Any native-born American over the age of 35 can run for president. Period. That doesn’t make it a good idea. Politico reported the other day that Ralph Nader is contemplating another run at the White House. Sure, he can do it, but why would he? I defended Ralph back in 2000. It wasn’t his fault […]
I never voted for Bill Clinton. I might have, but when he ordered the execution of Ricky Ray Rector, a brain-damaged convict just before the 1992 “Super Tuesday” primaries, I wrote him off as an opportunist for whom I would never vote. I’ll never vote for Hillary Clinton. She strikes me as someone cut from […]
Conventional wisdom holds that today’s Republican primary in Florida will narrow the race to two candidates – John McCain and Mitt Romney. Further wisdom from the convention holds that next Tuesday’s multiple primaries will determine which of the two men will receive the nomination. I won’t disagree with that wisdom, whether or not it proves […]
You may have seen the headlines about riots in Lebanon in recent days. They can be easy to gloss over. We’re used to riots in the Middle East. These riots, however are not about Hezbollah or Israel – they’re about electricity. Five people died protesting that their power was cut off. Surely, if Lebanon was […]
Last October, I wrote about the electronic political markets at the Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa. I noted then that the market had been eerily prescient in the 2000 election, predicting Al Gore would get the most votes, but George Bush would win the election. As the poet said, “Noting gold […]
Tet Again?
Happy New Year. Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the launch of the Tet Offensive in Vietnam. Tet, short for Tet Nguyen Dan, is the Vietnamese new year. Based on a lunar calendar, Tet will begin on 7 February this year. I’ve been thinking about the Tet Offensive because 1968 was an election year. The […]