From a broadly international perspective, the presidential debates were unfailingly true to form: lofty rhetoric, limited substance, a selective approach to facts and deliberate avoidance of specifics.

There is no public benefit to an endless back and forth about the morality of women's reproductive health decisions, when millions of women are faced with unintended pregnancies.

In politics it is generally not considered a good sign when voters are laughing at you, not with you. And by the end of the third and last presidentia...

McCain goes where he hasn't before in a debate: Bill Ayers. "We need to know the full extent of that relationship," he declares. Then he accuses the c...

David Gergen, veteran of Republican and Democratic administrations, put it succinctly just now on CNN: McCain "looked angry. It was an exercise in ang...

Moderator Bob Schieffer noted that the campaign has "turned very nasty," citing some examples. Then he opened the door for both candidates to bring th...

McCain mentioned "Joe the Plumber" almost constantly throughout the final debate -- even tying him into an attack on Obama's health care plan. But the...