| Feb 7, 2018 | Rights / DemocracyWhen President Trump created the “Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity” last spring — and put notorious vote suppressor Kris Kobach at the helm — voting rights advocates had decades of good reasons to be concerned. The panel seemed...
| Feb 3, 2016 | Rights / DemocracyBefore the Iowa caucuses were mercifully laid to rest, I predicted that the surging Donald Trump — he of what George H.W. Bush called “the Big Mo” — would win the Republican contest handily. Bernie Sanders, I believed, would be confounded by the complexity...
| Jan 20, 2016 | Rights / DemocracyThe problem with applying conventional wisdom to political campaigns is that it can suddenly be upended by an unconventional campaign. National media pundits have been riveted by Donald Trump’s flagrantly narcissistic run for the Republican presidential...
| Apr 22, 2015 | Rights / DemocracyBaseball has spring training, football’s got its training camps. But for a political junkie like me, nothing compares with the opening of the presidential primary season. Some 19 candidates, give or take, recently swarmed a Republican forum in New Hampshire in...
| Mar 19, 2012 | Peace / SecurityDuring a recent city council meeting, the mayor of Keene, New Hampshire leaned over to a council member and whispered excitedly: “We’re going to have our own tank.” Yes, the tank (or, more specifically, the “armored personnel vehicle”) is...