September 15, 2008 • Vol. 14, No. 1 Download Now! (pdf)

 

EDITORIAL
Thanks, Guys
by William Kristol

SCRAPBOOK
Sarah Palin's Foreign Policy Team

ARTICLES
McCain Finds the Right Wingman
by Stephen F. Hayes

A Party of Mavericks
by Fred Barnes

Axis of Honor
by Noemie Emery

Punishing Russia
by Gary Schmitt

Biden's One Accomplishment
by Eli Lehrer

Tax Cuts, Real and Imaginary
by Newt Gingrich & Peter Ferrara

FEATURES
Game Changer
by Jessica Gavora

Among the Paultards
by Matt Labash

Why They Hate Her
by Jeffrey Bell

BOOKS & ARTS
Who Gets In
by Peter Skerry

Alien Nation
by Shawn Macomber

Founders Afloat
by Joseph F. Callo

Poet of Reason
by Wyatt Prunty

Dearly Beloved
by Erin Montgomery

CASUAL
Down in the Boondocks
by Philip Terzian

CORRESPONDENCE
Campaign finance and more

PARODY
'US Weekly' Salutes Stalin


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DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee Meeting Preview

Alicia Kolar Prevost, who writes for the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies blog, notes that 366 Democratic delegates could be at stake tomorrow as the Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee (RBC) meets to decide the fate of the Michigan and Florida delegations. That’s more delegates than the states of Pennsylvania and Ohio have combined. The RBC will meet at the Wardman Park Marriot Hotel. Here is the agenda for the meeting. This Politico piece describes the background on the controversy, as well as some of the potential solutions.

Prevost, who is also a DNC volunteer, has some good insights into the inner workings of the arcane world of national political committee processes:

The Clinton-Obama breakdown on the 30-member committee is 13 Clinton, 8 Obama, and 9 uncommitted. There is also one committee member from Michigan (Mark Brewer, the State Party Chair, uncommitted) and one from Florida (Alan Katz, Obama supporter), who may not be able to vote on the fate of their own state delegations, but even they could vote we should expect they will support fully restoring the delegates (consistent with the Clinton position, even though Katz publicly supports Obama). So the number in favor of the Clinton position could be as high as 15 votes, and Obama's support as low as 7.

But even though Clinton has an advantage, I wouldn't expect to see members' votes guided only by their candidate preference. In addition to their publicly-expressed candidate loyalties, these committee members--many of whom helped write the delegate selection rules and are guided by decades of experience in presidential nominations--will be guided by their commitment to the party's chances of winning in November, and also with an eye towards the 2012 nomination process.

She also links to this timely analysis at Democratic Convention Watch that discusses several outcomes and how they will impact the pledged delegate count. And for those of you looking for a good excuse not to mow the lawn on Saturday, Prevost notes that the proceeding will be covered by C-SPAN and maybe CNN or MSNBC. Can’t wait!

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