Daily Clips

Democrats take the offensive in culture wars After a generation of campaigns in which Republicans exploited wedge issues to win close elections, Democrats are now on the offensive in the culture wars. Democrats see social issues as potent for the same reasons Republicans once did, using them as a tool to both stoke concerns among moderate…

This is what’s truly at stake in the battle for Senate control Arguably the most significant consequence of a Republican Senate takeover in 2014 is absent from the campaign trail, and hardly registers in any polls asking Americans what their top election issues are. It’s not Obamacare. It’s not taxes or spending or immigration. It’s not…

The inflation cult: They’re always wrong, yet they persist Wish I’d said that! Earlier this week, Jesse Eisinger of ProPublica, writing on the Times’ DealBook blog, compared people who keep predicting runaway inflation to “true believers whose faith in a predicted apocalypse persists even after it fails to materialize.” Indeed. Economic forecasters are often wrong. Me, too! If economists…

Kansas election: GOP scrambles to save Pat Roberts The GOP’s political machine is kicking into overdrive to save a Senate seat in Kansas that’s suddenly complicating its path to the majority. With polls showing Sen. Pat Roberts in serious trouble against independent Greg Orman, top Senate Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Sen….

Democrats can win on Social Security—by fighting to increase it A new poll confirms that voters don’t just want their Social Security benefits protected, they want them expanded—in overwhelming numbers, across geographical distances, and crossing all party lines. It’s not just “liberals” who feel that way. Three out of four Republican voters support it. What’s more, voters say they’re…

Cities reject group’s push for ‘right-to-work’ A right-wing group’s attempt to impose anti-union “right-to-work” collective bargaining restrictions on city governments in Washington state suffered a major setback Monday as its propositions were deemed illegal by city officials in both Sequim and Shelton. Dozens of angry citizens crowded into the cities’ council meetings to decry the measures…