Stewart J. Lawrence

It was bound to happen eventually. With the growing popularity and commercialization of yoga, it was only a matter of time before someone figured out how to turn a practice that features sexually alluring young women toning their butts in skin-tight gym clothes into a hard-core porn industry.

In fact,...

Look out, America. There may be a libertarian named "Paul" prowling around the White House next January after all.

No, not Ron Paul, the veteran Texas legislator and Republican presidential candidate who's still in the GOP primary race, but his son, Rand, the recently-elected senator from Kentucky....

Mitt Romney's wife Ann may not be the only "secret weapon" the GOP's presumptive nominee is planning to deploy this fall to try to surmount his embarrassing double-digit gender gap with President Obama among women voters.

Another may be Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers...

The 2012 Republican "Veep-Stakes" are barely underway, and already two schools of thought are emerging on the wisdom of nominating Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as Mitt Romney's running mate.

The dominant view, advanced by conservative pundits, including, most recently, Charles Krauthammer, is that Rubio is...

Controversy over this thoughtful new book on the pros and cons of yoga, the Hindu-based breathing and posture practice that's been sweeping America for over a decade -- written by noted New York Times science writer William J. Broad -- broke out even before the 300-page...

Poor Hilary Rosen. The former British Petroleum PR flak who singlehandedly destroyed the popular Napster music download site has landed herself in the middle of a national controversy over her remarks suggesting that Mitt Romney's wife Ann "has never worked a day in her life"...

If the Republican establishment has its way, next Tuesday's GOP primary in Wisconsin will be Mitt Romney's knock-out punch, the final blow that drives Rick Santorum from the race and allows the party to unify behind a single candidate for a tough, uphill fight against President Obama this November.

But...

Ever wonder why President Obama hasn't been standing strong and steady on the frontlines defending his controversial health care reform law?

True, most voters still oppose Obamacare , but many do, not because the law goes too far, but because it doesn't go far enough. In fact,...

Ever since the 2008 election, Republicans have been trying to convince American voters that Barack Obama is destined to become "another" Jimmy Carter: a weak, moralizing leader lacking in the wisdom and strength to lead a great nation at a time of peril, and therefore undeserving of a...

For the umpteenth time and counting, pundits and politicians -- Democrats and Republicans alike -- are predicting Mitt Romney's "inevitability" as the GOP nominee.

When will these people learn?

Yes, the former Massachusetts governor just scored a big win in Illinois -- but is anyone really surprised? No one...

Supporters of Rick Santorum claim that Newt Gingrich's continued presence in the GOP race is undermining the ability of Republican voters to nominate a "conservative" alternative to Mitt Romney. The former House speaker should bow out, they say.

Gingrich supporters dispute that argument. Santorum and...

California, a national trendsetter culturally, has never mattered much in Republican presidential politics -- at least not since 1964, when far-right conservative Barry Goldwater used his victory in the state's primary contest to capture the GOP nomination before losing in a landslide to incumbent Democrat Lyndon Johnson later...

Has the GOP presidential race really come down to this?

• A thrice-married former House speaker -- severely censured by his colleagues for ethical improprieties in 1995 -- who now fancies himself the "darling" of the Christian Right?
• A self-professed Catholic "zealot" who's already sent...

What makes for a "good" vice presidential candidate? History suggests no single pattern. Typically, a presidential nominee, in consultation with party chieftains, looks to someone who can bridge warring political factions, balance the ticket geographically or secure a coveted battleground state.

In 1960 John F. Kennedy chose Senate majority leader...

Is former House speaker Newt Gingrich the Mike Huckabee of the 2012 presidential campaign?

In 2008, the former Arkansas governor and religious pastor -- now a popular talk show host -- pulled off a stunning victory over Mitt Romney in the Iowa caucuses, catapulting him...

She's back -- and she's "dirtier" than ever.

Whether it's lambasting New Jersey governor Chris Christie for "getting his panties in a wad" over Newt Gingrich's challenge to Mitt Romney, or ridiculing the media for getting "wee-weed up" over Rick Santorum's reference to Satan, former...

Yoga and "scandal" seem to walk hand-in-hand these days. It's a "union of opposites" that's growing more comfortable with time.

First, there was the controversy three months ago over the posh yoga apparel company, Lululemon. That seemed to lay bare the rapacious greed of its founder Chip...

No one expected former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum to last this long in the 2012 presidential race. Even his strong showing in Iowa caucuses on January 3, where he was eventually declared the winner-by-a-nose, was viewed more as a fluke than a sign of greater things to come....

How should progressives respond to the latest reported drop in the official unemployment rate?

The sudden decline in joblessness from 8.5% to 8.3% -- after a similar decline a month earlier -- has caught many observers off guard. But as most economic experts admit, the reality behind...

Post-Florida, much of the attention in the Republican presidential race is shifting west, where a series of February contests beginning this Saturday in Nevada could determine whether Mitt Romney is marching inexorably toward the GOP nomination -- as he so often claims -- or has merely regained his position as...