Mark Shields's blog

The Robert Novak I know

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 16:58:29 -0400

When people learn that for nearly 40 years — including more than 17 spent disagreeing, often heatedly, with him on CNN’s weekly “Capital Gang” — that columnist Robert Novak has been my good friend, they often shake their heads in disbelief.

Nobody asked me, but ...

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:54:43 -0400

Let me express my appreciation to the late and legendary sportswriter Jimmy Cannon, who occasionally wrote a column filled with witty one-liners and random insights, which he called “Nobody Asked Me, But ...”

Obama — Just another politician

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:45:31 -0400

Barack Obama made history this week. He announced he will become the first major-party presidential nominee since Richard M. Nixon in 1972 to fund his general election campaign solely by private contributions.

The last Tough Liberal

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:08:35 -0400

It was the biggest night of the young presidential candidate’s campaign. In the South Dakota primary, he had trounced that state’s native son, the sitting vice president, while in California he had just defeated the Minnesota senator who, one week earlier in Oregon, had inflicted his first-ever election defeat.

Obama’s task: Define who he really is

Tue, 20 May 2008 17:12:54 -0400

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. — As his delegate lead over New York Sen. Hillary Clinton expands with every news cycle, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama remains the overwhelming favorite to win the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. But Obama and his legions of zealous supporters would be well-advised to keep the champagne on ice and uncorked.

One solution to the Florida-Michigan dilemma

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:01:35 -0400

In a burst of clear thinking, the national Democratic Party in 2007 permitted just four states — New Hampshire, Iowa, Nevada and South Carolina — to hold their presidential nominating contests before Feb. 5, 2008.

The race up to now ...

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 15:32:39 -0500

What sauce do you eat with crow? That’s the question asked by yours truly and an unhealthy majority of my fellow travelers on the press bus who could not resist speculating the fallout from Hillary Clinton’s losing the Texas or Ohio primary.

Huckabee poised to become leading evangelical politician

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 17:49:54 -0500

Most people who run for president, by definition, lose. And most of those unsuccessful candidates depart the presidential contest with their reputations and their influence diminished.

The political story up to now

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:32:55 -0500

Manchester, N.H. — Les Biffle remains the most legendary American “pollster” whose name nobody knows. During the 1948 presidential campaign — when literally all the Wise Men of the press corps (there were among the press no acknowledged Wise Women in 1948) had, long before a single vote was cast, named Republican Thomas E. Dewey the winner over Democratic President Harry Truman — Democratic operative Biffle, disguising himself as a butter and egg salesman, traveled throughout the Midwest. Listening only to ordinary voters, he turned out to be the only semi-public figure to correctly predict the historic Truman upset victory.

Message from Philadelphia: Don’t count Hillary out

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:43:59 -0500

Philadelphia — The last six weeks have not been Hillary Clinton’s best. Ever since her first bad debate performance of 2007 in this city in late October, she has spent most of the time on the defensive — forced to answer questions about her own positions, her husband’s statements and her campaign’s tactics. She has seen her lead in national polls shrink and in some Iowa surveys disappear completely.

Gloomy Gus Republicans

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 17:26:27 -0500

Richmond, Va. — Here in the onetime capital city of the Confederacy, a city I once flippantly referred to as “a hotbed of social rest,” a dozen solidly Republican voters spent more than two hours on a recent Thursday night pessimistically assessing their party and their children’s future in a session moderated by pollster Peter Hart for the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.

Be smart, save time — ignore the polls

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 10:40:43 -0500

“Do you ever get the feeling that the only reason we have elections is to find out if the polls were right?” asked humorist Bob Orben.

“Macro” VP choice — Will 2008 Democrats dare?

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 12:53:20 -0400

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Every presidential nominee in choosing his (or her) vice presidential running mate follows either micro-politics or macro-politics.

Americans don’t promote senators to the White House

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 20:02:15 -0400

As Professor Robert Schmuhl reminds us, since 1952, seven of the 14 presidential elections have been won by sitting presidents or by the incumbent vice president (George H.W. Bush), and in the other seven, the winners included: a former general (Dwight Eisenhower), a former vice president (Richard Nixon), two former governors (Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan), two sitting governors (Bill Clinton and George W. Bush) and only one sitting senator (John F. Kennedy).

In Washington, an unexpected sighting of ... loyalty

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 11:56:38 -0400

As a general rule, candidate endorsements in political campaigns are both over-reported and overrated.

Think about it: When was the last time you, or anybody either of us knows, said, “I fully intended to vote for John Kerry for president until my lieutenant governor endorsed George W. Bush and made me change my mind.”