Decision 2016
The peasants speak.
In a stunning repudiation of the so-called political establishment, a 70-year old real estate billionaire tycoon turned reality TV star with exactly no prior experience in politics concluded his first-ever political campaign by winning the highest political office in the world last night. It is nothing less than seismic. Late... Read More!
No One Knows
No one knows anything. Since February, when it began appearing that the top of the card would feature Clinton vs. Trump, I have been saying that no one knows anything. The metrics that have been used successfully to handicap previous presidential elections don’t work this time. There is too much... Read More!
The campaign and the grocery money.
Either the race is already over or it’s not. The answer depends on how much faith you have in polls – particularly in this most unusual of presidential election years. If you have faith in the polls – and as of now based on experience in 2012 and 2008 there... Read More!
Trump is down. But it’s not quite over.
If the polls are to be believed, Hillary Clinton has the race all but sewn up. The Real Clear Politics average of polls shows her with a seven percentage point advantage over Donald Trump nationally. A relentless assault by the Clinton campaign and by the media on Trump’s sexual past... Read More!
Is it over?
Is Trump finished? Certainly any prior Republican candidate would be. A Bill Clinton can be accused of sexual assault and still get elected president. But that’s because Democrats have an easier time in the media. A Republican, on the other hand, can expect to be hounded for any transgression no... Read More!
Pence shows the way.
Indiana governor and Republican VP candidate Mike Pence put band aids on the self-inflicted wounds of the Trump campaign last night during the one and only vice presidential debate. Seated at the same table as Democratic VP candidate Tim Kaine, Pence was cool and articulate in the face of a... Read More!
Trump v. Holt
An estimated 84 million people tuned in Monday for the debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. That number sets the high water mark for televised presidential debates. With national polls showing the race to be a statistical tie, and with big polling leads for Hillary Clinton in key states... Read More!
Hillary’s late season challenge.
Performances late in the season tend to be decisive. Texas Rangers fans remember September of 2012. Going in to the month, the Rangers led the division and it seemed that they had a real shot at a third consecutive World Series. But their lead evaporated and it came down to... Read More!
Sick and deplorable.
Exactly three weeks ago in this space we had the grave diggers turning the earth in preparation for the burial of the Donald Trump campaign. Gross missteps by Trump coming out of the conventions, made worse by a national media that is openly in the tank for Hillary Clinton, were... Read More!
Running out the clock.
Hillary’s email troubles refuse to go away. This week, the State Department announced that about 30 emails that may be related to the September 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya are among the many thousands of emails recovered by the FBI from Mrs. Clinton’s private... Read More!
Small is the gate and narrow is the road.
Donald Trump’s path to victory is narrowing. According to the Real Clear Politics average of polls, Hillary Clinton leads Trump nationally among likely voters by a margin of 47 to 41.5 percent. That’s the good news for Trump. The bad news is in the polling in key states such as... Read More!
So who's election is it now?
One post back and we were saying that it was Trump’s election to lose. A couple of brutal weeks for Trump and some really bad news in the polls and it’s now likely Hillary’s race to lose. Or is it? Who is really winning the race for the presidency? Ask... Read More!
Trump’s election to lose.
It is Donald Trump’s election to lose. In the week after the conventions in Cleveland and Philadelphia, there is reason to fear that he will do so. At a time when Trump should be hammering relentlessly on the Obama administration’s weak economic record and its foreign policy failures, at a... Read More!
It could have been much different.
Joe Biden’s speech Wednesday night here at the Democratic National Convention should remind Republicans to count their blessings. When the history of the 2016 U.S. presidential election is written, the story may well turn on a decision made in early July by FBI Director James Comey. After months of investigation... Read More!
Former RNC chair Michael Steele deep inside the enemy camp.
Michael Steele was chairman of the Republican National Committee from 2009 to 2011 and is currently a contributor to MSNBC. He joins us here at the Democratic National Convention to have a wide-ranging discussion on party unity and lack thereof, voter turnout and the pluses and minuses of each of... Read More!
New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu on race relations & police.
