Alan Greenblatt

The sense that Washington is hopelessly gridlocked has become a source of national despair.

Approval ratings for both Obama and Congress continue to tumble. A Washington Post-ABC News poll released Tuesday found that only 22 percent of voters are inclined to give their own representatives another term — ...

Conservatives can't stand Harry Reid.

The Senate majority leader is under steady attack from Republicans for calling the Koch brothers, billionaire funders of conservative causes, "un-American." His Senate colleagues across the aisle criticize his stewardship in unusually sharp terms.

Recognizing a rich vein, New Jersey GOP Gov. Chris Christie ...

Jim Hogan thanks God for his victory in a statewide Texas primary election on Tuesday. His campaign clearly had little to do with it.

Hogan paid his filing fee and then did essentially nothing else.

"Not being a politician, I didn't want to spend money," he says. "I didn't buy ...

Al Cross has been all over the news lately. Just in the past couple of weeks, he's been quoted in Time, The New York Times and The Washington Post on no fewer than three separate occasions (here, here and here).

Who is Al ...

Many religious leaders are feeling under siege. They believe the Obama administration is at worst hostile but at least "tone deaf" to the demands of faith. In their view, the government is attempting to make them act in ways that violate their convictions.

That is the context in which so-called ...

Iowa was one of the few states that saw voter turnout increase in 2012. Brad Anderson is proud of the role he played in encouraging turnout there as state director of President Obama's campaign.

Now he's running for secretary of state, which would put him in charge of overseeing elections.

Deanna Mullennax spent six months last year looking for a job. Having tattoos, she says, definitely didn't help.

"Tattoos literally change your career," says Mullennax, who is now working at a bakery in Chicago. "They call them 'job stoppers' for a reason."

Tattoos have become more common over the past ...

Jean Leising admits she's no expert on brain development, but she still hopes to do something about the way kids learn.

Leising serves in the Indiana state Senate. Last month, she convinced her Senate colleagues to pass a bill that would restore instruction of cursive writing to the state's educational ...

San Diego voters did something highly unusual last Tuesday: They elected a Republican as mayor.

San Diego will now be the largest city in the country with a Republican mayor, Kevin Faulconer, who has been serving on its city council. The next largest is Indianapolis.

In fact, of the nation's ...

When Woody Harrelson's character got hired as a bartender on Cheers, he was so excited, he insisted on working for no more than the minimum wage. "I'd work like a slave," he said, "and, of course, I'd wash your car."

Most bar and restaurant workers would prefer to bring home ...

If you wanted to pursue a career in politics, you could have done worse than appearing in the 1987 movie Predator.

That movie featured not only Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura — future governors of California and Minnesota, respectively — but Sonny Landham, who later ran for governor and senator ...

It may be an idea whose time came and went 100 years ago.

Nevertheless, it's back.

A number of Republican politicians and conservative commentators are calling for repeal of the 17th Amendment. Ratified in 1913, it gave voters the power to elect U.S. senators directly.

Before ...

The reviews are in for President Obama's stepped-up use of executive powers to carry out policies he can't get through Congress.

Republicans think the idea stinks.

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann threatened to sue Obama over his announced intent to use his "unilateral authority" to change rules regarding, for instance, ...

Steve Beshear couldn't help but chuckle during the State of the Union speech when President Obama said, "Kentucky's not the most liberal part of the country."

Obama was singling out his fellow Democrat for being the rare Southern governor who has fully implemented the Affordable Care Act, expanding Medicaid ...

Along with hundreds of other cities across the country, Dubuque, Iowa, has been able to cut back on its utility bills, thanks to energy efficiency grants from the federal government.

But that money was part of the 2009 stimulus package. It's all dried up, and no more is forthcoming.

"We ...

Those close to a powerful elected official, like a governor or the president, may owe their success to the boss. Yet there are times when the interests of the person on top and those who serve will diverge, and the outcome is predictable.

"When you're a staffer or consultant, at ...

Bryn Mawr College is located just outside Philadelphia, but every year the school goes looking for students in Boston.

Bryn Mawr typically admits 10 low-income students from the Boston area each year, providing them with financial assistance and introducing them to one another in hopes that they will form a ...

Like all newly elected politicians, the class of mayors being sworn in as the year begins has made many grand promises.

From New York Mayor Bill de Blasio's pledge to provide universal pre-kindergarten classes, financed through taxes on wealthy individuals, to Seattle Mayor Ed Murray's push for a $15 minimum ...

In the end, Mark Darr had to give in.

Darr, the Republican lieutenant governor of Arkansas, announced Friday that he will resign Feb 1. Earlier this month, he agreed to pay the state ethics commission $11,000 in fines for making personal use of campaign funds and receiving improper expense reimbursements ...

What New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Thursday may have mattered less than how long he took to say it.

With his presidential ambitions and, potentially, his governorship put at risk by a scandal over lane closures on the George Washington Bridge, the Republican Christie fielded dozens of questions from ...