With Jeb Bush and Rick Perry as the latest hopefuls, the Republican presidential race looks like a free for all. Close examination shows voters are faced with fewer choices than ever before.
How I spent my summer vacation: “Ran for president”
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Even if you come in dead last in every poll, a run for the presidency might be a career booster. Then again, anyone remember the Carol Moseley Braun campaign of 2004?
Can Pope Francis spread the idea that protecting nature a moral issue?
Tony Gentile/Reuters
Politics as partisan blood sport may be fun to watch but may undermine discourse necessary for democracy. A study finds that online town halls may re-engage potential voters in the political process.
The Republican “open letter” to Iran may have opened floodgates for more partisan efforts at foreign relations.
MichałRadecki
The firestorm over the Republican “open letter” to Iran may be an indication of things to come in a digital era where everyone can talk to anyone.
Republicans in Congress sent an open letter to Iranian leaders warning them that any agreement with President Obama could be jettisoned by the next president.
RREUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Editor’s note: “The state of the union is good,” and the attitude of President Barack Obama in his annual speech to Congress was upbeat. Good economic news and no more election campaigns were the backdrop…
What difference will President Obama’s executive order make for this family?
Sandy Huffaker/Reuters
Editor’s note: On November 20, President Obama announced a plan - through an executive order - to protect millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation if they meet certain criteria. His move has…
Just who were the voteres these elections?
Carlo Allegri/Reuters
Editor’s note: voter turnout in this year’s midterm elections - 36.6% - was lower than in the 2010 midterms (40.9%.) According to the Pew Research Center the “party of non-voters” is more racially diverse…
The man to watch: new Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell
Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
No denying it, Tuesday was a big day for Republicans. They took control of the Senate, expanded their majority in the House, and added to the number of governorships they hold. The Senate outcome is rightly…
It’s a new team in charge of the Senate
Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
Midterm elections in American politics are akin to a reset button and on November 4, 2014 the American people pushed that reset button in a big way. The Founders of the American Constitution set up an…
Nothing but corn as far as the eye can see
Timothy M. Hagle
Every four years Iowa begins the presidential nomination process with the Iowa Caucuses. The start of caucus season is also the start of complaints by those who object to Iowa going first in the nomination…
Does this look like a conservative city to you?
Ixnayonthetimmay
Mesa, Arizona: a place with wide streets and narrow minds. Or so goes a once popular saying about this traditionally laid-back, conservative community that came into official existence in 1883 as a Mormon…
Barack Obama’s recent budget pursues the goals of full employment and fiscal balance, objectives that were heavily emphasised under Bill Clinton’s leadership.
AAP
Is it 2013 or 1999? Barack Obama’s evolution into a more successful Bill Clinton may be complete with the issuance of his recent budget. On the one hand, Obama’s budget cuts entitlement spending by adopting…
Despite all the talk of a new liberal America in the wake of Obama’s re-election, the economic debate has from both sides is staunchly conservative.
AAP
The Republican and Democratic budgets released last week share little common ground. But both illustrate the same point: for all the talk of a new liberal America in the wake of Barack Obama’s re-election…
Mitt Romney’s 47% comments portray a man out of touch with most American lives.
EPA/CJ Gunter
At a certain point, Mitt Romney will have to pony up for the monocle and top hat if he wants to heighten his similarities to Rich Uncle Moneybags. Rhetorically, he’s topped out. Romney filled his gaffe…
Barack Obama had a good convention, but it won’t win him the election.
EPA/Shawn Thew
The Democratic National Convention went about as well as the party could hope. The question is, in this partisan political climate, will it be enough to move the polls? The common narrative throughout…
Comments from male politicians such as George Galloway have revealed cultural assumptions about rape that originate from some powerful myths about this sex crime.
When US Republican Todd Akin declared earlier this week that it is impossible or “really rare” for a woman to become pregnant as a result of a “legitimate rape” because “the female body has ways to try…
Barack Obama’s life may be fascinating, but he isn’t as powerful as we think.
AFP/Saul Loeb
Sarah Palin’s voice, both in sound and content, still has the power to stop me dead in my tracks with fear and bewilderment. Her game of will she/won’t she run for the US Presidency has ended, but not…
Professor in U.S. Politics and U.S. Foreign Relations at the United States Studies Centre and in the Discipline of Government and International Relations, University of Sydney