I’ll be providing them here tonight, once the polls close, and results start coming in. I’ll also be doing updates via Twitter, @davekopel. Besides the candidate races, there are five important ballot issues. Kansas will be voting on whether to restore the individual right to keep and bear arms to state constitution, undoing the judicial […]
Archive | Politics
“Ronald Reagan, Extremist Collaborator”
Just published at The New Ledger, an article describing the Democratic effort to label Ronald Reagan as an “extremist,” during his 1966 campaign for Governor of California. Thanks to all the VC folks who responded to my bleg a few days ago, and provided good research leads.
Michael Bloomberg’s astroturf group
Over at National Review Online, Ramesh Ponnuru notes a mailer from a group called “Americans United for Safe Streets.” The mailer slams Republican House candidate Keith Fimian over the so-called “gun show loophole.” Americans United for Safe Streets has a website, but other than providing an e-mail contact for a press spokeman, the site is quite opaque about […]
NRA Supports Pro-Gun Democrats, and Many Democrats Support the Second Amendment
Earlier this week, I wrote that NRA would be foolish obey the wishes of Republican activists who want the NRA to endorse only Republicans, and especially to not endorse endangered House Democrats. Here are some data on NRA endorsements, and some of the actions that dozens of House Democrats have taken to merit their endorsements: NRA Senate endorsements in […]
Remember the imaginary “National Republican Association”?
No, I’m not talking about the Paraguayan political party. During much of the last two decades, various gun control advocates, Democratic partisans, and hard-rightists have claimed that the National Rifle Association of America was really just part of the Republican political machine. “NRA” really stood for “National Republican Association,” they said. Some typical examples of the claim: The 2006 book Foxes in […]
Gun Rights and the 2010 Senate Elections
That’s the topic of my article in yesterday’s edition of The New Ledger. Bottom line: in the Venn diagram, Republican gains and pro-Second Amendment gains sometimes overlap, but not always. New Hampshire, West Virginia, Indiana, North Dakota are guaranteed gains for Second Amendment supporters, regardless of which party wins. The most important races, from a right to […]
O’Donnell Beats Castle In Delaware
It is a big night for the Tea Party — and, very likely, the Democratic Party — in my former home state of Delaware: Christine O’Donnell beat out Michael Castle for the Delaware GOP Senate nomination 53% to 47%. It’s an amazing result given the history of Delaware politics. The contrast couldn’t be more stark. […]
Democratic Panic? (II)
The Democratic Strategist (a website run by, you guessed it, Democratic strategists): “In recent days, as increasingly negative projections regarding the November election have appeared, a substantial number of Democrats have been seized with a genuine sense of panic.” The article goes on to argue that such panic is unwarranted, as the recent polls merely […]
Democratic Panic?
Earlier today, I received a robocall from a DNC-affiliated pollster asking whether I plan to vote for the Republican or Democratic congressional candidate in my district, and also asking my opinion of Barack Obama’s performance as president. The rub is that I live in Arlington, Virginia, represented in Congress by Rep. Jim Moran. Moran won […]
Will Mitch Daniels Run?
Here’s the latest speculation about whether Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels might run for the Presidency in 2012. I hope he does: From what I know at this point, he’s my favorite potential GOP candidate.
Clarence Thomas for President?
Kashmir Hill and David Lat of Above the Law have an interesting Washington Post column urging Justice Clarence Thomas to run for president. I know Lat because he was a year ahead of me in law school. He’s a very smart guy, and I have great respect for all the success he has achieved as […]
Congressional Conflicts of Interest
The Washington Post reports that many members of Congress have substantial investments in the industries they oversee. Specifically, many members’ investments overlap with their respective committee jurisdctions. On the House Agriculture Committee, which holds sway over farm policies and subsidies, members had farming and agribusiness investments worth five times on average the amount held by […]
NRA Convention report
The NRA’s annual members meeting was held last weekend, in Charlotte, North Carolina. Since I’ve been going to these events for the last two decades, I’d like to offer a report on how the Convention has changed over the years, and some thoughts about the NRA’s past and present.
PhRMA Thanks Reid
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association is co-sponsoring ads in Nevada thanking Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for his efforts to create jobs in Nevada. As the Wall Street Journal editorializes, this is a fairly transparent effort to repay Reid for pushing through health care reform. PhRMA invested heavily in trying to pass health care […]
Bloggers can’t agree on anything about fiscal commission, or political impact of Wall Street bill
This week’s National Journal poll of political bloggers asked about the impact of the Wall Street reform issue on the midterm elections. Ninety-four percent of the Left bloggers thought that it would help Democrats a lot or a little. The Left was evenly divided between expecting the issue to hurt Republicans a little, or to have […]