On the other side I do believe that the rhetoric we are seeing from the Democrats today is unprecedented is a new low in presidential politics and goes beyond political discourse and amounts to political hate speech.

The legions of reporters who cover politics don't want to quit the clash and thunder of electoral combat for the dry duty of analyzing the federal budget. As a consequence we have created the perpetual presidential campaign.

When I first started working in politics as a junior aide on Walter Mondale's 1984 presidential campaign it never occurred to me that I would one day work in the White House. There were plenty of women among the volunteers who stuffed envelopes and walked precincts. But there were fewer and fewer on each successive level of influence and access.

This has always been the way of presidential politics. The president rises above the fray while his surrogates go on the attack. They throw the spears and fling the mud he sits upon the throne.

But presidential approval also became a surrogate measure of national unity and patriotism.

Somebody asked me about the current choice we're being given in the presidential election. I said Well it's like two of the scariest movies I can imagine.

We were poor. But my mom never accepted that. She worked hard to become a residential contractor - got her master's with honors at the University of New Orleans. I used to go to every class with her. Her father was my paternal figure.

No candidate can win a presidential race advocating gay marriage and opposing the military action in Iraq.

Presidential leadership needn't always cost money. Look for low- and no-cost options. They can be surprisingly effective.

I wish I had known more firsthand about the concerns and problems of American businesspeople while I was a U.S. senator and later a presidential nominee. That knowledge would have made me a better legislator and a more worthy aspirant to the White House.