, here is one of the more fun columns I've ever had to research. This originally ran on June 6, 2008.]

-- Chris Weigant

Al Franken is running for the United States Senate from the great state of Minnesota, in case you haven't heard already. And before you ask, no, he's not kidding around. He is running to reclaim the seat of the beloved Paul Wellstone, which was taken (after Wellstone's tragic death in a plane crash) by Republican Norm Coleman.

Minnesota's progressive -- or, more properly, "populist" -- roots are evident in the name of the we're-not-the-Republicans party there: the "Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party" (known to Minnesotans as the DFL). And Franken is about to secure his party's nomination tomorrow, at the state party's convention.

I was able to squeeze in an interview with Franken this week, even though he is busy preparing for today's convention events. I must admit that I forgot to ask him how he converted Arianna Huffington over to progressive politics, but that will just have to wait until I catch up with him again out on the campaign trail.

Continue Reading »

[Program Note: We continue with our look back to what was happening four years ago in the 2008 election during June. The following was certainly a fun column to write, and originally ran on June 5, 2008.]

-- Chris Weigant

Today begins the second half of the campaign. By the calendar, yesterday was the halfway point between the Iowa caucuses and the November election. With just over 150 days to go, I thought I'd take a quick look back at the campaign so far.

[OK, I admit, this is kind of "phoning it in" for a column, but I will be on an airplane today, so it's unavoidable. But check back tomorrow, as it will more than make up for today, I promise.]

The most striking thing about the 2008 campaign so far has been the mainstream media pundits being so wrong, so many times. Over and over again, all the talking heads and denizens of the Sunday political talk shows have largely agreed on things which were almost immediately proven false by events on the ground. Here (in very rough chronological order) are just a few of the nuggets of "conventional wisdom" served up as gospel truth by the chattering classes -- which all turned out to be laughable (full disclosure: I uttered a few of these myself, I admit). Feel free to add your own, if I've missed anything obvious.

Senators never get elected president. It's only happened twice, and it probably won't happen this time around.

McCain is finished.

Hillary is inevitable.

Obama will lose Iowa since it's all white.

Edwards will win Iowa, he's been practically living there for the last four years.

Ron Paul is a fringe candidate who will not be able to raise any money.

Huckabee doesn't have any money, so there's no way he will win Iowa.

The internet is nice, but the big-money donors will decide who the nominees are.

Young people will make a big noise, but they'll never actually turn out to vote in numbers that mean anything,

Al Gore will jump in the race and save the Democrats.

Newt Gingrich will jump in the race and save the Republicans.

Bloomberg will jump in the race as an independent.

Doesn't John Edwards' new haircut look nice? It'll surely help him in the campaign.

Nobody will make fun of Hillary Clinton's clothes.

Hillary Clinton is a woman, but no reputable journalist will ever make snide cracks about her cleavage.

The Rezko affair is going to torpedo Obama's chances.

Hillary will lose New Hampshire.

Polls always accurately predict who will win a state.

If a candidate (especially a woman) ever seems to cry on the campaign trail, their campaign is over.

Rudy Giuliani is the Republican frontrunner.

This election will be all about Iraq, and not about the economy.

Republicans have a pretty wide field of possible candidates, so the turnout for the primaries will be as high among Republicans as among Democrats.

Black people won't vote for Obama because he isn't 'black enough,' and Hillary will win their votes.

Hillary really didn't mean that when she said that.

Bill Clinton will be a big plus when campaigning for black votes.

Obama will win South Carolina, but it will be a close race.

Bill didn't really mean that when he said that.

Fred Thompson will be the next Ronald Reagan.

Giuliani was smart to stay out of the early contests.

Giuliani will win Florida big, because there are so many ex-New Yorkers there.

Edwards is weak, but will stay in until Super Tuesday.

Everything will be decided on Super Tuesday.

Republicans always choose a frontrunner early and fall in line behind him.

Obama should offer Clinton the VP spot at an early debate (that one I'm responsible for, sorry about that).

The media is giving Hillary an easy time of it.

