What will be the impact of South Ossetia?

What will be the impact of South Ossetia?

What are the significant implications for US and UK foreign policy? You could be forgiven for not being immediately familiar with the small mountain region of South Ossetia, and its capital Tskhinvali. Few people last week could have correctly identified it as (legally, at least) a province of Georgia, and fewer still would have known that its comparitively-peaceable sister region North Ossetia remained a part of the Russian Federation. The two provinces consider themselves to be a single ethnolinguistic entity,…

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Who will the Southern Baptists let McCain choose?

Who will the Southern Baptists let McCain choose?

Which VP will keep Southern Baptists on-side? Mike has alerted me to a fascinating CBS News interview with Richard Land, who chairs the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the ‘public-policy wing’ of the Southern Baptist Convention. The SBC is the largest Protestant denomination in the US, and they weild significant political influence over the Republican Party. “CBSNews.com: A number of evangelicals and leaders of what used to be called the religious right have said that what they’re really looking for–to…

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Does this have wider implications?

Does this have wider implications?

What might this mean for Michigan and the Presidential campaigns? Thirty-four-years-and-a-day since Richard Nixon resigned the presidency, the most serious political scandal of 2008 is reaching its peak, and rather refreshingly it doesn’t directly involve either candidate in the White House race. Kwame Kilpatrick, the Mayor of Detroit, is tonight sat in jail, having breached his bail conditions by taking a trip to Canada. The 38-year-old Mayor, once considered a rising star in the Democratic Party, is facing eight indictments,…

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Vote for your Top Ten Political Blogs

Vote for your Top Ten Political Blogs

Give your favourite blogs the recognition they deserve The new Total Politics magazine is compiling an annual guide to political blogging in the UK, and are running a competition to find the UK’s top 100 political blogs. Full details can be found here, but the basics are as follows: 1) Choose your top 10 (must be 10) from the Total Politics blog directory 2) Number them in order, with #1 being your favourite and so forth 3) Send them, along…

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How much of an issue is McCain’s eighth decade?

How much of an issue is McCain’s eighth decade?

Could viral videos like this start to have an impact? Over the past couple of weeks there’s been a bit of a move back to John McCain on the betting markets. Obama’s overseas trip, particularly the mass rally in Berlin, has not gone down well and the presumptive GOP nominee has been deploying what appears to be an effective attack strategy against his Democratic opponent. But still, I believe, McCain is weak on one of the things he can do…

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The money goes on Gordon going

The money goes on Gordon going

What are the chances of him still being there on election day? Probably the best long-term market where we can plot trends on betting attitudes to Gordon’s survival is the one from Betfair on the line-up of party leaders at the general election. When it was opened, in June 2007, Ming Campbell was in the mix. He’s now moved on and the “runner” that reflects views on the PM’s survival is the Brown/Cameron price. Surprisingly this market has not attracted…

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Will it be “No Right Turn” if there is a Labour contest?

Will it be “No Right Turn” if there is a Labour contest?

Henry G Manson looks at the record to assess the chances One of the first things sports punters try to assess is recent form. In political betting this information is scarce and can make for a punting minefield. However last year’s Labour deputy leadership results provide a form guide of sorts for a leadership contest this side of an election. Despite recent exuberance, it doesn’t look at all good for David Miliband who is leading the charge from the Blairite…

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Am I being a mug on Hillary?

Am I being a mug on Hillary?

Are her V-P chances really better than 10%? Maybe I am being a mug, maybe I have contributed too much already to Shadsy at Ladrokes and other bookies’ profits on the Democratic V-P nomination, maybe I should have stuck with my self-denying ordinance not to throw any more money at this issue but I’ve just placed a bet at 10/1 on the former first lady. Partly it was the discussion on the overnight thread, partly it was reading the latest…

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