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I think we can all agree there’s no way a person who weights 1,000 pounds could be elected president of the United States. It may be sizeism, but anyone tipping the scales at half a ton has as much chance of scoring a four-year residency at the White House as Charles Manson — and if Chuck has a good grasp of the economic fundamentals, I’d probably give him the edge.

Let’s go a bit further....

Upon word that two more state officials have joined the long list of those with ethical or legal troubles, we wrote yesterday it was hard to know whether that was cause for hope or despair. There’s hope that Albany is finally cleaning up its act, but despair that the line of officials who’ve abused the public’s trust appears endless.

One day later it’s clear: Despair wins. Especially since...

TAMPA -- The threat of Hurricane Isaac splatting Tampa and the Republican National Convention may have done the Democrats a favor, not because it kiboshed the first day of the proceedings, but because it short-circuited a bad Democratic plan.

As the weather bore down, Vice President Joe Biden canceled a two-day swing through Florida that would have included a stop in Tampa to bash Republicans...

Editorial cartoonists watch Hurricane Isaac blow past Tampa and the Republican National Convention.

Click here to see cartoons on Isaac and the GOP convention....

Anyone who believes the answer to gun violence is more civilians locked and loaded should consider the nine innocent bystanders felled by police gunfire Friday outside the Empire State Building.

They were wounded when two officers from the New York Police Department opened fire on Jeffrey Johnson, a man who murdered a former coworker moments before the confrontation with police in which he...

TAMPA -- What’s not to like about Florida?

The sun, beach, balmy breezes and blue waters. It’s not a bad place for a party, even with Hurricane Isaac somewhere off in the distance.

Just ask New York State Republican Party Chairman Edward Cox. Florida has been very good for the Republican Party, delivering winning candidates the last two times the GOP held its convention in this state.

In...

TAMPA -- Two days before the Isaac-delayed Republican National Convention gets under way in earnest, and 10 miles from the arena where it will be held, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas had what will likely be his last well-publicized say of this political season.

And once again the libertarians will have a much easier time getting people to agree with their ideas in theory than in getting voters to...

New York's electoral votes may not be in play, but don’t tell the state Republican Party or any of its members who are camped out in Clearwater during the Republican National Convention.

They still matter.

The state is home to the national media, intellectual and cultural centers, ethnic coalitions and that vital lifeblood in politics: Money.

And with so much of it being spent...

The grief of a murdered Marine's father raises a valid question: What can the United States possibly do to protect its remaining troops in Afghanistan, not only from the Taliban, but from Afghan security forces and civilians who are tired of what they see as an occupation that has gone on far too long?

The answer, sadly, may be: not much. If there's one thing Afghans have proved over the centuries,...