No candidate can win a presidential race advocating gay marriage and opposing the military action in Iraq.

Take whatever position you want, but do take a position, because once you do, ample money awaits you on either side.

Every donation received is a potential negative ad. Vetting money is just as important as raising it.

Americans will gladly support their president when he attacks nations that sponsor or harbor terrorists. We will even back him in a preemptive war against a country that might attack us. But when we start sending troops around the world to stabilize nations that, if left to disintegrate, might become breeding grounds for terror, it's a step too far for most Americans.

Obama does not believe in individual upward mobility. He would penalize it, tax it, regulate it, inveigh against it and disincentivize it. We will be like salmon swimming upstream to mate. We will overcome the currents, the waterfall, the rocks and the predators, and will grapple our way up the stream. Then, at the top of the waterfall will stand Obama the Bear, waiting to scoop us up and have us for dinner. The taxman cometh.

Today, a politician does not just need public support to win elections; he needs it to govern.

It is from the center that leaders must lead.