Danny Glover

You might think that with the kind of rhetoric bloggers regularly muster against politicians, they would never work for them. But you would be wrong.

With increasing frequency, candidates across the country are paying bloggers to write, develop Web sites, connect with energetic allies, respond to online critics, and advise their employers about how to behave.

When Bill Clinton became the youngest elected president since John F. Kennedy, he moved into a White House technologically fit for JFK's generation. The White House is a different place today, and so is the nation.

In George W. Bush, Internet leaders have the hands-off president they want. Will the real new economy follow suit?

Does the Americans with Disabilities Act belong in web design? The issue goes beyond alt-text tags for images to include sound files, timed responses on dynamic pages, small targets on image maps and more.

Lawmakers want Federal Prison Industries to compete with the private sector for government contracts. FPI has had an edge in the way it sells products like prisoner-manufactured furniture to the government.

As the federal government's inspectors general celebrated the 25th anniversary that created their world, officials debated anew the oversight idea that has sparked admiration in some circles and fear or resentment in others.

The debate over the Davis-Bacon Act after Hurricane Katrina has shined a spotlight on the 1931 law once again. The concept of "prevailing wages" sparked little concern when the statute was enacted but has prompted many calls for repeal since then.

Meteorologically speaking, Hurricane Katrina died days after slamming into the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005. Politically speaking, it is very much alive in the nation's capital. The real test of its staying power will be the policy changes it spawns.

The political circumstances surrounding current efforts to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act resemble those when the law was first enacted in the 1950s. It took 11 years to get the concept written into law.

This year's debate over transportation spending may be decided by presidential veto. It wouldn't be a first. President Andrew Jackson vetoed the Maysville Road bill in 1830 — and for reasons similar to criticisms of the current proposal.

The current congressional debate over bankruptcy reform encompasses a classic American tug-of-war between creditors and debtors. It harks back to the late 1800s, the era of the first long-term bankruptcy statute in U.S. history.

Republicans who see personal retirement accounts as the salvation for Social Security have a new hero: Franklin Delano Roosevelt. But they don't mentioned what happened to FDR's plan for such accounts. It died for lack of support.

Serious talk of splitting Virginia surfaced as early as 1830. The Civil War gave people in the western part of the state an opportunity to achieve a political separation they long desired, and West Virginia became the 35th state.

In 1929, Congress indefinitely fixed the size of the House at 435 members and established a method for automatically reapportioning those seats among the various states every 10 years. The law eliminated a politically explosive issue.

The 1906 American Antiquities Act sparks debates about exactly how much power the president has to protect public lands. President Clinton reignited the debate by creating the Giant Sequoia National Monument.

Ever since Congress created the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in 1975, lawmakers, lobbyists and the oil-hungry American public have bickered about the best time to use it. Some historical perspective may shed light on the original strategy.

Only once — during Andrew Jackson's presidency in the 1830s — has America balanced its books and had to decide how to dispose of true budget surpluses. The experience provides some insight into the challenges of governing in a debt-free country.

Are campaign debates a good way for voters to get to know their candidates? A look at our nation’s most famous debates, the clashes over slavery just before the Civil War, may provide some answers.

American imperialism in Central America peaked with the signing of the treaty that gave the United States the right to build and control the Panama Canal “in perpetuity.” The story behind the one-sided deal is fascinating.