Thanks to the timing of this year’s Olympic games, the Democrats and the Republicans will be holding their presidential nominating conventions back to back. So by the time their staged, silly goings-on are over, the voters will have less than two months to properly vet John McCain and Barack Obama.

Does any of this sound familiar? A Democratic presidential nomination is essentially taken away from a candidate because of a fight over delegates’ credentials at a national nominating convention.

OK, let me get this out first. Do I think it’s still tough being an African-American? Absolutely. I’m not naïve. Things aren’t nearly as troublesome for American blacks as they were, say, back in the 1940s and ‘50s. But there are sure plenty of prejudices and other barriers, mostly economic, that remain for people in the United States who happen to enter the world with certain skin pigmentations. Heartbreaking and absurd, yes, but true.

ATLANTA — Residents of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Memphis and dozens of other cities around the nation who are opposed to the merger of Atlanta-based Delta Airlines with Northwest Airlines may be shocked to learn that less than 50 percent of Georgians are supportive of the proposal. Delta is based in Atlanta.

As our InsiderAdvantage polling showed over the past week, there was never any doubt that Hillary Clinton would win the Pennsylvania Democratic Primary by a margin of between 7 and 10 points.

As Hillary Clinton starts to fade away, or so it appears, John McCain faces both new obstacles and opportunities in his quest for the White House. The question is, will he be “helped” in the same way Bob Dole was in 1996?

As a pollster, I truly don’t care who wins the presidency. I can’t allow myself to do that. This makes my former Republican colleagues angry and Democrats suspicious.

For every conservative who is irritated that illegal immigration has never really been addressed ...

For every liberal who can’t understand why the big oil companies and their unbelievable profits haven’t been reigned in, or forced to accelerate development of new refineries or energy alternatives ...

Last Tuesday night’s results from Florida in both the Democratic and Republican Party presidential primaries were what I expected, and then some.

I’ve got to hand it to Barack Obama. His team managed to take mangled words from Bill and Hillary Clinton and create an explosive racial divide just in time for some major Southern primaries. I’ll get back to that in a bit.

We finally have conclusive evidence that the national TV networks are completely out of touch with reality. Let me share with you exactly how a series of events led to their inevitable conclusion that Barack Obama was a cinch to win the New Hampshire Democratic Primary, which he didn’t. Hillary Clinton won.

When I started both this column and our now nine-year-old polling and political electronic news firm, I swore off partisan politics. I don’t campaign for candidates and don’t really care who wins any particular race. I have to treat politicians like a proctologist treats, well, nevermind ...

This weekend the growing, dynamic city of Jacksonville, Fla., will host what is crudely called “The World’s Largest Cocktail Party.”

A new survey of the five states that will hold caucuses or primaries prior to February's "Tsunami Tuesday" indicates the so-called "religious right" is a shrinking force among Republicans who say they will vote in their states' presidential primaries.

Devotees of this column will hopefully give us a little “gold star” for having caught wind of the “Draft Fred Thompson” movement long before most media knew of it.

Devotees of this column will hopefully give us a little “gold star” for having caught wind of the “Draft Fred Thompson” movement long before most media knew of it.

Months ago, one of my closest and smartest friends, Georgia House Speaker Pro Tem Mark Burkhalter, told me he was committing to Mitt Romney for president. I told him I didn’t think Romney had a chance. Now I’m starting to think my former colleague and good buddy is graduating to political genius.

It’s been a hoot reading and listening to pundits and armchair legal analysts speculate on the fate awaiting Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick on charges of illegal dogfighting.

This spring, I reminded readers about a 2006 column of mine. That original column warned that America was headed off a cliff with its commitment to a bloated housing market, and that the mortgage industry would come tumbling after.

In the past few weeks I’ve been in communication with two names, one known to most Americans, the other probably only remembered by media and political leaders. Both are part of the 2008 presidential drama. It remains to be seen if they will become full-fledged participants.

While politicians have hacked and sloughed their way through the issue of illegal immigration, one sheriff in Atlanta has taken matters into his own hands by doing what the law already allows law enforcement to do — begin deportation proceedings against illegal aliens who are charged with crimes.

Last week brought a convergence of issues into the public realm, all of which I’ve previously written about, polled on or participated in.

Thompson may be more than a drop in the bucket

Did you hear the one about the $15 million worth of ice someone paid for and never used? They finally just decided to let it all melt. After all, it was just a drop in the bucket.

The line about looking thin by hanging out with fat people is Rodney Dangerfield’s. To apply his comic wisdom to the presidential race, just look at the fat guys as the ones who started their campaigns too soon, and their skinny compatriots as those who waited until America started giving a hoot about presidential politics.

It may seem too early to be talking about whom the Republican Party might select as its vice-presidential nominee in 2008. After all, there’s not yet even a clear view of whom the GOP presidential nominee will be.

What if Iowa and New Hampshire both had parties, and nobody came?

With no offense to my friends in those two states, I’m compelled to report that some Republican presidential candidates are toying with the idea of skipping the historic first two contests in the race for the GOP nomination.

Most Americans are now aware of the plight of Genarlow Wilson. Three years ago, the now 21-year-old African-American was sentenced to 10 years in prison under a Georgia law that turned his act of consensual oral sex into “aggravated child molestation” and subjected him to a harsh mandatory jail sentence.