WASHINGTON -- I wrote a recent column about Michelle Obama, to counter the negative responses to Jodi Kantor's new book, "The Obamas," and apparently it has been misinterpreted by some. (This column did not run in The Fresno Bee.) I did not

WASHINGTON -- One thing we've learned since the Republican primary season began: There's an awful lot of pious baloney out there.

WASHINGTON -- Iowa front-runners Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have a little problem. Both are too nice to be mean to each other.

WASHINGTON -- The great thing about Iowa is that no matter whom the voters select in their neighborhood huddles, it doesn't really matter. Placing in Iowa might land one a talk show (see Mike Huckabee), but the preferences of a handful of Americans b

WASHINGTON -- It is axiomatic in these political times that The Candidate must submit to comedic humiliation -- with grace, humor and the skin of an armadillo. In this upside-down universe, the court jester is the monarch and the would-be king must submit

WASHINGTON -- The Republicans' final debate preceding the Iowa caucuses is suddenly uncompelling. There is nothing to do but write about Christopher Hitchens, whose death has made the world immeasurably less interesting.

WASHINGTON -- Oh, quelle gaffe.