Here in Virginia voter turnout has been low on this crisp autumn election day. That bodes well for Republican Bob McDonnell. My prediction is that McDonnell wins by no less than 4 points. Chris Christie in New Jersey wins by plus 2 and in NY Mr. Hoffman probably wins in...

Saturday, October 3, was a tough day for President Obama and U.S. Troops serving in the war against Terrorism in Afghanistan. Bad for the President because it was he who declared vehemently during the 2008 Campaign that "Afghanistan is a war of necessity" and warned that losing it would put...

Over the past nine months I don't think I have been coy about the fact that as a black moderate republican (does such a thing exist?) I voted for President Obama and that I have not been pleased with the overall direction and tone of my own political party of...

One of my earliest childhood memories is of a book I found amongst my mother's things when she was a nursing student in the late 1970s. The book was about Ted Kennedy titled, "Teddy Bare -- the last of the Kennedy Clan" (the book written by Zad Rust is now...

As I sat over the past 48 hours or so and watched the media coverage of the extraordinary life of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, something struck me as being unfair: What about the former Mrs. Edward Kennedy -- Joan Bennett Kennedy?

I don't mean any disrespect whatsoever toward the current...

This afternoon all eyes will be on the president of the United States and the South Lawn of the White House.

No, the president of France is not coming to visit, nor the chancellor of Germany. There is no grand state dinner being prepared for hundreds of guests to greet...

So let me see if I got this straight --

World renowned Harvard professor and best-selling author Henry Louis Gates, Jr. comes home from a trip abroad to communist China where he was filming a video about America. His driver brings him to his home in Cambridge Massachusetts, and he...

Day #2 of the confirmation hearings of Judge Sonia Sotomayor have literally just begun and I thought I'd take a moment to reflect on yesterday's opening salvo from my party's ranking leadership (the Republicans).

My concern, as I pointed out in an op-ed yesterday that I penned for theROOT.com,...

Well, I guess it is all but official now: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has just announced that she will resign from office in late July 2009 to "affect positive change from outside government." Sounds like a noble thing to do, but as someone who has followed politics for the past...

My first reaction to today's Supreme Court ruling that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, is that the Court probably got this one correct. My concern, however, is that a case like this will have a broad and potentially devastating affect on...

Okay so who among us was really surprised today to hear Gov. Sanford finally admit that he had been engaged in an adulterous liaison with a woman that by his account "he had real feelings for" and who is a "dear, dear friend"?

I for one, was not.

I...

Dear Rep. Cantor, Gov. Romney & Gov. Bush:

I am writing to you because I hope you three (and others) can help bring the GOP back to a place of reason and civility. A party of openness and inclusiveness -- a party worthy of its first Presidential nominee Abraham Lincoln's...

Talk about being in a state of confusion--man the GOP sinks lower into the political abyss everyday. Chairman Michael Steele has been very consistent that the GOP would be "careful" in its handling of Judge Sotomayor while at the same time carefully scrutinizing her record. Ok, I have no problem...

I felt compelled this morning to write a brief, but hopefully thoughtful note to my white male colleagues, friends and family members (yes we have some in the Nelson family tree) in response to the rather "weird & defensive" way they acted yesterday upon hearing that Judge Sonia Sotomayor was...

The ghost of President George H. W. Bush and the moderate wing of the GOP is about to come back and bite the more conservative GOP base in the proverbial "butt."

Once again the new young president (Mr. Obama) has made a brilliant political choice by picking Judge Sonia Sotomayor...

Less than an hour ago, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused the CIA of "misleading" her on the use of harsh interrogation techniques in the fall of 2002, while acknowledging for the first time that she knew detainees were waterboarded more than six years ago. Just yesterday, President Obama decided that...

Today we will officially bid farewell to my longtime friend and mentor Jack F. Kemp. There will be an "open" memorial service at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. starting at 2:00 PM. It is open to friends, family, and the public.

I have been deeply touched by the tributes...

On Monday afternoon, I had the pleasure of debating on LIVE Radio with (courtesy the Mark Steiner show on WEAA Baltimore) Dr. Christianna Leahy of McDaniel College (who is considered an expert on Human Rights & International law) on the hot issue of whether the United States tortured detainees or...

Still at the center of a divisive debate about gay marriage, several days after her remarks at the Miss USA pageant, Miss California Carrie Prejean went on the Today show Tuesday morning and maintained she was proud of what she had said.

She said, "I believe that marriage should be...

My first response on hearing and then viewing the video clip of Ms. Garofalo on MSNBC last Thursday evening was simply: WOW!

Is this what the Republic is coming to in the 21st Century? Political extremism has gone WILD!

Regular working class and rural, suburban White Americans must feel a...