POLITICS

5 October Surprises From Past Presidential Elections

An October surprise is any bit of news that breaks right before an election that has the capability to help determine the outcome of the race.

7 Things to Know About Sarkozy

Nicolas Sarkozy is a short, conservative, hard-working Cassanova. He has cracked down on prostitution and negotiated with terrorist bombers to save children. He is an outsider who has worked his way in. Some think he's Napoleon, others say he's Brutus. We

Our Scandalous Vice Presidents

Now that Obama and McCain are on the cusp of choosing Vice Presidents, maybe it's time to take a look at 10 of the most memorable backup plans, and what they might want to avoid. 1. Chester Arthur was

REVEALED: Mary Todd Lincoln was a Shopaholic! (and other First Lady facts)

Today we're re-excerpting from Cormac O'Brien's terrific piece in mental_floss. The First to Walk Like a Crab: Julia Dent Grant (first lady, 1869"“1877) Julia Dent Grant was cross-eyed her entire life. While that never stopped her from being a tomboy in h

12 Presidential Candidates to Keep Your Eye On

Most political junkies can name all 16 major presidential candidates, but there were 42 candidates on the ballots in the New Hampshire primary! And that's only the candidates running for the republican and democratic party nominations. Who are all these p

What's Your Fantasy?

This weekend I'll be competing for the championship in my fantasy football league. I don't want to brag, but I'll just say that I'm favored to win and it'll be my second championship in a row. That said, I've grown tired of my fantasy sports leagues, so I

Obesity, Global Trade and Beer Prices: Why the Farm Bill is actually cool

As is usually the case with bills in Congress, I had a lot of trouble believing that the 2007 Farm Bill was applicable to me. After all, the last time I even remember going to a farm was on a kindergarten field trip, when I got goat's milk squirted direct

All Knotted Up: Culture's Great Tiebreakers

The Tiebreaker Heard 'Round the

C-SPAN Uncensored: Washington's Dirty Mouths and Minds

This whole Larry Craig sex sting story, followed by the one about federal prosecutor trying to have sex with a five-year-old got me to thinking about depravity in Washington. For better or for worse "“ well, really just for worse "“ our politicians seem t

Those crazy candidates!

Still a year and a half til the US presidential election, and the internet is already littered with campaign sites. Besides the declared major party candidates, there are unofficial websites for candidates who aren't running but may conceivably change the

The Presidential Candidate Theme Music Draft

One of the most important decisions any aspiring President can make is choosing the right theme music. And at a DNC meeting last week, the candidates did just that. John Edwards will borrow John Mellencamp's Chevy jingle "This Is Our Country," which any

The Ten Sickest Senators*

Senator Tim Johnson (D) is still on the mend after his brain surgery last week. Though his doctors say he's doing well, there's still no telling how long he'll be "out of the office." But as you've probably heard, he really can't be fired for taking too

Shameful Animation

Years ago, I went to go see Spike Lee talk about his then-new movie Bamboozled at a campus forum, and I was stunned to hear about how he had planned on using animation in the film. While I have yet to see the movie (and I think there is a section in the f

How to steal an election

MIT's Tech Review has a curious article today about the efficacy of voting machines. According to the article, Princeton University researchers have shown 3 fairly alarming things in terms of the Diebold AccuVote-TS: They've shown that you can hack into