The individual mandate might prove to be the death knell for President Barack Obama's health care reform.
Republicans warn that if President Barack Obama wins a second term, he will push forward with an expansive domestic liberal agenda that makes his existing record look like child's play. During the victory speech that followed the Michigan primary, Mitt Romney warned that "a second term Obama would be unrestrained by the demands of re-election."
The outcome of the election of 2012 is becoming even tougher to predict, since there are many political landmines facing both parties.
Newt Gingrich likes to fancy himself a counterestablishment rebel. He has attempted to tap into the anger of tea party Republicans by reminding voters about his glory days as a maverick conservative in the House of Representatives, which culminated in the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994.
As Americans read about the flood of private money that is going into the current presidential campaign, most can't help but shake their heads in disgust about how our democracy functions.
Every football fan knows the feeling of watching his or her favorite team implode as a result of mistakes. Even when the odds of victory are good, turnovers and penalties can kill any hope within minutes.
Sometimes it feels like President Clinton never left the public spotlight. Although there were moments during the 2008 campaign when it seemed he was as much of a target within his own party as were the Republicans, these days Clinton is everywhere and Democrats want him by their side. Members of President Obama's campaign team say Clinton will offer them his services next year.
Americans have been flooded with Republican presidential debates for several months. It seems that every week there is a new encounter between the GOP candidates.
As Democrats struggle to retain control of the Senate and retake control of the House, they are searching for issues to frame their campaigns. This is not easy, since the Democrats are in a difficult position.
Newt Gingrich's candidacy received an unexpected boost when New Hampshire's Union Leader endorsed him this weekend.
Herman Cain, the surprise candidate of 2012, has been struggling to survive accusations of sexual harassment. Every day that the story continues and new accusations emerge, Cain's candidacy is at greater risk.
American voters need to decide what they really want from Washington.
The stakes in the current budget battles are enormous. As the super-committee deliberates over how to reduce the deficit and other congressional committees struggle to cut spending, the fate of important programs hangs in the balance.
In recent weeks, there have been two important stories developing about the 2012 campaign. On the surface, they have nothing to do directly with Herman Cain, Mitt Romney or Michele Bachmann.
Something interesting is happening in the Republican Party, and it's not the unexpected rise of Herman Cain and his 9-9-9 plan.
President Obama's 2012 campaign is gradually starting to take shape. Rather than focusing on the record from his first term and his competence as the commander in chief, the president is promoting himself as a revived populist, anti-establishment Democrat fighting for the unfulfilled goals of his 2008 campaign.
With all the talk about the ideological and strategic divisions within the GOP, the real choice that primary voters will have to make next year is a simple one.
America's poverty rate is now the worst since 1993, according to a shocking report last week from the U.S. Census Bureau.
In the days following the horrendous attacks against the United States on 9/11, all the talk in Washington was about the need for bipartisanship. Republicans and Democrats promised that they would work together to protect the home front and capture those who were responsible.
Former President Bill Clinton could teach the Republican Party a thing or two about effective campaign strategy.
As Hurricane Irene gathered force, moving its way up toward the populated areas of the East Coast, politicians in both parties scrambled to prepare. President Obama cut short his vacation on Martha's Vineyard to return to Washington. Governors and mayors in all the affected states issued warnings, with mandatory and voluntary evacuations, and state officials mobilized.
The meteoric rise of Rep. Michele Bachman and Texas Gov. Rick Perry in the competition for the GOP presidential nomination -- combined with the rapid demise of Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's presidential bid -- all before any caucus or primary has taken place, reveals how the presidential selection process is broken.
Just as the 2004 presidential election was all about the concept of security, the same term will shape the campaigns of 2012.
When Sen. Ted Kennedy died in August 2009, many Democrats wondered who would replace him as the voice of modern liberalism. With a Democratic president who was then fighting for an ambitious health care program, many felt Barack Obama would be that voice.
President Barack Obama has always been a lot more like President Bill Clinton than many of his supporters like to think.
As the nation gets closer to the brink of fiscal chaos, many pundits have been writing the political obituary for John Boehner's term as Speaker of the House.
At key moments in his presidency, Barack Obama has struggled to win the support of the American people through the power of his oratory. The power of persuasion has traditionally been one of the most powerful weapons of the commander in chief.
The troubled negotiations over the debt ceiling have offered yet another reminder of the perilous state of Congress. Republicans and Democrats have found it to be virtually impossible to reach a deal.
