With John McCain's return to the front of the Republican pack, the conservative Weekly Standard is reexamining the Arizona's vices and virtues. But while Dean Barnett bemoans McCain's "uncanny ability to drive virtually all conservatives nuts," Adam White and Kevin White praise McCain's record on the confirmation of right-wing judges. Not because McCain's position on […]

Perhaps the only development more disappointing than the injection of racial politics into the Democratic primary process has been the descent of Bill Clinton into attack dog politics. It seems that with each passing day, the still very popular former President sacrifices his good name - and the huge reservoir of good will he enjoys […]

The latest polls from South Carolina show former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is within striking distance of John McCain in the Palmetto State's GOP primary on Saturday. A win there by Huckabee could upend the conventional wisdom about the fractured yet wide-open Republican race. After Saturday, the GOP contest could be less about picking the […]

The early results from Michigan are in and it appears that self-proclaimed favorite son Mitt Romney has survived to fight another day. A quick glance at the Republican exit poll suggests that the dismal wintry weather and the aborted Democratic primary kept independents at home, much to the dismay of John McCain. (Independents were only […]

As the chaotic and unpredictable GOP presidential primary process grinds on, there is one thing we know for certain. Mike Huckabee is unashamed and unapologetic about his incendiary blend of politics and religious zealotry. Just one week after extolling New Hampshire congregants to be "soldiers for Christ" in "God's Army," the former Arkansas governor and […]

As his make-or-break Michigan primary approaches, Mitt Romney is betting on his biography. Positioning himself as the home state boy done good who will do right by his home state, a new Romney ad says the contest there is "personal." But while a New York Times headline proclaimed that "Romney embraces his Michigan roots" and […]

While the clown-car that is the Republican presidential field seemed headed over a cliff, Democratic primary voters enjoyed a generally high-minded debate among candidates they generally liked. That is, until the New Hampshire primary. Now, the simmering feud between the Clinton and Obama campaigns over supposed racial politics is casting a pall over what had […]

Two days after Hillary Clinton's stunning comeback victory in New Hampshire, the imbroglio over the pollsters' dismal performance continues unabated. But while the speculation centers on the potential impact of latent racism or a feminist backlash among New Hampshire Democrats, the exit polls suggest a more simple explanation. In a nutshell, Hillary's voters originally made […]

The jaw-dropping results from New Hampshire may be in, but they produced more heat than light. On the Democratic side, Barack Obama's brief flirtation with inevitability is now over. While the Democratic nomination is firming up as a race between Obama and Clinton, chaos reigns for the GOP. There, the race to identify the anyone-but-Huckabee […]

The Supreme Court today will hear a set of voter identification cases which could well determine the outcome of the 2008 election. In a narrow legal sense, the cases will address the constitutionality of new voter ID laws in Indiana and other states that purport to address what most experts deem a non-existent problem. But […]