Jun 01 In Tourist Town, Memorial Day Travel Kicks Off Test of Summer Economy By Dante Chinni Memorial Day, the unofficial kickoff of summer, means something more than just warmer temperatures and the coming end of the school year in some places. It is about turning five months of red ink to black. For vacation towns… Continue reading
May 26 Hardship Index Shows Joblessness Drops, Foreclosures Increase In an election year, the party in power ultimately lives or dies on the state of the economy -- or so goes the conventional wisdom. So, with a little less than six months before voters go to the polls, how… Continue reading
May 24 Patchwork Nation: A Closer Look at Rand Paul’s November Prospects By Dante Chinni Rand Paul's victory in the Kentucky Senate primary was hailed as the first victory for a true tea party candidate. In his victory speech, Paul himself announced he was coming to "take Washington back." But a primary is… Continue reading
May 21 The Life and (Eventual) Death of Toxie, Planet Money’s Toxic Asset By Dante Chinni Foreclosures and interest rates are just numbers. Sometimes the best way to examine an economic meltdown is to jump into it with abandon, to witness the carnage up close. In a sense, that's what NPR's Planet Money reporting team… Continue reading
May 19 Patchwork Nation: Beware November Forecasts Made in May By Dante Chinni In a year where the biggest news is an unsettled electorate, everyone is looking for signposts and many think they saw them in Tuesday night's primary results - particularly in the Senate primaries in Pennsylvania and Kentucky. But… Continue reading
May 18 Tuesday’s Primaries Could Be a Showcase for Party Divisions U.S. Senate hopeful Rep. Joe Sestak campaigns in Philadelphia, Penn. In politics, winning is everything. And over the next few days there will be a lot of airtime and ink devoted to the winners of the Tuesday Pennsylvania, Kentucky,… Continue reading
May 14 Patchwork Nation: Obama’s Differing Messages for Varied Views on Recession By Dante Chinni In the age of niche marketing there isn't much use for a standard stump speech, just ask President Obama. Over the past few months he has been roaming the country talking to crowds on what the White House calls a… Continue reading
May 11 Wealthy Suburbs May Not Hold the Key to 2010 Elections By Dante Chinni The nation's wealthy suburban areas, places we call the Monied 'Burb counties in Patchwork Nation, are often the fulcrum of election night. Home of famously independent (or fickle) voters, the decisions voters make in the Burbs, which hold… Continue reading
May 06 After Trio of Primaries, a Cloudy View of 2010 Midterms By Dante Chinni In a year when politicians and analysts want a grasp on what, by most accounts, is a volatile electorate, this past Tuesday's primaries in Indiana, Ohio and North Carolina provided a chance to read the tea leaves. Alas, those… Continue reading
May 03 Patchwork Nation: Tea Party Driven by Long List of Issues By Dante Chinni As analysts try to gauge the strength and meaning of the tea party movement there are two dominant questions: How much of the electorate do the disparate groups speak for and what is their primary objective? Those are difficult questions… Continue reading