When presidents send American troops into military conflict, it usually seems as if Congress barely flinches. Presidents no longer request that Congress declare war. Members of Congress don't insist that presidents ask them.
For weeks, the political conversation has been about Rep. Anthony Wiener. Republicans were indignant. Democrats were furious and frustrated. The media was obsessed with every picture that emerged of the pugnacious legislator, who resigned from Congress on Thursday.
In the coming year, President Obama must make the difficult transition from being the candidate who once ran as the maverick -- the agent of change -- to the candidate who now represents the political establishment. There is no way to escape this.
House Republicans are planning to hold a symbolic vote on the debt ceiling to demonstrate that Democrats don't have the votes to pass the measure without accepting stringent spending cuts. The vote is part of a larger drama that has played out this year over the federal budget.
This week, voters in New York's 26th Congressional District will go to the ballot box to replace Rep. Christopher Lee, who resigned after a scandal involving a photo of himself shirtless that he sent to a woman he met online.
Newt Gingrich has decided to run in the 2012 presidential race. The media instantly took notice. Gingrich is one of the more colorful figures in American politics, known for saying what's on his mind regardless of the consequences and for his willingness to court controversy.
Sen. Tom Coburn, a staunch conservative from Oklahoma, triggered a heated debate among conservatives when he acknowledged that tax increases might be necessary if Congress really wants to reduce the deficit.
Days after the daring operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden, pollsters reported that President Barack Obama's approval ratings were rising.
On a recent trip to England, I found that it was impossible to avoid seeing coasters, posters, books and other paraphernalia being sold to mark the royal wedding on April 29.
After spending two years on health care, President Barack Obama is about to take up another Herculean political challenge: taxes.
In Wednesday's speech, President Obama, in what now has become his classic style, tried to thread the needle.
Following the announcement of the budget deal on Friday night, South Dakota Sen. John Thune told Politico, "The debate is now on our side of the field. This is just the opening act. But these upcoming debates are not going to be about whether we're going to reduce the cost and size of government, but how much. That's very good ground for Republicans to fight on."
When George W. Bush finished his presidency, many observers wondered what the Republican Party would look like in the succeeding years. With Democrats in control of Congress and the White House, pundits declared the party was in crisis.
Many people across the political spectrum have been unhappy with President Barack Obama's decision to send American fighting forces to attack Libya. They argue that Obama failed to provide an adequate explanation for making this choice.
Major crises can inflict great political damage on U.S. presidents. Regardless of all the weapons that come with the office, presidents throughout American history have discovered that they can quickly be overwhelmed when events spin out of control.
The success of Gov. Scott Walker and his fellow Wisconsin Republicans at stripping most collective bargaining rights from public unions has triggered a fierce political backlash.
Republicans are looking ahead -- some with glee and others with fear -- to the presidential election in 2012.
In one of the unexpected moments from the past few weeks, some defenders of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's attack on public unions have pointed to President Franklin Roosevelt.
Since the late 1940s, it has been an American custom for pollsters and publications to release a ranking of U.S. presidents.
Even the most hardened realist couldn't help but shed a tear when the news broke that pro-democracy protesters succeeded in ousting the regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
When the Egyptian people took to the streets of Cairo to protest the oppressive government of President Hosni Mubarak, they instantly challenged one of the most powerful strains of U.S. foreign policy thinking.
Republicans are divided over what to do about the defense budget. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates wants to reduce it by $78 billion over the next five years.
Many political analysts are urging President Obama to give a State of the Union Address that is conciliatory toward Republicans and that acknowledges that voters are unhappy with the direction of his policies.
Following a traumatic week for the nation in the wake of the Arizona shootings, Congress will get back to business this week. As House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's spokesperson announced, "It is important for Congress to get back to work, and to that end we will resume thoughtful consideration of the health care bill."
The mass shooting in Arizona has raised a political challenge for the Republican Party. Party leaders have spent the last few days rebutting charges from liberals that extreme rhetoric from the right had something to do with inspiring the rampage.
Suddenly no one is talking about Congress as the "broken branch" of government any more.
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a possible Republican presidential candidate, recently caused a major stir. In an interview with the Weekly Standard, he referred to race relations while growing up in Mississippi this way: "I just don't remember it as being that bad."
When U.S. District Court Judge Henry Hudson ruled that the mandate to purchase health insurance in the new law was unconstitutional, many people began looking to the Supreme Court for a final determination.
Somewhere in Texas, former President George W. Bush must be smiling. When President Obama and the Republican leadership reached a deal on extending all of the Bush tax cuts, including a generous exemption for estate taxes, the current president ratified a key policy from the former administration.
