I love the four other candidates in the Air America contest. They are all great bloggers and a couple of them I am delighted to call friends. This is an election, though, and I like competing in elections, so I thought I would give you reasons you should consider...

I am still in a haze over the deal struck last night on the public option, not helped by the fact that they are keeping the details close while CBO scores the bill. As anyone who has read my past blog posts knows, I think the "details" on all...

Republicans were outraged, outraged that Harry Reid suggested they might be trying to obstruct progress in the health care debate- and that there was gambling in Reid's casino as well. Absurdly suggesting that Reid was "race baiting" when he compared their obstructionism on this issue to obstructionism on...

Glenn Beck is a serious loser, one of the worst people on the face of the planet. And I am trying hard to be diplomatic, because telling you what I really think would not be permitted on the pages of the Huffington Post.

This is a guy who called...

We are getting to that gritty grimy disgusting part of the legislative sausage making on health care where the fight is less about what shining principles we will achieve, and more about the best possible negotiating strategy for getting the best possible details in the bill. On a wide range...

The end game of any major legislative fight such as what we're going through on health care -- when the final deals are being cut on the inside, and the rumors are flying around like starlings -- is what I call the crazy season. It's a time that's generally very...

Coming off the disturbing news on Afghanistan, the relationship between the President and his progressive base is in a very tenuous place. Not to be overly dramatic, but I think we're at a crucial moment. The deal on health care is about to get done: will progressives come out of...

I am deeply saddened on so many different levels by the President's speech last night, and his Afghanistan policy in general. Steady escalation is not the answer to this godawful complicated mess. It's all well and good to keep making the argument as to why this is not another Vietnam,...

I am surprised, delighted, but mostly humbled to report the news that Air America is reporting that I am currently 3rd on their list of nominated bloggers going into their contest's Dec 3rd deadline for deciding which five bloggers make it into their final round for being selected. I...

Digby (taking numbers and quoting from Markos) had a great post over the weekend about the single most urgent topic facing Democrats going into the 2010 elections: the lack of enthusiasm by Democratic voters about voting next year. I have cited some polling and turnout statistics in the...

I don't want to get too gooshy as we go into the Thanksgiving holiday weekend by giving you all the stuff I'm thankful for, but it does seem like an appropriate moment to be a little more reflective than usual. The thing I want to focus on today is the...

One of the biggest differences between insiders and outsiders is this question: why can't they just get it done? And both sides of the divide have a point.

The single biggest complaint I hear by non-DC insiders is the sheer dysfunction of Washington. Whether it's Jon Stewart's very funny...

Each painful step, this health care keeps moving forward. As I've written, it is destined given the nature of this issue that every single step will be difficult as hell. Somehow, though, we keep making our way toward getting a bill done.

Harry Reid deserves the lion's share of...

Being into the whole history thing enough to have written a book on it, I tend to take a long view on the big policy battles we fight today. As I wrote the other day, no piece of legislation ever gets to perfection, and on plenty of them...

If you want to stop things from happening, or slow things down to the speed of molasses, being a U.S. Senator is the world's greatest job. And if your entire political party's complete strategy is to kill every single thing proposed, it's a hell of a deal. But ever so...

In January of 1998, the news about Monica Lewinsky exploded in the Washington media world. It was 24-7, and red hot intense. Within 72 hours, Republicans were calling for Clinton's resignation or impeachment, and some Democrats -- even some liberal ones like Paul Wellstone -- were on the verge of...

One of the most fundamental truisms of politics and policy is that old saying about democracy requiring eternal vigilance. In a political system like ours dominated by big money and the lobbyists that money hires, that is especially true, even in years when Democrats control both houses of Congress and...

I thought it might be useful to summarize the big battles ahead, as well as the list of things that are good policy changes that seem likely to be in the final legislation. The battles still ahead include:

1. The shape of the public option. The House public option, while...

I was at a retreat over the weekend with musicians and managers of musicians regarding how to best involve musicians in making social change. The organizer of the event asked me to do a brief overview of what public policy advocacy actually means, so I drew some lines on four...

For some perspective on the wisdom of the Democrats who are opposing health care reform, let's go the elections last Tuesday. New polling analysis from Greenberg Quinlan Rosner and Women's Voices Women's Vote is pretty powerful, and I recommend it to all the Democrats who voted no on...