There's no question that many factors contribute to voters' perceptions about debates and who wins and who loses.

America as we know it will end unless we end Medicare as we know it.

Presidents should do whatever possible and practical to encourage an environment of cooperation and bipartisanship. And they should maintain a certain level of decorum, diplomacy and decency. But, at the end of the day, presidents get elected to enact change.

Negativity drove me out of politics in the mid-Nineties.

I don't really care how or why Obama got to the right place on gay marriage. I'm just glad he got there.

Mention the name George W. Bush in mixed company, and you're likely to spark a lot of debate and emotion - hot and cold, good and bad. Not a lot of neutral reaction. He was elected in the most controversial contest in American electoral history and governed during one of the most tumultuous decades.

America's commitment to religious freedom and tolerance should not be conditional.