Somebody is going to have to do fancy footwork to make sure Elizabeth and John Edwards get their prime-time shot .

As a general proposition, campaigns do not linger on the vice presidential nominee. When they have, it's always meant very bad news for the ticket. Think of Spiro Agnew's foot-in-mouth disease; Tom Eagleton's medical history; the real estate holdings of Geraldine Ferraro's husband; the unbearable lightness of Dan Quayle; Sarah Palin's reading list.

More things in politics happen by accident or exhaustion than happen by conspiracy.

In every debate, whatever the format, whatever the questions, there is one and only one way to identify the winner: Who commands the room? Who drives the narrative? Who is in charge?

Victory has 1,000 fathers; defeat has 1,000 kibitzers.

Somebody is going to have to do fancy footwork to make sure Elizabeth and John Edwards get their prime-time shot .

Protestations of indifference to higher office are hard to take seriously when the 'non-candidate' is busily engaged in testing the waters.