In asserting this week that the surge has "succeeded beyond our wildest dreams," Obama was buying into the Republicans' framing on Iraq. As the Shiite-run Iraqi government is rounding up the Sunni leaders of the Awakening who were at the heart of the reduction in violence, political reconciliation --...

During his acceptance speech, John McCain had some very strong criticism of his opponent. I'm not talking about Barack Obama; I'm talking about George Bush. After rushing headlong into the embrace of Bush and the Rovian wing of the GOP, McCain has now decided that he desperately needs to...

The GOP is intent on keeping George Bush -- and his disastrous legacy -- as far away from John McCain and the convention as possible. If they could have had him beam in his speech via satellite from Mars rather than Washington, they would have.

But with McCain closely aligning...

Walking through the Xcel Energy Center, I encountered a group of African-American Republicans, and asked them for their take on the historic nature of Barack Obama's nomination, and whether it left them with conflicted feelings. Check it out:

On Monday, HuffPost hosted the RNC version of our panel on how new media are impacting the '08 race. Moderated by Joe Scarborough and Mika Brezinski, who I introduced as "the Hepburn and Tracy of morning TV," the panel included Cyrus Krohn, who left Yahoo! to spearhead the RNC's new...

Before a panel discussion Monday morning held by Politico and Yahoo!, I asked my fellow panelists Tucker Carlson and Peggy Noonan what they thought of the Sarah Palin pick.

Read more reaction from HuffPost bloggers to John McCain's running mate, Sarah...

Minneapolis-St. Paul -- Even without George Bush in the Twin Cities, the GOP cannot escape its miserable record over the last eight years. (Indeed, trying to spot a recognizable Republican in town has become a favorite early-convention game.)

So you can see why Sarah Palin was such an appealing pick...

Picking Sarah Palin was clearly a Hail Mary pass. But the McCain campaign is tapping into an archetype that resonates deep in the human psyche. That of the unknown innocent plucked from obscurity and magnificently rising to the challenge. Hollywood has long recognized the appeal of this fantasy. Think Mr....

Bill Clinton let it be known beforehand that he wasn't happy making his speech on national security night -- preferring to talk about the economy and, hence, his legacy. You could tell. National security rated only passing mentions.

He spent the majority of his speech wheeling through the things...

We kicked off our panel discussion on the impact the new media have had on the '08 race by giving the 450-strong crowd of guests a quick pop quiz on Michelle Obama's favorite show: The Brady Bunch. True or false: Marsha was a Muslim?

The actual panel started by recognizing...

Michelle's speech was a home run. Emotional, heartfelt, and very authentic. On a night where Ted Kennedy passed the Democratic Party's moral baton, Michelle picked it up and ran with it -- evoking RFK's famous evocation of George Bernard Shaw ("Some men see things as they are...") by talking about...

The party got started early last night, with a fabulous concert at the Red Rocks amphitheater put together by Laurie David. Called Green Sunday at Red Rock, the show featured hot sets by Sheryl Crow, Sugarland, and Dave Matthews, and speeches about the environment by Laurie, Van Jones, Tim Kaine,...

Denver -- Here at the Democratic Convention there are two conversations going on. One is about the Clintons and their supporters (did Bill really insist that his speech be about the economy and his legacy instead of national security? What stage of the grieving process are Hillary's supporters at? And...

r u awke??? The Obama camp clearly has a sense of humor. Not only did it start sending out its text message announcement about Biden at, that's right, 3 a.m., there is also something delicious about using this truncated form of communication to disclose the selection of one of the...

Welcome to the newly retooled Living section.

Take a look around. You'll notice that all the great articles on fashion, food, sex, and the hottest trends have been spun off into their own Style section.

Living is now more focused on all the ways we can take...

As predicted, tech advances -- and the new media they have made possible -- have had a game-changing effect on the political world.

From the way campaigns connect to supporters, to the way those campaigns are covered, to the way voters decide who to vote for, 2008 has delivered the...

Lefkada, Greece - For the last year now -- ever since I passed out from exhaustion, broke my cheekbone and got five stitches over my eye -- I've been working on bringing more balance in my life.

The prevailing culture still tells us that nothing succeeds like excess, that working...

"How honest are we if we tell the truth most of the time & stay silent only when telling the truth might get us fired or earn us a broken nose? We need moral courage to be honest all the time."

Those words were written by John McCain...

This week, Michael Phelps lived up to the hype; the Bigfoot hunters did not. Ernest Borgnine came clean; underage Chinese gymnast He Kexin did not. Victoria Osteen was exonerated; Jerome Corsi was not. Joe Klein proved he knows "trash," "swill," and "slow-acting spiritual...

We are rolling out our first local version of The Huffington Post. We've decided to start with Chicago because it's always been a great news town -- offering a vibrant mix of politics, sports, business, music, food, and urban life.

Transferring The Huffington Post's blend of news, opinion, and...