Not long ago, following serial losses in primary contests across the country, Ohio Governor John Kasich was left for dead in the race for the GOP nomination. But now that Marco Rubio has pulled the plug on his campaign after a devastating loss in Florida to Donald Trump, Kasich has claimed the "establishment lane" for himself with a strong Ohio victory and a clean sweep of its winner-take-all delegates.

I feel bad for Senator Mitch McConnell. He has been placed in a no-win situation by the nomination of Merrick Garland to fill Antonin Scalia’s spot on the Supreme Court.

On the one hand, Garland is about the best choice that Republicans could hope for from a Democratic president. Facing the very real prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency and a Democratic Senate, McConnell certainly realizes that rejecting Garland now could result in a substantially more liberal Court next year.

As of the most recent voter registration report from California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, voters declining to state a party preference make up 24 percent of the state's registered voters. That is nearly a 3-point increase from this time in 2012.

As a professional facilitator, I have been disappointed by the failure of moderators to better manage the 2016 presidential debates. A clear set of rules could help to avoid the disrespectful banter that has dominated the dialogue.

While recognizing the debates have become a source of entertainment, there is still time for a meaningful debate, if the media and the candidates are willing.

Two primary rules should be followed:

No doubt 2016 is the anti-establishment year for U.S. politics.

Nationally, both Sanders and Trump are polling at about 40% in their respective primaries. In both parties, experienced candidates have gone out with whimpers.

The answer to the question in the title is “yes.” For all but about two weeks of the past four years, she has been the inevitable 2016 Democratic nominee. For about a week after the Iowa caucuses, and three days after the Michigan primary, she was evitable, but these were outlying moments. The Hillary train has long been headed to the White House, and the bumps on the way haven’t really done that much to stop her.

With the vote virtually tied with 99 percent returns, Hillary Clinton is holding the slimmest of leads in Missouri--by about 1,500 votes out of almost 620,000 votes statewide.

This is a huge win for Clinton (if it holds), especially in a state with an enormous college population, including the University of Missouri system with over 77,000 students.

A new report found that some Democratic superdelegates are also registered lobbyists.

In the Democratic Party’s presidential primary process, superdelegates are party insiders who are allowed to vote for the candidate of their personal preference rather than on the basis of caucus or primary vote totals. While many superdelegate appointments are given to party activists and former and current elected officials, some have also been given to donors, including lobbyists.

In a recent interview with Katie Herzog from Grist, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein

Redding columnist Rocky Slaughter wrote back in February that 5,000 voters in Shasta County may not be able to vote in California's June Republican and Democratic primary elections. Additionally, many of them may not even know that they are completely barred from participating in either primary.

Slaughter writes: