http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/ en Copyright 2008 Mon, 07 Apr 2008 20:50:32 -0400 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.36 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Former senator John Edwards (N.C.) remains on the political sidelines but that isn't stopping his wife, Elizabeth, from rejoining the fray as a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. Elizabeth Edwards will be dealing with health care issues at the progressive think tank founded by John Podesta, former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton. In her new role, Edwards, who has gained a considerable following in the liberal blogosphere thanks to her willingness to vocally oppose conservative politicos from Sen. John McCain to commentator Ann Coulter, will also be contributing to CAP's blog. "As many can attest, I have an opinion on everything," Edwards said tonight about her new role. "But I am particularly concerned about the state of health care in America and I am grateful to CAP for giving me the chance to continue to advocate for universal and quality health care coverage for all." http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/04/elizabeth_edwards_joins_center.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/04/elizabeth_edwards_joins_center.html Democratic Party Mon, 07 Apr 2008 20:50:32 -0400 As reported by Peter Baker and Karen DeYoung in the Washington Post today, the 11,000 page schedule of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's days and hours as first lady shows a clear change in her portfolio and responsibilities after the Clinton administration's failed attempt to implement universal health care. "Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in the White House with a schedule befitting a president, packed with policy sessions, meetings with senators and trips to promote an ambitious political agenda," write Baker and De Young. "But after the collapse of her health-care plan in 1994, she largely retreated to a more traditional first lady's calendar of school visits, hospital tours, photo ops and speeches on a narrower set of issues." What else can the trove of documents tell us about Sen. Clinton during her White House years? You be the judge. washingtonpost.com has created a fully searchable version of the papers, allowing you http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/03/relive_the_clinton_years_hourb.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/03/relive_the_clinton_years_hourb.html Eye on 2008 Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:55:58 -0400 Just when the hubbub over MoveOn.org's "General Betray Us" ad appeared to be receding into the political background, President Bush unleashed an attack on the group -- and the Democratic Party -- during a just-concluded press conference. Bush called the ad "disgusting" and insisted it was not just an attack on Gen. David Petraeus but on the military more broadly. "I was disappointed that not more leaders in the Democrat Party spoke out strongly against that kind of ad," Bush added. "That leads me to come to this conclusion: that most Democrats are afraid of irritating a left-wing group like MoveOn.org -- are more afraid of irritating them than they are of irritating the United States military." Eli Pariser, executive director for MoveOn, immediately shot back. "What's disgusting is that the President has more interest in political attacks than developing an exit strategy to get our troops out of Iraq http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/09/bush_vs_moveon.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/09/bush_vs_moveon.html Democratic Party Thu, 20 Sep 2007 12:14:00 -0400 For the last few months Democratic strategists have been privately fretting that a relative dearth of legislative accomplishments over the first six months of the 110th Congress could damage their electoral prospects next November. Enter Americans United for Change, an independent progressive organization formed in the run-up to the battle over President Bush's Social Security reform proposal. The group, which is led by former Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee communications director Brad Woodhouse, is organizing a large rally on Capitol Hill as well as launching a national cable ad buy next week to correct the record. The ad, which you can see below, touts the accomplishments of the Democratic-controlled Congress. It begins by noting that next week the first minimum wage increase in a decade will kick in; "raising the minimum wage took an act of Congress but more importantly it took a Congress willing to act," says the spot's narrator http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/07/tooting_democrats_horn.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/07/tooting_democrats_horn.html Democratic Party Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:53:46 -0400 No political consultant is more revered or reviled in Democratic Party politics than Bob Shrum. To some, Shrum is a visionary -- helping to guide the party's agenda through election after election. To others he is a blight, the man more responsible than anyone other than the candidates themselves for a series of devastating White House losses. Love him or hate him, it's hard to dispute Shrum's claim that he has stood at the center of Democratic politics for the better part of the last 30 years. He was a member of the inner circle of the party's last two presidential nominees -- Al Gore and John Kerry -- and a trusted aide to a series of other White House aspirants, including John Edwards, Dick Gephardt and Ted Kennedy. And now, Shrum is taking us into the smoke-filled rooms in his memoir: "No Excuses: Concessions of a Serial Campaigner." He http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/06/posttalk_bob_shurm_dishes.