The media is giving Barack an easy time of it.

Romney has it all wrapped up now.

Hillary has it all wrapped up now.

McCain and Romney will duke it out as frontrunners.

Edwards has so few delegates that his endorsement won't mean much.

Michigan and Florida don't mean anything.

Michigan and Florida will not be seated at the convention.

Michigan and Florida will figure out some way to re-vote.

It's OK to have superdelegates in the Democratic Party, because the winner will always be obvious long before their votes actually mean anything.

Hillary really didn't mean that when she said that.

Hillary will dominate Obama in the superdelegate category.

Hillary will dominate Obama in the pledged delegate category.

Edwards is having Obama and Clinton over to his house, and will endorse one of them right away.

Edwards will endorse Clinton.

Edwards' wife will publicly endorse Clinton, even if he doesn't.

Edwards will endorse on the Tonight Show.

Edwards will endorse long before his own state votes.

Edwards won't endorse anybody, and will remain neutral.

Ron Paul will run as the Libertarian candidate.

Obama will have to work to get the black vote.

Conservatives will never rally around McCain.

Rush Limbaugh will kill McCain's chances of getting elected.

Obama and Clinton will split all the caucus states after Super Tuesday, and she'll continue her lead in delegates.

The caucus states Obama is winning won't matter, because there are so few delegates in them.

Obama will never win Wisconsin, there aren't any black people there.

Obama will never win ten (or more!) contests in a row.

Republican crossover voting will never be a factor in a Democratic primary.

Hillary really didn't mean that when she said that.

Clinton will put Obama away by a huge victory in Texas.

Clinton has the momentum after Ohio and Texas, and Obama will now fade.

Clinton/Obama (take your pick) won't be able to keep raising money at this rate.

John McCain will never vote to allow torture of prisoners.

McCain had an affair with a lobbyist, and it will doom his chances.

Churches videotaping sermons and selling DVDs is a great way to make money, and to let the world know about your church and your wonderful pastor.

Eliot Spitzer is a rising star in the Democratic Party, and will probably run for president in a few years.

Bush's approval ratings just can't get any lower.

Hillary will put Barack as VP on her Dream Ticket.

Hillary really didn't mean that when she said that.

Hillary would never say that a Republican candidate is more qualified to sit in the Oval Office than her Democratic opponent.

Obama won't have to give a "speech about race" during the contest.

Obama is getting a lot of white, rural voters to vote for him.

McCain would never mix up who our enemies are in Iraq, since he's running on his foreign policy experience.

Hillary will never fire Mark Penn.

Hillary's negative campaigning was all Penn's fault, and now it will stop.

Hillary would never lie about something that she knows was videotaped for the American news media.

Hillary really didn't mean that when she said that.

Barack is doomed, Reverend Wright just killed his chance at the nomination.

Barack was right not to quit his church.

We'll never hear from Reverend Wright again until the campaign's over.

Pandering to the public on a gas tax holiday is going to reap lots of votes.

Barack's "bitter, cling to their religion and guns" comment will doom him, he'll never get the nomination now.

George Stephanopoulos is actually a journalist, not some hack from Bill Clinton's administration, and he will be a great debate moderator.

Charlie Gibson knows the difference between the general election and the primary election, and would never misquote the Constitution as a debate moderator.

If Hillary doesn't take Pennsylvania by 10 points, she'll drop out of the race.

Hillary's just staying in the race until (insert state name here), to exit on a victory.

Hillary really didn't mean that when she said that.

Obama has 50 superdelegates that will announce for him the day after (insert state name here) votes.

Since everyone knows the outcome of the (insert state name here) primary, it won't be big news when it happens.

The states that hold primaries later than Super Tuesday will never get any attention from the candidates or the media, since they'll be irrelevant.

The last states to hold primaries will never get any attention, as they'll surely be irrelevant.

Obama, with his origins and life story, could never be painted as an "elitist."

178 Republicans in the House would never vote against honoring Mother's Day.

The President of the United States of America would never be stupid enough to compare a Democratic candidate to Neville Chamberlain and bring up Hitler and the Nazis in front of Israel's parliament.

