Ed Kilgore

Gage Skidmore/Flickr Looking at the polls (there are now three of them) showing Democrat John Bel Edwards with a double-digit lead over U.S. Sen. David Vitter in the November 21 Louisiana gubernatorial runoff, you’d figure Republicans would be focused on a unity effort to bring Vitter’s defeated GOP rivals into the tent. If so, the […]

So the White House has indicated that the President will today release the text (at least to Congress) of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership for a 90-day review process created under the Trade Promotion Authority legislation that was narrowly approved by Congress earlier this year. Then begins another 90-day period (though it can be extended) during […]

Gage Skidmore/Flickr When the Republican National Committee cancelled its debate agreement with NBC News in order to punish the network for the alleged bad behavior of its business news affiliate, CNBC, in the last GOP presidential debate, Reince Priebus went out of his way to make it clear NBC’s conservative “partner” in the previously scheduled […]

There are a bunch of musicians’ birthdays and musical landmarks today. But sorry, as a Cracker I have to honor what would have been the 69th birthday of the Pride of Waycross, Georgia, Gram Parsons. Here is what was likely one of his first public performances of “Hickory Wind” with the Byrds, in Rome (or […]

Just a year and four days until the General Election of 2016, which could change all our lives for better or worse. Here are some remains of the day: * At the Atlantic, Garrett Epps offers a meditation on the importance of free speech rights–and the unequal burden these rights also impose on minorities. * […]

The Cook Political Report‘s David Wasserman has a provocative piece up at FiveThirtyEight that commands some attention. It’s based on an entirely valid and under-discussed phenomenon: more “moderate” Republican voters in Democratic-majority states and districts are largely shut out of representation in Congress. But they do get to participate fully in nominating Republican presidential candidates. […]

There have been a lot of back-and-forths around the country over the state option to expand Medicaid created by the Affordable Care Act of 2010. But until 2014, there was no serious prospect that a state which had already accepted the expansion would roll it back. In the wake of that election, there was some […]

You may have seen this by now, but it you haven’t, check it out. I’m not a Chris Christie fan by any means, and I wish he had some compassion to spare for pregnant women. But every conservative inclined to be judgmental about people with addictions ought to watch this video and then reflect on […]

Kinda lost the appetite for following returns last night after the Kentucky gubernatorial race was called for Matt Bevin at 8:10 EST. The next election night I know of is on a Saturday, so maybe staying up later will look more attractive if I’m not looking at a 5:00 AM PST morning after. Here are […]

Most of the chatter about the Democratic presidential contest in the last couple of weeks has involved Hillary Clinton’s resurgence in Iowa and New Hampshire polls, generally attributed to her strong performance in the Benghazi! hearings and the subsequent positive media attention, and to Joe Biden’s decision to stay out of the race. She’s now […]