A.B. Stoddard

The election of Scott Brown (R-Mass.) to fill the seat of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D) was a harbinger for Democrats in this fall’s congressional elections, but not for the reasons everyone thinks.

Damned if they pass healthcare reform in the face of public opposition, and damned if they dump it, Democrats on Capitol Hill are paralyzed. On the House side, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) insists that giving up is not an option, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has shelved it, saying this week, “We’re not on healthcare now.”

Seeing a Republican win his beloved seat in the U.S. Senate would have been tough for the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) to take.

Ever-smiley, say-it-isn’t-so Joe is the talk of the town and the Scrooge of the 2009 holiday season.

Grim as the political landscape appears for Democrats, with anxiety growing among the rank and file that the midterm elections could bring heavy losses, there is still a chance for Democrats to turn a corner and turn their political fortunes around.

After nearly 100 days of conducting a comprehensive review of our longest-ever war in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama gave the most important speech of his career to detail his new strategy Tuesday, leaving his doubters doubting, his critics criticizing and his supporters struggling to explain how and why our commander in chief actually made the sale.

You don’t have to read Going Rogue: An American Life to know that Sarah Palin is running for something: leader of a conservative movement, president of the United States, talk show host, top draw with the speakers bureau. Ideally, something involving rope lines.

Former President Bill Clinton — the Big Dog himself — called on Senate Democrats at the Capitol this week, imploring them to compromise on healthcare reform.

The surprise victory for a Democrat in New York’s 23rd district Tuesday, a seat the GOP has held since 1870, laid bare the deep divisions that threaten the Republicans’ return to power. Republicans hoping to ride Tea Party coattails of conservative, grassroots anger are battling those in their party who argue a winning coalition must include moderate Republicans who can win again in upstate New York, the rest of the Northeast, the Rocky Mountain West and all other territory claimed by Democrats in 2006 and 2008. But as Democrats delight in a GOP civil war, they should be wary: They could be facing one of their own pretty soon.

As President Barack Obama comes to a conclusion about a way forward in Afghanistan, all eyes turn to Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who devised the counterinsurgency strategy Obama is poised to embrace or reject. But McChrystal’s moment of truth is nothing compared to the one Obama’s choice will become for Vice President Joe Biden.