There are 18 states, as columnist Mark Shields recently pointed out to me, that have gone Democratic in each of the last five presidential elections. Of the 36 senators who represent those states, only two are Republicans. Both are from Maine, one of the last, storm-lashed, surf-pounded footholds of the Yankee GOP. So it is hardly shocking that the lone Republican supporter of Democratic health reform on the Senate Finance Committee should be Maine's Olympia Snowe. ...more

October 21, 2009

House Republicans unanimously chose Rep. Larry Cretul as their new leader, setting the stage for him to replace Ray Sansom as House Speaker next month. ...more

February 2, 2009

Other than Walmart, politics is the only arena where old people get all the jobs. But the Democratic National Committee set a goal this year to have 10 percent of its elected delegates be young, which the party defines as 35 or under. I'm guessing they define old as Robert Byrd's parents. ...more

September 3, 2008

The missing pet reports after Hurricane Katrina included loving details, such as "has a white smiley patch on his tummy" and "she's wearing light purple bows on her ears." ...more

July 30, 2008

Sen. Barack Obama erased Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's once-imposing lead among superdelegates Saturday when he added more endorsements from the group of Democrats who most likely will decide the party's nomination for president. ...more

May 11, 2008

Sen. Barack Obama appeared to win the Democratic caucuses in Guam on Saturday, defeating Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton by a seven-vote margin amid unprecedented voter participation there. ...more

May 4, 2008

Hillary Rodham Clinton retains her lead among suddenly critical Democratic Party insiders even as Barack Obama builds up his delegate margin with primary and caucus victories across the country, according to a survey by The Associated Press. ...more

February 11, 2008

Florida Democrats say they have no plans to take a second swipe at holding a presidential selection process so that delegates from the state might be seated at the party's presidential nominating convention. ...more

February 7, 2008

Despite John McCain's building political momentum, Mitt Romney said Saturday he does not expect the Republican presidential nomination to be settled during the coming week and he is planning to continue campaigning beyond Super Tuesday. ...more

February 3, 2008

Regarding "Denying Vote Now Part Of Party Policy" (Commentary, Jan. 27): I agree with Joe Brown that the refusal of both parties to seat the full complement of Florida delegates at their conventions is a disenfranchisement of the voters in the state of Florida. This year, the GOP is only half as bad as the Democrats, unlike in previous years. In those years, state elections officials, who were also the state chairs of GOP campaigns, did all they could to disenfranchise targeted voters in the election that counts - the one in November. ...more

January 29, 2008