You get insights into presidential campaign news coverage from the darndest places — a pharmacy, for example. I picked up three prescriptions, all packaged for me in one bag. When I opened the bag at home, I noticed one prescription was different from what I had ordered — they gave me something called doxycycline instead [...]

U.S. presidential elections come in two parts, the preliminary or nominating phase in the form of state caucuses and primaries, followed by the general election. The latter is considered the main event. This year, though, it’s the preliminaries that may prove to be decisive. In them, the GOP candidates are staking out such uniformly far-right [...]

“Awww, shucky ducky!” as Herman Cain would say. I was so hoping that Donald Trump would have used his Las Vegas platform to endorse Newt Gingrich. He had hinted at it, but no. The “Celebrity Apprentice” maestro (and don’t you know it will be premiering soon) endorsed Mitt Romney instead. With Romney’s easy Nevada victory, [...]

How much longer will Republican presidential candidates pretend that George W. Bush doesn’t exist? Mitt Romney’s victory speech in Florida is a case in point. Romney tore Barack Obama limb from limb on joblessness and other issues, but never once acknowledged that what preceded Obama’s election might have had a bearing on his record. Leaving [...]

In the wake of the Florida primary, it may be timely to return to Iowa to provide context for the rancor and discord still besetting the Republican Party. In assaying the wreckage of the 2012 Iowa GOP caucus, you can conclude the obvious — that it was a fiasco. You also might wonder if that [...]

You have to hand it to Mitt Romney. He’s no time-waster. No sooner had he vanquished his Republican rivals in New Hampshire, than he put bigger game in his sights. Romney’s victory speech made it clear that he won’t be distracted by minor nuisances like Iraq when there’s more potent enemies to contend with: Europe!! [...]

The winner of the Republican presidential nominating battle is unknown at this writing. It’s not too soon, though, to declare the loser: the English language. When, in politician-speak “moderate” becomes an epithet or President Obama morphs into a “socialist,” language has lost its moorings and meaning. At one time “moderate” had entirely favorable connotations. It [...]

DES MOINES – A friend in California asked about the ballyhooed Iowa Republican caucuses: “What do Democrats do on Tuesday?” A reasonable question. My answer: At my precinct more than 300 Democrats showed up for voting in the 2008 caucuses. In 2010 as I remember it, about a dozen were there, including several kids getting [...]

Two names come to mind when one considers who will win and who will lose in the Iowa GOP caucuses Tuesday, Jan. 3. That’s when Republican party faithful will gather at 1,744 precincts across the state, ending the three or four years of political maneuvering that lead to the kickoff of the 2012 presidential campaign. [...]

Des Moines — If the endless intonations of “God Bless America” at political rallies and in political speeches have any payoff at all, a blizzard will sweep Iowa on Jan. 3, rendering the Iowa GOP presidential caucus meaningless as their Creator keeps thousands of right-wing evangelicals homebound and, at long last, voiceless. That sentiment echoes [...]