August 2012

Charlotte, N.C. — We dodged a hurricane, survived the gripping humidity and thrived for a week in the belly of the beast — a national political convention that one first time attendee Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc), said reminded him of a trade show.

So let's rinse and the repeat, this time in the Tar Heel State, where Democrats are already descending to renominate Barack Obama. The incumbent gets the privilege of the last word when it comes to scheduling events like these. So expect much of what you see here to be reactive.

Tampa | Florida politics has always been its own special fun. Long before the election year ground to a shocking legal halt in the wake of the disputed 2000 election, it was the home of "Walkin’ Lawton" Chiles -- the guy who ran for governor by walking across the state; Terri Schiavo, whose life support drama turned into a national flashpoint; and Elian Gonzalez, the young Cuban boy whose residency dispute singlehandedly revived the Cold War.

So Hurricane Isaac should be a piece of cake.

When I set out to write a book several years ago about a generation of up and coming black political leaders, I had no idea how much would change in the course of a single presidential election cycle.

Paul Taylor, the executive vice president of the Pew Research Center, has long experience explaining why things happen. When we chatted on the PBS NewsHour this week, the subject was the widening chasm of economic segregation.