Politics runs in the Landrieu family. His sister, Mary Landrieu, was a two-term senator from Louisiana. His father, Moon Landrieu, was himself once mayor of New Orleans and also served as Secretary of Housing & Urban Development under President Jimmy Carter. Mayor Landrieu joined us on Radio Row at the... Read More!
Brian Ross; more on the DNC emails.
ABC Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross has spent a lot of time digesting what’s in the nearly 20,000 Democratic National Committee emails that were divulged earlier this week by Wikileaks. They boil down to two words: money and intrigue. He shares some of what he has learned in this visit... Read More!
History in the making.
This is what it sounded like yesterday afternoon on the floor of the Wells Fargo Center here in Philadelphia when Democratic National Committee secretary Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said from the podium: Senator Sanders has moved, in the spirit of unity, to suspend the rules, and nominate Hillary Clinton by acclamation as the... Read More!
Shushannah Walshe at the DNC.
This has been an election year like no other. This afternoon at the Democratic National Convention (in fact, at the very moment this article is being posted), two names have been placed in nomination — Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Following those nominations, a state-by-state roll call of delegates and their votes began. In... Read More!
It’s not just politics at the DNC.
You may have eaten what they said was a cheesesteak in some restaurant somewhere. But you haven’t really had a cheesesteak until you’ve had one in Philadelphia. Frank Oliviera is a third generation owner of Pat’s King of Steaks, home of the original Philly cheesesteak. He joined us on Radio... Read More!
Bernie vs. Ted
The Democrats watched the Republican National Convention on TV last week and gleefully rubbed their hands. When Texas senator Ted Cruz conspicuously and pointedly failed to endorse nominee Donald Trump, Democrats began deriding Republicans as a party divided and crowing about the united front that they – the Democrats –... Read More!
Bernie supporter unhappy with DNC.
The Democrats were hoping for unity, what they got instead is a bunch of unhappy delegates. The subject of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee has dominated conversation on day one of the convention. Arthur Schwartz is a Bernie Sanders supporter who believes that the Democratic National Committee improperly... Read More!
Dinesh D’Souza on Radio Row
Dinesh D’Souza made a film about Barack Obama in 2012 that rankled top Democrats and likely contributed to his prosecution for a minor campaign finance law violation. His new film Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party is unlikely to enhance his reputation among Democrats. D’Souza joined us... Read More!
Thank you, Cleveland.
Little things can often leave a big impression. Arriving at the airport on my way out of Cleveland – laden with four equipment cases in addition to my suitcase – the rent car shuttle dropped us off at the terminal entrance. There waiting were Republican convention host committee volunteers with... Read More!
No soaring platitudes in this acceptance speech.
Warm and fuzzy it was not. Donald Trump spent most of the 5,143 words in his Republican nomination acceptance speech telling us how much trouble we’re in and who got us here. “Our convention occurs at a moment of crisis for our nation. The attacks on our police, and... Read More!
Coulter reacts to Cruz’s speech at the RNC.
She is outspoken, funny, articulate and either loved or loathed depending on one’s leanings. Ann Coulter is a prolific author, columnist and contributor to the FOX News Channel. When we saw her here on Radio Row, we couldn’t wait to get her take on Ted Cruz’s Wednesday prime-time speech at... Read More!
Ted Cruz goes small.
If you’re invited to Ken and Shirley’s house for dinner and you know that neither one of them can cook and that they serve bad wine, you have two choices. The first is to politely decline. Any number of reasons can be given and even if Ken and Shirley strongly... Read More!
Dick Morris knows Hillary well.
Former communications director for Pres. Bill Clinton George Stephanopoulos has said, “Over the course of the first nine months of 1995, no single person had more power over the president.” He was speaking about Dick Morris. Today, Morris is an outspoken critic of Hillary Clinton. He joined us on Radio Row... Read More!
Rick Lazio: Running against Hillary.
Rick Lazio served four terms in the U.S. House from New York’s 2nd Congressional District. In 2000, he ran against Hillary Clinton in her first senate election, stepping in late for former NY mayor Rudy Giuliani, who withdrew to undergo treatment for prostate cancer. Lazio started the campaign 20 points... Read More!
A most unlikely event.
