Presidential Campaigns

WASHINGTON -- American churches coined the phrase, but among Republican presidential candidates, "sanctuary city" has become a dirty phrase. At Wednesday's GOP presidential debate, the issue sparked hard-edged exchanges between two of the leading contenders for the party's nomination. Mitt Romney accused Rudolph W. Giuliani of running a "sanctuary city" as mayor of New York because of policies that shielded illegal immigrants from being reported to federal authorities. Giuliani disputed that label, and derided the former Massachusetts governor for living in a "sanctuary mansion" where illegal immigrants did contract work.

WASHINGTON -- Ten years ago, when a man armed with a pistol shot seven tourists on the observation deck at the Empire State Building, New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani responded with an unequivocal call for more federal gun control. "The United States Congress needs to pass uniform licensing for everyone carrying a gun. Congress must do more," said Giuliani, then a leading proponent of gun control. This week, presidential candidate Giuliani reacted to the Virginia Tech massacre in a very different way - with an expression of grief.

Before Tuesday's election, political scientist Larry J. Sabato had just one question for readers of his "Crystal Ball" online newsletter. "When has an incumbent ever won when he is tied with his challenger on election eve?" wrote Sabato, the director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. "The answer is never. ... So George W. Bush needs to beat history, and the polls, to win the election." Yesterday, the day after Bush did just that to win a second term, Sabato acknowledged that this campaign has undermined some of the tenets that have governed modern political thinking -- and suggested some new ones.

In 48 hours, give or take 15 minutes, we will elect the next president of the United States -- unless it's too close to call Tuesday and we have to wait a month or so and everyone will blame Florida again and we'll spend the next four years cranky and bitterly divided as the war in Iraq drags on. Call us starry-eyed patriots. But let's say the election will be decided the old-fashioned way -- by a duel. Thus, another season of campaign politics and humor will end and not a bumper sticker, blog or animated cartoon too soon.

POST-WATERGATE designers of the Federal Election Commission may have believed they were building in a device to keep it honest by dividing appointments to the six-member board equally between Republicans and Democrats. But what they did instead was create a system in which partisan advocates regulate campaign activities in a way that favors the interests of the parties at the expense of efforts to diminish the influence of money in politics. Some version of the current slimefest between supporters of President Bush and those of his Democratic challenger, John Kerry, would likely have developed in any event.

ATHENS - They're the darlings of the Summer Games and just one win away from a medal. But now Iraq's Olympic soccer players, and many of their fans, are complaining that their team has become a political football in President Bush's re-election campaign. The problem began when Bush decided to share in the good fortunes of the Iraqi club, which is competing in its first Olympics in more than a decade. After enduring torture under the regime of Saddam Hussein and overcoming hardships such as the loss of its German coach - who fled when militants began abducting Westerners - the team has advanced to tonight's semifinal with Paraguay.

With the nation slowly stepping out of a recession and Americans feeling uncertain about their jobs, the issue of work and the economy has moved to the forefront of the presidential race, overshadowed at times only by the war in Iraq. "There's a tremendous sense of insecurity among American workers today," said Charles Craver, a labor law professor at George Washington University Law School. Employment and prosperity are always pivotal issues in presidential elections, from Herbert Hoover's "chicken in every pot" to Ronald Reagan's "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?"

MONEY'S DECISIVE role in the 2004 presidential nomination campaign caps a trend that dates to the 1980s and is surely one of the most regrettable features of American politics today. As the Democratic and Republican national conventions bring the nomination campaign to its official close, the impact of money on voters' choices this November is clearer than ever. Money certainly was the first priority of the 10 announced Democratic contenders, long before they announced their candidacies.

WASHINGTON - The amount of cash bankrolling the two presidential campaigns this year is approaching and might well exceed $1 billion - an eye-popping number that has shattered any hope that recent campaign finance reform would put a brake on spending. Alone, President Bush and Democrat John Kerry will, by this summer, have raised at least $565 million, according to new figures released by the government and the campaigns yesterday. That includes $230 million for Bush (a record in the history of presidential campaigns)

WASHINGTON-Democrats have tried reasoning, cajoling, begging, so far to no avail. Yesterday, fellow maverick Howard Dean tried sarcasm, pique and, yes, anger. When it was over, though, consumer advocate Ralph Nader remained a candidate for president, and a potential spoiler in Democrat John Kerry's bid for the White House. "In the long run, it's not important that Howard Dean be president, or that Ralph Nader be president," Dean said during an hourlong radio debate. "I am desperate to send Mr. Bush back to Crawford, Texas."