A result by next week?

 

Here's the latest on the still-unresolved Minnesota Senate race between Norm Coleman (R), who sought a second term last November, and Al Franken (D), who currently leads by 225 votes:

The three-judge panel that has been hearing the case has just ruled that up to 400 previously rejected absentee ballots should be opened and counted -- a much smaller number than the Coleman camp had been asking for.

The 400 or so ballots may also include those that favor Franken.

The ballots will delivered to the secretary of state's office next Monday, April 6, and opened and counted the following day.

The political media, us included, have a tendency to get rather hysterical about special congressional elections -- reading more into the results than is probably warranted.

Sometimes it's justified. Back in early 1974, amid Republican nervousness about the mounting scandal called Watergate, there were special elections held in Pennsylvania, Ohio and two in Michigan to replace departed GOP incumbents. Democrats won all four: John Murtha in the Keystone State, Tom Luken in Ohio and Bob Traxler and Richard Vander Veen in Michigan.

The fact that those four names still stick with me is an indication of how meaningful those special elections were, how it portended the disaster that 1974 was going to become for the Republicans.

Other times, special elections are just momentary blips. But for some reason, we in the political world often don't hesitate to give them extraordinary attention, far more than they deserve.

So, what to make of today's contest in New York's 20th District, to replace Kirsten Gillibrand (D), who was plucked out of the House by Gov. David Paterson to succeed now-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Senate?

Continue reading "The Main Event: NY 20 Seen As Barometer On Obama Policies" >

March 31, 1968:

Some wanted LBJ to stay. Many others were glad to see him leave.

President Lyndon Johnson stuns the nation by announcing he "shall not seek" and "will not accept" the nomination of the Democratic Party for another term.

The decision comes in the wake of his weaker-than-expected showing in the March 12 New Hampshire primary and the subsequent presidential candidacy of Sen. Robert Kennedy of New York. It also comes as the nation remains deeply divided over what to do in Vietnam.

Johnson's bombshell came at the end of a nationally televised policy statement in which he announced the halting of bombing raids over North Vietnam.

Today in Campaign History is a daily feature on Political Junkie.

It's only fair.

While I was hard at work, working on my tan in Florida, the least I could do was make my pre-vacation ScuttleButton puzzle the easiest in history (a history that began the week of December 1).

And while the puzzle was indeed a cinch, not everyone remembered to include his or her last name, or city and state, which immediately disqualified them from becoming the official winner. Boo hoo!

Since it's been a while, just a refresher here: All you need to do (besides submitting your name and city/state) is to take one word or one concept per button, add 'em up, and arrive at a saying or a name.

Also: The answer does not necessarily have to be political. For instance, a few puzzles back the answer was "Minnesota Twins" -- not political at all, unless you're thinking Mondale and Humphrey instead of Killebrew and Oliva.

The pre-vacation buttons, in case you forgot:

If Not Now WHEN? -- I assume the Hebrew part of the button is the same words as the English, but I don't know its origin.

Irish for President Nixon -- Part of a set of nationalities buttons for Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign.

All Ayes for Lori/National Committee Woman -- The elephant on this button seems to indicate this is for a Republican national committeewoman, but I don't know who this is.

Rural Citizens R for Rockefeller -- From New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller's successful 1962 race.

Give the Smilin' Man a Chance -- with a caricature of Jimmy Carter from his 1976 campaign.

So, when you add When + Irish + Ayes + R + Smilin', you kind of get ...

When Irish Eyes Are Smilin' -- a song that dates back to 1912. And because of all the correct answers that came in (a record ScuttleButton amount!), it's a song I couldn't get out of my head all week.

The winner, selected at random among the correct responders, is (drum roll) ... Gary Crum of Junction City, Ore.

Honorable mention goes to Desmond O'Dwyer of Roscommon, Ireland! Can you blame me?

And yes, I know, most people got it after the first two buttons. That's the dilemma I face. Or, as Janet Pickel of Pittsburgh wrote, "Paraphrasing Goldilocks: this puzzle's toooo easy, last week's was toooo hard! When will you give us a Scuttlebutton that's juuuuust right?"

Wanna be alerted the moment a new ScuttleButton puzzle goes up on the site? (How can you NOT???) Sign up on our mailing list at politicaljunkie@npr.org.

Round 2 of my March Madness contest -- the 2012 Republican presidential nomination -- has ended, and there are some major surprises to report.

First, we'll go over the results. Analysis will follow. And don't forget to vote in Round 3.

And the headline is that both No. 1 seeds -- Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney -- were soundly defeated, and both by candidates seeded sixth. Palin, the governor of Alaska, was defeated by Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, 58 percent to 41 percent. Total votes cast in that matchup were nearly 135,000. A bigger jolt was the loss by Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, who got walloped by Texas congressman Ron Paul, 70-29 percent. Nearly 1.4 million votes were cast -- a disproportionate number, compared with the other contests -- and again, it's something that will be addressed later in this posting.

Two other shockers came when former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a third seed, lost to Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, seeded eighth, by a 61-38 percent vote. More than 110,000 votes in that one. And in a face-off between two Southern governors, Florida's Charlie Crist, a fourth seed, ousted Louisiana's Bobby Jindal, rated No. 2; nearly 50,000 votes were cast in that one.

Continue reading "March Madness: Upsets Galore As Paul Ousts Romney; Jindal And Huck Lose; Round 3 Awaits" >

March 30, 1981:

Secretary of State Haig's declaration following the Reagan shooting was widely lampooned.

President Reagan is wounded in an assassination attempt outside a Washington hotel. The president receives a gunshot wound in his left lung. The would-be assassin, 25-year-old John Hinckley Jr., also critically wounds White House press secretary James Brady.

Hinckley also shoots and wounds Timothy McCarthy, a Secret Service agent who dived in front of President Reagan to take the bullet, and Thomas Delahanty, a D.C. police officer. (Thanks to reader Tom Goffe for including these two men.)

With Vice President George Bush on an Air Force jet headed to Washington from Texas, Secretary of State Alexander Haig holds an afternoon press briefing where he famously says, "As of now, I am in control here in the White House."

