In the wake of Super Tuesday, what does the gruelling primaries process tell us about the Republican Party and the state of democracy in America?
2012 Presidential election
GOP candidates bluster and strut, as thoughts go back to Selma
“We should not be looking across the world for new dragons to fight.” Pint-sized, a perfect miniature, congressman Dennis Kucinich (Koo-sin-ich) is on his feet in a coffee shop, Lorain. It’s (Saturday), and Kucinich is nearing the end of a month-long campaign that once again sees him fighting for his political life. The crowd are […]
Political snippets: Is Bligh sinking or swimming?
Anna Bligh surely reached a new level of the art with her weekend announcement of free swimming lessons for her state’s children if she is returned to office.
Rundle12: Cleveland on Xanax with a dose of Limbaugh absurdity
We come in over Cleveland, and I noticed that somewhere in the suburbs, they’d built a scale replica of a city … hang on. It was the damn city itself.
Rundle12: a licence to hate, without envy, a gaffe-prone Romney
The effect of Romney’s gaffes is that they give one license to hate him, without feeling the cultural burden on guilt about envy.
Think Kevin & Julia are bad? Imagine if Romney was front runner
Romney, my God. The anti-candidate. As a GOP candidate, all he had to do was turn up to the NASCAR event and shovel down dogs. Instead, he said: “I have some great friends that are NASCAR team owners.”
Rundle12: as the primaries heat up, Santorum turns to God
Rick Santorum, in a desperate appeal to get that right-wing base out against the Romney-aligned state Republican machine, has put religious-culture warfare at the centre of his campaign once more.
Obama: ‘I’ve got another five years coming up’
While the protracted soap opera of the Republican primaries race continues, Barack Obama has spoken rather confidently about his chances of re-election, reports Breitbart.
Holy smokes! Romney attack dog compares himself to Batman
Larry McCarthy, one of the GOP’s best-paid media strategists, is on a quest to save Mitt Romney from defeat in the Michigan primary — a quest he compares with the plight of the Caped Crusader, writes Lloyd Grove.
Picking apart Obama’s presidential playlist
What does Barack Obama’s re-election campaign playlist say about him? asks Neil Walker.
Rundle12: Maine game — US primaries at the end of act one
Mainestaters have a genuine friendliness that is more Canadian in style than American-style courtesy, they have a lack of brag, and put maple syrup on everything, including lobster. No kiddin’, man, I seen ‘em do it.
Obama unveils campaign trail setlist
Barack Obama has released his presidential campaign’s setlist. Expect these songs to accompany him as he strides to the microphone, writes Richard Farmer.
Rundle12: Santorum takes bad speeches to a new multiverse
Down in Colorado, they have a problem with black bears.
Rundle12: the return of Santorum opens the Republican race
Republican candidate Rick Santorum may be on the way to either victory or a close second in the Minnesota and Missouri contests tonight, throwing the smooth coronation of Mitt Romney into fresh doubt.
Guy Rundle: Compared to these guys, Obama is Howard Zinn on bad acid
With five primaries and caucuses done, with party favourite Mitt Romney leading, and with the next four contests before Super Tuesday favouring him, the 2012 race for the Republican nomination is beginning to slip quietly away from the top of the news agenda.
The Tea Party is dead. Long live the Tea Party
The GOP spent months pondering the effect the Tea Party would have on Republican primaries, and the answer was: not much at all. One Tea Party leader has described the movement as “dead” and “gone,” reports Patricia Murphy.
Rundle12: Ron Paul beckons the lost boys and girls of Las Vegas
The sweet, sweet paradox of Ron Paul is that a large slice of his support comes from those who carefully and cheerfully disregard his foreign policy reviews altogether, writes Guy Rundle in Las Vegas.
Video of the Day: Obama interviewed by the internet
US President Barack Obama participated in a Google+ and YouTube interview earlier this week, with everyday US citizens talking via video chat to the president. Obama even told one woman whose engineer husband struggled to find work that she should send his resume in and Obama would see if he could help (she did and […]
Rundle12: no one understands how utterly unconservative Newt Gingrich is
In Gingrich you see something triangulate between Marx, Mussolini, Toffler and sundry others, an investment in nation and species, an utter disinterest in the fate of the individual. None of his supporters really understand that, or how utterly unconservative he is.
Political snippets: A plain talking politician
I rather admire Tony Abbott for not being one of those ultra cautious politicians.
The Stephen Colbert carnival continues, raising calls for campaign financing reform
The murky blend of corporate profit-taking and political interference was the focus of Stephen Colbert’s second spook campaign attack ad, which has given raise to widespread calls for campaign financing reform, writes Robin Cameron.
Guy Rundle: Emergency Republican scenario includes another Bush
So it’s on. And if Gingrich wins he’ll take all Florida’s delegates, 50 in total, which will put him way ahead in the delegate count.
Video of the Day: Newt vs Romney — was he a lobbyist?
At last night’s Florida debate of GOP presidential hopefuls, front-runners Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich battled it out over whether Gingrich was involved in lobbying for toxic mortgage giant Freddie Mac.
Rundle12: down Florida way, Newt’s about to tear Mitt a fresh one afresh
They’re off the blocks in Florida today, for the fourth Republican primary (OK three primaries, one caucus) with a debate tonight in Tampa, and both Romney and Gingrich ripping each other new ones.
