Elections are about the future. And the GOP will not win a campaign focused on the past.

I think Karl is right back in the middle of the picture, and will be for the foreseeable future.

It's rare when a president wins the campaign without winning independents.

What it has done is reaffirm to us we are running the campaign the right way. Grassroots campaigns win elections. That is what we have done and what we will continue to do.

Outside events can change a presidential campaign, a president, and the history of the nation: the Iranian hostage crisis, the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, the downing of the helicopter in Mogadishu, Somalia, the suicide attack on the USS Cole, and, of course, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The Hippocratic Oath says do no harm. It's the Hypocritical Oath that says do no harm to one's political future.