Good morning, it’s February 28, 2020. On this date in 1827, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad became the first railway chartered in the United States. At a time when Baltimore was the nation’s second-largest city, its backers hoped to compete with New York merchants for western trade at a time when “the West” meant the Ohio Valley. Only two years […]

After Big Nevada Win, Sanders Claims “Uniter” Mantel. Susan Crabtree reports on the campaign’s euphoria — and the party establishment’s unease.  RNC’s Record January Haul Dwarfs Dems’ Total. Phil Wegmann has the story.  Reforming the Impeachment Process. Frank Miele shares ideas about how justice, and the American public, could be better served.  Will America Elect a Jewish President? With Bernie Sanders and Michael Bloomberg vying for the Oval Office, Myra Adams explores a longstanding […]

Good morning. It’s Monday, Feb. 24, 2020. It’s now apparent, if it wasn’t previously, that the Democratic Party has a clear front–runner for the 2020 presidential nomination. His name is Bernard Sanders, though he’s answered to “Bernie” since he went into politics in the 1970s. Until about five years ago, however, if you called him a “Democrat” he would correct you.  The “democratic socialist” who attracted the most votes in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada — by increasingly large margins — was born in […]

Good morning, it’s February 23, 2020. Seventy-five years ago today, the U.S. Marines raised the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi on the Pacific island of Iwo Jima. Captured on film by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal, the image became an instant classic that helped buck up a war-weary nation. It is still an iconic symbol of the war in the […]

Bloomberg’s High-Stakes Debut Is a Bust. Susan Crabtree has this analysis of last night’s debate. Minnesota Nice Gets Nasty: Klobuchar Snaps at Buttigieg. Phil Wegmann recaps the Las Vegas sideshow. Bloomberg Survives His First Debate But Falls Off a Tractor. Charles Lipson writes that the newcomer to the race exposed his vulnerabilities as a candidate, particularly his lack of a […]

Good morning. It’s Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020. That was some debate in Nevada last night — and when television cameras are involved, what happens in Vegas definitely doesn’t stay in Vegas. I was up too late watching and up too early this morning editing, so I’ve reached into the vault to reprise a topic I’ve written about before — the […]

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020. This morning we have a thoughtful review of a new book by a refreshingly nonpartisan political voice. The review is by Morton Kondracke, a shining light in American journalism for more than 50 years. The uplifting voice belongs to Neal Simon, who ran for a Senate seat in Maryland in 2018 as an […]

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2020. Despite its obvious flaws, the two-party system has proved enduring in this country. So has a latent desire among the electorate for more options. But despite the obvious vacuum, which is particularly acute today, third (or fourth) political parties don’t tend to arise from the ideological center. The passion that it takes to […]

Good morning, it’s February 16, 2018. Nine years ago today, a modern version of the Boston Tea Party emerged in U.S. politics. It took place in Seattle, not at Boston Harbor, and although it didn’t have anything to do with tea or British trade tariffs, it certainly concerned taxation. Taxes have long been a touchstone for fiscal conservatives in America, […]

Good morning, it’s February 15, 2020. Eighty-five years ago today, President-elect Franklin Roosevelt survived an assassination attempt in South Florida that claimed the life of Chicago Mayor Anton J. Cermak. Also on this date, in 1898, the USS Maine exploded in Havana harbor, killing 268 sailors and Marines among its crew of 350. The ship had been sent to project […]

Good morning, it’s February 14, 2020. At 12:15 p.m. on this date in 1983, a crewman on the Neptune Jade, a 750-foot freighter on its way to Asia, noticed a blip on his radar screen. It signified the presence of another vessel 24 nautical miles away, which wasn’t unusual in that busy Bering Sea shipping lane. Except for one thing: […]

Good morning, it’s Monday, February 12, 2018 — the birthdate of perhaps our greatest president. “I was born Feb. 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky,” Abraham Lincoln wrote to Jesse W. Fell in December of 1859. “My parents were both born in Virginia, of undistinguished families — second families, perhaps I should say,” Lincoln continued. “My mother, who died in […]

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020. Well, that was weird. When did Iowa become Florida? Wait, I take that back. The sheer ineptitude of Iowa’s Democratic Party makes the most feckless Florida election official look like a Swiss banker. The winner in Iowa was apparently Bernie Sanders, with Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren showing strength, and Joe Biden the […]

Good morning, it’s Tuesday, February 4, 2020. On this date 230 years ago, George Washington was chosen as the first president of the United States. The vote was unanimous, an electoral result that we can safely assume will never be replicated. After leading the Continental Army to victory in the Revolutionary War, George Washington hoped for nothing more than living […]

Good morning, it’s January 30, 2020. The frigid temperatures that have blasted the Midwest are descending on the East Coast today. We used to call this a “cold snap.” Now the media is full of explanations about the “polar vortex,” which certainly sounds more ominous. In the San Francisco Bay Area, where Fred T. Korematsu and I both grew up, […]

Good morning, it’s January 30, 2020. This is the birth date of one of America’s most beloved presidents. Franklin Roosevelt, now immortalized with an extensive monument near the National Mall, would have been 136 years old today. Monuments can be tricky things, however. Like old photographs — and even literary classics or our favorite Hollywood movies — they are works […]

Good morning, it’s January 29, 2020. In December 2018, I interviewed two members of Congress — one Republican, one Democrat – who’d made a point of sitting together during President Obama’s State of the Union address. The bipartisan seating arrangements were recommended by the good-government group No Labels. If this gesture seems dated only half a decade later, a point […]

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020. On this date 112 years ago, Julia Ward Howe became the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She was a fitting member: If not for her there might not have been an American Academy of Arts and Letters — or, rather, there might be two, one North and one South. […]

Good morning. It’s Monday, Jan. 27, 2020. A week from today, Democrats in Iowa will brave the winter weather to cast the first votes in the presidential nominating process. As I mentioned in Friday’s Morning Note, my first presidential campaign — and first reporting trip to Iowa — was 36 years ago this month. A young regional reporter from California, […]

Good morning, it’s  January 23, 2020. Today’s date in history serves as a reminder that, to many people, “America First” is not merely an expression of pride in the Unites States and its accomplishments. The phrase also has another, more sinister, historic connotation that its supporters would be wise to contemplate. One American hero learned this lesson the hard way. […]