The coronation of Marco Rubio, Chris Christie or (whoever) will happen in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Denver, Dallas, Kansas City, Las Vegas or Phoenix

The 2012 GOP Convention in Tampa was a straight-up mess from a traffic standpoint (and a Clint Eastwood standpoint, and a Mitt Romney standpoint…) and the hotel and buses situation wasn’t ideal for GOP operatives and the thousands of others who… Continue Reading

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The GOP spends too much time talking about “culture,” which is an amorphous blob of a term

The GOP’s definitely got some issues — for example, the electoral map isn’t very favorable to them. They thought someone like Christie or Walker or Rubio was a potential big bet for ’16, and now their best option might be a… Continue Reading

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If Chris Christie is done for and Marco Rubio isn’t ready (plus the water thing), could Mike Pence 2016 become an actual thing?

Breathless 2016 discussion time! Chris Christie: goose may be cooked. Marco Rubio: possibly his time? Mike Huckabee: lurking. Bobby Jindal: always lurking. All of them: would wake up on Election Day already in a huge hole to whoever the Democratic nominee is. And all of… Continue Reading

This President Obama State of the Union word cloud is all about America and unity

Here’s the word cloud from last night’s State of the Union address. Some of the top words: “America” and “American” and “Americans.” See a theme here? Other key ones: “people” and “jobs” and “help” and “work.” Again, see a theme? Here’s… Continue Reading

What will Obama discuss in the State of the Union address tonight?

Logically you’d assume some of the following things need to come up: gay rights, privacy, marijuana, inequality, job creation, student loan debt, and ObamaCare. On the last one, he needs to showcase its recent successes while also taking credit for… Continue Reading

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Three years from today, we’ll inaugurate a new U.S. President. Chris Christie looks bad right now. Hilary Clinton looks good. What else do we know?

Interesting moment in U.S. history today: it’s been five years since Obama was inaugurated, and in three years (from today), someone else will be. Chris Christie looks bad at this moment, and Hilary Clinton looks OK — she just got… Continue Reading

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2014/2016 Political Trend Line: Voters who are ‘spiritual’ but not necessarily ‘religious’ (are you listening, Hilary Clinton?)

Religion and politics have been tied up together for centuries, so I’m not going to attempt to talk broadly about that (there are entire departments at well-regarded universities who study these types of topics). Rather, there’s a short, but interesting… Continue Reading

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Political polarization explained via Gallup: the Democratic Party in America has become more liberal over time

One of the biggest things we’ve been hearing about in American politics for the past 18-24 months is the increasing polarization and partisan breakdown of how things function. It all seems pretty logical, but now, via a new Gallup study… Continue Reading