WASHINGTON -- I take a back seat to no one when it comes to loving dogs. For that matter, my dog takes a back seat to no one.

Ollie rides shotgun.

WASHINGTON -- All it takes is one little twit. Or a tweet, as the case may be -- not that the two are mutually exclusive.

WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney "unzipped" is the stuff of cartoonists' dreams.

WASHINGTON -- There are so many appalling aspects to the Trayvon Martin case that it's hard to find a permanent home for outrage.

WASHINGTON -- By now you've heard it plenty: The Affordable Care Act (ACA), aka "Obamacare," is like the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This creative bit of dot-connecting began with President Obama, and has been perpetuated by countless talk-show hosts and their guests.

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- As the sun rises and dabs Caesars Palace with morning rouge, irony struts down the strip of casinos, shops and nightclubs.

WASHINGTON -- What's in a name?

Most of us, perhaps regrettably, do not get to select our own names and are saddled with our parents' projections of what we might be. It is entertaining to consider what name we might select for ourselves and what that name might suggest about us. Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum recently got this chance when they selected their Secret Service code names.

WASHINGTON -- Dear Mitt: Consider me a neighbor leaning over the picket fence. You have a picket fence, don't you? An ivy-covered wall? Fine, I'll get a ladder.

WASHINGTON -- Let me be blunt: If Republicans nominate Rick Santorum, they will lose.

WASHINGTON -- Can civility be saved?