A Mile Wide, An Inch Deep

From his first year in office on, stories have circulated here in DC about just how widely loathed Ted Cruz is. Now, following his first place finish in Iowa, the rest of the country has been brought up to speed with a host of press outlets covering quotes like this: Sen. Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican, who recently endorsed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush after ending his presidential bid in December, was asked whether he preferred Trump or Cruz as the nominee during a news conference on Capitol Hill. “It’s like being shot or poisoned,” Graham told reporters Thursday in response. “What does it really matter?” And this: When ["Face The Nation" host John] Dickerson asked whether Cruz was a one of the "false prophets" to whom Boehner had referred, the speaker smiled and referred to comments he made at a fundraiser in Colorado earlier this summer. There, he reportedly dismissed Cruz as a "jackass."  And my personal favorite: Senator Mi...

For the first time in over a decade I am experiencing a federal election more like a member of the general public than a congressional staffer. Long-time friends of this page know that by now I should have been bombarding them with my (in)famously long posts on policy positions or political shenanigans. Instead I'm all carpenter bee photos and mental health introspection. Maybe I'm tapped out. By 2006, I was already a Hill staffer and Jesse too. We volunteered on Jim Webb's successful campaign to take down George "macacca" Allen. Then I flew to Utah for the final weeks of my then-boss's similarly successful reelection campaign. I hate retail politicking but we all sensed it was going to be a wave year and being so involved -- for my home state, no less! -- was exciting. With the door-knocking help of my kid brother, Democrats took back the U.S. Congress. In 2008, I was the financial services staffer working for my current boss, breathlessly listening on the ph...