Sketching the campaign
By Jessica Hagy
Because that red-state, blue-state map is so 2004, here are some more up-to-date campaign infographics. Jessica Hagy is a cartoonist and writer living in the swinging state of Ohio.
» read morePosted on Sun, January 6, 2008
Iowa tips some sacred cows
By Mark Paul | Moonbats
Even before the first coffee was spilt or first vote taken in the cookie-filled front parlors of Iowa, “all the cool kids” in the blogosphere were “telling us that it's stupid and sucky and we shouldn't pay too much attention” to the Iowa caucuses.
» read morePosted on Fri, January 4, 2008
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This democracy's making me thirsty!
By Amy Z. Quinn | Confetti Betty
Depending on whether you're the glass-half-full or glass-half-empty type, the ongoing Hollywood writers strike has either been the best or worst thing to happen to the presidential primary candidates.
» read morePosted on Thu, January 3, 2008
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'Odds' on the Iowa caucuses?
By Joe Acton | Fade In
Country music, Renaissance men, bookies, and "Jesus take the wheel" — and give it to Las Vegas Vinnie.
» read morePosted on Wed, January 2, 2008
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Rives at Hallmark
By Rives
Political greeting cards? Alt.campaign blogger Rives goes behind the scenes at Hallmark to find out who writes them.
» read morePosted on Wed, December 26, 2007
Obama: Delusion or change agent?
By Mark Paul | Moonbats & Wingnuts
With the Iowa caucuses just days away, it's final exam time in the left blogosphere. Barack Obama has undeniable liberal credentials, but he's also upset liberal bloggers by echoing conservative talking points on Social Security and attacking proposals for an individual mandate to buy health insurance. Some are desperate for a Democratic candidate who will be as tough a partisan as George Bush.
» read morePosted on Fri, December 21, 2007
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The GOP's religious tangle
By Mark Paul | Moonbats & Wingnuts
If you believe, as Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee do, in carrying the big guns of religion and faith into the public square, you have to expect people will ask exactly what you're packing. As the two former governors run ahead of the Republican pack to grab Campaign 2008's first prize in Iowa next month, their religious beliefs and their fallout on the GOP are providing target practice in the blogosphere.
» read morePosted on Fri, December 14, 2007
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Mitt Romney takes the pledge
By Amy Z. Quinn | Confetti Betty
Yes, it's Mormon week out there in primary land, and Mitt Romney took The Pledge, declaring Jesus Christ his Lord and Savior and saying that freedom and religion can be, like, friends with benefits but can't actually be a couple-couple ... or something like that. Actually, what he said was that while the government can't, and he wouldn't, pre- or proscribe a specific denomination, everybody should get religion.
» read morePosted on Fri, December 7, 2007
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WELCOME TO ALT.CAMPAIGN
A poet? A screenplay with fictional endings? Pop culture?
What's all that doing alongside the REAL campaign coverage on a news site?
Well, it's amplifying, we hope. Illuminating. Invigorating.
The feature called "alt.campaign" is an alternative look at the presidential campaign. A world where YouTube and Swift Boats are crowding Tim Russert and George Will deserves some new points of view. When one of the top stories from the real campaign is about an Obama Girl who doesn't have a thing to do with the Obama campaign, you might as well ask a screenwriter to spin out some alternative endings now and then.
We're asking a handful of high-quality observers to make some non-traditional observations for you as this campaign unfolds. Your ideas, reactions, suggestions and opinions are solicited. Help Joe find an angle that needs coverage in our campaign screenplay. Whisper campaign secrets in Amy's always-eager ear. Send us your own video coverage of campaign events, or your own commentary about the unfolding pageant of democracy.
And welcome to alt.campaign.
ABOUT JESSICA HAGY
Jessica Hagy is a cartoonist and writer living in the swinging state of Ohio. At indexed.blogspot.com, she posts charts, graphs, and Venn diagrams drawn on index cards that the make fun of some subjects and sense of others. Her first book will be relased by Penguin's Viking Studio in February. E-mail: jhagy@yahoo.com
ABOUT JOE ACTON
Joe Acton was born and raised in Alaska with a typical upbringing: dodging earthquakes, fishing commercially, flying airplanes, and spending most winters trying to figure how to get the hell out (what, like on "Career Day" they couldn't have mentioned the other 48 states?). Law school finally got him out and the easy weather in Seattle kept him out. Now Zaydoe Films keeps him busy as a writer and director. E-mail: jacton@mcclatchydc.com
ABOUT MARK PAUL
Mark Paul, Senior Scholar at the New America Foundation, caught the political bug early — his first summer job at 15 was with the campaign of a Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Wisconsin — and he has stayed hooked through his career as a journalist, historian, and policy wonk. Formerly a deputy editorial page editor and columnist for the Sacramento Bee, he has served as Deputy Treasurer of the State of California and policy director for the 2006 gubernatorial campaign of Phil Angelides, a Democrat. He lives and writes in Sacramento, Calif. E-mail: mpaul@mcclatchydc.com
ABOUT AMY Z. QUINN
Amy Z. Quinn started out as a "real" journalist, working as an award-winning reporter, editorial writer and columnist for the Asbury Park Press and the Philadelphia Inquirer, before realizing that life as a stay-at-home mom offered better material for about the same pay. Since 2004, she's blogged at her own site, Citizen Mom, and also writes and edits at Phawker.com. She writes from her home in the Philadelphia suburbs.
ABOUT RIVES
Rives is part poet, part storyteller, and all maverick. He favors wordplay, romance, jokes you can't remember, and anecdotes that don't suck. He has appeared on the last four seasons of "HBO's Def Poetry Jam," and he was the 2004 National Poetry Slam champion. Originally trained as a "paper engineer," Rives has designed and written several pop-up books for children. Visit his Web site at Shopliftwindchimes.com.
