Lynne Sladky / AP Photo

Ballot initiatives are direct democracy—the cutting edge of politics—but they don’t get the respect they deserve despite the huge consequences that can come from giving citizens the rebellious ability to do an end run around their slow-moving state legislatures.

Carolyn Kaster / AP Photo

The gender gap is a familiar feature of American politics and one of the reasons why President Obama remains competitive for reelection despite the weak economy. But there's another factor at work: it’s called “the marriage gap,” and it helps explain the tightening of the polls after the first presidential debate when a Gallup survey found that Romney had erased the gender gap, pulling within one point nationally of Obama among likely women voters.

Jim Cole

“Smoke more, study less.”That, Democrat Maggie Hassan tells a room of about 80 University of New Hampshire college students, is what their Republican-led legislature would have them do if she loses her neck-and-neck governor’s race with Ovide Lamontagne, pointing to a recent $50 million cut in public funds to the university system—and a cigarette tax cut that cost the state $20 million in revenue.

Tannen Maury, EPA / Landov ; Jim Young, Reuters / Landov

One month after some commentators concluded he had forfeited the presidency with a sleepwalking debate performance, Barack Obama is ahead in nearly all swing states as the campaign careens through its final weekend.A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll has the president leading 51 to 45 percent in Ohio, leaving Mitt Romney facing the prospect of trying to assemble an electoral majority without a state that has always been crucial for Republicans.

Getty Images ; Reuters / Landov

What's the state of mind this weekend of the conservative outrage machine? With regard to liberals, I think it's fair to say as of Saturday that most of us (excepting your allowed-for percentage of nervous nellies) expect Barack Obama to win.

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Along Phillips Avenue, the main street of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the local theater’s marquee is a tribute to the late Senator and 1972 presidential candidate George McGovern, who was buried last month, and is still regarded as a hero by many here.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Everywhere Mitt Romney went on the final weekend of his presidential campaign, he was greeted by cheers of “Three More Days! Three More Days!”It was both a rallying cry and a reminder—that a presidential campaign that began soon after the last one ended was at last coming to its conclusion.

Getty Images ; AFP / Getty Images

The residents of what is likely to be the presidential election’s most critical swing state are already casting their votes. With a few days to go, 1.6 million people in the state have already voted for president. About a million of the votes cast have been absentee ballots, which are now at an 85 percent return rate for those mailed out.

We haven't seen the last of Big Bird--or his Muppet friends. Around a thousand protesters turned out for the Million Puppet March on Capitol Hill on Saturday to demonstrate against Mitt Romney's promise to cut funding to Public Broadcasting Services.

President Obama made a visit to FEMA’s headquarters Saturday to detail the lengths the government will take to ensure disaster aid is swift and efficient, and he insisted hurricane relief is his most important priority, despite being days away from Election Day.

CQ Roll Call / Getty Images ; AFP / Getty Images ; Getty Images (2) ; AP Photo (4)

This divided and dysfunctional Congress has earned its record low-approval rating. Luckily we have the remedy in our hands on Election Day: vote the bums out. Here is my brief list of the eight worst congresspeople in 2012 from both parties and the reasons they deserve to get the boot on Tuesday.

David Goldman / AP Photo

Those nonstop ads in Ohio come at a cost. According to a new analysis of campaign-spending disclosures by non-affiliated organizations, outside groups spent over $500 million in October alone. The top three spenders—American Crossroads, Crossroads GPS, and Restore Our Future—spent $173 million alone.

Jewel Samad, AFP / Getty Images

Poll results released Friday show that 55 percent of respondents feel that the United States is on the "wrong track", with just 43 percent saying they are comfortable with the country's trajectory. But don't worry, Obama supporters: an incumbent has survived almost identical poll results before.

Reuters

Eleven years ago in October, American military forces launched a war in Afghanistan that’s still raging today. One would think that the war and the postwar care for the veterans that fought in Afghanistan and Iraq would be a crucial part of the 2012 presidential campaign, but that hasn’t been the case.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Years ago I worked on a political campaign in Michigan. We were losing, badly, but our campaign manager didn’t believe it. To him, every devastating setback was a secret boost to our efforts, every sign of failure proof of our imminent victory, every poll that hurt us was rigged in favor of the other side.