Good Wednesday morning Fellow Seekers,
The big political trends favor Democrats in countless ways that would have almost unthinkable a few years ago when Karl Rove could talk, with some credibility, about his vision of a permanent Republican majority. At the moment, one contrary factor should worry Dems very much: John McCain’s proven appeal to independent […]

Good Tuesday morning Fellow Seekers,
Rachel Paulose is ensconced in a new Justice Department job in Washington, but the issues and allegations raised by her stormy tenure as U.S. Attorney for Minnesota linger on — in fact, they are flaring up anew.
The federal Office of Special Counsel, which is still investigating some of the allegations against […]

Good Monday noon Fellow Seekers,
This piece is cross-posted at my new home, MinnPost.com.  
In Thursday’s Strib, the snarky gossip C.J. relayed a tale reinforcing exactly the image that Senate candidate Al Franken is trying to shed, that of a rude, angry, self-important loudmouth whose idea of relating to Republicans — even a mere Carl conservative […]

Good Friday morning Fellow Seekers,
This piece is cross-posted at my new home, MinnPost.com. 
I’ve written before, admiringly, about the October 2002 speech Barack Obama gave opposing the war in Iraq, the same month that Congress voted to authorize the war.
On one such recent occasion, a comment in the thread by Centauri argued that Obama’s stand against […]

Good Wednesday morning Fellow Seekers,
On Monday, James O’Shea, editor of the Los Angeles Times, was fired because of his unwillingness to along with the latest round of newsroom cuts demanded by the publisher. It’s always inspiring to see someone take a stand on principle, especially when they have to make a significant personal sacrifice.
Another impressive, […]

Good Monday morning Fellow Seekers,
This piece is cross-posted at my new home, MinnPost.com
Campaign ads in Minnesota in January? Unheard of, until the Mike Ciresi and Al Franken for Senate ads hit the air over the past two weeks. I take it as one more sign that with such unprecedented amounts of money are coursing […]

This piece is cross-posted at my new home, MinnPost.com
Who’s more liberal, Clinton or Obama? One quick way to rate the liberal/conservative-ness of members of Congress is to check their ratings with the American for Democratic Action, the long-standing liberal advocacy group and the American Conservative Union, which holds a similar place in the conservative world.
In […]

This piece is cross-posted at my new home, MinnPost.com.
When did Sen. Hillary Clinton first publicly express her outrage at the betrayal of White House promises that were made to her to secure her vote in favor of the 2002 resolution authorizing the Iraq war?
In the Sunday “Meet the Press” appearance that fanned the flames of […]

Two DFL candidates in the 3rd Congressional District, Ashwin Madia and Terri Bonoff, announced today that their campaigns have raised impressive amounts in the fourth quarter of 2007.
Bonoff raised $213,000 and Madia raised $161,000, figures that confirm the emphasis that this race will receive from Democrats.
Bonoff, who is considered the front-runner, entered the race 10 […]

Spin patrol
Good Wednesday noon, Fellow Seekers,
Watching the analysis of last night’s stunner on the Dem side of the New Hampshire primary, what I most wanted was to hear one of the bigfoot pundits say: “We were all wrong. We didn’t see this coming. The polls misled us. We don’t know why it happened and we […]

Good Tuesday morning Fellow Seekers,
In her Monday column, my friend and former Strib colleague Katherine Kersten assails unnamed “pundits,” “anonymous self-interested leakers” “aided and abetted by former employees of the U.S. attorney’s office” who employed shameful tactics of “rumor and innuendo” to commit both “a classic campaign of character assassination” and even “the professional […]

Good Monday noon, Fellow Seekers,
Tomorrow night we’ll crown two new New Hampshire Primary winners and perhaps witness the birth of a new political legend. Very likely, we’ll have our first-ever black or female New Hampshire laureate, so it’s almost guaranteed to make history. But it won’t end either nominating contest (it actually never does really […]

Good Friday morning Fellow Seekers,
(This piece, written in the wee hours of post-Iowa Friday morning, is cross-posted at MinnPost.com. You’ll find it in the right-hand column under “Current posts.”
Just watched several hours of CNN coverage of the Iowa results. I know I’m supposed to hate it all, but mostly pretty decent, methinks. I was looking […]