Ed Kilgore

Via Greg Sargent, we see that Roll Call is out with its initial “Ten Most Vulnerable House Members” list for 2016. Last cycle 6 of the 10 were Democrats. This cycle 7 of 10 are Republicans. Even that number could be misleading. One of the “most vulnerable” Democrats, Mike Honda of California, is only vulnerable […]

The October Jobs Report released today included plenty of good news (271,000 net new jobs, the unemployment rate down to 5.0%–a seven-year low–pretty good job gains in virtually every sector other than mining, manufacturing and government, and even a slight rise in average wages) and no notable bad news (work-force participation and long-term unemployment were […]

Just as the intended lynch mob aimed at Republican debate moderators began to disperse in disarray, we have a new source of candidate complaints and it’s the one that generated the fine old whine we heard earlier in the cycle: the thresholds set for participation in the Main and “undercard” events using national polls. What’s […]

Corey Glover is 51 today. So in his honor I am declaring this the second ever Funk Metal Friday. Here’s Living Colour performing “Cult of Personality” at Auburn University in 1988.

I can’t say exactly why Gram Parson’s brief and addiction-blighted musical career means so much to me. With the exception of “Sin City,” none of his songs would make my top 100 favorites. He is often regarded as the Father of Country Rock, and I have mixed feelings about that genre. He certainly wasn’t an […]

About this time every competitive presidential cycle, we start getting “brokered convention” prophecies from people who shrewdly understand how boring contemporary nomination events have become and how much journalists long for the good old days (before most of them were born) when conventions were exciting and unpredictable affairs. We’re due a bumper crop of such […]

Back in May I wrote about the apparent undercurrent of unhappiness in military circles about the sort of ritualistic but not terribly deep expressions of support from civilians they receive these days in airports and on playing fields. After all, thanking people for their sacrifices isn’t quite a substitute for sharing them as a lot […]

Got tied up in a business-related call and am running a bit behind, I’m afraid. But we’ll catch up. Here are some well-timed midday news/views snacks: * Lotta laughter in the air about Ben Carson’s Old Tesmament-y view of the Pyramids. I don’t think this will hurt him at all, at least among Republican voters. […]

Marc Nozell/Flickr As you may have heard, Donald Trump has gone after Marco Rubio on his personal finances (e.g., the Florida GOP credit card he apparently ran up while State House Speaker back in the day), and predictably, Rubio has responded by going after Trump for his companies’ four bankruptcies. So it’s a draw, right? […]

Gage Skidmore/Flickr Today’s most interesting tidbit of political news may be a radio ad being placed in six “urban markets” (code for African-American stations) in the South by Dr. Ben Carson’s campaign. Check it out: I am not competent to judge whether this ad is likely to be deemed arresting, effective, puzzling or laughable by […]