http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/ en Copyright 2008 Wed, 07 May 2008 20:00:00 -0400 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.36 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss The Fix support staff, which is as vast and as powerful as you might imagine it would be, is changing how comments are displayed on the blog. Starting tomorrow, we'll flip a switch (not "the" switch) and set it so that the most-recent comment appears at the top of the list, with older comments getting pushed down the page. Work is also underway on limiting the right to comment only to registered users of washingtonpost.com. That setting was lost last month due to a technical hiccup -- much to everyone's (The Fix included) chagrin. The Fix hopes the registration requirement will cut down on some of the personal attacks and downright offensive chatter on the comments board. A boy can dream, can't he? http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/05/blog_housekeeping_update.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/05/blog_housekeeping_update.html Fix Notes Wed, 07 May 2008 20:00:00 -0400 Today marks the unveiling of the The Fix's official t-shirt. It seemed as good a time as any to say thank you for all of your contributions to this blog over the last few years. The goal of The Fix is to build a community of people united by a mutual love of politics. If you won a Fix t-shirt during our primary predictions contests, be on the lookout for yours -- and prepare for an onslaught of attention from jealous friends and neighbors. If you didn't, we're sorry. But, we are currently developing other contests to hasten the awarding of more t-shirts. Fixistas Unite! http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/04/fixcam_the_fix_tshirt_debuts.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/04/fixcam_the_fix_tshirt_debuts.html Fix Notes Thu, 24 Apr 2008 12:41:32 -0400 The Fix enjoying some Philly cuisine. (Photo by Akira Hakuta / washingtonpost.com) Guided, as always, by the advice of Fixistas all over the country, The Fix (and his two traveling companions) sought out Jim's Steaks on Thursday afternoon for the classic Philly cheesesteak. We are happy to report Jim's didn't disappoint. The Fix went traditional -- steak with cheese whiz and fried onions with a few hot peppers and pickles thrown in for good measure. Intrepid campaign chronicler Ed O'Keefe did the same; post.com videographer Akira Hakuta shook things up with provolone cheese and raw onions. The reviews? Let's just say that The Fix had to fight the urge to order a road cheesesteak on the way out the door. Thanks to everyone who offered their thoughts about where to get the best cheesesteak in Philadelphia. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/04/the_cheesesteak_search_is_over.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/04/the_cheesesteak_search_is_over.html Fix Notes Fri, 18 Apr 2008 08:04:07 -0400 One year ago today, washingtonpost.com launched "PostTalk," a web video interview program with politicians, strategists and other newsmakers. Our first guest was Sen. Joseph Biden (Del.), the veteran Democrat who was mounting his very long-shot bid for his party's presidential nomination. With his long political career, the one-time boy wonder of Delaware politics brought a wonderful perspective to assessing the then-cluttered field of Democratic candidates. Asked by my co-host, Dan Balz, how the campaign compared with the 1988 campaign, in which he also ran in, Biden readily acknowledged the awesome challenge of running against two high-powered Democrats, Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Biden, 65, lamented that he was once "the guy with charisma" but that "Now I'm the old guy who is qualified." Biden was prescient in how he saw the campaign shaping up, as those two charismatic senators, Obama and Clinton, are the last two standing in http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/04/posttalk_turns_one.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/04/posttalk_turns_one.html Fix Notes Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:45:00 -0400 Update, 6:00 pm: We did it! Thanks to all the loyal Fixistas out there, we now have at least one quality politics blog in each of the 50 states. Utah and Alaska were the last to make it in but we won't hold it against them. The full list is after the jump. Clip it. Save it. Love it. Update 2:45 pm: With the additions of Hawaii and Wyoming political blogs, we are not just two away from all 50 states! Utah and Alaska, we are looking at you. (And, for those of you who suggested the Wasatch Watcher for Utah, thanks, but it isn't updated very frequently and is only tangentially about politics.) ORIGINAL POST Democrats will embed a single state-based political blogger with each delegation at its national convention later this summer, the latest sign of the courting of the burgeoning blogosphere by both political parties. "The Internet http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/04/democrats_to_embed_bloggers_at.