I have a friend who owns a corporate novelty company; the kind that sells t-shirts, baseball caps, coffee mugs, and the like. Among his biggest clients are the gift shops and news stands at Union Station, Reagan National, and IAD where he’s sold a variety of politically themed items over the years. In fact, his sales have been so good that they allowed him to correctly predict the winner of every presidential election from 1988-2016.
According to some surveys, just over one-third (37%) know their Representative’s name, and just over half (56%) of Americans could guess their Representative’s party affiliation; only about two in five (42%) could name at least one local member of Congress; one-third couldn’t name their governor; and 77% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 could not name one senator from his or her home state.
According to some surveys, just over one-third (37%) know their Representative’s name, and just over half (56%) of Americans could guess their Representative’s party affiliation; only about two in five (42%) could name at least one local member of Congress; one-third couldn’t name their governor; and 77% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 could not name one senator from his or her home state.
I like to play a little $5 Nassau on the golf course, fill out an NCAA March Madness tournament bracket or two, even wager a bit on Fantasy Football with friends. But it was shocking for me to read this week that Phil Mickelson, the six-time major golf champion, bet a total of more than $1 billion over the past three decades, losing upwards of $100 million…
In 4th grade I was lucky enough to get Mr. Liu. Mr. Liu was every child’s favorite teacher at Flower Valley Elementary, and he was best loved for his history class…
As the interactions between business and government continue to become more and more complex and fall under an ever-widening net, many companies in Washington are adding government affairs specialists to their full-time staff. Like never before, the influence of government is not just on politics, but also on the legislation and policies that will directly impact the corporate bottom line.
I have a friend who is a lobbyist for one of the major U.S. airlines. After reading in one of Washington’s political blogs this week that she and her team suffered a few setbacks, not the least of which was failing in an attempt to insert language that would expand the number of flights into Reagan National Airport in the House’s version of the FAA reauthorization bill…
One of my first jobs in Washington was as a place holder; I was literally paid to wait in line. A fraternity brother had a job interning for a Capitol Hill lobbying firm, and using a $20/hour lure, he recruited several of us to wait in line in the halls of Congress.
As I was driving my son home from my mother’s (his grandmother’s) 80th birthday dinner this week, he brought up something that was weighing on his mind. He said, “You know, dad, it’s hard to square today’s Republicans and Democrats, today’s right and left, with the definitions you’ve always given for what it means to be conservative or liberal.”
Have you ever wondered how an administration is able to get party members, staff, campaign surrogates, and media allies all on the same page? In fact, it’s almost eerie how politicians and party supporters can stay on message and use almost identical statistics and attack lines.