tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-191629822026-02-14T03:53:03.514-05:00Gotham Ghostwritershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763863284206933224noreply@blogger.comBlogger132125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19162982.post-34006012395833789952008-02-23T16:48:00.002-05:002008-02-23T16:52:39.572-05:00

For my latest Politico column, I throw out an idea for solving the Democrats' superdelegate dilemma: hold a super convention. You can find the full piece here.

Gotham Ghostwritershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763863284206933224noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19162982.post-53546403261795864642008-02-05T10:14:00.000-05:002008-02-05T10:28:35.888-05:00

Dan Balz of the Washington Post has another smart "Eight Questions" story out today previewing Super Tuesday and helping readers divine the import of the results. I was asked again to share my thoughts/answers, so here they are (with as usual a few small grammatical fixes).1) Will either race end on Tuesday?No. For the Republicans, there’s a high likelihood that McCain will emerge in a

Gotham Ghostwritershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763863284206933224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19162982.post-79038672790577639032008-01-22T17:24:00.000-05:002008-01-22T17:27:38.624-05:00

After taking a break for the holiday season, I have resumed writing my regular column for the Politico. You can find my first piece of the new year, which looks at the mirage of Democratic unity in the presidential campaign, here.

Gotham Ghostwritershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763863284206933224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19162982.post-68196839527443259902008-01-03T07:35:00.001-05:002008-01-03T07:56:08.305-05:00

Washington Post crack political reporter Dan Balz has an enlightening piece out today forecasting the Iowa caucuses, in which he asked several political strategists from both parties (including yours truly) to answer eight critical questions about today's big vote. You can find the article (and a quote from me) here.The last time Balz asked me to contribute to a Q&A story like this, I

Gotham Ghostwritershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763863284206933224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19162982.post-83251655625490965832007-12-03T09:16:00.000-05:002007-12-03T09:33:23.063-05:00

The Wall Street Journal asked me to write an op-ed on the Democratic presidential primary contest, through the lens of the celebrity surrogate showdown between Oprah Winfrey (Team Obama) and Barbra Streisand (Team Clinton). My take, which was published in today's edition, follows below.The Oprah FactorBy DAN GERSTEINDecember 3, 2007; Page A21It's tempting to write off the celebrity-endorsement

Gotham Ghostwritershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763863284206933224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19162982.post-20525456900639520182007-10-28T11:30:00.000-04:002007-10-28T11:34:48.401-04:00

My latest column, which looks at the Republicans' emerging strategy to tar Hillary Clinton as a big spender, is up on the Politico website this morning.

Gotham Ghostwritershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763863284206933224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19162982.post-11909049053613331312007-09-19T17:28:00.000-04:002007-09-19T17:39:46.032-04:00

One of the more insightful responses I got from Politico column today was this note from a progressive intellectual friend of mine who does not work in politics but follows it closely:My sense is that this debate is roiling around because people have fundamental beliefs that they are not presenting honestly. While there appears to be a majority of Americans who hate this war and recognize it as

Gotham Ghostwritershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763863284206933224noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19162982.post-57851296998662959982007-09-19T08:17:00.000-04:002007-09-19T08:22:40.025-04:00

After taking a little late summer siesta from my Politico column, I have a new piece up today analyzing why the anti-war movement has failed to make any real progress in Congress.This one is sure to raise some hackles, and I suspect I will be back here some time soon to respond to some of the counter arguments. So stay tuned.

