William Schneider

With some Democrats wondering whether either Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama can be elected president, the 2008 primaries are likely to produce a lot of strategic voting.

The three leading Republican presidential contenders are all moving to the right.

The presidential nomination fights could be over by early February 2008.

Democrats are picking up signs of middle-class anxiety about economic trends.

The current presidential campaign finance system is likely about to collapse and die.

Opinion polls could play an unusually big role in the selection of the presidential nominees.

President Bush has not succeeded in changing people's minds about Iraq.

Nancy Pelosi has taken over in a more polarized environment than Newt Gingrich faced in 1994.

Opinion polls show that Americans have one big priority; resolving the situation in Iraq.

Clinton's excessive baggage and Barack's light load of experience might not be the only options for Democrats.

For decades, Democrats have been stereotyped as wimpy liberals. But Jim Webb, Virginia's new Democratic senator, is nobody's idea of a liberal. And his confrontational style is anything but wimpy.

When Americans feel bogged down in a war; they want to win or get out.

Independents have always been around, but for the past 12 years they've split their votes pretty evenly between the two parties. This year, they swung. The independent vote went 57 percent to Democrats and 39 percent to Republicans—the biggest margin since the first exit polls in 1976.

Neither party holds a clear advantage on the issue.

Pocketbook elections occur when most people think the economy is either very bad or very good. This year, people are evenly divided about whether the economy is in good shape or not.

This year's midterms could turn into another endless election in which we won't know who won the day after the balloting. Remembering 2000, neither side wants to be out-lawyered in any litigation battle.

Is President Bush in a position to throw his party a lifeline? We'll find out on Election Day.

Revelations in Bob Woodward's new book are putting the White House on the defense.

The political center is alive and well in Colorado's 7th Congressional District.

The decline in gasoline prices may be having an impact on attitudes about the economy.