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2008 Election

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How Obama is rebuilding the GOP base

Posted Mon, Sep 14, 6 a.m.

Independents and relatively conservative men are shifting dramatically, alarmed that Obama is turning out to be an expand-the-government liberal. And it's not just Obama who is falling in the polls. Just ask Sen. Patty Murray.

READ MORE 28 COMMENTS

Why take so long to form a new administration?

Posted Fri, Jun 12, 6 a.m.

In an urgent time, President Obama still lacks many key top-level appointments in his government. In Britain, nearly all those appointments are accomplished just days after the election. Time to import some British goods?

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Earth to GOP: start talking about real solutions

Posted Thu, May 28, 6 a.m.

The media, and the Republicans, have been gleefully obsessed with self-flagellation. If the GOP is going to regain respect, it has to have distinctive answers to the big problems of the day. Here are some examples.

READ MORE 11 COMMENTS

Don't write off the Republicans

Posted Fri, May 8, 6 a.m.

Obama may be making two mistakes from over-confidence: not trying to reach out to Republicans in Congress, and leaving the crafting of major legislation to the Democratic barons. Look for a modest revival of the GOP in the next election.

READ MORE 10 COMMENTS

What Gov. Gregoire should say on taxes

Posted Mon, May 4, 6 a.m.

She lived up to her pledge not to raise taxes. But doesn't she have a higher obligation to the state's welfare?

READ MORE 9 COMMENTS

In Olympia, moderate Democrats now call the tune

Posted Thu, Apr 30, 6 a.m.

The liberal agenda fared poorly and business interests did surprisingly well, despite the lopsided Democratic majorities. Here's why.

READ MORE 5 COMMENTS

Charles Johnson: on the meaning of Obama

Posted Tue, Apr 28, 6 a.m.

The Seattle novelist and expert on Martin Luther King Jr. believes that Obama's election is a sea-change moment for America and the world. "So we have evolved in terms of our understanding that excellence is colorblind."

READ MORE 2 COMMENTS

Gov. Gregoire's disappearing act

Posted Mon, Mar 30, 6 a.m.

The Governor, who once talked about using crises to implement big changes, has gone low-key. Lately, however, she's hinted at a possible change on her stand on taxes.

READ MORE 7 COMMENTS

Opposition to Obama is forming up fast

Posted Wed, Mar 4, 6 a.m.

His politically dangerous overreach, pushing an ambitious domestic agenda in a time of severe economic downturn, has galvanized Republicans

READ MORE 18 COMMENTS

How big a change can Obama produce?

Posted Mon, Mar 2, 6 a.m.

Comparisons with presidencies that produced historic changes in direction are overstated. More like a rebalancing seems in the cards.

READ MORE 2 COMMENTS

Humor: Bleakonomics, one year later

Posted Mon, Feb 16, 6 a.m.

A repeat of last February's primer on Bushonomics, when the apparent solution to our economic problems was to create more of whatever caused them. Bears repeating today, alas.

READ MORE 3 COMMENTS

Disturbing sub-texts to Obama's big win

Posted Sun, Feb 15, 11:09 a.m.

Among the lessons: you can't have bipartisanship without substantive common ground, and both Congressional parties are going to be hard to control.

READ MORE 12 COMMENTS

Is it okay for us to rejoin the nation?

Posted Thu, Feb 12, 6 a.m.

After almost a decade of being out of step, the national and local world views are finally in sync.

READ MORE 14 COMMENTS

Why so many stumbles for Obama?

Posted Thu, Feb 5, 4:37 p.m.

With three of his appointments withdrawn and a stimulus package that provides too little short-term stimulus, Obama is feeling his way haltingly as president.

READ MORE 34 COMMENTS

Humor: Sims may need to claim tax-cheating to get the job

Posted Tue, Feb 3, 11:31 a.m.

What kind of career politician fails to skimp on personal taxes?

READ MORE 2 COMMENTS

Why has free trade, key to this state's economy, gone all wobbly?

Posted Wed, Jan 21, 6 a.m.

Congressional Democrats, including from this state, have stalled out trade talks. President Obama has gone silent on the key issues of trade liberalization. You'd think business leadership would be ringing alarm bells.