Gotham Ghostwritershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763863284206933224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19162982.post-90508544540046712342007-09-04T06:17:00.000-04:002007-09-04T07:00:04.308-04:00

With the presidential primary campaign expected to amp up dramatically after Labor Day, the Washington Post's lead political reporter Dan Balz did a state of the race piece for Sunday's paper in which he asked strategists from both parties to answer seven key questions. I happened to be among those queried and quoted -- Balz used my line about both parties being generally braid dead when it

Gotham Ghostwritershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763863284206933224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19162982.post-66762162213359789822007-08-19T10:20:00.000-04:002007-08-19T10:37:02.913-04:00

Looks like the move to impeach Attorney General Alberto Gonzales (the subject of my last Politico column) is gaining currency. Today's New York Times carries an insightful commentary by Adam Scott arguing that Gonzales's many offenses are "just the sort" of malfeasance the Founders had in mind when they gave Congress the power to remove executive branch officials.Congress has heard extensive

Gotham Ghostwritershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763863284206933224noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19162982.post-78398508726406662442007-08-02T12:46:00.000-04:002007-08-02T13:27:52.705-04:00

My follow-up column on impeachment is now up on Politico. In it, I make the case that regardless of the relative merits of the case against Bush, it would be a colossal strategic mistake to try to evict him from office. Instead, fed-up Democrats would be wise to channel their frustration into impeaching the President's incompetent and uncredible Attorney General.A few other points I wanted to

Gotham Ghostwritershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763863284206933224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19162982.post-67595716884068141192007-07-27T15:03:00.000-04:002007-07-27T15:13:12.557-04:00

Of all the obnoxious emails from random critics I have gotten after doing TV or radio interviews, this one may be my favorite yet:Just saw you on FSTV with Gail Sheehan. . .It's unbelievable what kind of morons the democratsare hiring for advice.In my opinion, you're in the wrong business.David SmithI politely informed Mr. Smith that was CINDY Sheehan, one of the most famous women in politics

Gotham Ghostwritershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763863284206933224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19162982.post-49854270433466981052007-07-26T16:18:00.000-04:002007-07-26T23:25:31.440-04:00

FYI, I will be appearing on the nationally-syndicated radio program "Democracy Now" on Friday morning with Cindy Sheehan to talk about the pros and cons of trying to impeach President Bush, following up on my Politico column from earlier this week. If you are interested, you can listen (or watch the TV simulcast) live at 8 a.m. or catch a taped version of the show on the DN website.Also, I will

Gotham Ghostwritershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763863284206933224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19162982.post-92142142390924304022007-07-23T09:13:00.000-04:002007-07-23T09:21:40.514-04:00

For my latest Politico column, which was posted yesterday, I explored the looming clash between Cindy Sheehan and Nancy Pelosi over impeachment and the tricky challenge this fight will pose for national Democratic leaders. Later this week I will be writing a follow-up piece looking at the issue of impeachment itself and outlining why I think it would be a strategic mistake for Democrats to

Gotham Ghostwritershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763863284206933224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19162982.post-31364254208122320292007-07-09T10:42:00.000-04:002007-07-09T10:56:29.644-04:00

Seems like John Edwards is really finding his legs (and maybe even legislation) on the hedge fund tax issue I wrote about in my Politico column last week. The Wall Street Journal reports today that Edwards is now prepared not only to close the loophole that allows hedge fund and private equity managers to have their income taxed at the much lower capital gains rate of 15 percent, but to take on

Gotham Ghostwritershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763863284206933224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19162982.post-53182420550420869142007-07-06T12:08:00.000-04:002007-07-06T12:52:51.163-04:00

How's this for an interesting coincidence? Yesterday morning The Politico posted my latest column, which explored the hard choice that a small arcane tax bill moving in the House will soon force John Edwards and his leading Democratic presidential rivals to make between the two Americas they have to straddle (i.e. big money donors and progressive primary voters).I argued that the neopopulist

Gotham Ghostwritershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763863284206933224noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19162982.post-38121233280328903092007-06-21T13:08:00.000-04:002007-06-22T14:59:53.532-04:00

In the latest round of my online conversation with Ric Caric, a progressive blogger from Kentucky, Ric responded to my detailed explanation of why I am not a conservative (and why that distinction matters) by saying he was unpersuaded.After sorting through Ric's reasoning, I realize that pretty much nothing I say is going to sway him on this specific point -- he's pretty locked into his own

Gotham Ghostwritershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763863284206933224noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19162982.post-2523312012189315102007-06-15T12:45:00.001-04:002007-06-15T13:46:04.931-04:00

I recently came across a diary on MyDD about another blog-insult controversy that incidentally and without qualification labeled me a conservative. I thought that was particulary odd, because I can't imagine being judged a conservative by any reasonable or conventional standard. So just for the heck of it I sent a note to the author, a professor at Morehead State University in Kentucky named

Gotham Ghostwritershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763863284206933224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19162982.post-32531664458248363622007-06-12T14:18:00.000-04:002007-06-12T14:36:26.728-04:00

In my latest Politico column, which was posted earlier today, I flesh out an idea I first raised a couple weeks ago -- how Democrats can take advantage of the Republicans' regressive tendencies to begin building a Modern Majority.A small clarification (which I just posted in the comment section for the column): A good friend of mine who went through the 1995 budget battle (on the losing side)

Gotham Ghostwritershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763863284206933224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19162982.post-41524830480937446992007-05-30T12:14:00.000-04:002007-05-30T12:28:57.120-04:00

Just as I was getting back into the blogswing of things I went and broke my wrist playing basketball over the holiday weekend. That's going to put me on the disabled list for a little while -- typing with my off hand not really conducive to long-form blogging. But hope to be back waxing polemic in a couple weeks.

Gotham Ghostwritershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763863284206933224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19162982.post-32569517178312270892007-05-21T13:30:00.000-04:002007-05-21T13:47:25.975-04:00

One of the highlights of last Friday's Personal Democracy Forum Conference, which brings together many of the nation's most innovative thinkers and practitioners in online politics, was getting to hear Stanford Law Professor Lawrence Lessig talk about his latest mission to make video of the presidential debates free to use for everyone over the Internet.Lessig is regarded as one of the nation's

Gotham Ghostwritershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763863284206933224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19162982.post-45608809243876027602007-05-19T17:55:00.000-04:002007-05-19T18:00:31.262-04:00

Just a quick note to let folks know that as of this week, I have signed on as a regular columnist for The Politico.For those of you not familiar with it, The Politico is a Washington-based publication dedicated to covering national politics — from Capitol Hill to the White House to the presidential campaign trail — with “enterprise, style, and impact.”Launched in January and led by some of the

Gotham Ghostwritershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763863284206933224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19162982.post-61096315358675508562007-05-15T11:56:00.000-04:002007-05-15T12:25:29.650-04:00

A few weeks ago I wrote a piece for the New York Post on Rudy Giuliani's presidential prospects, arguing that pundits and many of my fellow Democrats were making a mistake to automatically rule out the possibility of Rudy winning the Republican nomination next year just because of his liberal views on social issues.Veteran political reporter Tom Edsall takes this argument to a whole other level

Gotham Ghostwritershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763863284206933224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19162982.post-40162408537029303032007-05-14T07:48:00.000-04:002007-05-14T08:10:15.109-04:00

I was interviewed by Wall Street Journal Editorial Page Editor Paul Gigot on Fox News' "Journal Editorial Report" over the weekend on the Netroots' rising power within the Democratic Party. If you are interested, you can find the transcript here.Also, if you have a chance, I would highly recommend reading the New Republic cover story on the same subject (which I reference briefly in my

Gotham Ghostwritershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763863284206933224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19162982.post-88652774289098304282007-05-11T07:53:00.000-04:002007-05-11T07:26:53.200-04:00

(Cross-posted from Political Insider. . .)Many pundits proclaimed Mitt Romney the victor in last week's Republican debate cattle call at the Reagan Library, but it seems Romney's performance did not win over many primary voters.A USA Today/Gallup Poll taken in the three days after the May 3rd debate and released Tuesday showed Romney claiming 7 percent of Republican voters, which is a two-point

Gotham Ghostwritershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17763863284206933224noreply@blogger.com0