But First They Must Shore Up Core Supporters   No question about it, the 2012 presidential election looks to be close.  The first priority for both major party candidates (President Obama and, we presume, Mitt Romney) is to make sure their partisans get out and vote in November.  In order to compete for […]

Early Efforts to Define the Opponent   Some people call this the silly season.  The ongoing back and forth between President Barack Obama and Republican Party challenger Mitt Romney is seen by some as merely a warm up for the main event, which won’t begin in earnest until America’s nominating conventions are over in early […]

  Will it Hurt or Help? Many of us drawn to journalism are also drawn to history.  We fancy ourselves as witnesses and are often inspired by the description of our profession as the “first rough draft of history,” even though we don’t wind up reporting true history every day. Wednesday was different.  For the […]

  Surprise Visit to Afghanistan on Anniversary of OBL’s Demise   President Obama injected some foreign policy drama into the 2012 election campaign with his middle-of-the-night surprise trip to Afghanistan.  The pictures of Air Force One appearing out of the gloomy darkness at Bagram Air Base and the president giving the troops a pep talk […]

A Kinder, Gentler Conservative for Independent Voters   Mitt Romney’s sweep of five northeastern primaries this past week removed any doubt that he will be the Republican presidential nominee come late August at the party convention in Tampa. Even Newt Gingrich, of all people, seems to see the handwriting on the wall and has begun […]

  Don’t Expect a Replay of McCain-Palin from 2008   It’s one of official Washington’s favorite parlor games these days — who will the presumptive Republican Party presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, pick for his running mate? Let’s start with some basic differences between Romney and John McCain, the man who ran under the Republican banner […]

A Few States Will Play Outsized Role in the Election   November 6th is a long way off, so beware of those who would now predict which way the U.S. presidential election will go. But we do know that come Election Day, the results from a relatively small group of states will be decisive. In […]

  Is He up to the General Election Two-step?   No doubt about it, earlier this week the U.S. election battlefield shifted in a major way.  No more carpet-bombing of Mitt Romney ads attacking Rick Santorum and no more rants from Santorum warning that Romney will turn into a carbon copy of President Obama. We […]

  Romney Must Now Heal Party and Prepare for General Election   There’s an old adage in show business that “you always to leave them wanting more,” and so Rick Santorum wisely decided to get out of the race while the getting was good. First off, there was no path for him to win the […]