Defenseless Marriage

I have to start this piece with a sort of humbling retraction. A few months ago, I wrote an essay for this blog about the recall of three Iowa Supreme Court justices due to their having ruled in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage in that state. I also remarked on the fact that, despite a red tide giving Republicans majorities in state legislatures across the country, Democrats in my adoptive home state of Illinois kept their grip on power in Springfield:... Read More

Judging Iowa

I spent Election Night at the party for Alexi Giannoulias, the Democrat running for Illinois’s Senate seat. It was at the International Ballroom of a swanky hotel, in the shadow of Chicago’s ultra-chic Aqua Tower. The crowd, mostly suited and tied but occasionally volunteer-T-shirted, was abuzz — the big media narrative was all wrong, people said. We’ve been knocking on doors. Politics is still local. The big money and the national issues... Read More