Founder, @UChiPolitics; Chief Political Analyst for @CNN. Author, Believer: My Forty Years in Politics. Host of The Axe Files & Hacks on Tap podcasts.
Joined January 2011
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David Axelrod retweeted
A couple of things about this @UHouston poll:
1) The Libertarian is getting 3% and I think that holds because Paxton is disliked by 1-5 Republicans
2) @jamestalarico is consolidating 98% of Democrats, while Paxton is only getting 88% of Republicans. Again, the Libertarian candidate is becoming a weigh station for disgruntled GOPers.
3) Talerico is cleaning up with Independents -- leading by a 60% to 32% margin.
4) Paxton's favorability is - 16 compared to only -3 for Talerico.
More from the poll here. bit.ly/4zHe6uf
.@amanpour is a legend in broadcast journalism. Fearless. Incisive. aa master storyteller and interviewer.
She has shone a light on wars and held the powerful to account. What a great legacy!
If the @GOP takes a drubbing, the House will blame the Senate. The Senate will blame the House.
And, in unnamed quotes, they'll all blame the @POTUS who started a costly unwise war of choice, a foolish trade war with our closest neighbor & who exploited his position for personal gain, while inflation reigned.
Republicans already know who they want to blame if they suffer big midterm losses politi.co/3UBTOUa
When you're the Richest Man in the World, you may think you can buy ANYTHING.
Even a U.S. Senate seat!
@ElonMusk has plunged at least $156 million into the operation to try and save the tarnished and freighted Ken Paxton in Texas.
texastribune.org/2026/10/15/…
Easy to be snarky about the warp speed hiring-to-firing of @KatieZacharia but it really calls into question the process by which she was hired to speak for the @POTUS, apparently without the most basic vetting.
Seems like the Casting Director-in-Chief liked her on Fox News, valued her unswerving loyalty and picked her.
BREAKING NYT:
Trump's new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, was fired Friday, after less than a week on the job, according to three people familiar with the matter. nytimes.com/2026/10/16/us/po…
Congrats to the @Brewers on sweeping the @Dodgers to make the World Series.
As a @Cubs fan, they aggravate the hell out of me.
As a baseball fan, I admire the team and organization.
A small market team, with limited funds, they're great year-after-year.
Good luck in the Series!
.@POTUS says of Paxton, "Everyone admits he was the best AG in the history of Texas."
Who says THAT?!
The man was impeached by an overwhelming vote of the Republican-dominated state legislature!
On @HacksOnTap, Midterm Madness continues w/a couple of Hall of Fame Hacks--@KarlRove and @Robt_Gibbs!podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…
There's no more pretense.
The shameful truth is now clear.
By withholding critical Intel and Internet services, and lifting sanctions on Russia to replenish Putin's war machine, @realDonaldTrump & @elonmusk are now fully complicit. They're on Putin's side.
nytimes.com/2026/10/14/world… via @NYTimes
Pulling for @Pontifex, the most thoughtful and impactful moral leader on the planet today. The world, not just Catholics, need his voice, his kindness, his decency and his wisdom.
Pope Leo XIV's surgery confirmed that he has lung cancer and he had the lower lobe of his right lung removed, the Vatican said Tuesday.
The tests confirmed a diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma, the Vatican said in a medical bulletin after the surgery. It said the diagnosis had been suspected by preoperative tests and was confirmed during surgery.
The last refuge of party about to get overrun by a midterm wave is the "polls are wrong."
I know. Been there. done that.
In three weeks, we'll know.
.@POTUS getting to the, uh, bottom of things. One more reason some Republican candidates may be a little nervous to have Trump behind them!
We do not know the nature of the probe against Omar. But it is highly unlikely that it's so serious and urgent that the government felt they needed to act publicly three weeks before the election instead of after.
Unless that's precisely WHY they acted now, not to defeat her--they can't--but to stir up the muck in MN to try and win a senate seat.
BREAKING: Federal agents searched Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar's home as part of a criminal investigation, AP sources say. apnews.com/article/ilhan-oma…
It's Musk See TV!
Elon is spending $80 million down the stretch on ads to try and save Ken Paxton and defeat @jamestalarico in Texas, along with millions more on field.
Paxton has turned out to be an expensive sack of potatoes for the @GOP.
Like selling Trump U on cable TV.
And about as reliable.
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
Important context needed: Trump previously promised 2 dividends and never followed through.
In early 2025, Trump publicly backed a roughly $5,000 “DOGE dividend”
In November 2025, he promised a $2,000 “tariff dividend”
newsweek.com/every-dividend…
One postscript to the decisive ALDS game last night:
@WhiteSox pitcher Sean Burke got beaten on a brilliant pitch--a breaking ball that dove from chest level to the ankles of @CleGuardians's star Jose Ramirez's ankles. Ramirez took a Hall of Fame swing and golfed it out of the park.
Great pitch. Better hit. Wait 'til next year for the young Sox!
José Ramírez with a go-ahead homer to give the Guardians the lead over the White Sox in Game 5 💣
(via @MLB)
David Axelrod retweeted
Proud of you, @WhiteSox, for making the jump this year! Next year will be even better!
When @POTUS's son-in-law and business confidant are his emissaries to the Kremlin, and they're discussing business deals with Putin, how in the world can we separate Trump's personal dealings from his decision to put his finger on Russia's side of the scale in Ukraine?