Last June, the political and pundit class was busy dismissing the just-announced Republican presidential candidacy of Donald Trump. Some said it was a stunt. Some said it was to advance his reality TV career. Few took it seriously. Then all summer and into the fall leading up to primary season,... Read More!
Texas Congressman Blake Farenthold on the “Never Trumpers.”
The step-grandson of Texas Democratic icon Sissy Farenthold, Blake Farenthold was swept into office in 2010 in the Republican wave that gave the House back to the GOP. Farenthold won the seat by 799 votes from a long-time Democratic incumbent. He joins us on Radio Row to talk about Donald... Read More!
All hands on deck for Donald? Not quite yet.
Yesterday, it became clear on the floor of the convention that the wounds from the hard-fought GOP primaries have not healed. To shouts of “Dump Trump,” a last-gasp, Hail Mary effort to derail Donald Trump’s nomination arose in a procedural vote during the business session that takes place every day... Read More!
Texas gets rowdy in Cleveland.
All 50 states, plus the District of Columbia and U.S. territories like American Samoa, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands, are represented at the Republican National Convention. Most of the delegations are hard to tell apart. Mostly, the Quicken Loans Arena concourse is just... Read More!
Not quite unified yet.
Shortly after gaveling the Republican National Convention to order in Cleveland Monday afternoon, Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus was dispensing with some parliamentary and procedural matters. One such matter was to name a “temporary chairman” for the convention. On his own motion Priebus nominated Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to be temporary... Read More!
Bad week for the world. Good for Trump.
In an election year, everything that happens is political. And so much is happening. It is the perverse nature of politics that a bad week for the world and for the country can be a good week for a political candidate. In that sad regard, Donald Trump has had a... Read More!
So who will it be?
It is conventional wisdom in presidential campaigns that whomever the nominee picks as his or her running mate in the end has little real impact on the outcome of the election. But this is anything but a conventional presidential campaign and Donald Trump is anything but a conventional nominee. Thus... Read More!
Events. Again.
As we noted in this space in March, events will play a key role in the 2016 presidential election and this political season, there is no shortage of events. Two come immediately to mind. Since our last post, the citizens of the United Kingdom have shaken the financial and political... Read More!
Is Trump ready to run?
Let’s decide together to mark this day or our calendars so that we might refer back on Wednesday, November 9 – the morning after election day. When we convene again that morning, we will know for certain whether the Donald Trump campaign successfully made the pivot from the primaries to... Read More!
As we were saying, events, dear boy.
“If I get in [the White House], it’s going to change, and it’s going to change quickly. We’re going from total incompetence to just the opposite, believe me.” So said Donald Trump, in signature style, in the wake of the massacre at the Pulse Club in Orlando. Thus Mr. Trump... Read More!
Just as we thought in New Hampshire.
With the 2016 presidential primary season now over, it’s off to the conventions for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Contrary to some earlier predictions, the GOP convention in Cleveland will likely be pretty typical of modern party conventions. The affair will be a nationally-televised pep rally aimed at rallying support... Read More!
It’s not a horserace.
If you’re in the business like me, or if you just are unusually interested in this most interesting of presidential elections, I recommend that you bookmark the website 270towin.com. The website is a brilliant interactive resource centered on the Electoral College map. You, yourself, can play pundit and click on... Read More!
Are we sure Biden’s out of the picture?
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will each wrap up the nominations of their respective parties week after next. Primary season will come to a close as the votes are counted in California on the evening of Tuesday, June 7. From there it’s off to the conventions on the way to... Read More!
Which convention is most chaotic?
Hillary Clinton eked out a victory in the Kentucky Democratic primary yesterday, winning by a scant 1,900 votes out of more than 454,000 cast and, in so doing, avoiding the embarrassment of going 0 for May against Bernie Sanders. Kentucky you may recall is a state in which Mrs. Clinton... Read More!
The pundits have missed it at every turn.
Undaunted by actual events having time and again put the lie to their predictions, the pundit class is now saying that Donald Trump cannot beat Hillary Clinton. The polls tell the story, they say. Hillary is up on Trump by double digits. Then, Quinnipiac comes out with polls in the... Read More!
Ted calls it quits.
