The Civil War and After

Lincoln takes office -- from the Ken Burns documentary (embedding blocked).

After Reconstruction came a series of minority president. See percentage of popular vote for winning candidates:

1876 Hayes 48.0
1880 Garfield 48.3
1884 Cleveland 48.5
1888 Harrison 47.8
1892 Cleveland 46.1

Toward the end of the 19th century, motion pictures and sound recordings allowed us to see and hear presidents in action.

Negative Campaigning, 1800

Okay, the 1800 election did not have TV ads. But the script for this video comes almost verbatim from a Federalist attack on Jefferson.

John Adams

John Adams

CMCers on the GOP Convention

You can get very different takes on the GOP convention from a couple of CMC alums who were there.

Clifton Yin was a McCain delegate. See his blog.

Adam Kokesh was a McCain heckler. See the account of his removal from the hall. See video:




Earlier, Adam spoke to fellow Ron Paul supporters:

The 2008 Presidential Campaign

The Democratic Nomination

• National polls show the candidates about even.


• Obama has pulled ahead in the delegate count.


• But some important states lie ahead.
  

The Outlook for November

• If there is a recession, Democrats probably win.


• Iraq will help Democrats. The only question is how much.
  
  
  
  
  
  

Huckabee a Serious Contender or Just Serious About Croutons?

What better example of a profile primary than Huckabee's recent 11-page spread in The New York Times Magazine? Zev Chafets, the author, does an interesting job defining Huckabee. As a New Yorker, my strongest memory after reading it was the fact that Huckabee chose to eat at Olive Garden when visiting with the writer in Manhattan. Chafets writes, "I had offered to take him anywhere he wanted and then vetoed his first choice, T.G.I.Friday's." Huckabee orders soup and a salad and seems to spend a large part of the interview playing with his croutons. I am sure that the Gang of 500 will pick up on this as well. My question is whether America can take a candidate seriously when he visits Manhattan and chooses to eat at a chain. If he wants to appeal to more than the Midwestern voter, why not choose a pizza place or a deli? Is this a case of Huckabee being too humble and "small-town" for his own good?

The rest of the article is also interesting. Chafets's writing shows that he is slightly skeptical of this "dark horse" candidate. At one point, Chafets talks to Huckabee about foreign affairs and gets an interesting response. Chafets writes:

At lunch, when I asked him who influences his thinking on foreign affairs, he mentioned Thomas Friedman, the New York Times columnist, and Frank Gaffney, a neoconservative and the founder of a research group called the Center for Security Policy. This is like taking travel advice from Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, but the governor seemed unaware of the incongruity.

The article is humorous at times, as both quotes illustrate, which allowed me to enjoyably read the entire 11 pages. It is obvious, however, that Huckabee will have to continue to work if he wants to be taken seriously. His rise to the top of the polls is not enough to counter his age and experience.

My Mac won't let me hyperlink but this should work:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/12/magazine/16huckabee.html?ex=1355461200&en=e8ee2a8545fa9f6f&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink