Where will Obama be if his administration's conventional methods are not up to the task of cutting through controversies that are engendered, at least in part, by reliance on conventional methods? That's when things could get very interesting.

By the time we reach the 2014 election, almost one third of the current Senate will have resigned in the past three elections. Recent reports indicate that those formerly considered to be virtually automatic candidates are rejecting the opportunity to seek the vacated seats.

I met Bush rather briefly when he was governor of Texas and found him to be intelligent and funny -- though he certainly turned out somewhat differently than I anticipated.

When will Democrats rightly claim to be the most knowledgeable, thoughtful, experienced, imaginative leaders on defense of our nation?

Disaster relief, including for Hurricane Sandy, is government spending. It is no worse, but also no better, than meals on wheels for the elderly, school breakfast for poor children, unemployment compensation and rent subsidies. All are government spending and all are "about human beings."

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- George McGovern made history with his loss of the 1972 presidential election in a historic landslide, but he was praised Friday f...

George McGovern lived these core ideals of the American Republic, acting in the tradition of Jefferson and the Enlightenment. And he lived them in dramatic action, in some of the most turbulent times of American history.

The citizens' assembly, being non-governmental and community-based, would have no power to compel their participation. But I think very few would refuse. Who knows, maybe C-SPAN would want to cover it.

Sufficiently contrite or not, Arnold Schwarzenegger continues to be, as Jerry Brown noted on CNN right after the "surprise" announcement of candidacy in 2003, "a very interesting character."

They'll carefully review tapes of their own performances, as well as those of their opponents. But these presidential debates don't exist in a vacuum; they're part of a long chain stretching back (at least) to the Kennedy-Nixon debate of 1960. And over the past half century, candidates have landed some real zingers.

For Mitt Romney, the convention provides his latest attempt to re-introduce himself to the American people. But what's that old ad tag line? "You never get a second chance to make a first impression." It's not a Don Draper line but it sounds like it ought to be.

The term "game change," like so many sports-oriented terms in politics, is decidedly over-used. But the events depicted in the Game Change film really do constitute just that, though not in the way that my friend Steve Schmidt intended it.

The political media have accepted the myth of "equivalence" that says political polarization and governmental dysfunction are the result of both parties going to extremes of right and left. It is a myth.

The bust that was the Nevada Republican presidential caucuses revealed much about brewing Republican swing state problems, and the decided limitations of Romney's candidacy and that of Gingrich.

This is a big moment for Gingrich, especially with Romney so obviously in flail mode. The right mix of decisions can put him in the driver's seat in the national Republican Party. If that's where he wants to be.

The chaotic jumble of holding the Iowa presidential caucuses on January 3rd is now fully apparent. It didn't used to be this way.

The Republican presidential race was a reality TV show. But now that the primaries and caucuses are coming right up, it's a road picture. Here's how each candidate, a distinct type, is doing right now.

Romney has very little time in which to pull Gingrich down, especially without doing himself serious damage as well. He may have to let Gingrich win Iowa and hope to rebound in New Hampshire.

Newt Gingrich. Iowa caucuses. To say it seemed an unlikely prospect that the candidate whose staff famously quit because of disorganization would have a commanding lead in a state that supposedly requires a premium in organization would be gross understatement.