It is the future, of course, which politicians grapple with, and that is why politics is so disorderly. Only history clears away some of the debris.

Money often determines not only who gets elected, but what gets done. Which voices do lawmakers listen to, the banks or home owners, coal companies, or asthma sufferers, the CEOs or the unemployed?

Working moms, and increasingly working dads, don't want a government handout, but they do need a hand up.

Politics creates an almost endless time horizon into the future. ... As governor I had the incredible luxury of being able to dream on a grand scale. And this sense of infinite possibility gives politics its romance.

The political environment we create matters because a disturbed person cannot always tell the difference between explosive rhetoric and explosive actions.

What some men don't understand is that by opposing policies to reduce violence, promote equal pay and universal healthcare and voting to limit access to contraception and legal abortion, they are relegating women to another century, a time when men ruled exclusively and women were considered property and had to be guided by a firm masculine hand.

If months were marked by colors, November in New England would be colored gray.