Moammar Gaddafi, President Obama and the 2012 election
The reported death of deposed Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi will be touted by Democrats as another foreign policy success story for President Obama but seems unlikely to seriously affect his political fortunes heading into a 2012 campaign still laser-focused on the struggling U.S. economy.
Reports of Gaddafi’s passing in an apparent attempt to flee his hometown of Sirte — sill unconfirmed by U.S. sources -- come just days after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Libya and expressed hope that he would be either captured or killed. It’s been nearly eight months since President Obama authorized military intervention in Libya, an involvement that led to Gaddafi’s removal from power.
Is the flat tax Rick Perry’s political silver bullet?
Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s planned embrace of a flat tax proposal to address the nation’s ongoing economic woes amounts to a major political gamble on which the fate of his presidential bid could rest.
While Perry won’t offer specifics on the plan until next week, a survey of senior Republican party operatives suggests that the Texas governor might well have stumbled onto a bit of political gold.
Afternoon Fix: Obama says gray hair just genetic
Pressure isn’t making Obama go gray, Chuck Grassley isn’t endorsing, John Sununu is endorsing — and soon.
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Rick Perry and what he means by a ‘flat tax:’ An explainer
In a speech next week, Texas Gov. Rick Perry plans to call for a “flat tax.” The presidential candidate said Wednesday that his plan would be “flatter and fairer” than the ones proposed by his rivals.
Perry clearly felt the need to respond to former Godfather Pizza CEO Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan with a bold tax proposal of his own. But a flat tax, an idea kicking around for years, is unlikely to see the light of day.
Mitt Romney’s one-word problem
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is generally regarded by Republicans as their most likely standard-bearer against President Obama in 2012.
And yet, Romney’s frontrunner status belies the fact that real doubts remain within the GOP primary electorate about him.
Nowhere are those lingering questions more starkly on display than in a new Washington Post-Pew Research Center poll that asked respondents to pick a single word to describe each of the leading Republican candidates for president.
Perry’s attack on Romney for landscaping by illegal immigrants will likely fizzle
In Tuesday night’s Las Vegas debate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry answered a question about uninsured children in his state by attacking former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney for once having undocumented immigrants at work on his lawn.
“And Mitt, you lose all of your standing, from my perspective, because you hired illegals in your home and you knew about it for a year,” Perry said, in a total non-sequiter.
Big-thinking Gingrich finds himself by focusing on the big picture
Don’t call it a comeback, but Newt Gingrich is finding his niche as the debate season wears on. And it’s in a role he’s most comfortable with: elder statesman/lecturer.
As Texas Gov. Rick Perry stumbled in the last few debates and the rest of the GOP presidential field began attacking each other — climaxing with the battle royale on stage Tuesday night — Gingrich has quietly turned in some solid showings by playing the role of big-picture thinker that he has built his political career on.
Republican debate: The Caption Contest!
A picture is worth a thousand words — but which words? That’s what we want from you.
Offer your best caption for the photo below in the comments section or on the PostPolitics Facebook page. The winner — as judged by yours truly — gets an official Fix t-shirt and the adulation of political junkies everywhere.
(AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
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Republican debate: What we learned in Las Vegas
In an attempt to stave off debate withdrawal — there won’t be another one until, gasp, November 9 — we spent the morning sifting through last night’s rock ‘em, sock ‘em affair in Las Vegas in search of lessons learned.
(RICHARD BRIAN - REUTERS)
Our thoughts are below. Have some of your own? Offer them in the comments section.
Mitt Romney no longer the Teflon candidate
It was Fight Night in Las Vegas on Tuesday, and for arguably the first time this year, Mitt Romney took some body blows.
Romney generally acquitted himself well and even got in some jabs of his own at Tuesday’s CNN debate in Nevada, but the totality of the attacks left their mark on a candidate who has been more the Teflon candidate than a punching bag early in the 2012 campaign.
Herman Cain could be haunted by hostage question from Las Vegas Republican debate
Foreign policy has never been Herman Cain’s strong suit. But his response in the Las Vegas debate on the possibility of exchanging a soldier for Guantanamo Bay prisoners can’t be good for the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO.
Not only did Cain contradict himself, he was forced to admit that he made a mistake and did not understand a question.
Blog Contributors
Chris Cillizza
writes “The Fix”, a politics blog for the Washington Post. He also covers the White House for the newspaper and website. Chris has appeared as a guest on NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, Fox News Channel and CNN to talk politics. He lives in Virginia with his wife and son.
Aaron Blake
Aaron Blake covers national politics at the Washington Post, where he writes regularly for the Fix, the Post’s top political blog. A Minnesota native and summa cum laude graduate of the University of Minnesota, Aaron has also written about politics for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and The Hill newspaper. Aaron and his wife, Danielle, live in Annandale, Va.
Rachel Weiner
Rachel Weiner came to the Washington Post in 2010 as a web editor. After running PostPolitics for a year, she moved to The Fix, where she is a deputy blogger.
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