By the time the votes were counted in Wisconsin on April 5, Ted Cruz was a mere 197 delegates behind Donald Trump with the wind at his back. Cruz had taken three out of four primaries since March 22 – including a decisive victory over Trump in Wisconsin. All the... Read More!
Piling on to the bandwagon.
Last night, Donald Trump crushed rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich in five northeastern primaries – taking anywhere from 56 to 64 percent of the vote. Trump took 105 of the delegates that could be definitively nailed down in Tuesday’s primaries. John Kasich took five. Ted Cruz picked up just... Read More!
Trump has a big night in NY.
After a string of losses in places like Colorado and Wisconsin, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump had a great night last night in his home state of New York, handily beating rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich and exceeding his pre-election polling numbers. With 98 percent of precincts reporting early Wednesday... Read More!
“Nominating conventions” for a reason.
It has been a very long time since either of the national conventions of the two major political parties has served any function other than televised pep rally. In most presidential election years, state primaries and caucuses function to elect a sufficient number of delegates such that one candidate arrives... Read More!
Events, dear boy. Events.
There is a story, perhaps apocryphal, about former British prime minister Harold Macmillan. As the story goes, shortly after his election he was asked by a journalist what could blow his agenda off the rails. As legend has it Macmillan replied, “Events, dear boy. Events.” So it is with the... Read More!
So long, Marco.
So now we say goodbye to Marco Rubio. Early predictions and early hopes about this very talented candidate proved overly optimistic. The coroners who autopsy failed political campaigns will point to multiple pathologies – failure to read the angry mood of the electorate and an over-reliance on personal narrative as... Read More!
Voters are talking are leaders listening?
Since the first of March, Republican voters have sent the party a message that the party apparently does not want to hear. More than two out of three GOP voters in 19 states have chosen someone other than a candidate that would be acceptable to the party elite. Donald Trump... Read More!
The GOP at a crossroads.
With Super Tuesday behind us, Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee both find themselves at a crossroads. The unlikely candidate who has defied all conventional wisdom must decide if he’s going to continue sticking his thumb in the eye of the Republican leadership — the so called “establishment.” The... Read More!
The picture comes into sharper focus.
Take a good look at the photograph above. More and more it looks like the choice that we’re going to face in November. Just over a month ago, on Jan. 17, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, speaking of Donald Trump, said, “The guy’s entertaining for sure. But he’s not going... Read More!
Gettin’ his Nancy Pelosi on.
Donald Trump has so far been unstoppable. Evidence of his unstoppability began shortly after his formal announcement for office. Appearing at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa in July Trump went after Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) saying, “He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he... Read More!
Down to the only poll that counts.
Countless polls have been taken. Millions of words have been written and spoken. But here in New Hampshire, we’re about to get the last word from the only poll that really counts. We went out on the street to polling places to talk to voters in Manchester. The video is a... Read More!
So why is New Hampshire first?
Why is New Hampshire the first state every year to hold a presidential primary? One answer is because it’s state law. By statute, New Hampshire is required to set a date that pre-dates every other state primary. If some state sets an earlier date, New Hampshire by law must move its... Read More!
Will the RNC try a takedown on Trump?
Both parties are a bit flummoxed this primary season. The Democrats are dealing with the persistent weakness of presumed nominee Hillary Clinton, and the resulting surprise strength of the quirky self-proclaimed socialist Bernie Sanders. On the GOP side, it was assumed that Jeb Bush, with his intimidating mountain of cash... Read More!
Where are the Republican protesters?
I’m struck by the fact that at every GOP candidate appearance that I’ve ever covered, going back to the New Hampshire Primary of 2008, there have been protesters outside. No GOP event is truly complete without them. Yesterday, at the Hudson, NH town hall for Marco Rubio, this group was waiting... Read More!
Marco Rubio upbeat after rough debate.
It is generally agreed that Sen. Marco Rubio was manhandled by Gov. Chris Christie at Saturday night’s GOP debate. Rubio came into New Hampshire with a lot of momentum that may have all been forfeited by his walking into the traps that Christie kept laying for him. Nevertheless, Rubio was... Read More!
Is Hillary rattled?
