The presidential half of the '12 ticket, however, had a very different declaration to make. The newfound willingness of Mitt Romney to "consider" a third candidacy for the White House stunned many observers; privately.
Well, that didn't last long! By that, we mean our pre-Christmas ordering of the GOP presidential field. We shouldn't be surprised. Politics never takes a long holiday break anymore.
In our first ranking of the very large and very unsettled 2016 Republican presidential field back in April of last year, we decided to not even include the name of one of the brightest stars in the GOP universe: Jeb Bush. We just didn't think, at the time, that the former Florida governor and brother and son of presidents was all that interested in running.
Rep.-elect David Jolly (R, FL-13) overcame money, some internal division among Republicans, and a name recognition and prestige deficit to defeat Alex Sink (D) in a much-watched special election in Florida's Tampa-area 13th Congressional District Tuesday night.
As we wrap up our publishing schedule for 2013, we looked into the Crystal Ball to offer some predictions for next year. While the picture is still a little hazy for the 2014 midterms, we've got some other prognostications related to the political year to come and some hints about what you should expect.
The Kennedy family soap opera became a permanent staple of news and culture after the assassination, a tale of triumph and tragedy interwoven. Sen. Ted Kennedy was nearly killed in a summer plane crash in 1964. My family had just arrived for a vacation in Myrtle Beach, SC, when the news hit; again, we gathered around a TV at the Holiday Inn awaiting news of his fate. "Not again!" everyone said, as the possible Kennedy "curse" came into national lore.
After the campaign and inauguration, I went back to being a kid. I didn't follow politics closely, though there was always talk at the dinner table about Kennedy's actions on this and that. I did notice that mom and her sisters and friends got new hairdos. They were dead ringers for Jackie Kennedy's "do."
Choosing the topic of this article was easy for me, because it's a personal story. No, it's not your usual "Kennedy and me" tale. I never even shook hands with John F. Kennedy. But his presidential saga, tragic assassination and evolutionary image coincided with my coming of age, influenced the career path I chose and defined the political world I analyze for a living.
Mere moments after Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald, and two days after Oswald fired the shots that killed President John F. Kennedy, the professional football team from the city where the president was murdered took the field in Cleveland