Today in Campaign History is a daily feature on Political Junkie.

I may have been gone last week, floating somewhere near Delray Beach, Fla., but that doesn't mean I wasn't anxious to get back to resume posting this important, must-read stuff.

I know what you're thinking. It's been a week, and we haven't had a new ScuttleButton winner, let alone a new puzzle. We didn't hear brilliant jokes on Talk of the Nation. And we're dying to learn what happened in Round 2 of my March Madness pool.

Don't despair!

Fortunately, by the miracles of communications, there was a podcast. Ron Elving, in Washington. Yours truly, in Delray. It's All Politics, with President Obama in a prime-time news conference, with Sen. Kent Conrad making headlines, with NY 20 capturing everyone's attention. And you can hear it right now:

Credits --
Nonstop talkers: Ron Elving and Ken Rudin
Producer: Evie Stone

And speaking of Evie Stone, a nice e-mail message that was meant for her arrived while I was still beaching. It came from Packy Anderson of Jersey City, N.J., and it was in response to the song Evie added to the end of the podcast, following a conversation Ron and I had about new radio talk-show host Rod Blagojevich:

Thank you ever so much for playing "Prisoners of their Hairdos" by Christine Lavin on the podcast this week. It made my morning, it was so apropos!

Wanna subscribe to the podcast? You can do it through iTunes.

Wanna hear previous episodes? Click here.

Wanna be on my weekly mailing list? Sign up at politicaljunkie@npr.org.

Wanna follow my rantings on Twitter? Go to http://twitter.com/kenrudin.

Wanna see pictures of me on the beach? Fat chance.

Round 1 went pretty much according to plan; all the top seeds won, as expected.

The biggest upset came as Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, seeded 12th in his division, defeated Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who was seeded fifth. Daniels, re-elected last year rather comfortably over former Congresswoman Jill Long Thompson, has long been a favorite of the GOP establishment and is thought to be looking at 2012. Brownback, on the other hand, had his shot at the brass ring last time out. But he never made an impression and was gone from the race in October 2007.

Brownback, in fact, is leaving Washington next year, keeping a term-limits pledge. He long ago indicated he would run for governor. Kathleen Sebelius (D) was ineligible to seek a third term in 2010, but she'll be leaving Topeka earlier than expected now that President Obama has nominated her to be secretary of health and human services.

Brownback now squares off in Round 2 against Utah Gov. John Huntsman, who handed Sen. Jon Ensign a 7-point defeat.

The other surprise came in the other division, as No. 8-ranked John Thune, the senator from South Dakota, was upset by former eBay executive Meg Whitman, ranked 9. Whitman is hoping to succeed term-limited Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in California next year.

So, now, go vote for Round 2. I'll announce winners for that round March 30.

I'm taking my AIG bonus money and finding a beach somewhere. Next week there will be no Junkie posts, no Talk of the Nation appearance, no Web chats, no This Day in Politics, no sophisticated humor, and -- gasp -- no ScuttleButton puzzle. No Ken at all.

Returning Monday, March 30. Please don't forget me.

Ken

E-mail will always be close by: krudin@npr.org

P.S. It's not too late to enter my March Madness pool.

We usually don't endorse candidates here at Political Junkie -- strike that, we never endorse candidates.

But if there was ever one we would have considered backing, it was -- for obvious reasons -- Daniel Button. The deliciously named Button was an editor for the Albany Times-Union who challenged the long-impenetrable Democratic machine in Albany led by Mayor Erastus Corning and party boss Dan O'Connell. In 1966, when Democratic Rep. Leo O'Brien was retiring, Button jumped into the race, as a Republican, and won. He was re-elected in 1968.

But in 1970, Albany mapmakers redrew congressional districts, merging his with that of conservative Democrat Sam Stratton. With the demographics clearly favoring the Democrat, Stratton won a landslide victory.

Button was a liberal Republican, when they used to have such things, and strongly opposed the war in Vietnam.

Dan Button died earlier this month at the age of 91. Click here for a nice obit by David Filkins in the Times-Union.

I always liked the idea of a congressman named Button. And, speaking of buttons ...

If you want to see how warped Ken Rudin and other collectors of political memorabilia are, in person no less, then you'll come out tomorrow, Saturday, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., to the 10th annual meeting of (gulp) the National Capital Chapter of the American Political Items Collectors (APIC). The show will take place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at Tysons Corner in McLean, Va.
Address: 1960 Chain Bridge Road
Hotel phone number: (703) 893-2100

Admission is $4; $1 off with student or congressional ID.

This year there will be a special display: "The Road to 2008 -- Racial Politics in America," featuring a display of items from 1776 to today, with themes of slavery, Uncle Tom's Cabin, civil rights, and the Freedom Train, up to Barack Obama's victory in 2008, and everything in between.

Hope to see you there.

Note: NPR and its member stations are not legally responsible or for anything I might say or do at APIC meetings.

Last week's ScuttleButton puzzle was so difficult that even AIG employees didn't get it -- and you know they usually get everything.

This week's is simpler. But the rules are still the same: Take one word (or concept) per button, add 'em up, and whaddaya get? (The solution does not necessarily have to be political, but it could be.)

A correct answer chosen at random gets his or her name in this column. You can't use the comments box at the bottom of the page for your answer. Send submission (plus your name and city/state -- you won't win without that) to politicaljunkie@npr.org.

This is a regular Friday feature on the Political Junkie blog. Here's the answer to last week's puzzle.

And, by adding your name to the Political Junkie mailing list, you will be the first on your block to receive notice when a new puzzle goes up on the blog. Sign up at politicaljunkie@npr.org. Or you can make sure to get an automatic RSS feed whenever a new Junkie post goes up by clicking here.

Good luck, and have fun!

Are you mad as hell and can't take it anymore?

I'm not talking only about the AIG bonuses. Or even about Chris Dodd. There's also the daily problems on the Metro Red Line in Washington, the fate of Bill Buchanan on 24, Alex Rodriguez's surgery, and the elimination of Alexis Grace on American Idol.

But if you're looking for REAL outrage, you'll listen to this week's episode of our "It's All Politics" podcast ... if you know what's good for you.

Credits --
Nonstop talkers: Ron Elving and Ken Rudin
Producer: Evie Stone

Wanna subscribe to the podcast? You can do it through iTunes.

Wanna hear previous episodes? Click here.

Wanna be on my weekly mailing list? Sign up at politicaljunkie@npr.org.

Wanna follow my rantings on Twitter? Why would you? But if you must: kenrudin

March 20, 1973:

A special election in Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District to succeed House Majority Leader Hale Boggs (D), who disappeared in a plane crash over Alaska back in October, is easily won by his widow, Corinne (Lindy) Boggs. She is the first woman ever elected to the House from Louisiana.

Lindy Boggs will hold the seat with no difficulty until she retires in 1990 and is replaced by the Honorable William Jefferson, who becomes the state's first African-American member of Congress.

Today in Campaign History is a daily feature on Political Junkie.

Everybody is filling out brackets, including the president of the United States. Why not? It's March Madness! Every year at this time, it takes the nation by storm. It's the NCAA basketball tournament (or, as someone once said on NPR -- I kid you not -- the "NAACP Tournament"). But then it's over.

It doesn't have to be.

How to combine the excitement of picking winners and making it last? Simple. Especially when you're picking the 2012 Republican presidential nominee.

Let's face it, Barack Obama is going to head up the Democrats in 2012. So the action will be on the GOP side. Seeded below are 32 potential (and yes, some far-fetched) Republican presidential candidates. As the NCAA tourney gets under way, we'll update our GOP brackets as well. I'll compare your picks with mine.

Don't let the Liberal Media Elite decide that Rush Limbaugh is the head of the Republican Party! Fill in your brackets today. The first round of results will be announced next Tuesday, March 24. Then three more rounds will be announced on March 30, April 1 and April 3. The final result -- the name of the 2012 Republican presidential nominee -- will be announced on Tuesday, April 7.

Why go through the expense of primaries and caucuses? Fill in your picks now!

Forget about AIG bonuses. Now we're talking about the REAL deal: announcing the new ScuttleButton winner!

As you know, you don't need a government bailout to win. Instead, simply take one word or one concept per button, add 'em up, and you arrive at a saying or a name. That's all there is to it. No testifying before Congress, no perp walks, nothing remotely like that.

But ... don't forget ... you can't win unless you send in both your name and your city/state.

Also: The answer does not necessarily have to be political. For instance, a few puzzles back the answer was "Minnesota Twins" -- not political at all, unless you're thinking Mondale and Humphrey instead of Killebrew and Oliva.

Last week's buttons, in case you forgot:

Keep God In America -- A conservative button, circa 1960s, probably in response to the Supreme Court's ruling about prayer in schools.

Cheer Up They're Still Only 90 Miles Away -- Another button from the right, the same time frame, reminding us that Fidel Castro and his Communist regime are only 90 miles from Florida's shore. (Yes, a lot of words on this button to choose from.)

Gimme Jimmy The Candidate -- He never ran, but he did write. The actor/singer, known for the size of his nose (his nickname was the "Schnozzola"), wrote The Candidate in 1952.

So, when you add God + Only + Nose, you kind of get ...

God Only Knows.

The winner, selected at random among the correct responders, is (drum roll) ... Catherine Vivio of Norway, Mich.

Wanna be alerted the moment a new ScuttleButton puzzle goes up on the site? (How can you NOT???) Sign up on our mailing list at politicaljunkie@npr.org.

March 19, 1974:

Conservatives took Jim Buckley's 1970 Senate slogan and adapted it in the wake of their displeasure over Nixon.

In a major blow to the political viability of President Nixon, who is under siege for his role in the Watergate scandal, Sen. James Buckley of New York calls for his resignation. Buckley says Nixon's resignation is necessary because Watergate has "plunged our country into what historians call a 'crisis of the regime.' A crisis of the regime is a disorder, a trauma, involving every tissue of the nation, conspicuously including its moral and spiritual dimensions."

Buckley, first elected in 1970 as the candidate of New York's Conservative Party, is the first conservative Republican in Congress to call for Nixon to quit.

Today in Campaign History is a daily feature on Political Junkie.

March 18, 1976:

Though many of the key primaries and caucuses have already passed, Sen. Frank Church of Idaho declares his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination. Church will direct his attention toward the Nebraska primary on May 11, arguing that there is still time to make a difference.

Church will win Nebraska, narrowly, over former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter. But in the end the verdict is that Church entered the race too late. Carter will win the nomination on the first ballot.

Church's Senate career will come to an end in 1980; he will be defeated in his bid for a fifth term by Rep. Steve Symms (R).

Today in Campaign History is a daily feature on Political Junkie.

There is, as always, good news and bad news.

The bad news: I was pretty sick yesterday, coughing, sneezing and aching, thus no Junkie postings.

The good news: I didn't ask for a government bailout to come in today.

Even better news: Unlike last week, no more photos of Neal Conan and me modeling T-shirts.

That photo was pretty traumatic for many loyal listeners; pledges to NPR dropped 45 percent that day.

Even more traumatic, of course, is the populist outrage over the bonuses paid out to AIG executives. We'll let others discuss the financial implications; today on the Political Junkie segment on NPR's Talk of the Nation, we'll talk about the political ramifications and the toll being taken on the Obama administration.

Remember, the Junkie segment airs every Wednesday on TOTN at 2 p.m. Eastern time, where you can often, but not always, find interesting conversation, useless trivia questions and sparkling jokes.

If your local NPR station doesn't carry TOTN, you can hear the program on the Web or on HD Radio. And if you are a subscriber to XM/Sirius radio, you can find the show there as well (siriusly).

STARTING THIS WEEK: Our political Web chat, normally held on Tuesdays at noon, will now commence every Wednesday, shortly after the TOTN Junkie segment is over. Joining me in the chat this week are Andrew Sullivan, The "Daily Dish" blogger at The Atlantic, and Tom Bevan, executive editor and co-founder of RealClearPolitics. The chat is hosted by NPR's David Gura.

