Superdelegates Committing Super Early

About a fifth of all delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Denver this year will be "superdelegates" - party regulars and elected officials who are free of the influence of party primaries or caucuses. More than 300 of these delegates have already announced who they will support for the presidential nomination. But DePauw University journalism professor Ken Bode says such early commitments run counter to the intentions of party officials who created the superdelegate slots.

Clintons Have Little Room to Talk

You can't learn from your mistakes if you don't admit them, says DePauw communications professor Ken Bode. In that respect, he says, Hillary Clinton is altogether too much like George W. Bush -- she cannot and will not admit a mistake.

War During the Holidays

The American media suspended most of the bad news from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan during the holiday season. But DePauw's Ken Bode spotlights an NBC News producer who understands that war does not take a holiday.

Former CNN Analyst Says Networks Need "Reality Check"

DePauw Visiting Professor Ken Bode was a long-time political analyst for CNN. After watching CNN's Democratic presidential debate last week, Bode says somebody in the network's executive suites needs a reality check on fairness. At the same time, he says, things are no better at competitor Fox News.

Hillary Clinton's Prospects

Two months away from the Iowa caucuses, some questions appear to have been answered about Hillary Clinton's race for the Democratic presdential nomination, says DePauw's Ken Bode. For example, Bill Clinton is obviously a powerful asset, rather than a liablity. But questions linger about her other potential vulnerabilities.

News Sources: Hillary's Health Experience

Hillary Clinton touts her experience is her long suit, her ace-in-the-hole against Barack Obama. However, says DePauw's Ken Bode, her experience includes a time when she had the power and the opportunity to push for universal healthcare. He says her moral certainty and stubborn opposition to compromise lost the battle and drove the issue off the national agenda for 14 years.

Iraq Not a PR Exercise

The upcoming report from Gen. David Petraeus on the resuts of the Iraq surge has been preceded by a White House PR campaign that includes speeches to veterans groups and congressional "fact-finding tours" to heavily guarded Iraqi marketplaces. DePauw's Ken Bode says the truth should be judged by evidence, not by staged performances, and the hard facts say the military side of the surge is not working.

Truth - A Wartime Casualty?

In today's military, you don't get truth from the top, says DePauw communications professor Ken Bode. A retired general retorts that military brass may not all be pillars of virtue, but the public still trusts the military more than the media.

White House Declares Draft Idea 4-F

America - including the Romney boys and the Bush twins - is scared to death of a military draft, says DePauw's Ken Bode. That explains why the recent statement by the White House's "war czar" that it makes sense to consider a return to a draft was quickly followed by a refutation by a spokesman for President Bush's National Security Council.

Home State Unfazed by Talk of Thompson White House Bid

So far, Tennesseeans are mostly yawning over the prospects of native son Fred Thompson's yet-to-be-officially-declared candidacy for president, says DePauw University's Ken Bode. Perhaps it's because they've been down this road many times before. "There is something in the water of this long, horizontal, two-time-zone state that causes its politicians to think they should be president, beginning, probably, with Andrew Jackson, who actually held the job," Bode says.

Impeachment Timing is Off

Just when there seems to be a developing bipartisan consensus that Bush's policies on Iraq are a failure, it would be a mistake for the Democratic majority in Congress to undertake impeachment, says DePauw's Ken Bode. The former network journalist says impeachment proceedings would harden partisan lines, enable dead-enders to argue that opposition to the war is nothing but politics by other means, and scare Democrats who fear that a vote against Bush will be depicted as a vote against the troops.