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Month: July 2006

4th July special: back to the Nineties

4th July special: back to the Nineties

Gore and Gingrich reflect on their chances Last August, when I last covered the 2008 US presidential election, the favourites for the nominations were Hillary Clinton by a considerable margin on the Democratic side, and John McCain and George Allen roughly neck-and-neck for the Republicans. Eleven months later, Clinton and McCain have remained strong in the betting while Allen has faded. Tradesports rates Clinton a 43.45% chance for the Democratic nomination; on the GOP side McCain is at 41.15% and…

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By-election competition results

By-election competition results

Landslide victory for ApRhys Following the victories of Dai Davies and Trish Law in Blaenau Gwent, and the Conservatives just managing to see off the Lib Dems in Bromley & Chislehurst, the pb.com prediction competition has yielded a clear winner. ApRhys (post 22) chalked up a comfortable win in the overall rankings, with his score of 21.7 being well ahead of Archibald Schwarz (post 55) in second place with 27.1, and Yet Another David (post 72) in third with 36.4….

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Will Iraq stick to Brown?

Will Iraq stick to Brown?

Focus shifts to the cost of the war Much of the political damage done to Labour by the Iraq war is personally associated with Tony Blair. Many in the Labour party — whatever they think of Blair, Brown or indeed anyone else in the Cabinet — will be relieved at this aspect of Blair’s resignation when it happens: at least, they assume, the successor will not have been tarnished by the war in the same way. Conversely, the other parties…

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Will Murdoch switch back?

Will Murdoch switch back?

Earlier in the week, Rupert Murdoch gave an interview to one of his own papers in Australia. Asked if there was a chance he would support the Conservatives in the next general election, he answered with a Majoresque “Oh yes”. The role of Murdoch’s papers in swinging British elections, particularly the Sun, has passed into political folklore. “It Was The Sun Wot Won It”, the paper itself proclaimed after Major’s victory in 1992. More recently, and particularly since Murdoch’s mid-1990s…

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