It's a long way to go before 2010, but Republicans seem to have gotten a bit of promising news in Connecticut, where Sen. Chris Dodd (D) is expected to seek a sixth term next year.

Today, former Rep. Rob Simmons (R) made it official; he'll run for the Senate. Simmons, who lost his own House seat in 2006, has been encouraged by a Quinnipiac University poll that shows him in a dead heat with Dodd -- 43 percent for Simmons, 42 percent for Dodd. Dodd has been getting some bad press over his alleged sweetheart deal with Countrywide Financial (click here to see Junkie post from Feb. 11).

Continue reading "New Conn. Poll Shows Simmons Dead Even With Dodd, But ... " >

March 16, 1970:

As the Senate is in the process of debating the nomination of Judge G. Harrold Carswell as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court -- to fill the seat vacated by Abe Fortas -- Nebraska Republican Roman Hruska says in a TV interview, "Even if he [Carswell] were mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they? We can't have all Brandeises and Frankfurters and Cardozos."

The Senate will reject Carswell's nomination on April 8 by a vote of 51-45, giving President Nixon a second consecutive setback; in 1969, it rejected Nixon's choice of Clement Haynsworth.

Today in Campaign History is a daily feature on Political Junkie.

Here's a question to start off the week from David Kuhn of Bethesda, Md.:

Barack Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, died two days before the election. Has there ever been a president with a living grandparent?

No. Had Ms. Dunham lived through the inauguration, Obama would have been the first.

And here's a similar trivia fact, relatively speaking: Only three men who served as president had both parents alive when they were in the White House: Ulysses Grant, John Kennedy and George W. Bush.

On the other side of the grandparent coin, John Tyler, the nation's 10th president, had the most grandchildren: 44.

Is it kosher for the new budget to have so much pork? Is it kosher for Charles Freeman to blame the "Israel Lobby" for his problems? Is it kosher that Minnesota still only has one senator?

Those are the questions. If you want answers, then you'll just have to listen to this week's episode of our "It's All Politics" podcast.

Credits --
Nonstop talkers: Ron Elving and Ken Rudin
Producer: Evie Stone

Wanna subscribe to the podcast? You can do it through iTunes.

Wanna hear previous episodes? Click here.

Wanna be on my weekly mailing list? Sign up at politicaljunkie@npr.org.

Wanna follow my rantings on Twitter? Why would you? But if you must: kenrudin

Here's a question from Robert Spahle of Las Vegas, Nev.:

What is the difference between earmarks and pork and who controls the addition of these to otherwise sound legislation?

There is no one better to handle this than Peter Overby, NPR's money, power and influence correspondent. I pitched it to him, and he hit it out of the park:

This goes straight to the imprecision of political jargon. Earmarks and pork are overlapping but not synonymous terms. Roughly speaking, pork is about content (by definition wasteful, and usually in someone else's district), while earmarks are about process (nefarious, at least in current usage).

Pork is short for pork barrel. Wordsmith William Safire said it began before the Civil War, likening lawmakers plundering budget funds with slaves rushing a barrel of salt pork put out by the master. Just lovely. Earmark is less loaded. Loosely, it's a provision that's added to a tax or spending bill by one or a few lawmakers. But one champion of earmark reform, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), has defined it more narrowly, as a provision snuck into the bill without a committee hearing or other public discussion. Exhibit A here might be the earmark for a road project in Florida, which Rep. Don Young of Alaska added to a bill after passage.

As for controlling earmarks and pork in legislation: This is the lookout of committee chairs, subcommittee chairs and congressional leaders. For most of our history, the provisions were opaquely written -- applying to any corporation which filed its incorporation papers in New York City on Dec. 2, 1906, to make up one example. Then journalists and reformers started digging out the earmarks put in by the "Cardinals," the chairmen of the Appropriations committee and its subcommittees. Numbers skyrocketed in the late 1990s, when Republican leaders in the House began using earmarks much more liberally (yes), bartering with all GOP members for votes on legislation. Democrats point out that they have cut the number of earmarks significantly, and that's true, as far as it goes.

Members of Congress point out, and fairly, that the White House can earmark money too, in its budget requests. As Ken likes to say in another context, it's all politics.

For those of you who can't figure out why Michael Steele continues to say things that get him in hot water, or where their government was when Bernard Madoff was bilking people out of their life savings, here is something else that you may not be able to figure out:

This week's ScuttleButton puzzle.

Weary of people complaining about how easy the puzzles have been in recent times, we decided to turn it up a notch this week. But the process of solving it is still the same: Take one word (or concept) per button, add 'em up, and whaddaya get? (The solution does not necessarily have to be political, but it could be.)

A correct answer chosen at random gets his or her name in this column. You can't use the comments box at the bottom of the page for your answer. Send submission (plus your name and city/state -- you won't win without that) to politicaljunkie@npr.org.

This is a regular Friday feature on the Political Junkie blog. Here's the answer to last week's puzzle.

And, by adding your name to the Political Junkie mailing list, you will be the first on your block to receive notice when a new puzzle goes up on the blog. Sign up at politicaljunkie@npr.org. Or you can make sure to get an automatic RSS feed whenever a new Junkie post goes up by clicking here.

Good luck, and have fun!

March 13, 1968:

One day after Sen. Eugene McCarthy does far better in the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary than anyone expected -- coming within six points of President Lyndon Johnson -- New York Sen. Robert Kennedy says he is "actively reconsidering" his earlier decision not to run for president.

It was only in January when Kennedy said he wouldn't run against Johnson "under any foreseeable circumstances."

Three days after he said he would reconsider, Kennedy enters the race. McCarthy supporters will brand him as an opportunist, and worse. Johnson will drop out of the race on March 31. Kennedy goes on to make headway in his bid for the nomination, but he will be assassinated on June 5, shortly after declaring victory in the California primary.

Today in Campaign History is a daily feature on Political Junkie.

