Opinion - The Nation

The Nation -- Barack Obama made a surprise visit to an Ohio organizer training on Friday afternoon, popping in at a statewide gathering of field organizers in Columbus, according to a Democratic source in Ohio.

The Nation -- Minnesota Republican Senator Norm Coleman faces a laundry list of ethics questions at the moment: about his apartment in Washington, close ties to lobbyists and now, how he pays for his suits.

The Nation -- Young people support Barack Obama across racial boundaries, but they also seem to agree on a lot more than a candidate.

The Nation -- No matter what the conclusion of the "Troopergate" investigation into Sarah Palin's abuses of power as governor of Alaska, the fact that the report will be released today marks a major victory for those Republicans and Democrats who remained committed to ethics in government.

The Nation -- Republican strategist Ed Rollins knows landslides.

The Nation -- Following on the heels of recent reports from British military and diplomatic circles that the war in Afghanistan can't be won, a new report from Tony Cordesman at the Center for Strategic and International Studies lay out in excruciatingly painful terms how bad the situation is.

The Nation -- "Break the Glass" was the code-name high-level Treasury Department figures gave the $700 billion bailout; it was to be used only as a last- resort measure.

The Nation -- When the Minneapolis Star-Tribune published a poll over the weekend that suggested former Saturday Night Live writer and Air America host Al Franken had opened up a lead in his race for a Minnesota U.S. Senate seat, the conservatives who despise Franken rushed to ridicule the methodology.

The Nation -- In a 1998 interview with Le Nouvel Observateur, Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter, spoke proudly of how, in July 1979, he had "signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul" and so helped draw a Russian interventionary force into Afghanistan. "On the day that the Soviets officially crossed the border," Brzezinski added, "I wrote to President Carter, saying, in essence: 'We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam War.'" And so they did -- with the help of the CIA, Saudi money, the Pakistani intelligence services, and an influx of Arab jihadis, including Osama bin Laden. In fact, their Afghan War would prove far more disastrous for the Soviet Union than defeat in Vietnam had been for the United States. By the time the Soviets withdrew their last troops in February 1989, the economy of the Cold War's weaker superpower was tottering on the brink. Less than three years later, the Soviet Union itself was no more, even as Washington, at first unbelieving, then celebratory, declared eternal victory.

The Nation -- The McCain campaign is spinning false information to reporters about its campaign strategy.

The Nation -- The national polls are instructive early in the fall presidential campaign season. They tell us whether a candidate has strength, momentum, a chance.

The Nation -- Candidate psychology will out. Last week I wrote about how John McCain seemed to be re-enacting his torture-and-survival experience in Vietnam by repeatedly flip-flopping from Hound of Baskervilles to Scooby Doo on the campaign trail. And Wednesday afternoon, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, he actually called the crowd at a McCain-Palin rally "my fellow prisoners."

The Nation -- When Barack Obama proclaimed that "we worship an awesome God in the blue states" at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, he sent a tingle through many young evangelical Democrats. The party was set to nominate John Kerry, considered by many evangelical activists to be religiously tone-deaf, but these Democratic faithful were already eyeing Obama as the un-Kerry, an unabashed believer ready to praise God in public.

The Nation -- During the campaign Barack Obama has talked about healthcare on and off--more on during the primary campaign, when Hillary Clinton pushed him about whether people should be required to buy insurance; more off when healthcare has been eclipsed as a red-hot issue, such as during the financial crisis.

The Nation -- The first sign that Oregon Senator Gordon Smith, once thought to be among the more secure of the Republicans seeking re-election this year, recognized he was in trouble came in June, when his campaign seemed to claim the endorsement of a colleague seeking the presidency.

The Nation -- It is sad to see both major parties agree to spend $700 billion of taxpayer money to bail out huge financial institutions that are notable for two characteristics: incompetence and greed.

The Nation -- The 2000 presidential election was an in-broad-daylight assault on both the concept of democracy and its practice in the United States.

The Nation -- Last month I wrote about important legislation designed to help veterans vote in the upcoming election, the Veteran Voting Support Act (S. 3308). Introduced by Senators Dianne Feinstein and John Kerry--and cosponsored by fourteen senators including Barack Obama (not John McCain)--the bill is fair and just. It would require the US Department of Veterans Affairs to allow nonpartisan voter registration drives and comply with any state's request that the VA offer voter registration at its facilities.

The Nation -- Tuesday night's Presidential debate in Nashville featured a notable clash or two, but on one topic there was agreement: Warren Buffett. The so-called "Oracle of Omaha" is an Obama supporter but also received a nod from John McCain. When asked who would be a suitable Treasury Secretary both men invoked Buffett's name. So who is the Oracle everybody admires?