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Those were followed by exclusive access to the Inside Elections newsletter, the Ballot Access News newsletter and the serialization of a new book, Spitball: The New Rules of Our Broken Politics.
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I joined Charlie Sykes on the Bulwark Podcast to discuss the recent arrest of Julian Assange, the indictment of Michael Avenatti, how Florida and “Medicare for All” is going to factor into the 2020 Democratic primary.
I’m very excited to announce a new project.
Over the last twenty years of producing Political Wire, I’ve had a front row seat to American politics and how it’s changed over time. From Bill Clinton’s impeachment to the rise of Donald Trump, I’ve pushed out the stories for more than two decades I thought were important in understanding the day’s political news. At the same time, it’s always been done under the umbrella of this website—meaning I’ve always had the analytics and reader feedback to tell what exactly was garnering the most attention and why.
In other words, I’ve been lucky to see how the rules of our politics have been changing in as close to real-time as possible. And it’s been done with the same tools that have brought on so much of that change—the Internet, social media, and the increasingly diverse number of different media outlets we can choose. Digital technologies have completely transformed the way we follow politics—and in doing so—rewrote the rules governing our politics as well.
Initially, I wanted to write a book called Curveball that outlined how Howard Dean, Barack Obama and a new generation of operatives had inverted so many of the classic rules established in one of my favorite books — Chris Matthew’s Hardball published in 1988. It seemed to me that Chris’s landmark work needed to be updated for our more interconnected, technology-dominated times.
The 2016 election convinced me my premise was true. Whatever you think of Donald Trump’s election, it was a watershed event that showed how flimsy and— well—wrong so many of our assumptions about politics were.
I bounced the idea off David Jonas—a longtime reader and talented contributor to Political Wire. An alum of the Obama campaign himself, David said something to the effect of, “Yeah, except it seems like politics today is more like trying to hit a spitball than a curveball. It’s just all over the place.”
David was right. People are winning at politics, but it feels like the game is broken. It’s like you have to cheat a little bit – by throwing spitballs — just to have a chance.
The more we collectively thought about it, the more we liked the idea. So we decided to write Spitball – in effect updating Hardball to reflect how people are playing the game of politics today.
We’re going to do this a little differently: David and I will serialize chapters of the book—roughly one a month—and put them up on a special page for Political Wire members. We hope you will read our ideas and give us feedback. We will then go back to the drawing board, see what’s stuck, and put together a whole new draft of the book.
Not a day goes by when we don’t learn something from this special community. That means Spitball won’t be just written by us, it will also be written by Political Wire readers. Think of yourselves as the umpire as we try to document these new rules in the game of politics.
You can read the chapters here: Spitball: The New Rules of Our Broken Politics.
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We’re living through truly extraordinary times.
The President of the United States may be a Russian asset. The U.S. government is paralyzed. The Western alliance is cracking. The 2020 presidential election promises to be epic.
It’s my honor to help you follow these stories and hopefully provide context and make some sense of them.
But I need your help.
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Now, back to the news…
Readers will now receive a co-branded edition of Inside Elections (twice per month) and Ballot Access News (once a month) as part of their membership. This is in addition to the member benefits you already receive.
If you’re logged in, just click on the links below for the latest issues:
Inside Elections – This edition has a complete gubernatorial overview of the cycle, including initial ratings and previews of the three states electing a governor this year (Louisiana, Mississippi, and Kentucky) and the eleven states holding a gubernatorial contest next year. This edition also includes a look at how predictive early Senate ratings can be, as well as brief updates on more than a dozen other races across the country.
Ballot Access News – This edition tracks the deadlines for getting on the ballot in each state, something to pay attention to if an independent presidential campaign gets off the ground.
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Our final stop in Southeast Asia was Saigon — or Ho Chi Minh City, depending on which side of Vietnam’s civil war you were on. Although Vietnam’s government portrays the country as “reunified,” there are still many in the southern part of the country who feel like they were invaded and occupied. Continuing to call the city Saigon is one small way of showing resistance.
The photo below is the rooftop where CIA operatives helped evacuees up a ladder onto the last helicopter in April 29, 1975, shortly before Saigon fell. It was just one of many sightings that brought back so many memories from the Vietnam War era.
It will take months to process all I’ve learned, but we’re finally headed home. Political Wire will return to full speed this weekend.
After one of the most interesting years in politics, it’s hard to imagine 2019 can top it — but that’s one prediction that seems safe to make.
Thanks so much for spending part of your day here. I wish you all love and happiness in the new year.
We’ve spent the last few days in Luang Prabang, a beautiful mountain town in northern Laos where many residents have stories of meeting President Obama when he visited in 2016.
A highlight of our visit was crossing the Namkhan River on elephants. It was amazing.
We leave for the airport later today for the final leg of our trip.
We’ve been touring the amazing temples in Siem Reap — including Angkor Wat below — but the biggest takeaway from our visit is how difficult it’s been for Cambodia to overcome decades of war and genocide.
The United States played a major part in this history when President Nixon authorized secret bombing of the country in 1969. This ultimately led to the rise of the Khmer Rouge and the killing of more than two million Cambodians during the brutal regime.
It’s distressing to be reminded of such a tragic blunder by your country. But as one man told me when we discussed the challenge Cambodia still has in clearing land mines: “We cannot change the past but we can influence the future.”
We’re off to the airport tomorrow for the next leg of our journey.
Folks, I’m exhausted. The crushing amount of political news over the last three years has just about worn me out. The next two years promises to be even crazier.
So for the next week or so, Political Wire will not be updated at the normal pace.
Thanks for your patience — and for reading!
Whether you’re celebrating today or not, I hope that you have a wonderful time with your friends and family.
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“Your election eve reminder that Political Wire is a national treasure.”
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Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.