Today, Senator Robert C. Byrd broke the record of a one-time colleague as the longest-serving member of Congress in U.S. history. As you may have read, Byrd broke the record of Arizona Senator/Representative Carl Hayden, who served his state in Congress from 1912 (a special election on being accepted...

There's this intriguing observation that newspaperman William V. Shannon once made. He wrote that after the 1960 election, President John F. Kennedy stopped using the phrase 'The New Frontier.'

On the face of it, Shannon was wrong. Kennedy used the words in his public utterances several times as president, including...

Over the last few months, a number of prominent political columnists have pointed to historian and social critic Richard Hofstadter to explain what is happening to the Republican Party. 1964's The Paranoid Style in American Politics and his 1954 essay, "The Pseudo-Conservative Revolt," among others, tell us why so many...

The White House wants David Paterson out of the running for New York's 2010 gubernatorial election. Paterson hopes they'll reconsider.

Because hey -- it worked for Jon Corzine.

In early August, David Axelrod and Patrick Gaspard met at a New York City hotel with Corzine's campaign staffers, asking whether...

"I feel wonderful," Republican state Senator Joe Pennacchio told PolitickerNJ.com's Matt Friedman tonight after Chris Christie was declared the governor-elect of New Jersey. "A pro-life, pro-gun conservative in a blue state. How did that happen?"

Two words: Jon Corzine.

In the end, the Democratic incumbent hit a ceiling in...

The word 'if' is in high use among in-the-know New Jersey politicos these days. Ask who they think will win the governor's race on Tuesday, and you'll hear a lot of: 'Well, Christie wins if....' or 'Corzine's got it in the bag if....' Not a lot of confident voices.

The...

Poor Chris Christie. The New Jersey Republican's gubernatorial campaign is being run by the same brainiacs who thought hiding Rudy Giuliani's 2008 presidential bid in Florida was the way to the GOP nomination. Maybe the third time's a charm for these wayward strategists? Unfortunately for Christie, this is only their...

After the Republicans got thrashed in the 1964 elections, a GOP senator told columnist Joe Alsop, "That damn Lyndon Johnson hasn't just grabbed the middle of the road. He's a bit to the right of center, as well as a bit to the left of center. And with Johnson hogging...

New Jersey's off-year gubernatorial race has been pretty boring for outsiders, except for maybe the TV ad accusing Chris Christie, the Republican nominee, of "throwing his weight around." (Christie's on the heavy side.)

The ad was supposed to draw attention to the fact that Christie got away with some...

In the first year of his first elected term, Lyndon Johnson made the presidency look easy. Landmark bills on education, health care and civil rights were flying through Congress. He put a new justice on the Supreme Court, escalated Vietnam and invaded the Dominican Republic. Johnson could do anything.

But...

Top players in the New York Democratic Party took out an ad on the front-page of Sunday's New York Times. That kind of space doesn't come cheap, but luckily for them, they didn't pay in dollars -- they paid in political capital.

Don't worry if that doesn't make complete sense....

Not to go all Maureen Dowd on you, but today's Republican Party is a lot like the line from that old Brando movie, The Wild One. Somebody asks Brando, "What're you rebelling against, Johnny?" And he says, "Whaddya got?"

With all due respect to former President Carter, he is wrong...

In the age of expansive punditry, we tend to over-analyze events as they happen. Everything is historic, everything is a game-changer, and our rhetoric reflects that.

The truth is, none of us can say for sure how something will figure into American history because none of us can predict the...

It's jarring how disconnected Republicans have been from reality these past several weeks. Giddy at the prospect of President Obama failing, they've let lunatics run roughshod over civil American discourse, trying to kneecap health care reform. They're so high on themselves that one thought nothing of screaming, "Lie!" at the...

It's not outrageous to believe that Republicans will pick up some seats in 2010; history pretty much guarantees it. Majorities expand, contract -- it's typical.

What's more surprising is the number of political forecasters talking up the possibility of 2010 as another "wave election," with Republicans reaping the benefits....

The tide is about to turn in the debate over health care reform. The lies and the screaming that captured the discussion in August have a lot of Republicans thinking they've got the Democrats right where they want 'em.

They are wrong. And they are wrong because their castle is...

If Senator Ted Kennedy gets his last wish -- that Massachusetts alters its succession law to allow an appointee to serve until the special election -- his wife Vicki is the only logical choice.

Cries of nepotism be damned; it would be a decision based on practicality more than dynasty.

There is nothing improper about speaking of the need for universal health care coverage at Ted Kennedy's funeral.

And yet the Republican Party will insist that there is.

It's a shame that our political exchange has come to this, but the GOP is preparing to pigeonhole any reference to health...

As Ted Kennedy disappeared from the public eye this summer, I liked to think of him as thirty-two years old, strapped to an orthopedic bed in Boston, waiting for his back to heal.

It was the summer of 1964 -- forty-five years ago now -- when his plane crashed and...

For a moment there, Governor David Paterson parted the curtain and offered his theory on why state Democrats want him out: the color of his skin.

So that's one person's opinion. Fact is, nobody has a good explanation for Paterson's unpopularity. Ask around and people will struggle to tell you...