Columns

WASHINGTON -- There are few foreign-policy positions more silly than the assertion without context that "deterrence works." It is like saying air power works. Well, it worked for Kosovo; it didn't work over North Vietnam.

Halfway through the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., one thing was obvious.

WASHINGTON -- Now begins the final phase of this cognitive dissonance campaign. America's 57th presidential election is the first devoted to calling the nation's bluff.

For those of us who like to believe that human beings are rational, trying to explain what happens in politics can be a real challenge.

Across Florida, kids are donning back packs and hopping on yellow buses heading back to school.

Today, the 40th Republican National Convention assembles in hurricane-threatened Tampa, Fla.

WASHINGTON -- Conventions are the seventh-inning stretches of presidential politics, a pause to consider the interminable prelude and the coming climax.

When Republicans formally nominate Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan next week, the race against President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will be officially under way.