Hill column  .

The natural state of an election involving an incumbent, particularly a presidential election, is to be a referendum on that incumbent. While the economy is improving, we can stipulate that…

With a tight race expected for the White House, control of both chambers of Congress at stake and many of the marquee House and Senate contests taking places in traditionally…

What do job approval ratings portend about a president’s reelection prospects? Quite a lot, according to most analysts, whose mantra is that an incumbent president needs 50 percent approval to…

I admit it: I underestimated Newt Gingrich, who has established himself as the Freddy Krueger of politics, repeatedly left for dead but always able to resurrect himself (at least, so…

By Mark Mellman - 01/18/12 As a graduate student, I designed a research project that required me to watch hundreds of hours of network television news broadcasts from the 1960s…

During Newt Gingrich’s surge I was reminded that despite the egos in our little community, candidates count a lot more than consultants and staff. Gingrich languished at the bottom with…

The Republican Party is now choosing between a candidate distrusted by its base and one despised by its elite. It’s developing into a civil war. GOP primary voters see Mitt…

Last week I began attempting to answer the question posed by a New York Times Magazine cover – “Is Obama Toast?” – arguing that dynamics, both structural and strategic, gave…

If Barack Obama is “toast,” as one now-infamous headline conjectured, why is the broadest-based forecast (Pollyvote) projecting the president will be reelected with 51.1 percent of the vote? That’s way…

While we cannot afford complacency in battling against privation and injustice, Thanksgiving offers an opportunity to express our gratitude for all that has been achieved in those struggles. And despite…