Hillary will never play the "victim" card or the "gender" card.

Democrats will never win Denny Hastert's seat in Illinois.

Democrats will never win the Mississippi 1st House district.

Republicans will, as always, raise more money than Democrats.

Both Obama and Hillary will not challenge denying Michigan and Florida's delegates.

There's no way it could ever go all the way to the convention.

With the party so divided, the "Dream Ticket" is the only way to go.

The electoral map will be pretty much like it was for the last two contests, with the exception of a few swing states.

It's all about Ohio and Florida in the general election.

Hillary will concede the night South Dakota and Montana vote, and give Obama the shining moment he deserves.

[Program Note: I will be away today and tomorrow. There will be no Friday Talking Points column tomorrow as a result. But this is good news, as I have something even better lined up. So don't miss tomorrow's interview article as it is the most enjoyable interview I have ever participated in. Check the site tomorrow, you won't be disappointed.]

-- Chris Weigant

[Program Note: From today until next Monday, we will be re-running columns as we attend Netroots Nation. We decided that it was worth a look all the way back to the 2008 election season, so we just went back to June, 2008 and dug a few columns out. The first of these ran on June 2, right before the final Democratic primary of the year. Barack Obama had yet to "cross the finish line," but he was a lot closer than Hillary Clinton. So turn your thoughts back to four years ago, and enjoy my final primary pick of the 2008 season.]

-- Chris Weigant

Tomorrow, the Democratic primary race will finally be over. Or, I should say, the primaries themselves will be over. At long last, everyone will have voted, unless (Democratic) life is discovered on Mars in the next few days.

Ahem.

The possibility of Martian primaries aside, though, it looks like Wednesday morning is going to be decisive for Barack Obama, no matter who wins the remaining two primaries the night before in Montana and South Dakota. And even though it has seemed like and endless campaign so far (mostly because it has been), we will wake up Wednesday only halfway through the election. Counting days, this Wednesday is the exact midpoint between the frozen vote in Iowa and the November election. That's a stunning thought. We're only half done.

Continue Reading »

I'm putting together column re-runs for the next week here, but I am bowing to popular pressure and declaring what could be a first for this site -- and actual open thread, to discuss the Wisconsin election results. Have at it...

Divergent (but minor) trends

Hello from (soggy) Maine! This is going to be an abbreviated version of our monthly Obama Poll Watch column, mostly because I am writing this while I'm supposed to be on vacation. Also, because while I did prepare the graphs before I left, I do not have full access to all my data. Having said that, let's just dive in and see what we can do with such limited resources.

May was not all that exceptional a month for Barack Obama, poll-wise. Both approval and disapproval rates were up slightly, but not significantly. It is a bit odd to have both numbers increase within the same month, but this is mostly due to the fact that the numbers themselves are so close to being even (statistically, this does odd things right around the point where they perfectly balance).

Here's the large version of the chart, where the differences are admittedly hard to see:

[Click on graph to see larger-scale version.]

May, 2012

Continue Reading »

Program Note:

We're going to try something different today. We're going to write a short column. Well, "relatively short," I should say.

That sound you just heard was a gigantic sigh of relief from all the editors at the affiliated sites where this column appears. Or perhaps, the stunned jaws hitting the floor of our loyal readers who tune in every week for my mini-tomes of semi-wisdom, here.

Kidding aside, here's the situation: I am rushing around like a cat at a dog show today in preparation for a trip (and mini-holiday) to Providence, Rhode Island next week for the Netroots Nation conference of "fellow travelers" (that's a joke, but you have to have a long enough memory to encompass the Cold War to get it) -- in other words: bloggers, interest groups, media types, and politicians from the Left.

Which means two things: I simply don't have enough time to write a full column today, and you won't be getting a column next Friday, either. "But Chris," you say, "couldn't you have written today's column last night and have been better prepared?" Well, anything is possible, but I refuse to answer such hypotheticals. Hmph.

Continue Reading »