A question from Joyce Newland of Opelika, Ala.:

In your Political Junkie segment Wednesday on Talk of the Nation, you mentioned a source list of all of the allocations on the budget bill President Obama signed today. Can you please give it again?

They can be found on the Web site of Taxpayers for Common Sense. It's all there, exhaustingly yet comprehensively.

Steele has not had a smooth beginning as RNC chairman.

When the Republican Party was down and out, following Barry Goldwater's disastrous 1964 showing, the GOP turned to Ray Bliss, a nuts-and-bolts kind of guy from Ohio to lead them out of the desert.

And lead them out he did. The party picked up 47 seats in the House and three in the Senate in the 1966 midterms. Ronald Reagan ousted Pat Brown in California that year, one of 10 states where Republicans took over the governorship from Democrats. Two years later, Richard Nixon won the White House.

Ray Bliss is not a household name, nor was he back then. And maybe that's how national party chairmen should be: behind the scenes, letting the candidates get the glory and attention.

Michael Steele is not that kind of chairman.

Continue reading "Michael Steele Steps In It, Again" >

March 12, 1956:

Worn by Southerners in the 1950s who said they would "never" agree to integration.

One hundred members of Congress from the South -- 19 senators and 81 representatives (96 Democrats and four Republicans) -- present a "Declaration of Constitutional Principles" that criticized the Supreme Court in its Brown v. Board of Education decision for desegregating schools and protested civil rights initiatives.

It is widely referred to as the Southern Manifesto advocating continued segregation. Nearly every leading member of Congress from the South signs it. But the organizers decide to exclude Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson and House Speaker Sam Rayburn, both of Texas, because they don't want the national party to be linked to their efforts.

Today in Campaign History is a daily feature on Political Junkie.

Sign up for our weekly mailing list at politicaljunkie@npr.org.

Aaron Schock is a freshman Republican from Illinois who won the House seat vacated by Ray LaHood (R) last year. Before coming to Congress, he spent four years on the Peoria Board of Education and four in the Illinois state House. But he's probably best known, according to a poll by readers of the Huffington Post blog, as Congress' "Hottest Freshman."

I have a sense that's what attracted some to today's meeting of the Joint House-Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution. The agenda: to talk about Sen. Russ Feingold's (D-WI) proposed amendment that would take away the gubernatorial power to fill U.S. Senate vacancies. These meetings don't typically fire romantic imaginations. But for two young women, Wednesday's subcommittee hearing had a special feature: One of the witnesses was the 27-year-old bachelor Schock himself.

The women appeared equally entranced, says our spy at the hearing, filling notebook pages with Schock's name, hearts and curlicues and rustling with excitement when the congressman testified about Feingold's proposed amendment. (And I have this confirmed: They didn't have the same reaction when Rep. James Sensenbrenner [R-WI] spoke.)

Is this Hot or What??

One can only imagine what went on at today's meeting of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises!!

March 11, 1953:

The Senate passes a bill calling for residents of the District of Columbia to have a nonvoting delegate in the House of Representatives. The measure now goes to the House.

Until this measure is signed into law, Washingtonians cannot vote.

Today in Campaign History is a daily feature on Political Junkie.

Sign up for our weekly mailing list at politicaljunkie@npr.org.

For years now, billions of Americans have been sitting around their radio on Wednesday afternoons, around 2 p.m. Eastern time, to hear the Political Junkie segment on NPR's Talk of the Nation.

I don't blame them. I do the same thing.

But starting today, something drastic is changing. As you know, for years each Junkie segment is led off with a trivia question. Callers and e-mailers then submit their answers, as host Neal Conan and I explain why they are right or, usually, wrong. Then Neal tells the first correct responder that he or she has won the "no prize" prize.

Now, that "no prize" is becoming an actual prize. It is the official Political Junkie T-shirt, modeled above by Hollywood actors who look, sadly, a lot like Neal and me. And each week, a shirt will be sent to the first correct answer.

Oh yeah, there may be also some discussion of the week's political news today as well.

Remember, the Political Junkie segment airs every Wednesday on TOTN at 2 p.m. Eastern time, where you can often, but not always, find interesting conversation, useless trivia questions and sparkling jokes.

If your local NPR station doesn't carry TOTN, you can hear the program on the Web or on HD Radio. And if you are a subscriber to XM/Sirius radio, you can find the show there as well (siriusly).

A question from Gus Sperrazza of Washington, D.C.:

Is there any chance that Arlen Specter could lose his party's primary and run as an independent, a la Connecticut's Joe Lieberman in 2006?

Well, there certainly is a chance that Specter could lose his primary -- as we discussed on Monday -- but if he does, that's it for him. Pennsylvania law does not permit a candidate defeated in the primary to run as an independent (or on another party line) in the general election.

In the past half-century, of all the senators who were denied renomination in the primary, only two tried to keep their seat in November running as an independent or on a third party. The most recent, of course, was Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who lost the Democratic primary in 2006 to anti-war activist Ned Lamont but then mounted an independent effort in the fall to win a fourth term.

The other was Jacob Javits. The New York Republican, seeking a fifth term, was beaten in the 1980 Republican primary by Al D'Amato. Javits stayed in the race as the candidate of the Liberal Party; he had never served in the Senate majority and desperately wanted to have that chance. But all he did was split the liberal (small "l") vote with Democratic nominee Elizabeth Holtzman, and the divide on the left helped D'Amato win the first of his three terms.

Thomas Dodd, a two-term Connecticut Democrat, sought re-election in 1970. But he doesn't qualify for this list because not only did he not lose his party's nomination, he didn't even seek it. He was censured by the Senate in 1967 for redirecting campaign funds for personal use and found that he had no chance of getting Democrats to back him for a third term. So rather than seek renomination, he ran on a third-party line in the general election, unsuccessfully.

From Julie Rovner, NPR health policy correspondent:

So there was Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag, doing his usual job of dazzling the members of the Senate Finance Committee with his encyclopedic knowledge of the nation's health care system and its economic underpinnings Tuesday. When it finally came Sen. Tom Carper's (D-DE) turn to question Orszag, there wasn't much left to ask. So he took a whole different tack -- zeroing in on the brown liquid in the glass Orzsag had been sipping from periodically during the hearing.

