Well, it’s official. Hurricane Gustav has prompted the Republicans toall but cancel the first day of their convention, meeting only briefly, out of primetime, to take care of the official business of opening the convention. Apparently, this change was on the orders of John McCain who also implored Republicans to not act like partisans but [...]

Most of the critiques of Barack Obama’s acceptance speech have been positive. That’s why David Broder’s opinion interested me. He thinks Obama did a poor job. In fact, Broder thinks the whole convention was a missed opportunity.
I won’t spend a lot of time summarizing Broder’s opinion. It can be basically summed up as “too many [...]

Sarah Palin has been Governor of Alaska for less than two years. Her longest stint as a political official was as mayor of the tiny town of Wasilla, Alaska, for six years. Today, Wasilla has less than 7,000 residents. When Sarah Palin was elected to its city council in 1992, its population was 4,635. In [...]

Despite criticism from several quarters, the Sarah Palin pick is being received very well by core Republicans.
Palin, say conservative activists, has instantly changed how they feel about [John] McCain’s campaign and spurred them to go to work for the Republican ticket.
First, though, they’re expressing their newfound fondness for McCain with their checkbooks. Since tapping Palin, [...]

Word coming out of the Republican National Convention is that Hurricane Gustav may dramatically affect the proceedings to the point of causing the RNC to postpone the event. There is also talk of turning the convention into a massive fundraiser for victims of the storm.
By the sound of it, the Republicans are not going to [...]

Forecasters are now predicting that Hurricane Gustav will become a category five storm sometime soon. As you all undoubtedly know, Gustav is the first major hurricane to threaten the Gulf Coast since Katrina and Rita in 2005. The question now is: have we learned anything?
Evacuation plans are in effect for New Orleans and other parts [...]

Despite my repeated and patient explanations, Justin continues to be confused about the reason for the Palin pick and is wondering again “what exactly was McCain thinking?”.
Since JG has also expressed his admiration for Chuck Todd as an analyst (something on which we agree), perhaps Chuck’s explanation will be helpful. I think Chuck [...]

Obama probably won’t be able to hold this lead, but this number does include the day of Obama’s speech and the Palin announcement the next day.
Still, with the Repub convention next week, this is bound to swing back McCain’s way.

The details…
The current results are based on Aug. 27-29 interviewing, which includes two nights of polling [...]

Just watch…

That’s right. Sarah Palin has foreign relations experience because Alaska is near Russia.
Wow.
I also love how the other guy on panel talks about how politics is all about exceeding expectations. And since expectations are extremely low for Palin, she’ll be able to impress people.
I’m sorry, but isn’t that exactly how we got into this [...]

I think this pretty much sums up the collective opinion from non-partisan sites and sources (emphasis mine)…
Most neutral observers are scratching their heads. McCain’s strongest argument against Obama is that he doesn’t have the experience to be President. How can his first major personnel choice be someone with demonstrably less experience than Obama (6 years [...]

With leaners
McCain – 49%
Obama – 45%
Without leaners
Obama – 47%
McCain – 43%
The numbers stay steady today, so perhaps the Palin announcement has had the desired effect of stopping any additional bounce for Obama.
One note, Obama still has a lead among women…but will he next week?
Obama currently leads by thirteen points among women while McCain leads by [...]

Here’s a snip from Barack Obama’s acceptance speech Thursday night:
That’s why I stand here tonight. Because for 232 years, at each moment when that promise was in jeopardy, ordinary men and women — students and soldiers, farmers and teachers, nurses and janitors — found the courage to keep it alive.
Have you ever noticed that when [...]

John McCain’s surprise selection of Sarah Palin did its work. The coverage of Palin knocked Barack Obama’s convention speech right out of the news cycle. That’s a shame because 38 million people watched Obama’s speech — an event that big (more people watched Obama than watched the Olympic opening ceremonies this year) deserves more than [...]

The Republican Party didn’t make room for Ron Paul at the convention in St. Paul, so Paul and his supporters are making room across the river in Minneapolis. That’s right, it’s time for Ronstock ‘08 (although I think Paulapalooza would be a better name), complete with tents and people who don’t need drugs to act [...]

The more and more I think about McCain’s choice today, the more I can’t seem to make much sense of it. HUGE downside and virtually the only upside is the idea that disgruntled HRC fans will jump ship just because Palin is a woman. And that’s pretty presumptuous.
In any event, here’s what the Obama camp [...]

Earlier, I gave you my off-the-cuff, political junkie reaction to John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin for a running mate. It’s great political theater and will give us plenty to talk about. But was it wise? Here’s my sober analysis:
This was a surprisingly unserious pick. Palin has scant experience. She makes Barack Obama look like [...]

At VicePresidents.com, we first wrote about Sarah Palin back in December 2007 when we found that there was, in fact, ONE person actively campaigning for the Vice Presidency. Typically this move is a deal breaker for many politicians and is the unspoken rule: Don’t act like you want it.

Since this topic has been invoked several times in the comments, a quick and dirty search was in order. FWIW this is wikipedia’s entry on the matter. As with all things Wiki, it should not be considered authoritative without confirmation from other sources, but it’s the best summary I could find:
Governor Palin is currently under [...]

The bump continues, as Obama extends his lead by 2 points today. However, these numbers don’t include his speech last night, which should push these numbers higher.

The details…
Obama’s significant lead over McCain almost certainly reflects the effects of the Democratic National Convention. The two presidential candidates were tied at 45% in the last Gallup Poll [...]

If John McCain’s decision to pick Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate works out, it’s likely to be seen as a political masterstroke. Here’s a young, attractive, successful Governor, definitely an outsider, and someone who can definitely help bring along those parts of the Republican base that continue to have second thoughts about [...]