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/06/posttalk_bob_shurm_dishes.html Eye on 2008 Mon, 18 Jun 2007 07:45:13 -0400 Last week, The Fix wrote up a new study by Third Way, a centrist Democratic group. The study examined the 2006 electorate and considered how voter turnout might explain durable trends that could stretch through 2008. In that post we promised to solicit opinions from survey research experts as to the validity of the methodology used by Third Way to compare the 2006 electorate with that of 2004. Here are thoughts from a few respected pollsters and poll watchers on the data. And a big thanks to post.com politics producer Sarah Lovenheim for conducting the interviews: Fred Yang, Democratic pollster: "I think [the study's] useful. You never want to be captive to the last election, but that's all we have to go on. Past elections aren't indicative of the future, but a lot of these elections reflect trends that are helpful." Glen Bolger, Republican pollster: "Trends are trends until they http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/05/third_way_study_revisited.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/05/third_way_study_revisited.html Democratic Party Mon, 21 May 2007 14:56:36 -0400 The Fix is a firm believer that only by understanding past elections can we hope to make accurate predictions about future contests. Third Way, a centrist Democratic group, has produced a study of the 2006 electorate that goes a long way to explaining where Democrats made gains last November and how (and whether) they can make those trends durable through 2008 and beyond. Entitled "Looking Red, Voting Blue," the study -- conducted by Jim Kessler, vice president for policy, and Anne Kim, director of the Middle Class Project -- aimed to deconstruct the profile of the roughly 4.7 million voters Democrats gained between 2004 and 2006. (The "how" behind the study's methodology is rather complicated; we've included at the end of the post.) Finding out what those 4.7 million voters look like, where they live and and what issues motivated them are at the center of Third Way's study. Disclaimer: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/05/the_face_of_the_democratic_vot.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/05/the_face_of_the_democratic_vot.html Democratic Party Mon, 14 May 2007 10:30:26 -0400 Every once in a while a polling number jumps off at the page at The Fix. Such was the case with the most recent Diageo/Hotline poll in which the sample was asked whether they would support a generic Democrat or a generic Republican for president if the election were held today. Forty-seven percent chose the Democratic candidate while 29 percent went with the Republican. For those English majors out there (don't worry, The Fix is in your ranks), that's an 18-point differential. These generic ballots tests -- either for Congress or for president -- should be read cautiously, since other surveys testing head-to-head general-election match-ups of actual candidates tend to show Republican candidates running even or ahead of their Democratic counterparts. Why the discrepancy? Let's parse the polls! First, a closer look at the Diageo/Hotline question. As mentioned above, the overall sample -- 800 registered voters -- gave the generic http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/04/parsing_the_polls_is_the_white_1.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/04/parsing_the_polls_is_the_white_1.html Parsing the Polls Wed, 11 Apr 2007 05:00:39 -0400 Trying to figure out the preferred presidential candidate of the so-called netroots is a difficult proposition. The quick growth of this loose conglomeration of online progressive activists has made it a powerful interest group within Democratic politics but, unlike 2004 when the vast majority of its leaders and footsoldiers were behind former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, the support of the netroots is less unified this time around. Let's take a look at a few measures of netroots energy and support to see if a trend emerges. * Act Blue: The netroots blogosphere rejects the idea that it is simply an ATM for political candidates. But following the habits of small-dollar donors -- who are the lifeblood of the netroots -- is one way of divining which candidate is gaining traction with the netroots. On Act Blue, one of the premier online bundlers of contributions to Democratic candidates, former North Carolina http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/02/act_blue.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/02/act_blue.html Democratic Party Mon, 26 Feb 2007 08:55:50 -0400 The new chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council hopes to follow in the footsteps of a former leader of the centrist group, a man who bounced back from defeat in a statewide race to go on to much higher political office. That man, of course, was Bill Clinton. Harold Ford Jr. is the new head of the influential Democratic Leadership Council. (AP File Photo) But for now, Harold Ford Jr. is content with the soft landing and lofty platform the DLC chairmanship affords him after his closer-than-expected loss in the Tennessee Senate race last year. At first glance Ford and the DLC appear to be a perfect fit. First elected in 1996 to a House seat his father formerly held for more than two decades, the younger Ford has been forced to beat back the idea that he is a lightweight on issues. His seat atop the DLC should considerably http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/01/fords_next_move.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/01/fords_next_move.html Democratic Party Mon, 29 Jan 2007 09:15:26 -0400 A handful of heavy hitters in progressive politics have formed a new organization aimed at forcing congressional Democrats to vote and act more like Democrats on economic issues. The group, which includes a political action committee called Working For Us and a nonprofit entity named They Work For Us, carries the backing of people like Steve Rosenthal, a past political director at the AFL-CIO, Tom Matzzie, the Washington director of Moveon.org and -- most intriguingly -- blogger icon Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, founder of the influential Daily Kos Web site. Working For Us is modeled explicitly on the Club For Growth, an independent organization that over the last several election cycles has transformed itself into an electoral force by endorsing fiscally conservative candidates in contested primaries and then pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into districts to help those candidates win. (I've written extensively about the Club both in the space http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/01/working_for_us.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/01/working_for_us.html Democratic Party Tue, 23 Jan 2007 10:43:34 -0400 On the eve of President Bush's State of the Union address comes news that the commander-in-chief will address the House Democratic retreat next month in Williamsburg, Virginia. Bush was invited to the gathering by the Democratic leadership -- spearheaded by new Democratic Caucus chairman Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.). He is slated to speak for approximately an hour on Saturday Feb. 3. The retreat is set for Feb. 1-3 at the Kingsmill Resort & Spa. The highly unusual appearance is one of the first tangible signs that Bush may be ready to make good on his rhetoric about working together with the new Democratic Congress. "The president looks forward to attending and he believes there are many challenges for the American public right now and that voters expect their elected leaders in Washington to work together," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. A House Democratic leadership aide, granted anonymity to speak candidly http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/01/bushs_olive_branch.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/01/bushs_olive_branch.html Democratic Party Mon, 22 Jan 2007 15:55:44 -0400 The Republican National Committee is staffing up in anticipation of the handover of power from outgoing RNC Chair Ken Mehlman to its new leader, Sen. Mel Martinez (Fla.) The latest hire is Lisa Camooso Miller, who will serve as communications director during the 2008 cycle. Miller comes to the RNC from a stint as spokeswoman for former House Speaker Dennis Hastert. (Miller's boss in Hastert's office -- Ron Bonjean -- has landed as executive director of the Senate Republican Conference.) She also worked under Bonjean at the Commerce Department and came up in the rough-and-tumble world of New Jersey politics, once serving as special assistant to former Gov. Donny DiFrancesco (R). Miller joins Mike Duncan, who will run day-to-day operations. The RNC has experienced a staff exodus of late as a number of senior operatives have left to join presidential campaigns. RNC political director Mike DuHaime is now heading up http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/01/rnc_staffs_up.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/01/rnc_staffs_up.html Republican Party Tue, 09 Jan 2007 14:11:39 -0400 Analyzing the results of election 2006 will surely continue for months, as journalists and political pros argue about just what it was that drove the Democrats to congressional majorities. But The Fix is forward looking by nature, so we'll turn our attention to the 2008 congressional races by looking at the five of the six party campaign committees that have selected their leaders for the new cycle. Let's take a look at who's landed where: * National Republican Congressional Committee: Rep. Tom Cole (Okla.) won a three-way race against Reps. Pete Sessions (Texas) and Phil English (Pa.) earlier this month for the right to head the House Republican campaign arm. Prior to being elected to Congress in 2002, Cole was one of the GOP's most prominent strategists -- he served as executive director of the NRCC in the 1992 election cycle and was chief of staff at the Republican National http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2006/11/campaign_committees.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2006/11/campaign_committees.html House Tue, 28 Nov 2006 16:45:52 -0400 In a blow to incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) beat out her chosen pick -- Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) -- for House Majority Leader. Hoyer's victory was considered a certainty as recently as Sunday but Pelosi's decision to publicly back Murtha, and work her colleagues on his behalf, left observers wondering whether it was a tighter race than it at first seemed. Apparently not. Hoyer won 149 votes to just 86 for Murtha -- a stunningly large margin given Pelosi's heavy involvement. Expect Pelosi and Hoyer -- along with new Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (S.C.) and Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.) -- to put on a happy face about the results in the coming hours and days, but the reality is that Pelosi gambled and lost this morning and now has an adversary rather than an advocate in the Majority Leader spot. Remember http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2006/11/hoyer_wins.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2006/11/hoyer_wins.html House Thu, 16 Nov 2006 12:21:03 -0400