National polls have pulled back into a neck-and-neck contest. This is all fun for the pundits, who (pre-debate) were on the verge of declaring the race all but over (and, hence, boring), but we hasten to remind everyone that this is not how we elect presidents.

Of course, we are heading into debate season, so things could always change, but at the moment it is looking decidedly good for an Obama win. Here's how the election would break down if held today.

The flip state is Ohio at 77.3 percent for Obama and 22.7 percent for Romney. This is a great, simple approximation for the likelihood of the election.

The state of Iowa has only six electoral votes, but nevertheless, it is making a major impact on the presidential race.

As the summer turned towards Labor Day, Obama gained ground every day that Romney did not. Time is kind to incumbents and leading candidates. The burden is now completely on Romney and/or Ryan to move the needle in their four debates

The big question in the next few weeks will be if Obama's impressive convention bounce will hold or fade away. This will set the stage for the first presidential debate, which could prove to be decisive.

If you have limited time to devote to following the presidential election this fall, I suggest you follow the data on just three states: Florida, Virginia, and Ohio. Mitt Romney's only likely path to victory over Barack Obama is to win those three states.

Now is a good time to look at the state of the race, to establish a baseline to measure all this expected frenzied movement.

Since the last time we took such a snapshot, roughly three weeks ago, both candidates have shown some firming up of their positions, but the good news for both candidates is mixed with some softening as well.

Since the last time we checked in, two states have moved toward Romney, two states have moved toward Obama, and three states have mixed news.

America today is politically divided among all age segments. However, older voters have some problems of unique concern, informed by generation and current life circumstances, thus inviting attention when campaigns target advertising.

Believe it or not, 2012 is shaping up to be all about the Beaver State. With innocuous races for the Oregon legislature and an under the radar non-partisan race for statewide office, Oregon is the sleeper state up for grabs in 2012.

This column series will examine the race between Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama in the only way that is useful for actually predicting its outcome: a state-by-state look at how each candidate is doing. National polling is almost completely useless in election prognostication.

Here's the obvious: if Barack Obama wins every state in 2012 where he won in 2008, he will have 358 electoral votes and he will be reelected. The GOP in 2012 must recapture states that voted for Obama 2008 with at least 90 electoral votes to put a Republican in the White House.

When the voting rights of our most vulnerable citizens are threatened, everyone's rights are threatened. Democracy is not a fait accompli, it requires attention and constant care or else it might be lost.

WASHINGTON -- At a briefing with reporters on Tuesday morning, top officials in the Obama campaign outlined five distinct paths that they can pursue t...

Every four years, we are reminded that we employ a completely outmoded method of selecting our chief executive. So why haven't we resolved this problem?

Republican state legislators in Pennsylvania are pushing a scheme that, if GOPers in other states follow their lead, could cause President Barack Obam...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Republican John McCain has defeated President-elect Barack Obama in Missouri _ the last state to be decided in the 2008 pr...

Barack Obama's victory could well be the third realigning election in the past century -- one that will be seen by historians as the beginning of an emerging Democratic majority.

The President-Elect flipped eight Bush states to the blue column and managed to get two states to elect a Democrat for President for the first time in nearly half a century.

It is time to throw out the old playbook for one simple reason. It was wrong. Obama wasn't your average Democratic candidate, but then again, America isn't your average country, either.

Barack Obama is under no obligation to govern like a centrist or temper his policy goals to accommodate a point-of-view that the American people have decisively rejected. Obama won. Elections have consequences.

It's nearly impossible to grasp the sheer gravity of this moment. All watched with gaping mouths, transfixed by pride and disbelief, as Obama appeared for the first time as the next President.

As we have heard from the analysts on both sides for much of the last month, this year we saw "the perfect storm" hit the Republican party in almost every conceivable way.