Memories of 2008 have to he haunting Hillary Clinton here in New Hampshire. Before the 2008 presidential primary season, Mrs. Clinton was widely regarded as the prohibitive favorite to win the Democratic Party nomination. Those expectations began to unravel at the 2008 Iowa Caucuses, where she managed only a third... Read More!
Iowa’s big winner was Marco Rubio.
Ted Cruz leaves Iowa with the official victory and Donald Trump leaves as a second place finisher but the real winner in the Iowa Caucuses on Monday night was Florida senator Marco Rubio. Rubio finished just one percentage point behind Donald Trump is last night’s caucuses and only five percentage... Read More!
Clinton Breathes ‘Sigh of Relief’.
Locked in a tight race in the Iowa caucuses with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton told a packed house in Des Moines that she was “breathing a big sigh of relief.” Minutes later, a beaming Sanders announced to an enthusiastic crowd, “Tonight, while the results are still not known,... Read More!
Best Lines From the Candidates’ Speeches
As results poured in from the Iowa caucuses, the 2016 presidential hopefuls took to packed venues to address their supporters one last time before moving on to New Hampshire and other early nominating states. For some, it was a night of celebration. For others, tonight’s results come as a disappointment... Read More!
5 Things That Define the Iowa Caucuses
The 2016 Iowa caucuses have all the makings of an historic night for Democrats and Republicans, with a real possibility the current two frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump could be beaten in what remains a very close race. It’s been an election that has in many way re-defined American... Read More!
Rubio Calls Penn’s ‘El Chapo’ Interview ‘Grotesque’
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio called it “grotesque” that actor Sean Penn interviewed Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman while the Mexican drug kingpin was still-at large and evading authorities. “If one of these American actors who have benefited from the greatness of this country, who have made money from our... Read More!
Trump Rally Draws Hundreds of Protesters.
Donald Trump’s campaign made every effort Thursday night to prevent protesters and those undecided from entering his rally in Burlington, Vermont — Bernie Sanders’ home turf — but to no avail. Protesters who were able to enter Trump’s rally chanted slogans like “racist” or “dump Trump,” but the real estate... Read More!
Rubio Shifts Immigration Focus to National Security Concerns
Marco Rubio is increasingly portraying immigration as a national security issue rather than a question of what to do with millions of people in the country illegally, a sign of his evolving stance on a topic that remains one of his liabilities with conservative voters. “The issue is not the... Read More!
Sanders Says He Would Beat Trump By ’15 or 20 Points’
Looking past the primary to the general election, Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders told ABC News’ Cecilia Vega Tuesday that he hoped business mogul Donald Trump ends up as the Republican Party’s nominee and says he would beat him by “15 or 20 points.” “Between you and me, I would love... Read More!
Cruz Downplays Trump Raising Concerns Over Canadian Birth
Ted Cruz tried to make a joke Tuesday out of Republican presidential rival Donald Trump raising questions about whether the Texas senator’s birth in Canada could be a liability if he becomes the GOP’s nominee. Trump told the Washington Post in an interview published Tuesday that Cruz’s Canadian birthplace and... Read More!
Trump Feigns Outrage After Rally-Goer Calls Leaders Muslim
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump drew heat in September when he failed to correct a rally-goer who incorrectly labeled President Barack Obama a Muslim. Several months and many controversies later, Trump, who continues to dominate national polls with less than a month to go before the first votes are cast,... Read More!
Bill Clinton’s Comeback to the Campaign Trail
President Bill Clinton officially hit the campaign trail today, working two events in New Hampshire. His focus today was on broad-based prosperity, something he talks about a lot when pushing his beloved Clinton Foundation. He was also focused on how in his view, his wife Hillary Clinton, is best suited... Read More!
Jeb Bush Releases Drug Policy, Vows to Stop Pill Mills
As the heroin epidemic grips the nation, an early voting state finds itself at the epicenter. In New Hampshire, where there were at least 295 opioid deaths in 2015, according to the state medical examiner. Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush, is using the Granite State as a backdrop for his... Read More!
Sanders Vowing to Break up Banks During First Year in Office
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders will pledge to break up the country’s largest financial institutions within the first year of his administration should he win the White House next November. He plans to make that pledge in a speech in New York on Tuesday afternoon. In a rare policy address... Read More!