Maybe we were just behind schedule. Could it be that we simply got a late start launching the real New American Century?

There is an argument to be made that this, now, is the new and more formal start to the 21st Century, or perhaps it will be, come...

The piece of film that just made the biggest impression on me on this particular night, when Barack Obama aired his half-hour TV special, was not anything Obama presented. It was the sour grapes John McCain squeezed in reaction.

He complained about all those sinister mystery contributions, the suspicious...

How much do I not like John McCain now, because of this final debate in Campaign 2008? Let me count the ways - which, at this point, number far greater than the components of a well-equipped plumber's tool collection.

I'm struck, immediately, by two moments. No, the now-famous Joe...

Dear Senator McCain,

One way or another, you reach an end on November 4th. We do know that for certain, even though no one can say what kind of end it will be - whether the road takes you to the Oval Office or to the finish of your long-held...

I was going to start out by calling the second Presidential Candidates' Debate between Barack Obama and John McCain a "running out the clock" affair for Obama. Basically a draw - no big wins or losses, with an edge to Obama because he didn't give up any ground and McCain...

10 02 08

Advantage Biden
By Mary Lyon

I had help with this one. I watched Joe Biden and Sarah Palin square off, on CNN, specifically for that network's audience meters. In this case, it was a group of undecided voters in Ohio, both men and women. What was...

I'm mixed.

Who won? They both did. And didn't.

Here's what strikes me about the opening round of presidential debate season: the one-liners, the facts (or not), the jabs, the international names and one mispronunciation, the energy, and the eye contact. Or in McCain's case, the lack thereof.

Amazing what a difference a week makes.

Something has changed since Sarah Palin burst into the Republican Convention and started living it up by the stiletto. It still stings to look back over her mean-spirited, scornful, barb-laden speech. Whoever once said sticks and stones might hurt but names would...

I sat through Rudy Giuliani and the debut of Sarah Palin - and I've come to only one conclusion. Republicans are mean. No whining here. I'm no Phil Gramm. Just an objective statement of fact based on first-person observation. Nasty. Snarky. Mocking. Sarcastic, Punch you in the nose first and...

One certainly can't say that the Republican Convention doesn't bring divergent individuals together. Sometimes, they're the strangest of strange convention bedfellows.

After the preemption of Day One of the RNC extravaganza by Hurricane Gustav on Monday, the GOP was finally off and running on Tuesday. And this...

The Look-Before-You-Leap presidential campaign is at it again: "Do as I say, not as I do." It amuses and confuses me as I watch the Republican Party writhe and wriggle around in the mud. It's not so much the Gulf Coast hurricane wreckage in which they're mired, but in the...

Dan Quayle: I have far more experience than many others that sought the office of vice president of this country. I have as much experience in the Congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the presidency. I will be prepared to deal with the people in the Bush administration,...

A signature Stevie Wonder hit struck the perfect introductory note for this historic evening: "Signed Sealed and Delivered." And we were. So was Barack Obama. It struck me while watching everybody boogeying to the evening's overture that it was a great choice because it was everybody's music, wrought by a...

An awful lot of childish behavior has been on parade on the campaign trail this year. Well, yeah, pretty much every campaign season we see that, but this year has seemed even more juvenile than usual. Are we getting beyond that, at long last? Did we just take a big...

All the blue and white "Unity" signs didn't make nearly as vivid an impression as did the Lady in Gold on Night Number Two in Denver. Hillary Clinton Night at the Democratic Convention was actually the first night we've seen any real red meat served up in prime time. And...

What a great opening night! And what an historic journey the Democratic National Convention highlighted in its kickoff. It was a night of Great Democratic Bookends.

The evening began with America's little girl, Caroline Kennedy, the embodiment of what many of us remember as the best of times. She's all...

Joe Biden is already a pretty effective giant-killer, and he may just have killed another giant - a giant bummer among Democratic partisans concerned about the backbone of their party. Biden's the guy who yanked the teeth and claws out of Rudy Giuliani last October 30th, during one of the...

It's amazing how much mud is flying in this presidential contest - and not just that which is being flung nonstop at Barack Obama. Mudslinging is common during political campaigns, but sometimes that mud isn't exactly a guided missile. There are moments when it's splattered about with such zeal that...

It would be one thing if John Edwards' big boo-boo stood alone. But it isn't working out that way.

Enough by now has been written about the bimbo eruption itself, the charismatic married Democrat and the "other woman," the betrayed wife, the irate and brokenhearted supporters. Hmm... sounds familiar....

Hey, I realize John McCain has a thing for young blondes, but this is ridiculous. To watch his ad campaign over the past week or so has been painful, whether or not you support Barack Obama. And this week takes the (cheese)cake. Or maybe we just call it cheesy and...