Former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele(Matt Houston/AP) Up until last week, I was a huge fan of former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele. In fact, he was my choice 2 years ago to be RNC Chairman and among my top choices, along with Sen. Brownback and Govs. Palin and Jindal, to be Sen. McCain's runni...

Arianna Huffington is guest-hosting Rachel Maddow's show on MSNBC tonight, and the lineup looks impressively ambitious: Google CEO Eric Schmidt, HBO talk-show host Bill Maher, stat-whiz Nate Silver and Cory Booker, the Newark mayor to whom the internet publisher was once rumored romantically linked ...

It's his personal business—but isn't it a little quirky that Barack Obama did not attend Grandma Toot's funeral—the “typical white woman” who raised him? With the exception of Lindsay Lohan, everyone attends the funeral of their grandmother, especially if she was their surrogate Mom for a lo...

Before the voting season that has just passed us by recedes any further into the rearview mirror, I would like to offer a few random thoughts on the subject. (1) I don’t like early voting. Many states allow it, no questioned asked. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there’s just something ...

Before the voting season that has just passed us by recedes any further into the rearview mirror, I would like to offer a few random thoughts on the subject. (1) I don’t like early voting. Many states allow it, no questioned asked. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there’s just something ...

Lessons Learned from the 2008 Election The 2008 election cycle was endless, at times exhausting, and often exhilarating. It had no shortage of surprises, twists, and turns. Before it starts to recede in our rear-view mirror, let us take stock of some of the lessons that we learned from it. 1) The po...

It’s for real now: President-Elect Barack Obama. NY Times’ Thomas Friedman on the moment of history that we’re in, dating back to the Civil War era. NY Times’ Bob Herbert on how it’s nice that there’s history, but there’s a boat load of work to do to engage ...

Obviously there are a lot of interesting storylines to write about coming out of this historic election. I intend to write about many of them, but I want to start with a pet peeve of mine. I'm going to quote myself at length, if you'll permit me. A post I wrote back in February: Tonight, during the ...

EDITOR'S NOTE, ELECTION DAY-AFTER 2008 . It feels like a movie, this rise of Barack Obama.  Besides its compelling lead actor, this blockbuster has had plot twists, villains, conflict, a heroic journey, incredible stakes and a great ending.  These are all, as it is, also elements exp...

EDITOR'S NOTE, ELECTION DAY-AFTER 2008 .  It feels like a movie, this rise of Barack Obama.  And he did have to win a couple of tough Smackdowns to get here.  Besides its compelling lead actor, this blockbuster has had plot twists, villains, conflict, a heroic journey, incredible stakes and a gre...