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/04/democrats_to_embed_bloggers_at.html Fix Notes Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:22:26 -0400 We're almost there! After two days of culling through the various nominees for the best of state politics blogs, we now have 41 45 out of the 50 states represented. But, the goal is to get all 50! (And, yes, this is starting to feel vaguely like one of those holiday Monday telethons The Fix used to watch on television as a young boy.) Here's a look at the states where we still need a good politics blog. Come on Fixistas! Rise to the challenge. Alaska Delaware Hawaii Kansas Nebraska Oklahoma Utah Vermont Wyoming Without further ado here is our official list of new -- and improved -- best state politics blogs! http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/03/new_and_improved_best_of_the_s.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/03/new_and_improved_best_of_the_s.html Fix Notes Sun, 30 Mar 2008 06:00:01 -0400 During The Fix's semi-vacation last week, Fixistas for were asked to chime in with their favorite state-based political blogs. We've found over the last few years that these state-based blogs are often the best repositories for good links and good analysis about races up and down the ballot. As expected, the Fix community responded, offering links to a blog (or blogs) from 24 states. You can find all of those links after the jump. But we're only halfway there! The goal of this project is to have at least one good state-based blog in each of the 50 states. We've still got 26 to go. So, if your home state (or adopted home state) isn't mentioned below, sound off in the comments section and help us get all 50 states covered. One other caveat before we get to the list. The sites listed on the next page come from recommendations http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/03/blog_roll_the_best_of_state_po.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/03/blog_roll_the_best_of_state_po.html Fix Notes Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:32:14 -0400 One of the great things about working at the Washington Post are the people you get to interact with on a daily basis. And then there's Dana Milbank. The Fix kids! On a serious note, if you don't know Dana and his work you should. Dana is one of the most gifted observers of the political scene writing these days -- not to mention the fact he is just downright hilarious and a darn good cubicle mate. While a lot of people read his "Washington Sketch" almost daily in the Washington Post, Dana is expanding his empire into the online world these days with a blog called "Rough Sketch". "Rough Sketch" is, well, whatever Dana wants it to be, which is a good thing for us. Sometimes it's a preview of the longer Sketch that will appear in the next day's paper; sometimes it's a vignette or two from Dana http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/03/danas_rough_sketch.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/03/danas_rough_sketch.html Fix Notes Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:27:53 -0400 What a run! The Fix has worked nearly every day since Christmas -- testing his endurance and, more importantly, the patience of Mrs. Fix. With Pennsylvania's primary still 36 days away(!), The Fix is taking some time off to recharge the batteries. So, for this week, we won't be on any campaign conference calls and won't be scanning the memos sent by the campaigns; we will be getting our car tuned up and fixing the balky satellite television reception. We won't rule out the possibility of posting once or twice during the week, but the pace will be considerably slower than Fixistas are used to. Need to get the latest and greatest from the campaign trail? Visit "The Trail" -- the blog maintained by the politics staff at The Post. We couldn't sign off for the week, however, without announcing the results of The Fix's official theme song contest. The http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/03/the_fix_breaks_1.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/03/the_fix_breaks_1.html Fix Notes Mon, 17 Mar 2008 08:39:36 -0400 As regular reads of this blog know, The Fix has had the unique opportunity to partner with MTV and MySpace for a series of presidential dialogues with the 2008 presidential candidates. Tomorrow night marks the culmination of those dialogues with a 90-minute extravaganza featuring four of the six candidates still in the race -- Sens. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) for the Democrats, and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and Rep. Ron Paul (Texas) for the Republicans. Like the previous presidential dialogues, the goal in this one is to let the candidates directly address the questions and concerns of young voters -- a key voting group whose power has grown exponentially in this election. All four candidates will appear via satellite and will take questions from a live audience from MTV's studio in New York City. The Fix, along with Gideon Yago, Sway, and the Associated Press's http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/02/mtv_myspace_and_the_fix.