It rsquo s been a long time if it rsquo s ever happened at all that Kansas has been pivotal in a national election But the state could determine which party controls the U S Senate in 2015 Polls suggest that Republican Sen Pat Roberts is in a tough fight to win a fourth term in November agains

The Catholic caucus continues to have an outsized influence among Democrats.

The latest (Un)Conventional Wisdom from Robert D. Sullivan

The latest (Un)Conventional Wisdom from Robert D. Sullivan

There are few examples of politicians who got a career boost from trying to govern a high-poverty city.

Catholic Press Association award-winning politics blog (Un)Conventional Wisdom, by Robert D. Sullivan, is back.

Thanks for reading Un Conventional Wisdom during its first eight months And if you have discovered it more recently please check out our archives I am taking a couple of months off from the blog to concentrate on some long-form projects and take care of personal matters such as finding a new

Stephen Colbert is at first glance an odd replacement for CBS talk-show host David Letterman When he drops the know-nothing character of the soon-to-end The Colbert Report as he will for his new show Colbert is sincere and quite passionate about social-justice issues Patrick R Manning explor

What is democracy without people waiting in line for hours?

The New York Times suggests that President Barack Obama rsquo s popularity with younger Americans is not enough to inspire a new generation of candidates for public office nbsp Jason Horowitz reports that 70 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds consider community service to be ldquo honorable rdquo b