For the past three weeks, a debate has rippled through the nation about the raid on a polygamist sect near Eldorado.

In every presidential campaign, there will be an event that comes out of nowhere and blindsides the candidate. How the candidate responds is a fair test of fitness for office because life in the Oval Office is dealing with crises that are random and unfair.

From the Washington Post, Monday, April 28, 2008:

The cause of reforming government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) may not be a lost one after all. Last week, a meeting involving Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., Senate Banking Committee leaders and the heads of the GSEs -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- ended with all sides pronouncing themselves ready to settle the issue at last. The House passed a bill to tighten regulation of the mammoth mortgage companies almost a year ago, but the effort stalled in the Senate. Sen. Richard C. Shelby, Ala., the ranking Republican on the Banking Committee, had well-founded concerns that a new law might be too weak. Now he appears willing to deal.

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright wasn't going to take it any longer. He was being done in by a TV snippet here and another there, and it was time, he figured, for the Full Monty. For context. For an enlarged view of who he was and what he stood for. Here's some advice to the Chicago pastor: Stick with the snippets.

Now that Pennsylvania's Democratic primary is over, it's time to take a closer look at the foreign policy of Sen. John McCain.

Truly, sometimes I think there is nothing new on the face of the earth. Here's a quotation cited by Mark Twain around the turn of the 19th century. Read it and see if you don't recognize it from today's political discourse:

If the Democrats somehow contrive to blow this presidential election, they should be consigned to the dustbin of history -- or to a display case at the Smithsonian, where perhaps they can share space with the Whigs.

From the San Jose Mercury News on Friday, April 25, 2008: