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Michael Barone: The long rise of the new Democratic Party

Can I claim to have predicted, way back in 1988, the result of Michigan's fiercely contested Democratic primary for U.S. senator this week? The developments that have made Abdul El-Sayed -- who lost the 2018 gubernatorial primary to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-Mich.) by 20 percentage points -- a winner over Rep. Haley Stevens were visible in the 1988 contest for Michigan's delegates to the Democratic National Convention, in which Jesse Jackson ran far ahead of eventual nominee Michael Dukakis by a 24-percentage-point margin. Let's flash back 38 years to see what I mean. Then, as a member ...

Michael Barone: Dropping candidates is not a sign of strength

It's beginning to be a habit. It, in this case, is the messy business of center-left political jettisoning one leader suddenly deemed unelectable and, without resort to the usual rules or democratic procedure, designating a replacement. It's the process that came fairly close to giving Americans President Kamala Harris in 2024. It's happening not just here but all over the Anglosphere. While the American political firmament post-July 4 was preoccupied with demands for the ouster of Maine's Democratic nominee for the Senate, Graham Platner, our cousins in Britain were witnessing the ...

Gary Franks: Lightning will not strike twice in Maine as Platner steps down

Thank God lightning will not strike twice the same spot - in reference to the character issue. Maine's Graham Platner was a seriously flawed Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate despite first being the choice of many Democratic leaders in the state and in Washington. It took repeated charges of sexual abuse to get Platner to step down as the party's candidate. Yet there was a part of me that "did" want him to be the Democratic nominee. It would show once again that the obvious was, well... obvious (like former President Joe Biden's declining cognitive abilities while in office). My ...

The battle to establish, and keep, our country

As we move through this weekend full of fireworks, parades, food and the battle over political ideologies, let’s not forget what July 4 means. It was 250 years ago that a group of men representing the 13 American colonies agreed to declare their independence from the British Empire. On July 2, 1776, members of the Continental Congress voted in favor of independence, with the finalized draft of the Declaration of Independence adopted (not signed) two days later. It was never an easy decision. Members of the Continental Congress did not go to Philadelphia with the goal of issuing ...

Let’s live up to what the Founding Fathers wanted

As our country celebrates not just any Independence Day, but the 250th anniversary of one of the boldest declarations in human history, the festivities give us an excellent opportunity to look back on two-and-a-half centuries of this American experiment and check ourselves against what the founders hoped they were setting in motion. Draped in red, white and blue and surrounded by flags and fireworks, it is easy to forget how we got here and why we are free to celebrate as flamboyantly as we’d like. Richard Henry Lee made the motion to declare independence in June 1776, but ...

A relaunch of public art in the Ohio Valley

A couple of months ago, I wrote about the encouragement to install murals throughout West Virginia as part of the state’s America 250 observances, with the Department of Tourism providing each county with $5,000 toward such projects. Hancock and Brooke counties jumped right on the program, with one piece of artwork created and installed on the wall at Blue Cat Coffee along Main Street in Weirton, to represent Hancock County, and another along Charles Street in Wellsburg to represent Brooke County. To see these pieces of art be developed and go up was an exciting experience, but ...