WASHINGTON -- Criticism of Mitt Romney for lacking a coherent message is grossly unfair. He has been forthright, consistent and even eloquent in pressing home his campaign's central theme: Mitt Romney desperately wants to be president.

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WASHINGTON -- OK, now it's settled, right? I mean, it must be settled by now. Mitt Romney is going to be the nominee. Eat your peas, Republicans, and then fall in line, because Romney's the guy. Right?

Probably.

Even at this point, after Romney ...

WASHINGTON -- I wish Mitt Romney's cavalier dismissal of poverty in America could be chalked up as just another gaffe, but it's much worse than that. The Republican front-runner seems dangerously clueless about the nation he seeks to lead.

When I...

MIAMI -- When the empire strikes back, it hits hard. The Republican establishment is deploying every weapon and every soldier -- even Bob Dole -- in an increasingly desperate attempt to pulverize the Newt Gingrich rebellion. Eventually, the shock-...

WASHINGTON -- If you heard a loud "gulp" Tuesday night after President Obama's State of the Union address, it probably came from Republican political strategists as they realized their party's odds of capturing the White House this fall are ...

WASHINGTON -- When the polls closed in South Carolina on Saturday, I happened to be in a Charleston hotel lobby where elegantly dressed couples were filing past on their way to a black-tie event. A woman stopped and asked whether I had heard ...