During the week of July 20th, Barack Obama visited Afghanistan, Iraq, and several other countries, strengthening his claim to be commander-in-chief material. John McCain spent the same period firing off a barrage of negative ads and comments: "Obama would rather lose a war than an election." The Arizona Senator fears...

Five weeks after Barack Obama clinched the Democratic nomination, the parameters of the 2008 presidential contest have been established. The battle will be waged in roughly 33 states and cost more than a billion dollars. The central issues will be gas prices, the economy, and Iraq. And, despite John McCain's...

Barack Obama's 2008 campaign strategy (PDF) aims for more than winning the presidency. If he holds the twenty states John Kerry won in 2004 and adds Ohio, Obama will have a majority of the electoral vote. But he's not satisfied with that: Obama will...

Democrats have a 51-49 majority in the Senate that depends upon the support of independents Joe Lieberman and Bernie Sanders. However, Lieberman supports John McCain for President, which suggests the Connecticut Senator may vote with Republicans in a new Congress. Therefore, if Democrats want to increase their majority to 60,...

It's the price of oil, stupid! The most recent Gallup Poll shows three issues dominating the 2008 presidential election: "energy, including gas prices," "the economy," and "the situation in Iraq." Oil connects these concerns and also the prospect of global climate change. To win in November, Barack...

Four months out from the 2008 presidential election, it's obvious that Barack Obama and John McCain offer a stark contrast on their positions on the key issues, their personalities and, most tellingly, their worldviews.

Obama is 47 and mixed-race, the product of a lower-middle-class background. His personal...

Now that Barack Obama has finally secured the Democratic nomination for President, it's time for a candid assessment of his chances. To defeat John McCain in November Obama must respond to three challenges.

The first is the legacy of sexism. Recent polls indicate Obama trails McCain by...

After Barack Obama secured the Democratic nomination for president, his campaign immediately segued into the general election. Before we're totally submerged by Obama-McCain comparisons, it's informative to consider turning points in Obama's brilliant campaign: three critical endorsements.

Two came near the beginning. The first was by Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill....

On June 3rd, at the end of an epic contest, Democrats nominated Barack Obama as their presidential candidate rather than Hillary Clinton. Sixteen months ago, few would have predicted that a relatively unknown African-American Senator would defeat the famous wife of the 42nd U.S. President. While many factors contributed to...

It's painful to recall, but in 2004 John Kerry could have won the Presidential election if he had carried Ohio. Ultimately, Kerry got 252 electoral-college votes and Bush 286, with Ohio providing the decisive 20 votes. In 2008 it's possible Barack Obama could win the popular vote but lose the...

As the primary season grinds to a close, many Democrats expect a decisive victory in the November general election and look forward to four years of a Democratic president working with a partisan Congress. What isn't being discussed is the possible end of the conservative era. The smashing defeat of...

In his 1989 opus, Bob Dylan wrote

Broken lines, broken strings,
Broken threads, broken springs,
Broken idols, broken heads,
People sleeping in broken beds.
Ain't no use jiving
Ain't no use joking
Everything is broken.

Tuesday, May 6th, was the decisive night in the struggle for the Democratic nomination. It provided new insight into the character of the two competitors.

Coming into the Indiana and North Carolina primaries, Hillary Clinton appeared to have the momentum. Her supporters were counting on decisive victories to prolong her...

In 2000, when George W. Bush first ran for President, one of his selling points was the claim he would be America's first "CEO President." Of course, Bush's assertion was far from the truth, but for most voters the notion of an effective executive running the White House has enduring...

In the six weeks between the Mississippi and Pennsylvania primaries, the campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination deteriorated into trench warfare. When the dust cleared, Hillary Clinton won a single-digit victory in Pennsylvania, one that moved her no closer to securing the nomination. And, the struggle between Clinton and Obama...

On April 8th, General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker told the Senate the President's Iraq surge strategy has "worked" and, therefore, current troop levels should be maintained. The hearings came at a time when public attention has shifted from the occupation to the economy. Given the looming recession, why...

The battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, was the turning point of the American Civil War. On the third day, July 3, 1863, the Confederate Army's failed assault on the Union forces massed on Cemetery Ridge -- Pickett's Charge -- marked the end of the struggle. Many observers believe the April 22nd...

In his remarkable March 18th speech," A More Perfect Union," Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama, directly addressed the racial aspect of his campaign that, up until the preceding week, had largely been in the background. While the overt reason for the speech was the inflammatory remarks of Obama's former pastor,...

According to the latest Gallup poll three quarters of Americans believe the economy is in a recession. It's no surprise respondents tell pollsters the economy has become the dominant political issue. How will the recession play out in the 2008 presidential campaigns?

We are in...

No matter who is elected President in November, the battle for control of the Senate will be pivotal. If Democrats do not substantially increase their majority from 51 to at least 56, then most significant legislation will die in the Senate because of the quorum rule requiring 60 votes to...