Cover Illustration: Robert Grossman

With one debate in the can and the election a mere five weeks away, the new issue of Rolling Stone focuses on John McCain. When Rolling Stone’s Tim Dickinson took a closer look at the self-proclaimed “maverick,” he found a disturbing career’s worth of recklessness, dishonesty and reversals. Click below for the complete story, as well as a run-down of the McCain campaign’s double talk.

• Make Believe Maverick: The Real John McCain

• The Double-Talk Express: John McCain’s Flip Flops and Reversals

At 1 a.m. Thursday, Jamie Foxx jumped on stage during Kanye West’s private-party show at the Exdo Event Center in Denver, surprising even West himself, and the two did a roaring “broke . . . broke” version of “Gold Digger.” And that was just a small highlight of West’s hour-long set at the packed warehouse-turned-club. He improvised lines about his late mother and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama at the end of “Flashing Lights,” did killer versions of “Touch the Sky,” “Jesus Walks” and “Stronger,” and generally rewarded a sweaty crowd at the packed-in party for Bono’s anti-hunger One group and the Recording Industry Association of America. Earlier Wednesday, Rage Against the Machine provided the pre-protest soundtrack for Tent State University at the Denver Coliseum. (more…)

What’s done is done and won’t be redone.

Looking like June 3 for a re-vote in America’s Mitten.

The details still need to be sorted out and the legislature has to act, so this is far from a done deal at the moment, but tentatively it looks like a primary, not a caucus, with non-state funding to be determined.

Rasmussen poll has him charging to a commanding lead. Best news for him, he’s up five among Democrats. So no matter what the indies in the Granite State do, whether they swing for him (they favor him by 16 points) or whether they get interested in the McCain/Romney smackdown, he’s in a comfortable position.
My guess is that the Republican race is going so negative that the Democratic race is going to draw the lion’s share of the excitement.

The smart money — not to mention the latest polls — gives an edge to Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee in tonight’s Iowa caucuses.

But take a couple hundred thousand Midwesterners, pack them into gyms and libraries and town halls on a frigid Iowa night, add a heaping measure of peer pressure to the equation, and, well, anything can happen.

Here are five unlikely results you that shouldn’t be shocked to see when the final precinct tallies come in:

1) John Edwards Wins Going Away

No one in presidential campaign history has ever worked a state like John Edwards has worked Iowa. No one. But for a brief hiatus for the 2004 general election, Edwards has been campaigning there non-stop since early 2003. He’s answered more questions from more voters at more diners and summer cookouts — in every last corner of the state — than Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama combined. (more…)

Barney Frank’s endorsement carries a lot of weight in smart, liberal circles. For America’s leading [out] gay politician to give Hillary his stamp of approval is a big deal:

I am particularly pleased by her commitment to reverse the economic policies that have created a situation in which as the country progresses economically, only a small number of Americans benefit. Her understanding of the need to implement policies that provide fairness for middle and working class people is very important. She has shown an ability to fight for progressive values in a way that is capable of appealing to the majority of our fellow citizens, and I believe that she is both politically and substantively the candidate best qualified to be our nominee.

As a modest counterweight to the normal sound bite politics, I’m going to be highlighting long-form interviews and speeches by the 2008 candidates over the coming weeks.

First up, Obama in this thoughtful, relaxed interview with Tavis Smiley: