Sixty years ago last month, I watched my parents pull the curtains of their voting booths in a Michigan town hall basement to vote for the man who lost the 1948 presidential election. He was Thomas E. Dewey, a Republican widely expected, even by the Democrats, to vanquish wounded incumbent Harry S. Truman. ...more

December 17, 2008

Graciously conceding as vice president in 1980, Walter Mondale spoke of voters wielding "their staggering power." This year's energized electorate did that, thereby proving, among other things, that bad governance is good for turnout, a fact that should give pause to people who think high rates of voting are unambiguous indicators of civic health. ...more

November 8, 2008

For some county residents who have cast their voters, it's all over, and they will be glad to see the campaign season coming to a close. ...more

November 4, 2008

By midnight Tuesday, millions of conservatives probably will believe that the nation, foundering on the reefs of sin, is ruined. And millions of "progressives," emboldened to embrace truth in labeling by again calling themselves liberals, probably will have decided that Heaven is at hand, the nation revived like a flower in an April shower. ...more

November 2, 2008

Gov. Sarah Palin's approach is correct. ...more

October 12, 2008

"You go hunting where the ducks are," said Barry Goldwater. The successor to Barry's Senate seat apparently believes that ducks come from Mexico and speak Spanish. For in July alone, John McCain made three separate appearances before Hispanic groups. ...more

July 24, 2008

Nationwide, new Democratic Party voter registrations outpace newcomers to the Republican side by astronomical levels. Turnout for presidential primaries, when neither side had settled on its nominee, ran in the neighborhood of 2-to-1 in favor of Democrats. Contributions to Democratic candidates compared with Republicans are like monsoons to midday sprinkles. ...more

May 6, 2008

watching Mitt Romney go down to defeat in nearly every contest and encountering a newly victorious but ultimately unnominatable Mike Huckabee all across the Bible Belt. ...more

February 7, 2008

NEW YORK (AP)- Hillary Rodham Clinton likes to say she was born in the middle of the country at the middle of the century, in a Chicago suburb that defined a childhood out of "Father Knows Best" or "Ozzie and Harriet." ...more

December 29, 2007

So far, we have been asking these questions: Is America ready for a woman president? ...more

December 19, 2007