"Dr. Orszag, I've been at a lot of hearings before, and I've seen a lot of witnesses have water at their table," Carper began. "And I've thought, the times I've heard you testify, as CBO director and here as OMB, I thought, 'boy, this guy is smart.' " Carper went on to recall a story he heard last month about President Lincoln and Gen. Ulysses Grant, when Grant was in charge of the Union Army. He said some of Lincoln's advisers wanted him to fire Grant, because he drank too much. But at the time, Grant was doing a pretty good job. "And Lincoln apparently said to his top adviser: 'Find out what Grant is drinking and make my other generals drink it too,' " Carper said. And peering straight at Orszag, he added, "we need to find out what you're drinking and we'll pass it around."

For the first time all morning Orzsag looked a little sheepish. "I hope this isn't product placement, but this is Diet Coke," he replied.

Everytime I get sick at all the self-promotion that's out there, I find that it calms me down when I try to solve the weekly ScuttleButton puzzle. Except for last week's. Talk about self-promotion!

And I suspect you felt the same revulsion, especially after you took one word per button, added 'em up, and arrived at a saying or a name.

That puzzle, in case you forgot:

Tom Tauke for Iowa -- The Republican congressman lost to Sen. Tom Harkin (D) in 1990.

Jennings for Governor? Uff Da! -- Jennings, a Minnesota Republican, is a former speaker of the state House who was considered a potential gubernatorial candidate in 1990. I still don't know if this button is pro- or anti-Jennings, though I suspect the latter. "Uff da!" is a Norwegian expression meaning anything from "oh no!" to "ouch!" to "OK." It doesn't really matter. All I care about is that it fit in a ScuttleButton puzzle.

The Nation Needs Richard M. Nixon -- That's for sure! It's a 1960 picture but it's a 1968 button.

So, when you add Tauke + Uff Da + Nation, you kind of get ...

Talk Of The Nation -- America's favorite radio program, especially when what's-his-name is on each Wednesday doing the Political Junkie segment.

The winner, selected at random among the correct responders, is (drum roll) ... Joy Ammons of Greenville, Pa.

Wanna be alerted the moment a new ScuttleButton puzzle goes up on the site? Sign up on our mailing list at politicaljunkie@npr.org.

Friends, Romans, Countrymen: Lend me your earmarks.

OK, you get the point. Today's Web chat at noon focuses on the pet projects included in the omnibus spending bill that is before Congress, the kind of projects that get many Republicans, especially, John McCain, apoplectic. But how does this square with President Obama's pledge about pork-barrel spending?

I'll be joined by NPR money, power and influence correspondent Peter Overby and Reihan Salam, associate editor at The Atlantic and co-author of Grand New Party. As always, the chat is hosted by NPR's David Gura, assistant editor at Talk of the Nation.

If you want to submit questions in advance, leave them in the comments section.

See you today at noon. (Hopefully, by now you remembered to set the clocks ahead.)

March 10, 2008:

Everything changed, all right.

Following a New York Times report that he was involved in a prostitution ring, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) holds a news conference where he apologizes for acting "in a way that violates my obligations to my family." But he never addresses the issue of why he is actually apologizing.

Two days later, with a seemingly shell-shocked wife at his side, he will announce his resignation as governor. Succeeding him will be Lt. Gov. David Paterson (D), who becomes the state's first black chief executive.

Today in Campaign History is a daily feature on Political Junkie.

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Burris is the most, but hardly the only, senator vulnerable to a primary challenge in 2010.

Last week we speculated on the troubles Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) is having with his fellow Republicans. But Bunning may not be the only senator who is in hot water with his own party in 2010:

Roland Burris. Nothing is certain in politics, but this is as close as it gets: Burris, the embattled Illinois Democrat, is not going to survive a primary should he decide to run for a full term next year. He may very well resist the calls by some in his party, including Gov. Pat Quinn, and the suggestions of others, such as Sen. Dick Durbin, that he resign. But for an assortment of reasons long spelled out here (and here for that matter), his political situation is quite precarious.

Continue reading "Will Specter Survive A 2010 Primary? Will Gillibrand? Vitter? (Forget Burris)" >

March 9, 2004:

Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry continues his march toward the Democratic presidential nomination, sweeping primaries in Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

His main challenger, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, dropped out of the race last week.

On the Republican side, President George W. Bush -- essentially unopposed in his bid for renomination -- officially wins enough delegates to make him the GOP nominee once again.

In congressional primaries, Texas Democrat Chris Bell -- his district among those drastically redrawn by Republicans led by Tom DeLay -- is defeated by Al Green, a local NAACP official.

Today in Campaign History is a daily feature on Political Junkie.

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A very good piece, I thought, by David Herszenhorn in Saturday's New York Times, in which he writes about the role Sen. John McCain is playing in the new Congress.

McCain, as you might remember, was the Republican nominee for president way back in 2008. In the wake of his defeat, many people were wondering which McCain would show up in the 111th Congress. The maverick from 2000? The principled conservative? The loyal opponent? The cranky opponent?

The answer, according to Herszenhorn, is yes.

Continue reading "You Don't Win The Presidency. Then What?" >

A question about the disputed Minnesota Senate race from Pamela Matthews of Albuquerque, N.M.:

Sen. Al Franken -- where is he now? I'm astonished that more isn't being said about the injustice of having his election win hijacked by a sore loser. Things are fairly backward here in New Mexico, but after four months, most losers here admit defeat and move on.

I still think, when all is said and done, that Al Franken will be the next senator from Minnesota. But it hasn't happened yet, and there's no telling when it will happen.

First of all, he is not "Sen." Franken. The Minnesota Supreme Court today rejected his petition to be certified the winner. Franken sued both Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican, and Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, a Democrat, to sign an election certificate but they refused, citing the legal process, and the court agreed.

Continue reading "Court Refuses To Seat Franken In Minn.; Voters Split On Do-Over" >

From Julie Rovner, NPR health policy correspondent:

You can tell the new White House isn't quite running on all cylinders yet.

