Politics

Since 1964, one thing that’s been as inevitable as death and taxes has been that Virginia would wind up in the red column in presidential elections. The Old Dominion’s loyalty to the Republican Party was so secure that GOP candidates made only token appearances in the state. This year things are different. If the polls…

“Because I do what the facts tell me, Captain…” – Capt. Richard Davenport from A Soldier’s Play (1981) The true importance of any political endorsement is debatable. But this one is big, since it involves America’s most recognizable military hero declaring a preference that could help undecided centrist Republicans and independents make up their minds.…

I am glad there will be no debate this week. I skipped them all. Okay, I watched them in bits and pieces on YouTube after the fact. But I couldn’t take the intense emotion of the actual events. It’s not that I’m sitting on the sidelines. I am politically involved and well informed. But the…

“Because I do what the facts tell me, Captain…” – Capt. Richard Davenport from A Soldier’s Play (1981)   The true importance of any political endorsement is debatable. But this one is big, since it involves America’s most recognizable military hero declaring a preference that could help undecided centrist Republicans and independents make up their minds.…

Kendra Reddick lives in Ohio and can’t decide which presidential candidate deserves her vote. Like thousands of voters across the Buckeye State, Reddick is a values voter. She typically only backs politicians who share her conservative, fundamental Christian beliefs. So four and eight years ago, Reddick, a black 42-year-old, middle-school history teacher in Cleveland Heights,…

Hollywood drove Dave Chappelle out of his gourd. He bounced on a multi-million-dollar contract, went to Africa, got his mind right and realized that at the end of the day, hamming it up for The Man wasn’t what he wanted to do. Here’s the problem: Although it was great for Dave’s state of mind, it…

Bob Schieffer opened last night’s debate with a wistful plea. “By now we’ve heard all the talking points,” he said. “So let’s try to tell the people something they don’t know.” Good luck with that. The problem John McCain faced going into the campaign’s final debate is that Americans fully understood the contours of this…

Historians may look back at this election and decide that the outcome was never really in doubt. The political fundamentals were so clear and so unchanging long before the real contest began, throughout nearly the entire second-half of the Bush presidency. The war, the economy and the GOP mismanagement of their congressional powers and an…

A lot of people say they don’t understand undecided voters. But perhaps undecideds view politics the way I view football. Every year, I show up at a Super Bowl party with a bucket of chicken and no one to root for. I like football, love going to games, but I don’t have a “team.” People…