I was extended secret service protection during my presidential run in 1984 when I received the most death threats ever made toward a candidate.

When sudden death takes a president opportunities for new beginnings flourish among the ambitious and the tensions among such people can be dramatic as they were when President Kennedy was killed.

The message that President Obama delivered in his speech at Notre Dame was: morality is immoral. Pro-life is the extremist position not a moral position. Yet we should compromise and work to reduce abortions. Where's the compromise between life and death - and why work to reduce the number of them occurring if there's nothing wrong with them?

I've been looking at some video clips on YouTube of President Obama - then candidate Obama - going through Iowa making promises. The gap between his promises and his performance is the largest I've seen well since the Kardashian wedding and the promise of 'til death do we part.

In our brief national history we have shot four of our presidents worried five of them to death impeached one and hounded another out of office. And when all else fails we hold an election and assassinate their character.

You know my father as governor as president but I knew him as dad. I was so proud to have the Reagan name and to be Ronald Reagan's son.

My dad is a bank president and my mom was an accountant and they didn't think that seeking the life of a freelance writer was very practical you see. Of course I was just as determined to do it.

Baseball is the president tossing out the first ball of the season. And a scrubby schoolboy playing catch with his dad on a Mississippi farm.

It's a complex relationship when your dad happened to be president and you are president and then you have all the amateur psychology that goes on when people try to speculate about motivations.

You know my dad served in the President's Cabinet after his time as a governor. He told me he enjoyed being governor a lot more. Now I understand why. If I do my job well I can make a difference in people's lives and I can help our children realize their dreams.