Boston Globe and Palm Beach Post both look at what the presidentials are (or are not) saying about schools on the campaign trail. Globe gets a little more insidery and has some between the lines action. Meanwhile, NM Gov. Bill Richardson is apparently getting ready to talk schools in New Hampshire.
Per the Globe piece. The cross-pressured Dem storyline is hardly wrong. But I think it too often serves to obscure the cross-pressured Republican storyline. President Bush’s (one and two actually) embrace of federal action and legislation on education was unusual within the Republican coalition, which generally favors less federal involvement or more emphasis on hot-button social issues in education. Consequently, you don’t hear the Republican candidates talking too much about education either because the proposals that tend to please their primary voters tend to repulse centrist voters. It’s that old can the center hold question…