Politics

An ominous e-mail has been causing quite a bit of confusion for voters recently. With an urgent warning to recipients, the e-mail claims that election officials have the right to turn away any voters wearing campaign paraphernalia to the polls. So what’s up? Can you rock that “Obama Mama” T-shirt to cast your vote on…

********** SOPHIA A. NELSON Gov. Palin, what is your experience working with civil rights groups, and the critical issues affecting African-Americans? ********** LENNY McALLISTER Sen. Biden, could you please explain some dichotomous statements that you and Sen. Obama have given about taxation, fairness, and unity within America? ********** STEPHEN A. CROCKETT JR. Gov. Palin, you’re…

Geraldine Ferraro was a far better qualified candidate than Sarah Palin. But the Alaska governor does have one thing in common with the first female vice presidential candidate for a major political party: the ability to tap into a noxious strain of populist resentment that has been one of the most powerfully corrosive forces in…

f nothing else, the sycophants genuflecting to the McCain-Palin presidential campaign are experts at creating diversions. When things go bad, they call out the troops to fill the airwaves with misdirection. Or they heave Hail Mary passes, hoping to connect with their easy-to-anger supporters. In fact, they’ll do just about anything except admit to the…

Noxubee County, Miss., occupies a special place in American political history. The abusive power of the county’s storied political machine isn’t so remarkable, nor is the fact that a corrupt black Democrat built it. Plenty of jurisdictions have, through the ages, boasted the same ugliness. Noxubee’s distinction is that this tiny, majority-black town is where…

The Obama campaign office in Hampton, Va., started buzzing the moment Hill Harper walked into the door. The cherub-faced actor and now political-activist worked the small storefront office on a recent Saturday, shaking every hand. He wore jeans and a t-shirt. As a semicircle formed around him, he pressed his palms together, prayer style, and thanked…

Not since the civil rights movement, when stars like Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte and Sammy Davis Jr. led marches and protest rallies, have so many black Hollywood denizens actively engaged in the political process. In his bid for the presidency, Barack Obama has engaged a new cadre of African-American celebrities, drawn to his campaign’s themes…

Sept. 29, 2008—The Sarah Palin Effect is over. Palin and McCain joined forces last week to make sure that no one took them very seriously, and they did every thing they could to help Obama open up a small but increasingly solid lead on McCain. With the Palin bump neutralized, Obama’s still nagging concern are…

Despite its failure in the House yesterday, a massive taxpayer-financed bailout of the nation’s various financial institutions remains a near certainty. Black taxpayers in particular, who have been disproportionately affected by the housing crisis, have reason to be anxious about how they will fare in the rescue scenario. If only numbers runners held the kind…

John Boehner wept. Roy Blunt fiddled. Nancy Pelosi lamented. And on a day when the stakes could not have been higher, or the situation graver, nothing worked in Washington. On one of the most chaotic and stunning days on Capitol Hill in recent memory, the 110th Congress rejected the $700 billion proposed bailout of troubled…