Quotes from Steve Kornacki

Typically, the view of party leaders is that primaries are best avoided. Better to coalesce around a consensus candidate early, help that candidate amass a mighty bankroll, and focus the attention of volunteers, activists and other stakeholders on the general election.

When the two have crossed paths in public, McCain hasn't even tried to mask his ill will toward Obama.

Patriots' Day is the essence of Boston, a Massachusetts-only holiday that seems like it was invented to celebrate Boston.

I was the All-American kid, or so I told myself - good grades, never in trouble, bright future, well-respected by my peers. My favorite comedian was Bob Newhart.

Trump showed you can get elected by voters who think very poorly of you.

Romney's Obama-era CPAC struggles spoke to a challenge his '12 campaign never overcame: to shore up the GOP's restive conservative base in a way that would allow him to pivot to the middle in pursuit of general election voters.

When it comes to gay marriage, the electorate can be broken into three basic groups: a relatively small core of committed opponents; a relatively small core of committed supporters; and a vast swath of conflicted voters who like to think of themselves as 'tolerant,' but who are instinctively uneasy with sudden, sweeping change.

By their nature, midterm elections favor the out-of-power-party. Its voters tend to be more motivated to show up and swing voters are more likely to treat it as a protest vehicle for their frustrations.

Favorite-son candidates almost always win their states decisively in presidential elections. But their status as national celebrities can end up breeding fatigue and resentment among home-state voters when the election is over.

Ideologically, there are no major differences between the two Pauls, and there are stylistic similarities too; like his dad, Rand hardly minds being the lone 'no' vote in a sea of 'yes' votes. But unlike his dad, Rand seems to pick his spots with at least one eye on the bigger picture of politics.

In 2016 you had a significant number of voters who said on Election Day: I don't like Donald Trump. I don't think he tells the truth. I don't think he has the temperament to be president. I don't think he is qualified. I do think Hillary Clinton is qualified. And I am voting for Donald Trump.

Few losing V.P. candidates in the modern era have walked away with their reputations and future political prospects significantly enhanced, and some have even been damaged by their turn on the national stage.

There's no evidence that coaches with a conservative bent are better coaches or more likely to get jobs.

I try to do the deep breathing exercises and I end up panicking in the middle of them and it never goes well.

The 1994 midterms had been a shocking rout for the GOP, which picked up 54 seats in the House and eight in the Senate. No one had seen it coming. The Democratic Congress was supposed to be a permanent fact of life; it had been 40 years since Republicans had controlled the chamber.

I was probably the worst calculus student in the history of my high school.

I tried the Calm app, but that I don't rec - well, maybe I got a bad story or something - but it didn't work for me.

I want to thank Chris Hayes and his team for creating a totally original and incredibly smart model for political television.

Chris Christie's rise in politics in New Jersey, in many ways, was built on his takedown of Charles Kushner. He got national headlines for that prosecution.

Probably not a surprise that, among the people of Mexico, just 4 percent say that they have a positive opinion of [Donald] Trump. Seventy-five percent say they have a negative opinion.

After sweeping to power in the Newt Gingrich-led 'revolution' of 1994, the GOP had overplayed its hand and watched Bill Clinton easily defeat Bob Dole in 1996.

The occasional nomination of a Todd Akin or Christine O'Donnell or Sharron Angle is a problem for the GOP. But it's really just a symptom of a much more serious malady: an environment on the right that demands and rewards an ideal of 'purity' that has little appeal outside of the conservative movement.

Back in August 2002, I was hired as a reporter for a website covering New Jersey politics, then still a pretty novel concept. I was 22 years old, not from the state, and thoroughly inexperienced.

My knowledge of popular music more or less ends in 1972.