We've seen senators like Ted Cruz before. The historical comparison most commonly invoked involves Joe McCarthy, whose scurrilous red-baiting crusade in the early 1950s shattered the careers of innocent public servants and alienated McCarthy from his fellow senators, but also made him a folk hero on the right. Jesse Helms comes to mind too.
There's been no end to the grief Mitch McConnell's taken for his declaration early in Barack Obama's first term that his party's top goal was to make Obama a one-term president.
When we talk about the rise of tribalism, I think the evolution of media in the '90s and beyond is a huge part of it. And you can draw a pretty straight line from Newt Gingrich recognizing the power of CSPAN.
Patriots' Day is the essence of Boston, a Massachusetts-only holiday that seems like it was invented to celebrate Boston.
History suggests that the opportunity to run again for the presidency four years after losing is reserved for those who exceeded expectations their first time out - not for the John Connallys of politics.
From the end of Reconstruction through the civil rights revolution, the South was an almost uniformly Democratic region. In 1936, for example, Franklin Roosevelt won more than 98 percent of the vote in South Carolina.
I don't read a ton of fiction, but Tom Wolfe's death got me to pick up 'The Bonfire of the Vanities.' I'm a slow reader, but wow - I ended up devouring it in about six days. I'm fascinated with that period, the '80s, when the country was turning around but it seemed like New York and other cities were just hopelessly lost.
Bill Clinton broke what was known as the Republican electoral lock on the presidency, and Bill Clinton won the White House in 1992. That was sort of the impossible dream for Democrats.
History will always regard Florida as the state that decided the Bush-Gore contest, but if Gore had carried Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, West Virginia or Kentucky - all states that his boss won twice - then he'd have won the election anyway.
I think I'm statistically literate and numbers-oriented. But I'm nowhere near as sophisticated as a lot of other folks I see. Maybe that helps me not get too jargony and communicate this stuff in a way that's somewhat accessible.
The Romney who showed up at CPAC in early 2007 vehemently embraced the conservative cause and openly mocked his home state and its liberal reputation.
It's impossible to overstate the degree to which the '94 GOP revolution shook the political class. Bill Clinton was immediately dismissed as a one-term president. The main question was whether he'd bow to the inevitable and decline to seek reelection, or if it would take a primary challenge to dislodge him.
I just didn't fit the stereotypes of gay men. I was an ESPN addict as far back as elementary school. I'd also had early crushes on girls.
Favorite-son candidates almost always win their states decisively in presidential elections. But their status as national celebrities can end up breeding fatigue and resentment among home-state voters when the election is over.
Few losing V.P. candidates in the modern era have walked away with their reputations and future political prospects significantly enhanced, and some have even been damaged by their turn on the national stage.