About an hour before the White House Health Care Summit on Thursday, it seems someone forgot to give former White House chief of staff (and Obama transition chief) John Podesta's name to the guards at the gate. I breezed by and greeted him, noting that he was set to appear on that afternoon's All Things Considered. "If I ever get in," he grumbled.

It was clear the guard at the gate knew exactly who he was keeping standing by, and wasn't very happy about it. "Have we cleared in John Podesta yet?" he hissed into his phone while i was waiting to be buzzed in. Once inside the press room, I mentioned to a couple of fellow journalists that Podesta was having trouble getting in. "You mean he's still there?" said one. "He was there when I came in, like 15 minutes ago."

Podesta was finally seen entering the East Room opening event of the summit -- a few minutes late.

March 6, 1991:

Republicans wore these buttons during Bush's address to Congress, making the point that many Democrats voted otherwise.

President George H.W. Bush addresses a joint session of Congress, heralding the end of the Persian Gulf War. His public approval reaches 89 percent in the polls.

That is a far cry from what it was late in 1990, when conservatives rebelled against his change of heart on taxes. But the 89 percent will be his apex; his popularity will fall as the economy weakens.

He will be defeated in his bid for a second term in 1992 by Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton.

Today in Campaign History is a daily feature on Political Junkie.

The joy of politics, seriously and meticulously presented as always in this week's "It's All Politics" podcast:

Credits --
Nonstop talkers: Ron Elving and Ken Rudin
Producer: Evie Stone

Wanna subscribe to the podcast? You can do it through iTunes.

Wanna hear previous episodes? Click here.

Wanna be on my mailing list? Sign up at politicaljunkie@npr.org.

Wanna follow my rantings on Twitter? Why would you?

I was as flummoxed as anyone the other day when Rush Limbaugh said publicly he wants ScuttleButton to fail.

It's up to you to make sure it doesn't.

Here's what you do: Take one word (or concept) per button, add 'em up, and whaddaya get? (The solution does not necessarily have to be political, but it could be.)

A correct answer chosen at random gets his or her name in this column. You can't use the comments box at the bottom of the page for your answer. Send submission (plus your name and city/state -- you won't win without that) to politicaljunkie@npr.org.

Note: This will be an occasionally recurring feature on the Political Junkie blog. Here's the answer to last week's puzzle.

And, by adding your name to the Political Junkie mailing list, you will be the first on your block to receive notice when a new puzzle goes up on the blog. Sign up at politicaljunkie@npr.org. Or you can make sure to get an automatic RSS feed whenever a new Junkie post goes up by clicking here.

Good luck!

It once seemed like Jim Bunning could get anyone out. Now, Republicans may be trying to force him out.

It would be fair to say that, no matter how you look at it, Sen. Jim Bunning has not had a good couple of weeks.

The Kentucky Republican, who is 77 and whose term expires next year, seems to be making the wrong kind of headlines with whatever he says or does, a la Alex Rodriguez. Bunning, a former baseball player himself -- he's a Hall of Fame pitcher to be more precise -- has been batted around lately for an assortment of reasons, almost all of them self-inflicted:

Continue reading "Is The GOP Looking For a New Pitcher To Relieve Bunning? " >

I want you all to know that I left a good job in the city to do this blog and come up with weekly ScuttleButton puzzles, and yet people are still not getting the genius behind the contest.

All you have to do is take one word or one concept per button, add 'em up, and you arrive at a saying or a name. That's it. It's not that complicated. It's not that you have to send your cousin to the Dominican Republic for the solution, or something like that.

But ... don't forget ... you can't win unless you send in both your name and your city/state.

Also: The answer does not necessarily have to be political. For instance, a few puzzles back the answer was "Minnesota Twins" -- not political at all, unless you're thinking Mondale and Humphrey instead of Killebrew and Oliva.

Last week's buttons, in case you forgot:

Roland Burris for Governor -- The Illinois Democrat has run thrice, losing the primary each time, the most recent in 2002 to some guy named Blagojevich.

Honor/Ribicoff -- This button is from the 1968 re-election campaign of Sen. Abe Ribicoff (D-CT).

Gloria La Riva for Governor/Peace & Freedom Party -- She ran in California in 1994.

So, when you add Roland + Honor + Riva, you kind of get ...

Rollin' On A River -- the refrain heard in Tina Turner's "Proud Mary" song. (Caveat: When I put together this puzzle, I believe I thought the words were "rollin on a river," not THE river. That's ok, actually, since I make up the rules as I go along.)

The winner, selected at random among the correct responders, is (drum roll) ... Sean Walbeck of Bellingham, Wash.

Wanna be alerted the moment a new ScuttleButton puzzle goes up on the site? Sign up on our mailing list at politicaljunkie@npr.org.

March 5, 1996:

Bob Dole wins Georgia and 7 other states, en route to the GOP presidential nomination.

Three days after an impressive victory in the South Carolina Republican presidential primary, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole sweeps eight more primaries, in Georgia, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont and Colorado.

The results will force two GOP candidates out of the race: former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander and Sen. Dick Lugar of Indiana.

Today in Campaign History is a daily feature on Political Junkie.

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This morning at 10 a.m. ET, I will, as I have on many occasions, be Fred Andrle's guest on WOSU's Open Line radio program. It will be, as always, an hour of great live conversation and wonderful phone calls from listeners in the Columbus, Ohio, area (found at 820 AM on your dial).

But it's coming to an end.

Continue reading "Goodbye Columbus: Fred Andrle To Leave WOSU" >

That's right. It's true.

No Political Junkie postings. No "This Day in Campaign History." No Junkie segment on NPR's Talk of the Nation. No useless trivia question. Nothin, no way, no how.

See ya on Thursday.

When you think of memorable mayoral contests in Los Angeles history, it's often when a major issue grips the voters -- race, crime -- and an incumbent is about to be booted out.

That was the case in 1973, when Tom Bradley won the rematch against Mayor Sam Yorty. It was also the case with another rematch in 2005, when Antonio Villaraigosa ousted Mayor James Hahn.

