But presidential approval also became a surrogate measure of national unity and patriotism.

Presidents are elected not by direct popular vote but by 538 members of the Electoral College.

In addition to the decline in competition, American politics today is characterized by a growing ideological polarization between the two major political parties.

Knowledge of the soul would unfailingly make us melancholy if the pleasures of expression did not keep us alert and of good cheer.

We are not separate and independent entities, but like links in a chain, and we could not by any means be what we are without those who went before us and showed us the way.

Responsibility for overseeing the implementation of election law typically resides with partisan officials, many with public stakes in the election outcome.

A healthy degree of party unity among Democrats and Republicans has deteriorated into bitter partisan warfare.

Congress requires states to draw single-member districts.

While Republican voters have remained universally supportive of their President, Democrats and Independents are returning to a more naturally critical stance.

Votes in federal elections are cast and counted in a highly decentralized and variable fashion, with no uniform ballots and few national standards.

Further-more, partisan attachments powerfully shape political perceptions, beliefs and values, and incumbents enjoy advantages well beyond the way in which their districts are configured.

Every legend, moreover, contains its residuum of truth, and the root function of language is to control the universe by describing it.

I don't know if people realize how much I tour and how much time I spend writing, but I really enjoy it.

Robert Pattinson should not take back Kristen Stewart. She cheated on him like a dog and will do it again -- just watch. He can do much better!

These mysteries about how we evolved should not distract us from the indisputable fact that we did evolve.

Woman is the daughter of falsehood, a sentinel of hell, the enemy of peace.

I know that half of my advertising dollars are wasted ... I just don't know which half.

If you think back to your first love, you always remember them and little things always remind you of them.

From day one, my idea was always to use the gallery as this animated place to discover culture in a much bigger way.

Pain shared is pain lessened; joy shared is joy increased. Thus do we refute entropy.

The peace produced by grace is a spiritual stability too deep for violence — it is unshakeable