2008 Election

As a little girl, my hero was Atticus Finch, the fictional lawyer played by Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird. Most of you know the story. The soft-spoken attorney creates a furor in his small Southern town when he accepts representation of a black man charged with raping a...

I'm not bitter, I'm livid.

I didn't bother watching the debate last night, because I knew what was coming. Each and every time we have our candidates in the same place at the same time, it's one big game of stupid. Flag pins? Tuzla? Who the hell cares? Distractions like...

Sen. Barack Obama is fundraising off of what the campaign calls a debate that focused more on "gotcha politics and distractions" than the issues that matter.

It's a theme Obama used last night himself, and which he sounded off about during a campaign stop in Raleigh...

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is about to walk into the lion's den.

The Democratic presidential hopeful will appear on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" tonight, braving host Stephen Colbert's dry humor and his arguably Sen. Barack Obama-friendly audience for the first time.

The comedian, who fashions himself as a straight-laced...

Watching the consternation among the TV pundits on Barack Obama's "bitter" comments is getting downright hilarious. After days of near universal agreement that this was going to absolutely crush Obama, how more than one pundit said this was the "greatest present ever given to Hillary Clinton," it turns out that...

I've been having a number of conversations with Democrat friends who are avidly supporting Obama's race for the nomination. I respect that and have said before that while I support Hillary Clinton I have nothing but praise for Senator Obama and will support him if he wins the nomination. What...

Back in the dim and distant past of this presidential campaign (i.e., February), I wrote a pre-debate column listing questions I would like to hear both Democratic candidates answer. Today's column is a revision of this original. Many of the questions I have are the same, for which I...

At this important crossroads in modern political history, we submit that the late Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona was an extraordinary and important voice that resonates today. He was a devoted public official whose candor and role on the national stage holds particular importance today for Americans across the...

Dear Hillary,

Reasons abound why you should do all you can to defeat John McCain--but for you, it should be personal. Maybe you've forgotten in the heat of the Democratic contest. But remember McCain's cruel joke about your daughter, when Chelsea was 18 and vulnerable. This alone should give you...

Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign sent supporters an interesting e-mail yesterday.

With longtime Clinton adviser Mark Penn out, new strategist Geoff Garin is soliciting advice from voters. It's certainly a different strategy from how Penn did business.

Here's Garin's note:

You've probably heard about...

Much has been made in the Democratic primary over which candidate has passed or failed the Commander-in-Chief test. Yet, it's neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton who hasn't passed that test. It's John McCain, who has now failed that test twice.

If I was drawing up the Commander in Chief...

I feel like asking the same question about elitists that Jim Mora once famously asked about the playoffs. Elitists?! Elitists?! We're talking about elitists?!

The Clinton and McCain families both have over $100 million. Barack Obama has a father from Kenya and mother from Kansas. Who are they kidding...

Dear Barack,

Remember how, during your last debate, Senator Clinton accused the media of being biased against her? It registered as pretty self-pitying at the time. But what happened? The coverage turned in her favor. And why? Because the media, as an institution, is incredibly defensive and guilt-ridden and...

Sen. Barack Obama's comments last week provided grist for renewed speculation about whether or not he will accept public financing for the general election. With no apparent sense of irony, he said to a roomful of donors at a high-ticket fundraiser that "we have created a parallel public financing...

Hilary Clinton says Senator Obama is "out of touch" and "elitist" about religion. So does Senator McCain. They make a great team.

When someone is accused of something, how he defends himself can be dismissed as newfound conviction born of necessity. The only way to know who...

Respected Democratic political scientist John B. Judis has an article in The New Republic which seems to say that Barack Obama surely cannot win the presidency against John McCain -- especially after his San Francisco comments.

To win in November, a Democratic presidential candidate has to carry...