Sam Brownback | The New York Observer

Surging McCain Rolls Out the Testimonials in Iowa

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 09:40:07 -0500

URBANDALE, Iowa—Buoyed by a spate of favorable opinion polls and a palpable buzz around his candidacy, Senator John McCain returned to Iowa last night and brought three other senators along for the ride.

Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Sam Brownback of Kansas—who endorsed Mr. McCain after abandoning his own run for the presidency—and John Thune of South Dakota joined the Arizona senator for an event at his state headquarters in this Des Moines suburb.

Mr. McCain...

Next Up for the 2008 Republicans ...

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 22:22:32 -0400

Sam Brownback quit the Republican presidential race on Thursday, prompting a wave of speculation—perhaps the best press he earned all year?—about which of his foes he might throw his support to.

But that guessing game assumes that Mr. Brownback, who in polls was statistically indistinguishable from Duncan Hunter, had any meaningful support in the first place. Chances are his endorsement, if he ultimately offers one, will carry about as much weight as Al Haig’s...

In First G.O.P. Debate, Thompson Blows It

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 20:00:11 -0400

At the tail end of this afternoon’s Republican presidential debate, CNBC’s Maria “The Money Honey” Bartiromo asked Fred Thompson how his first appearance on-stage with the rest of the G.O.P. field had gone.

“I’ve enjoyed watching these fellas,” he finally managed, after stumbling for something sufficiently light-hearted to sat, “But I gotta admit: it was starting to get a little boring without me.”

Actually, Fred, it was much, much worse with you.

It almost feels like piling...

Again, Mike Huckabee Makes the Most of a Debate

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 00:55:56 -0400

Understandably, the chatter this week has been about which candidates will be most hurt by Fred Thompson’s just-announced candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.

But on the eve of his declaration on Sept. 6, there was more evidence that the biggest x-factor in the G.O.P. race is not from Tennessee. The eight non-Thompson candidates debated in New Hampshire—and this time there actually were verbal confrontations that justified the use of the term “debate”—and it...

Slick Willard: Romney Shuffles Through Des Moines Debate

Sun, 05 Aug 2007 12:05:03 -0400

Mitt Romney is proving true the old adage about public speaking—that what you say matters less than how you say it.

The former Massachusetts Governor was at it again on the morning of Sunday, Aug. 5, when, hours after a new Washington Post poll confirmed his front-running position in Iowa, the nine Republican presidential candidates met for a nationally-televised forum in Des Moines—their final gathering before next Saturday’s straw poll in Ames, which...

A Day of Reckoning for Republican Minnows

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 23:32:16 -0400

Thank God for the Ames Republican Presidential Straw Poll. It’s probably not the healthiest expression of democracy – the right to vote costs 25 bucks, with campaigns typically gobbling up chunks of tickets and handing them out to participants who might not be anywhere near Iowa come next January’s caucuses – but it sure gets the job done. After the last competitive straw poll, in the summer of 1999, three candidates were forced from...

Grits For the Mill

Tue, 26 Dec 2006 06:10:52 -0500

Via the miracle of fiber optics, the Politicker is coming to you today from the relatively balmy state of South Carolina, the locale of this politicker's birth. The big news here today is the death of another native son, James Brown--the story takes up the entire front page of the local newspaper, The State. However, as most Politicker readers no doubt know, the Palmetto State's main distinction when it comes to national politics is...

Gay-Marriage Opponents Distort Moynihan's Views

Sun, 25 Jul 2004 20:00:00 -0400

Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan's widow, Elizabeth, was puzzled

to learn that her husband's name had been cited in the Senate debate over gay marriage. Republican Senators Sam Brownback of Kansas and John Cornyn of Texas are the New Yorker's unlikely new acolytes. "Senator Moynihan also wrote that 'the principle objective of American government at every level should be to see that children are born into intact families and that they remain so,'" Mr. Brownback said on July 12, explaining his...