Offthebus

Michelle Obama addresses the DNC during "prime time" tonight. There's a lot riding on that speech. For some perspective, we talked to Wendi C. Thomas, a columnist from The Commercial Appeal Memphis who is writing about the racial history being made at the convention.

Show the world the power of mobilized citizens, not only to reshape politics but also to redefine journalism and press coverage of the campaign.

If you promote war, vote for it or stand to make a profit from it, then you'll be happy to do your patriotic duty and send your children off first. Watch: When the children of the powerful and privileged are on the line, the cost of war, they'll tell us, is too damned high.

I want us to work, Barack, I really do. And if I sound demanding, that's because I am -- I've been hurt too many times not to be.

The simple-minded bumper stickers are back, and boy do they look good on the rear window of a 4x4: "Drill Here Drill Now." The policy they propose, though, doesn't look so good.

With the presidential nominee's Kansas roots, a Sebelius selection would make for a wonderful narrative, a tale of the heartland which could be spun to great effect at the Convention, and one that would help dispel the "exotic" aspersions cast at Obama.

Talking about Paris and Britney is not talking about healthcare and Iraq. There were 85 million potential voters who didn't vote in the last election. Obama needs to let them know what he can do for them.

Obama should take a page from George Bush and pick the head of his search committee: Caroline Kennedy. She's been witness to the inner-workings of government for decades while maintaining her role as an outsider.

From a strict foreign policy viewpoint, one candidate came out presidential, and one came out as a war hawk. One candidate was diplomatic, one was gruff and divisive.

In the two pivotal sates, where congressional seats are being hotly contested, polls show 10 percent of voters remain undecided, including the same percent among the large Latino populations.

Top Vermont Democrats boarded the Obama bandwagon early. But a new low estimate gives the state a 99 percent chance of going Democrat. The coattails idea, in fact, is flipped on its head.

The intensity and variety of the Democratic Party efforts and their ground-level quality here are partly what gives the illusion that they are working independently. But they are being coordinated in Tallahassee.

John and Cindy McCain made roughly $6.5 million last year. Of that $6.5 million, $23,000 came from social security. That's right, the millionaire McCains draw steadily on a system he says is disgracefully broken.

OffTheBus.net, the online citizen-journalist arm of the Huffington Post, celebrates its one-year anniversary this month. Of all the new political, n...

A candidate like Obama -- who says "thoughtful things" and actually speaks in "paragraphs" as opposed to soundbites -- might be willing to address the topic. But don't hold your breath.

The UpTake interviews author Irwin Tang about his book, "Gook: John McCain's Racism and Why It Matters." McCain has used the work "gook" in the media for 30 years, including during his 2000 presidential run.

Obama's fifty-state strategy is not about his winning these states in this election. It's about "trickle up" politics and grassroots efforts on a national scale, all of which will help sow the seeds of future Democratic majorities.

"Proposing to drill for small amounts of oil that will be sold to China as a solution to our rising gas prices makes about as much sense as responding to an attack from Afghanistan by invading some other country."

Mark Udall will win his race in Colorado, making both U.S. Senate seats for the state Democratic. Udall, and the slate of popular candidates running for his seat in the House, are moving the state strongly toward Obama.

If he is not nominated -- and I am excluding health and accident from this consideration -- it will be because of a spontaneous revolution among Republicans at their September Convention. Or maybe sooner.

The Social Security Administration says that it cannot find a "match" for 46 percent of the forms that it processes. In Florida, that means voter registration ends up slightly more reliable than a coin flip.

Primary season 2008 was stamped in part by internet video. We've compiled choice excerpts, including snippets from the big hits that helped shape the campaigns.

Sometimes, the parties' headquarters are miles apart, geographically and metaphorically.Thanks to the work of HuffPost OffTheBus Special Ops, you can visit them in just a few key strokes.

Every four years there's some guy trying to get at us in the steamy back seat of his gas-guzzling muscle car. I say we keep our skirts down. You know the drill: Just say no.