BackboneAmerica

When during a particularly bitter Parliamentary debate in 1909 the Liberal Prime Minister Herbert Asquith denounced Conservatives (more…)

Probably we’ve all seen Larry Sabato on TV during election season. The UVA political scientist is usually portrayed as an unbiased (more…)

It’s just a shame that a song by that title was actually more popular than Tuesday’s announcement from Senator Arlen Specter. (more…)

“In political arithmetic, two and two do not always make four.” Alexander Hamilton quoted this old maxim in the Federalist Papers (more…)

It’s been just over two months since Barack Obama became President, and his popularity is beginning to slip. (more…)

These are the times that try journalists’ souls, to paraphrase Thomas Paine, as newspapers try mightily to survive in an exponentially (more…)

When Bill Clinton was elected President in 1992, I could see nothing to cheer about. A friend calmly assured me (more…)

The much-acclaimed HBO miniseries “John Adams” took a goodly share of awards at the Golden Globes ceremonies last weekend, (more…)

“All of us now in America have a chance to show our resilience and our courage.” Shortly after 9/11, Laura Bush spoke those calming (more…)

No one expects political campaigns to be as calm, rational and genteel as academic seminars (although even those aren’t what they used (more…)

Satirizing politics isn’t easy; your imaginary absurdity keeps getting overtaken by the real thing. It wasn’t that long ago (more…)

Before 2008 is forgotten, here’s our annual salute to Colorado winners and sinners of the old year. Denver hosted a successful DNC (more…)

The year 2008 was politically the most exciting and unusual in a generation. It hosted a long, divisive and drama-filled (more…)

Some of the biggest donors to both the Democratic and Republican national conventions are now among the companies (more…)

The world has marveled at the orderliness of America’s “peaceful revolutions” ever since Jefferson’s Democratic-Republicans (more…)