The New York Observer » Steve Kornacki

Expect the Expected

It’s too much to say that we all should have seen last week’s Republican upset in Massachusetts coming. Not even the Republicans themselves thought they had a chance in the special election to fill Ted Kennedy’s seat until about 10 days out.But we should have known, long before the polls showed a last-minute surge of Read More

Yes, It Would Be Different for a Republican

For once, Michael Steele is absolutely right: If Mitch McConnell, the Senate’s Republican leader, had described Barack Obama as a “light-skinned” man “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one,” he absolutely would be under fierce pressure from black leaders and Democrats to step down.

But Mitch McConnell didn’t say that. Harry Reid did. Read More

Ford’s Impossible Dream

The notion of a Harold Ford Jr. Senate campaign in New York this year—which took on new life when The New York Times reported on Tuesday night that the former Tennessee congressman is actively considering the race—smells a little of career desperation and a lot of misguided political calculation.

On one level, you have to feel Read More

Dodd Exits, Gracefully

From a political standpoint, Chris Dodd’s decision to end his bid for a sixth Senate term makes plenty of sense: His poll numbers were brutal and they weren’t changing and defeat next fall—whether to Rob Simmons or Linda McMahon, the two Republicans vying for his seat—was certain. By getting out now, he spares himself the Read More

Obstruct Now, Pay Later

Understandably, countless parallels have been drawn between Barack Obama's push for health care reform and the effort undertaken by Bill Clinton 15 years ago.

But when it comes to gauging the political impact of the legislation that Obama now seems poised to sign early next year, the more apt comparison is to the budget that Read More

Thanks a Lot, Rudy

We won't have Rudy Giuliani to kick around anymore. Well, that's not entirely true. He'll still pop up on the Sunday shows occasionally (and Fox News, too - of course) to calmly and rationally discuss his concerns about President Obama's refusal to use the word "war" in every sentence. But as far as another Giuliani Read More

Bob Menendez, Into the Wind

On the topic of his party's chances in next year's elections, Robert Menendez is a study in resolute optimism.

Not that he has much choice. Mr. Menendez, New Jersey's junior senator, chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which recruits and provides financial and political support for the party's U.S. Senate candidates. Optimism is part of the Read More

Time for The Lieberman Rule

Just three months ago, Joe Lieberman explained his opposition to a public health insurance option by telling a Connecticut newspaper that he instead favored expanding Medicare—a less cumbersome, more affordable way to extend coverage to some Americans, he claimed.

"If you're 55 or 60 and you're without health insurance and you go in to Read More

Obama’s Long View on the Health Care Bill

President Obama's just-get-me-a-bill-dammit approach to health care reform is rooted in the calculation that a signing ceremony would be a major political winner for the White House in the 2010 elections.

In his latest "60 Minutes" sit-down on Sunday night, the president offered a preview of the triumphant spin we can expect if he is able Read More

Spitzer? Already?

He remains so radioactive that a candidate in the Democratic primary for Manhattan district attorney was forced to cancel a fundraiser with him this summer. So, naturally, Eliot Spitzer is thinking … political comeback.

Well, at least according to Thursday's New York Post, which has Spitzer—who lasted half as long as a governor Read More

That Grand Health Care Compromise? Jerry Nadler Has His Doubts

All year, the biggest fault line in the health care debate has been the public option—a proposed government-run insurance plan that Americans without access to group coverage would be eligible to sign up for.

To liberals, it has been the reason for doing health care reform, an innovative tool that will break up private insurers’ monopolies Read More

Lieberman: Enough Already?

Mention Joe Lieberman's name to a Democratic activist these days and you'll probably hear some variation of the question: This is what we get for letting him keep his chairmanship? It was last November, you'll remember, that Senate Democrats opted to hand Lieberman—who had just spent nearly a year championing John McCain's White House bid Read More

The Elephants and the Ants

Republicans in New York will have something in 2010 that they've lacked for years: a real opportunity to win. What they don't have are candidates.

There's been talk for at least a year now that Rudy Giuliani or George Pataki (or both) might run for statewide office next year.

In the right race, either of Read More

The Kennedy Seat and the Coakley Era

Tomorrow night, we'll learn the identity of Ted Kennedy's successor in the U.S. Senate. Or, actually, we'll learn the identity of his successor's successor.

Eager to provide the White House with a 60th vote for health care this fall, the overwhelmingly Democratic Massachusetts legislature voted to change the state's succession law just after Kennedy's death Read More

McCain’s Balancing Act

These days, there are three John McCains.

One is the pride-driven defeated presidential candidate who hopes Americans will compare him to President Obama and realize the error of their ways. Another is a true-believer neoconservative, dedicated to using his Senate perch to push for aggressive military efforts in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. And then there’s the Read More