The list of women to potentially be on a major party ticket, in both parties, is embarrassingly short.

If you look at where presidents come from, they're former governors or senators.

If there is a ground zero in the cultural wars, it is Missouri, a state where pro-life groups are strong and well organized and their agenda dominates local politics.

It's a complicated set of opinions that women bring to the voting booth.

Bush is good at stating the obviously untrue.

Bush does not want to go down in history as the president who lost in Iraq. His strategy to the extent he has one is to hang tough and let whoever succeeds him take the fall.

If you think of life and death on a continuum, finding the point where it tips is complicated. It cuts across all political lines and gets to the root of our humanity. It requires faith informed by years of intimacy that you're doing what's right for your loved one.