Barack Obama took the presidential oath of office January 20, 2009. The challenges he inherited on that historic occasion were as great as any president has faced – including Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt; any assessment of Mr. Obama’s presidency not accounting for those challenges would be incomplete – and, more telling, dishonest.

In a move sure to be controversial and which has already received national attention, Arizona legislators have redrafted legislation to allow guns to be carried at public colleges and universities. Governor Jan Brewer vetoed a previous attempt, not because she was particularly opposed to the idea, but because it was unclear and murky. She hasn't voiced an opinion on the new bill but is known to be pro-gun.

The Iowa caucuses take place tomorrow.  What’s fascinating about this often-called “irrelevant” stop on the Republican primary parade is that it may end up highly significant if not decisive for the current field of candidates.

Many people like to ask: what is politics? It's a good question, since these days it seems like politics covers nearly every subject. In many ways, it does.

If you are asking what is politics in terms of educational subject, by strict definition, it would be an interdisciplinary study of the art (or science) of running a government or the affairs of a state. It is a huge subject and diverges at many points.

The Year in Policial Cartoons (one for each month!)

In Virginia, only two candidates have qualified for the VA GOP primary election: Mitt Romney and Ron Paul. Why? Because the restrictions for ballot access make it nearly impossible for candidates to gain access, causing Bachmann, Santorum, and Huntsman to not even submit a petition and preventing Gingrich and Perry from getting enough signatures to qualify. 

Supporters of independent and third party candidates have long decried the draconian laws regulating ballot access in states across the country.  They have argued that the ballot access system, which has been constructed by Democratic and Republican lawmakers over the last century, deprives voters of choice, unreasonably burdens upstart candidates for public office, and insulates entrenched incumbents from political competition.

California's stringent new rules regulating greenhouse gas emissions were scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 1 2012. But on Thursday Dec. 29, U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence O’Neill ruled that California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which reserves regulation of commerce to the federal government and is interpreted as meaning that states cannot interfere in interstate commerce.