Sanctions will not persuade the Assad regime to surrender power, and talk about an embargo on luxury goods is a cruel joke.

Amid the pre-Jan. 3 buzz, it's worth remembering that Republicans in most states, for better or worse, haven't been doing much in the way of following Iowa's lead in selecting a GOP presidential nominee.

There’s good reason to believe the relationship between Romney and the Tea Party-driven congressional Republicans will be exceptional only in the severity of its uneasiness. This is not an example of passionate matrimony, but a mere wedding of convenience—and it’s safe to say the honeymoon won’t last long.

Why Iowa? Nothing in the Constitution says that Iowa gets to vote for president before any other state. It just does.

To win just under 40 percent of the vote in a primary with five active candidates is pretty impressive, even for a candidate like Mitt Romney, who started off with significant advantages in New Hampshire.

None of the candidates in the Fox News/Google debate has shown great strength at the polls in his or her home state. They have tended to underperform rather than overperform the base Republican vote in seriously contested races.

Tactically, Pawlenty's mistakes are too numerous to count. But strategically, Pawlenty had the right idea: Be the most electable candidate to the right of Romney.

John McCain's campaign is a whirligig of devices and stratagems, few of which make any difference to most Americans.