Maine’s Clean Election Act is in trouble. Like the rest of state government, the agency that administers the program is short of cash and projecting a deficit.A memo from the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices warns of a $1.5 million shortfall for the public financing of candidates for the Legislature in the 2004 […]

I am the world’s leading expert in temptology. As such, I know just about every trivial thing there is to know about Motown’s storied singing group, The Temptations.I know they recorded once as The Pirates. I know they were the first Motown act to win a Grammy. I know bass singer Melvin Franklin’s nickname was […]

Viewers of the popular TV show “The West Wing” recently got an insight into one of the most serious unsolved problems that could flow from a terrorist attack on Washington.With the vice presidency vacant, the Republican speaker of the House, Glenallen Walken (John Goodman), became acting president when Democrat Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen) stepped aside […]

New $20 bills are rolling off the presses and into circulation. Designed to make it more difficult for counterfeiters, the money has several major design changes, including added color.Sounds great, but here’s the kicker. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing is spending $32 million to introduce the new look to the country. The government is […]

The following is part of a continuing series analyzing political advertising this campaign season. Political Action Committee: Mainers for Real an d Responsible Property Tax ReliefParty: nonpartisanTV ad: “Behind”Length: 30 secondsProducer: David Heller, Main Street Communications, Washington, D.C.Market: StatewideAnnouncer: Woman’s voiceVisuals: We are looking at a TV screen. An announcer’s words (below) follow the images. […]

As Arnold Schwarzenegger tackles California’s huge budget gap, his top priority is clear – a federal bailout, if his pal George Bush will oblige. “The key thing,” Arnold told Newsweek, “is to get help from the federal government.”And the key to securing this help, Arnold seems to believe, is a fact he is brandishing as […]

Santa Claus, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowperson are starting to appear in the store displays at the mall, and you know what that means!It means it’s almost Halloween.Halloween is that very special night when your children head out for a few hours of fun, while you stay home with a Buick-sized cache […]

AUSTIN, Texas – I’m a card-carrying member of The Great Liberal Backlash of 2003, one of the half-dozen or so writers now schlepping around the country promoting books that do not speak kindly of Our Leader’s record. As a group, we are making satisfying inroads on the best-seller lists, a merciful switch from the garboid […]

NAJAF, Iraq – I had waited a long time to meet the miserable Muqtada al-Sadr.This young Shiite cleric is the son of the revered Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, who was murdered in 1999 by Saddam. Young Sadr is a baby-faced youth who wears the black turban of a descendant of the prophet. He has no […]

Can anyone come up with a more chilling oxymoron than the one the Bush White House has made a centerpiece of national security in the new millennium – tactical nuclear weapons?What are they thinking? Oh right, the initiative – nukes you can use, limited Armageddon – will “help lay the foundation for transforming the nation’s […]