Steve Benen

The Iowa caucuses are, of course, just a day away, and for campaign junkies following the contest, the polls can’t come quickly enough. But because the race is changing so dramatically in the 11th hour, new data matters most. Indeed, the Des Moines Register‘s Iowa Poll, widely considered the gold standard for Hawkeye State polling, […]

During Mitt Romney’s Senate campaign 17 years ago, the Republican politician was faring quite well against Ted Kennedy, right up until voters started hearing from some of Romney’s victims. To briefly review, Romney got very rich running a private-equity firm, Bain Capital, which broke up companies and laid off American workers. He had considerable success […]

CBS’s “60 Minutes” ran a good profile on House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) last night, but there was one portion of the interview that was especially important. In this video, it starts at about the 10:19 mark. For those who can’t watch clips online, Cantor told Lesley Stahl, “Nobody gets everything they want.” Asked […]

Over the weekend, it became clear that Rick Santorum, after months of having been largely ignored, is on track for a top-three finish in the Iowa caucuses. By some measures, the former Pennsylvania senator is coming on so strong in the 11th hour, he has a credible shot at actually winning in Iowa tomorrow. And […]

We covered a fair amount of ground over the weekend. Here’s a quick overview of what you may have missed. On Sunday, we talked about: * President Obama intends to run against Congress this fall. Given that this might very well be the Worst Congress Ever, that’s not an unreasonable strategy. * Rick Santorum believes […]

The NYT reports today that President Obama, looking ahead to the November elections, is planning “to step up his offensive against an unpopular Congress, concluding that he cannot pass any major legislation in 2012 because of Republican hostility toward his agenda.” Though the parallels are imprecise, Truman won a second term running against Congress in […]

Zeke Miller has a piece this morning arguing that Rick Santorum may excel in the Iowa caucuses, but given the campaign’s message, he’ll likely struggle to compete just about everywhere else. To help prove the point, Miller points to quotes like these. Indeed, Santorum appeals to Iowa voters with a mix of unusual lines that […]

As expected, President Obama yesterday signed the Defense Authorization bill that largely funds the military. And as expected, this year’s NDAA came with a signing statement. President Obama … said that although he did not support all of it, changes made by Congress after negotiations with the White House had satisfied most of his concerns […]

Kevin Drum flagged a Newt Gingrich quote yesterday that’s almost hard to believe. In fact, I watched the video just to make sure the Republican wasn’t misquoted in the print piece. “Politics has become a really nasty, vicious, negative business and I think it’s disgusting and I think it’s dishonest,” Gingrich told ABC News aboard […]

It’s never a good sign when a presidential campaign’s insiders begin dishing dirt on their colleagues before voters start expressing their preferences. Take Rick Perry’s team, for example. Four months ago, the Texas governor was the frontrunner and expected to excel in Iowa. Today, Perry appears likely to finish fourth or fifth, and may soon […]