How are Republicans able to win governors' races in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, etc., but unable to win those states in presidential races?

I can't remember where I read this earlier, but someone talking about the demographic changes said that Ronald Reagan would have had a hard time winning in 2012. Unfortunately, I have to agree. Democrats start each presidential race with California, New York and Illinois in the bag. What big states do we have? Texas is getting tighter and tighter, and now we're losing Florida, Ohio and Virginia, and we cannot break through in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, etc. Why can we win governors' races, but not the presidency?

If you thought Obama played a lot of golf in his first term, wait until the second. One area of the economy which should do well---gun sales.

I found this interesting. James Pethokoukis wrote about Sandy/FEMA and referred to the study “Wal-Mart to the Rescue: Private Enterprise’s Response to Hurricane Katrina”:

One quote from the study…from Sheriff Harry Lee of Jefferson Parish in suburban New Orleans…

“if [the] American government would have responded like Wal-Mart has responded, we wouldn’t be in this crisis.”

Any Walmarts in New York City, you may ask. Nope.

A line from a story from The Telegraph…

"Previously the chain proposed opening stores in the Queens and Staten Island boroughs of the city, but was again met by opposition."

Matt Welch absolutely humiliated Douglas Brinkley by quoting the first five questions he asked President Obama for the recent Rolling Stone interview:

I'd say Brinkley humiliated himself.

I'm thinking, of all the female journalists in the country, the two most-qualified to "moderate" a debate of presidential/vice-presidential candidates are Martha Raddatz and Candy Crowley? I suppose some others were tossed out/objected to by one side or the other, but come on, Raddatz and Crowley?

Why do people give so much credibility to Real Clear Politics? That site lards together so many polls; some old, some clearly inaccurate. Also, am I the only one who finds the RCP site terribly slow?

Do writers have a "voice"? If so, I enjoyed Jay and Mona before I ever heard them speak. I enjoy their conversations on this podcast.

Is Biden referring to his own father, or to Neil Kinnock's father?

Does anyone know a McCain 2008 voter who, having experienced 3.5 years of Obama in power, plans on voting for Obama in 2012?

Does anyone one know an Obama 2008 voter who, having experienced 3.5 years of Obama in power, refuses to vote for Obama in 2012?

I admit that my circle is very small, but I don't know anyone in the former group, and I know more than a few in the latter.

This is the best-sounding Ricochet podcast I've heard.

The audio quality was excellent. Both men must have had good microphones. The content was pretty good, too, and I love hearing the old "This Week in Baseball" music during the "This Week in Gatekeeping" segment.

Jonah's laugh around the 66:10 mark reminded me of Frank Gorshin as the Riddler on Batman.

Wasn't Scalia confirmed 98-0?

That was a year or so before Bork.

Can you imagine any Scalia-esque nominee sailing through with 98 votes?

I had never heard a deeper explanation of the "promote the general welfare" meaning in the Constitution. Ever since hearing the preamble in "Schoolhouse Rock" I've assumed the "promote the general welfare" line implied the support of advertising for things like anti-smoking/don't play with matches/get your prostate checked.

Blue Yeti, can you get Mr. Epstein a Blue Yeti? I think he would sound better.

Brian Ward---can you turn down your microphone when you're not talking? The heavy breathing every 3 seconds or so is annoying.

Someone needed to turn down his microphone while Klein was talking. Otherwise, an interesting interview.