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/02/mtv_myspace_and_the_fix.html Fix Notes Fri, 01 Feb 2008 18:00:38 -0400 Over the weekend, Fix readers were asked to predict how things would turn out in the Nevada caucuses and the South Carolina GOP primary. The prize? The rarely seen -- and even more rarely won -- official Fix t-shirt. Politics producer Sarah Lovenheim combed the predictions and plucked out two winners: The Fix posters who came closest to the mark in the Nevada Democratic race and the South Carolina Republican contest. Congrats to Screetchdog, who accurately called Hillary Clinton's win in the Nevada Democratic caucus at 51 percent and to edwardlahoa, who predicted John McCain would win the GOP South Carolina primary and carry the field with 33 percent of the vote. If you are either "Screetchdog" or "edwardslahoa", drop me a line at chris DOT cillizza AT washingtonpost DOT com to tell me where to send your Fix t-shirt. To those of you who didn't win, The Fix is http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/01/sc_nevada_predictions.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/01/sc_nevada_predictions.html Fix Notes Thu, 24 Jan 2008 01:00:17 -0400 It may be the weekend, but voting is going on in both Nevada and South Carolina today. And, if there is voting happening, that means that it's time to predict the results. With two states voting simultaneously today, we're looking for three different predictions. First, we want the top three finishers in both the Republican and Democratic Nevada caucuses, with percentages. Second, we're looking for the win, place and show (with percentages) of the South Carolina Republican primary. And, finally, we want your prediction on the overall storyline coming out of the day's voting. A Fix t-shirt goes to the winner of each category. Results in Nevada will start to come in this afternoon, so get predicting!!! http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/01/nevada_and_s_carolina_get_thos.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/01/nevada_and_s_carolina_get_thos.html Fix Notes Sat, 19 Jan 2008 10:26:12 -0400 With the New Hampshire primaries less than 24 hours away, we (or, more accurately politics producer Sarah Lovenheim) finally waded through all of The Fix community's predictions -- 230+ -- regarding last Thursday's Iowa caucuses. Remember that we asked for the correct order of finish (with percentages) and a potential story line coming out of Iowa. Below you'll find the winners. If your name (or washingtonpost.com handle) made the list below, make sure to e-mail me at chris DOT cillizza AT washingtonpost.com and let me know where you want your official Fix t-shirt sent. The t-shirts are being ordered as I type! Based on the responses we've received prior polls closing in Iowa, Terrymitchell came closest in predicting the Republican results. Her (or his) prediction: Huckabee: 31 percent Romney: 27 percent Thompson: 13 percent On the Democratic side, more of you correctly guessed the line-up of Barack Obama (Iowa's Democratic http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/01/your_predictions_revisited.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/01/your_predictions_revisited.html Fix Notes Mon, 07 Jan 2008 18:00:00 -0400 Yesterday, we asked unaffiliated political operatives to offer their predictions about the first, second and third-place finishers for both Democrats and Republicans in the Iowa caucus. We also asked the political pros to give us their best guess on the storyline coming out of Iowa. Post politics producer Sarah Lovenheim scanned the predictions and lists the best of the best below. As for the predictions made by The Fix community, Sarah is diligently wading through them right now and we will have official results either later today or over the weekend. To the winners -- in the political pros and Fix amateurs categories -- go the spoils. "The Fix" official t-shirts are being ordered as we speak and will be mailed to the winners. Wear them loud and proud. If you didn't win a t-shirt, there's always New Hampshire when we will do it all again. First, the caucus results http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/01/predictions.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/01/predictions.html Fix Notes Fri, 04 Jan 2008 16:19:00 -0400 DES MOINES -- The Fix -- as regular readers know -- is a collector of facts and figures. So, here's a few from the trip from D.C. to Des Moines yesterday that we thought you might enjoy (since we certainly didn't): 1,107 miles flown 390 miles driven 1 political radio ad heard (An Omaha station early in the evening broadcast an ad for Sen. Barack Obama) 3 trips through security lines at the airport (twice in D.C., once in Minneapolis) 1 town named "Clinton Falls" passed. (It's in southern Minnesota) 2 flights missed or canceled 18 degrees at 1 am central time this morning 1 Caucus beard still intact Those are the grim statistics of The Fix's 11-hour odyssey from our nation's capital to the center of the political universe this week. Given all of that, we'll be taking it a bit easy this morning -- checking out the Sunday http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/12/the_fix_makes_des_moines_final.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/12/the_fix_makes_des_moines_final.html Fix Notes Sun, 30 Dec 2007 08:00:00 -0400