WASHINGTON — When it comes to budgets, balance is in the eye of the congressional beholder. To House Republicans, it means a balanced budget in a decade, achieved by $4.6 trillion in spending … more

Demographics buffs get a special Christmas present every year courtesy of the Census Bureau: its annual estimates of the populations of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. This gives … more

WASHINGTON — There is something entirely appropriate about holding the State of the Union address on the same day as Mardi Gras.One is a display of wretched excess, when giddy and rowdy … more

WASHINGTON — You know the feeling. You wake up filled with dread but, still groggy, you can’t put your finger on the reason.Possibilities flitter across the landscape of … more

I’m from Boston. Over the years, I lived in two apartments within a stone’s throw of Monday’s bombings. Over the years, I stood and cheered marathon runners countless times. I know … more

WASHINGTON — “When I first met Richard Nixon,” Robert Bork says in the book he completed a few weeks before his death in December, “I could see in his expression the … more

One of my great hopes for an Obama administration — and thus one of my personal disappointments — was that he would use his bully pulpit to emphasize the importance of a two-parent family, and … more

WASHINGTON — Much speculation has followed the private luncheon between President Obama and Mitt Romney, about which little is known. Photographers captured grainy images of Romney arriving in … more

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court’s announcement last Friday that it will take up gay marriage is more than a chance for the justices to recognize the emerging national consensus in support of gay … more

There’s a reason that halftime of NFL broadcasts is usually reserved for game analysis and highlights, rather than social science. NBC announcer Bob Costas showed why with a little sermonette … more