Politico

If McCain proposes an ambitious school voucher program, as he did in 2000, it will underline stark philosophical differences between the GOP and Democratic presidential candidates on education policy. . .

Clinton and Obama share many policy goals but often differ on the means to achieve them. For instance, both have committed to spending an additional $10 billion annually on programs for children under 5. That would mean doubling the current federal investment in early childhood education.

But their approaches… more

In May 2004, as the presidential campaign was beginning to gather steam, an unnamed senior Bush administration official was asked to comment on the dilemma John F. Kerry faced in criticizing the handling of the war in Iraq. His response: “It’s never stopped being 1968” for Democrats.

A more telling description of Democratic vulnerability on national security issues is difficult to imagine. The year 1968 is shorthand for the 40-year political caricature of Democrats as “soft” and “weak” on military affairs.… more

Taking up an issue that could resonate with young voters, Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) presidential campaign blasted the Education Department for allowing student loan recipients to over-pay the loans and not get the money back. In a sharply worded statement Monday, Dodd pounced on a Washington Post article from Saturday in which Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings admitted that her department "had some responsibility" for "confusion" over regulations that allowed the excess payments to occur.

"At a time when it's clear… more

At a recent campaign stop with the Congressional Black Caucus, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said, “I like the idea of giving every baby born in America a $5,000 account.”

That was enough to generate a few headlines and some right-wing outrage. The Drudge Report was quick to tweak one of its favorite targets and drive some Internet traffic with a bold banner, “A Bond for Every Bassinet.”

The conservative Washington Times and New York Post blasted the idea within 24… more

The student loan industry is about to go up against its own customers.Lenders and student advocacy groups are preparing to fight each other on Capitol Hill over how much the government subsidizes school loans.Student loan subsidies were designed originally to encourage lenders and guarantors to participate in the program. Student groups...want to see the subsidies reduced, arguing that those federal dollars would be better spent on increasing Pell Grants to $5,100 from $4,050...

Reducing subsidies could drive… more

Steve Clemons and his super blog TheWashingtonNote.com have become classic testament to what a few hundred words a day can do. A Beltway insider and foreign policy expert, he surveys the world's hot spots, nags U.N. officials, even gets members of Congress to occasionally change course.In other words, he's kind of a big deal.Clemons, a driving force behind the New America Foundation, a progressive think tank, uses his political blog to extol… more