READ MORE 20 COMMENTS

Inaugurations, the grand continuum of American democracy

Posted Sun, Jan 18, 1:13 p.m.

From one who's been part of several, inside and out, reflections on the context, the Speech, and the parties.

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Politically, we are three worlds

Posted Thu, Jan 15, 6 a.m.

A close look at the recent local election finds a strongly Democratic urban core, a moderate and independent suburban ring, and a Republican exurbia. Obama took some non-Democratic territory, but with weak coattails, and Rob McKenna captured some Democratic defectors.

READ MORE 2 COMMENTS

Hammering Hoover, re-inventing Roosevelt

Posted Wed, Jan 14, 6 a.m.

In comparing the current economic crisis to the Great Depression, the attacks on poor old Herbert Hoover's legacy have begun again. That's a faulty revision of history, and President-elect Barack Obama's transition team would do well to know why.

READ MORE 8 COMMENTS

Congress isn't purring yet over Obama's stimulus plan

Posted Tue, Jan 13, 6:59 a.m.

The economic climate requires action, but the political climate so far is prompting criticisms and changes.

READ MORE 5 COMMENTS

Other media

Michiko Kakutani reviews Sarah Palin's erratic new book, 'Going Rogue' Some good stuff about her life in Alaska, lots of payback passages on McCain, and an astonishing casualness about her inexperience. The book shows, the reviewer writes, "just how alarmingly expertise is discounted — or equated with elitism — in our increasingly democratized era, and just how thoroughly colorful personal narratives overshadow policy arguments and actual knowledge."

Artist of Obama's 'Hope' poster admits to duplicity in AP lawsuit Shepard Fairey, creator of the iconic image from the 2008 presidential campaign, tells the court he lied when the Associated Press identified its photo as the source for his work.

Obama is caught in the trap of a campaign ploy on Afghanistan The good war versus bad Bush war in Iraq ploy was cooked up on the Kerry campaign and it worked well politically. But now, argues Charles Krauthammer, young President Hamlet is stuck.

How Obama's team won the data war in the 2008 election They took a lesson from the GOP and mastered lists of voters, targeting messages exactly and to great effect.

John McCain is busy trying to remake the GOP He's not sulking over his defeat but instead drumming up new candidates and trying to reshape the party in his center-right image.

Blog posts

Loyalty is a two-way street

Posted Sat, Nov 14, 6 a.m.

The departure of two top Obama aides in the past week raises questions about how the president will handle big policy issues on his plate.

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They'll be humming more than O Canada! for Obama

Posted Tue, Feb 17, 1 p.m.

Helpful Canadians compile a discography for the First IPod

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Blogging the Inauguration: Bonding with strangers

Posted Mon, Jan 26, 3 p.m.

Improvising amid the crowds, a visitor finds the real satisfaction of the Inauguration was meeting a diverse set of people who turned it into a local festival.

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Blogging the Inauguration: Protesting no more

Posted Thu, Jan 22, noon

One was in 1969, where the real action was in the protest InHoguration. It took 40 years to have a celebration for all of us.

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Blogging the Inaugural: Near-death becomes pure joy

Posted Wed, Jan 21, 2:31 p.m.

Walking, freezing, waiting, shouting "Darwin!," despairing. What a day!

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Blogging the Inauguration: A raspberry from the bleachers

Posted Tue, Jan 20, 9:09 p.m.

For some who came to see Obama's big moment, the Inauguration became a giant SNAFU.

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This great coming together

Posted Tue, Jan 20, 4:47 p.m.

Obama thoughts while watching flocks of songbirds wheeling in a cold south wind.

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Blogging the Inauguration: Caught in the crush

Posted Tue, Jan 20, 6 a.m.

Trains are passing stations, too jammed to stop. We're walking (it's only five miles)

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More political messes for Obama

Posted Sun, Jan 4, 12:43 p.m.

The Richardson case does not look good for this longtime public servant.

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The politics of beards

Posted Sat, Jan 3, 3 p.m.

Is Portland the "beardiest" city in America? Should Prince William shave his new whiskers? And what will the impact of a baby-faced Obama be on facial hair fashion?

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