The political pressure on the administration to tackle deficit reduction is mounting. Even before he began negotiations with Republicans last week, President Obama conceded ground by announcing a federal pay freeze.
A new restored version of "Modern Times," one of the greatest films in the Hollywood canon, has recently been released.
In professional football, teams need a good offense if they hope to win the Super Bowl.
John Boehner has a huge problem on his hands. Now that the elections are over, and Republicans were victorious, he will need to tame the passions of the GOP freshmen who are coming to town determined to change everything about the way that Washington works.
Former President George W. Bush loomed large throughout the 2010 campaign even though he has been out of office for nearly two years.
With the midterm elections just a week away, many Democrats are scratching their heads and wondering what went wrong.
President Obama has recently blasted the influx of money from undisclosed donors flowing into the midterm campaigns. He repeated a claim, which major media outlets have not been able to substantiate, that foreign funds may have been used in the United States.
In a very clever television advertisement, Delaware Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell looks directly at the camera and says to voters: "I'm not a witch. ... I'm you." In another ad, O'Donnell says that unlike her Democratic opponent Chris Coons, "I didn't go to Yale. I didn't inherit millions like my opponent. I'm you."
The Tea Party has rekindled excitement in the potential of the internet to nurture mass political movements by using the Web to raise money and mobilize manpower.
In an extraordinarily powerful moment last Monday, a middle class mother named Velma Hart confronted the president for whom she had enthusiastically voted.
Christine O'Donnell shocked the political establishment last week with her victory in the Republican Senate primary in Delaware against Rep. Mike Castle. Like most Tea Party activists, O'Donnell has embraced the anti-Washington rhetoric that has been popular among congressional candidates in the current political climate.
In the aftermath of 9/11, Americans were angry, fearful and scrambling for answers.
With the real possibility of a Republican takeover of the House of Representatives, many Democrats are starting to argue for budget cuts.
If current polls are a guide, the midterm elections probably won't be good for President Obama and his party. The Democrats are in danger of losing control of the House of Representatives and of seeing their majority in the Senate diminish.
The debate over the construction of an Islamic center and mosque in New York exploded into a fierce national controversy. President Obama was unable to contain the issue, and his comments only added fuel to the fire. Polls show that his approval ratings continue to fall.
After last week's primaries, the national media tried yet again to figure out what the results mean for the national political landscape. Writing for Politico, John Harris reported that the primaries had brought good news for President Obama and Democrats.
With all eyes focused on how the Democrats will do this November, the story about the divisions unfolding within the Republican Party have equally important long-term consequences for national politics. And now with the Tea Party movement as an additional force in the party, Republican leaders are struggling to contain tensions between right-wing activists and fiscal conservatives.
Despite all the questions surrounding the war in Afghanistan, congressional Democrats have not challenged the administration's policies since President Obama announced a surge of troops in 2009.
Last weekend, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke to the Netroots Nation convention, telling liberals to remain supportive of the Obama administration.
President Obama's supporters have been frustrated about the apparent paradox of this administration. With the recent passage of historic financial regulation legislation, many Democrats are having trouble grasping why his approval ratings still lag and why Democrats might lose control of the House in the fall elections.
During a speech at an event called "Freedom Fest," former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin warned Tea Party activists that while government spending was a bad thing, conservatives should not go too far and start calling for reductions in the military budget.
The Democratic National Committee has launched a new website where anyone can upload videos. Call this the political YouTube.
The Democratic National Committee has launched a new website where anyone can upload videos. Call this the political YouTube.
At my local gym Thursday, one of the television sets showed the live CNN broadcast of Rep. Henry Waxman questioning BP CEO Tony Hayward about how so much could have gone wrong.
A cartoonist for the San Diego Union-Tribune, Steve Breen, captured a big political challenge that President Obama is now confronting.
Congressional Democrats have been warning President Obama to tone down his anti-Washington rhetoric.
The impact of the oil spill in the Gulf Coast is starting to be made vivid by the steady flow of still images and video that capture this catastrophe. For example, Phillippe Cousteau, the grandson of Capt. Jacques-Yves Cousteau, dove into the oil spill, wearing protective gear. He captured horrifying video images of what has been taking place beneath the sea.
For several weeks, Democrats have been feeling blue about the 2010 midterm elections. Many have been worried about the possibility of a precipitous decline in the size of their majority in the House and Senate, or even about Republicans retaking control of Congress.
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