It will not be the case in 2009.

There are 10 candidates on today's ballot: Mayor Villaraigosa and nine that few people would recognize. It is not what political observers would call a "contest."

Continue reading "L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa Hopes A Win Today Leads To Governorship" >

Today's edition of our Tuesday Web chat at noon focused on the future of conservatism, and the ongoing feud/dust up between Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele and conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.

I was joined by NPR congressional correspondent David Welna and Kelley Vlahos, contributing editor of The American Conservative magazine. The chat, as always, was hosted by NPR's David Gura.

Check out the chat below.

March 3, 1992:

Bill Clinton, en route to Democratic presidential nomination, wins the Georgia primary, his first.

Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton (D) wins his first presidential primary, leading the field in Georgia.

But other Democrats win as well: Former Sen. Paul Tsongas, the New Hampshire victor, wins in his home state of Massachusetts; ex-California Gov. Jerry Brown is victorious in Colorado; and Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa wins caucuses in Minnesota and Idaho. Only Dem shut out: Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey, and he drops out of the race two days later.

On the Republican side, President George Bush wins every contest against main challenger Pat Buchanan.

Today in Campaign History is a daily feature on Political Junkie.

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Michael Olson left NPR's political unit after the 2008 elections to be a project manager for NPR in Austin, Texas. He offers this take on Democratic prospects in the Lone Star State's 2010 gubernatorial contest:

Democrat Tom Schieffer launched an exploratory committee for governor Monday in Austin. The announcement, which came 173 years (to the day) after Texas seceded from the Union, coincides with Schieffer's desire to have Texans leave the Republican Party. If Schieffer succeeds, he'd be the first Democrat to hold the office since Ann Richards lost the office to George W. Bush in 1994. Schieffer's relationship to Bush is getting attention in Austin.

Continue reading "Guest Blog: Will GOP Fratricide Help Dems in 2010 Gov Race? " >

Tuesday is primary day in Illinois' Fifth Congressional District, home of Rahm Emanuel, Rod Blagojevich and Dan Rostenkowski. All three formerly held the seat, and all are household names in houses far from the 5th CD, which is not necessarily a good thing.

But that rep has not dissuaded a huge crowd of candidates -- 23 in all -- from running. Whoever wins the Democratic primary -- and there are 12 Dems on the ballot -- will be a heavy favorite to be the district's next member of Congress. Republicans have, from time to time, won it. The district has been redrawn over the years, but before Michael Patrick Flanagan (R) won it in 1994, the last Republican was in 1930. And the only reason Flanagan won it in '94 was that Rostenkowski was under indictment; he promptly lost the seat at the next opportunity, to Blagojevich.

Continue reading "A Democrat Will Win Rahm's House Seat, But Which Dem?" >

Sebelius was a potential Obama running mate in '08.

Lots of strong reaction, both ways, to the news that President Obama has nominated Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) to be the next secretary of health and human services.

But that's not nearly as exciting as this: We have a winner in our "be the first to predict the next HHS secretary and win a genuine Nixon for president button from 1968."

While millions of Americans are wasting time trying to figure out why a Nixon button, we are focusing on announcing the winner. And that is ... Cheryl Weller of West Orange, N.J.

In submitting her entry on Feb. 6, Cheryl wrote, "I'm doing this to get the Nixon button and for the glory."

Well, she gets both. Congratulations!

March 2, 1999

Pat Buchanan, a conservative commentator, makes his third bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

He challenged President George Bush for renomination in 1992. And he won the New Hampshire primary in 1996. But this time his efforts won't bring much attention. And he will have a disappointing showing in the Iowa straw poll that summer. In October, he will leave the GOP to plot out a White House bid as a candidate of the Reform Party.

Today in Campaign History is a daily feature on Political Junkie.

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Here's an update on some political happenings over the weekend:

With only about 1,340 days until the election, Romney wins CPAC straw poll.

CPAC Straw Poll. This is a perfect example of my schizophrenia. I say (and truly believe!) that 2012 presidential straw polls at this point are meaningless, if not nutty ... and yet, I'm interested in every one. And so, I watched with fascination at the lines of people ready to cast their ballots at the multiple booths at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday. These straw polls may all have the legitimacy of a typical Chicago election, but nonetheless, here are the results, as per CPAC:

Mitt Romney 20%
Bobby Jindal 14%
Ron Paul 13%
Sarah Palin 13%
Newt Gingrich 10%
Mike Huckabee 7%
Mark Sanford 4%
Rudy Giuliani 3%
Tim Pawlenty 2%
Charlie Crist 1%
Undecided 9%

This was Romney's third CPAC straw poll victory in a row.

The poll was taken of 1,757 people who were preregistered to attend the conference. Most of those who voted were between 18 and 25. Ninety-five percent said they disapprove of the job Barack Obama is doing as president. Fifty-five percent said they were "generally satisfied" with the potential field of GOP candidates for 2012, while 44 percent said they were not.

Sebelius for HHS. President Obama will name Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as his secretary of health and human resources later this afternoon. This is the post that Tom Daschle was ready to take until he, oops, realized he hadn't paid $140,000 in taxes until he was nominated. Here's my political bio of Sebelius that is currently running on the home page of NPR.org.

When the Sebelius nomination is official, we will reveal our contest winner: As promised, the first person to correctly guess the next HHS secretary wins a genuine Nixon's The One campaign button from 1968. I'm not exactly sure what the correlation is between Sebelius and a Nixon button, but that's OK.

Paul Harvey dies. A legendary radio commentator (and one of the first people I remember listening to on politics as a kid on WABC in New York), Paul Harvey died Saturday at 90. A longtime conservative voice in the 1950s and '60s, Harvey broke with President Nixon on the Vietnam War in 1970, calling for a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops. ABC Radio Networks President Jim Robinson said, "Paul Harvey was one of the most gifted and beloved broadcasters in our nation's history. We will miss our dear friend tremendously and are grateful for the many years we were so fortunate to have known him." He had worked at ABC for more than 50 years.