Political Crumbs
By Eric Ostermeier on May 16, 2012
The last election cycle saw five ex-governors attempt to win back their old jobs, with success stories in California (Jerry Brown), Iowa (Terry Branstad), and Oregon (John Kitzhaber). But in 1904, the State of Wisconsin saw three governors on the general election ballot: two-term Republican incumbent Robert La Follette, former...
By Eric Ostermeier on May 9, 2012
More than 50,000 North Carolina residents who voted in the Tuesday's Republican presidential primary opted for 'no preference' on their ballot, or 5.2 percent. That marks the second highest percentage of those who have done so in the 40 years of the modern primary era, behind the 9.8 percent who...
By Eric Ostermeier on May 2, 2012
It has been 16 years since the last member of a presidential cabinet died in office - the sixth longest stretch in the nation's history. Overall, 15 cabinet members have died in office including three Secretaries of State, two Attorneys General, two Postmasters General, two Secretaries of the Navy, two...
By Eric Ostermeier on April 17, 2012
As electoral map gurus put forth their latest projections, here is one tidbit to consider: the major party nominee from the most populous home state has won nearly twice as many presidential elections in U.S. history (32) as the nominee with the smaller home state population (17). (On four occasions...
By Eric Ostermeier on April 11, 2012
With many congressional retirements already announced and more incumbents likely to be unseated this fall, get ready to scratch several dozen new names onto the list of individuals to have served as U.S. Representatives next January. More than 10,700 individuals have served as representatives since 1789, with two states tallying...
By Eric Ostermeier on April 5, 2012
Exit polls found Mitt Romney winning over several key demographic groups in his defeat of Rick Santorum in the Wisconsin primary Tuesday, and they can perhaps best be summed up as follows: he dominated in the state's biggest Republican strongholds. John McCain carried 13 of Wisconsin's 72 counties in the...
By Eric Ostermeier on March 11, 2012
While Barack Obama may be pulling for a Rick Santorum long-shot bid on the Republican side of the presidential ticket, it is unlikely any underdogs will make it on the president's Final Four bracket in the men's college basketball tournament. Obama has played it safe through his first three brackets...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 8, 2012
Although he served on Capitol Hill for four years in the U.S. House and 12 years in the U.S. Senate through 2006, Rick Santorum - like his former colleague Newt Gingrich - isn't exactly having a difficult time keeping track of his endorsements from current members of Congress. As of...
By Eric Ostermeier on January 25, 2012
In addition to his wife and a few governmental officials, an additional 19 non-governmental guests sat in the First Lady's box during the president's State of the Union address Tuesday evening. Interestingly, 17 of these 19 individuals - some of which were referenced in the president's address - come from...
By Eric Ostermeier on January 11, 2012
Mitt Romney's strongest three counties in the 2012 GOP New Hampshire primary were his three strongest in 2008: Rockingham (#1 in both cycles), Carroll (#3 in '08, #2 in '12), and Hillsborough (#2 in '08 and #3 in '12). Rockingham and Hillsborough (both bordering Massachusetts on the south), were the...
By Eric Ostermeier on December 15, 2011
Although he has somewhat slowed down the use of his favorite verbal tics from 10 per debate to four, Texas Governor Rick Perry is still far and away the clubhouse leader in the GOP presidential debates when it comes to using clichés. Through the nine debates since Perry first took...
By Eric Ostermeier on November 21, 2011
While there certainly have been memorable moments in the last two Republican presidential debates, those who have followed the eight GOP candidates in their nationally televised performances over the last few months may have noticed something was missing: there were only three candidate-on-candidate attacks launched in both the Michigan and...
By Eric Ostermeier on November 8, 2011
Over the last 100 years there have been 189 appointments made to the U.S. Senate to fill vacancies created for a variety of reasons such as retirement, death, or resignations to become president or vice-president. Kentucky leads the way with the most such appointments since the introduction of direct elections...
By Eric Ostermeier on October 20, 2011
As the Republican presidential field jockeys not only for positioning heading into the home stretch before the primary season but also attempts to pad their campaign coffers for that run, you might catch them crack a smile on Wednesdays. A Smart Politics review of the tens of millions of dollars...
By Eric Ostermeier on October 4, 2011
As the political world holds its breath waiting for a final, final answer from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on his 2012 plans, one thing is for certain: if he is going to announce his candidacy in the coming week, he won't do it on a Sunday. Of the 10...
By Eric Ostermeier on September 22, 2011
U.S. Representative Thaddeus McCotter's decision to run for president - and then end his campaign less than three months later - ought not to derail his ability to win a sixth term from Michigan's 11th Congressional District in 2012 if history is any indication. Of the two dozen U.S. Representatives...
By Eric Ostermeier on August 31, 2011
In less than two weeks, Nevada will hold its first special election to the U.S. House in state history, with 2nd Congressional District residents voting to fill the seat vacated by Republican Dean Heller who was appointed to the U.S. Senate after the resignation of scandal-plagued GOPer John Ensign. Over...
By Eric Ostermeier on August 18, 2011
Although he has been (famously) ignored by much of the media during the 2012 election cycle (vis-à-vis his relative standing in the GOP field), Texas congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul is polling at approximately 10 percent in the race for the GOP nomination. That represents a monumental uptick from...
By Eric Ostermeier on August 2, 2011
Although nearly 60 percent of Republicans in the U.S. Senate supported the deficit- and debt-reduction deal on Tuesday, there was one glaring splinter in its caucus. Of the 13 Republican Senators that began their terms this year, nine voted against the proposal and just four supported it (69 percent opposition)....
By Eric Ostermeier on July 18, 2011
The Nebraska Cornhuskers have a 39-6 (.867) record against current Big 10 teams since 1962, with 11 victories and only one loss since 1985 (a 40-7 blowout suffered at Penn State in 2002).
