Frank James

Maybe it's cynical of us political observers or just an acknowledgement of election-cycle reality.

But perhaps the best prism through which understand President Obama's Puerto Rico visit Tuesday is the electoral college.

Using that filter, his trip is his attempt to make sure Florida's growing Puerto Rican population in his corner next year.

NPR.org live-blogs the second Republican presidential debate of the 2012 election cycle.

St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire is hosting the event which is scheduled to start at 8 pm ET. CNN is carrying it.

Monday evening's debate of Republican presidential candidates in New Hampshire will, unlike an earlier South Carolina edition, feature Mitt Romney, the GOP frontrunner.

And his presence raises interest in the debate scheduled to be shown on CNN at 8 pm ET.

A good fight is a great spectator sport and we can expect something of one Monday night. The other members of the crowded GOP field will at some point go after the former Massachusetts governor as unworthy to carry the Republican Party's mantle against President Obama.

A new Gallup poll provided more evidence of Mitt Romney's growing strength as frontrunner for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, boosting the chance that other GOP White House hopefuls will seek to raise doubts about him in voters' minds at their New Hampshire debate Monday evening and beyond.

Today in Alaska, state officials will release tens of thousands of pages of emails Sarah Palin sent or received as governor from 2007 to 2009. To imagine what this trove may contain, imagine what might show up in your own email (or that of your intimates). There may well be moments of high courage and eloquence. But there will also be other moments.

Now, guess which kind of moments would prompt the most conversation among your friends, neighbors, family members and co-workers. Not to mention people imagining you as president.