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As gas prices continue to rise, hovering around the $4 mark, imagine how comforting it would be to zip past gas stations for long stretches without having to stop at a pump and fill up.

Imagine cars getting more than 54 miles out of every high-priced gallon. The Obama administration has just made that scenario more real, issuing rules Tuesday that will require automakers to produce new cars...

Talk about startling poll numbers: a recent survey by the Pew Research Center found more people interested in the national Republican Party’s platform, approved Tuesday, than the upcoming acceptance speeches of presidential nominee Mitt Romney and vice presidential pick Paul Ryan.

While 52 percent were “very or somewhat" interested in the platform, only 46 percent were curious about the...

TAMPA -- After hours of feel-good speeches –- including the almost universally praised one by Ann Romney -– Republican delegates from across the country hit the streets outside the Tampa Convention Center. And waited. And waited.

A typical trip from the convention center to the outlying hotels where many delegates are staying — including those from New York and New Jersey — takes about an...

TAMPA -- New York’s delegation has some good real estate on the floor of the Republican National Convention.

The 95 delegates from the Empire State sit just off to the left of the stage and a few rows back at the Tampa Bay Times Forum, close enough to get a close look at each speaker.

The Forum was a packed house on Tuesday night, with plenty of red, white and blue hoopla to go with...

TAMPA -- Remember when speakers addressed the public in a way that made you actually want to listen, and not switch the TV over to “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” or go clean the gutters?

Former Rep. Artur Davis of Alabama brought a bit of that flavor back to the Republican National Convention on Tuesday night with a rhythmic, energized speech that recalled some of the great orators of bygone days.

Davis,...

TAMPA -- Mitt Romney’s choice of Wisconsin’s Paul Ryan is far more than an attempt to win that swing state.

Speaking before New York’s delegation Wednesday morning, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner of Ohio — another key battleground state — says it means the party isn’t sitting on its heels. It “says more about being on offense,” he told the crowd of several hundred people.

“The...

So, overall for the Republicans, a fairly good first night. Not a slam dunk A-plus, but probably a good solid B or B-plus. Christie's speech was a very strong call to action, Ann Romney did exactly what she needed to do, and Artur Davis may be a rising star in the party, the speaker they've been craving for years.

Tune in tomorrow night when we see how they manage to follow up a pretty strong...

TAMPA -- New York's delegation at the Republican Nation Convention continued its lovefest for 1980 when it tapped another winner from that year to tell his story: Alfonse D'Amato.

"In 1980, they said it couldn't be done," D'Amato said today in Clearwater, later adding that Ronald Reagan was well behind in the polls in his come-from-behind win over President Jimmy Carter.  ...

TAMPA -- It’s hard to say which seems odder during a political convention roll call, the states that tout their (sometimes odd) highlights, or the ones, like Arkansas, who have nothing to say for themselves at all.

Seriously, it seems like it would be hard to listen to other state representatives wax rhapsodic about their college football teams, rivers, mountains and histories, then say, simply:...

TAMPA -- You’ll likely never notice G.E. Smith and the rest of the house band if you watch television coverage of the Republican National Convention. But Sunday he was rocking out on the floor of the cavernous and largely deserted Tampa Bay Times Convention Center, crushing Cheap Trick’s “I Want You to Want Me” with his bandmates.

Truer sentiments, at a political convention, were never sung.

Smith,...