It is so very difficult to celebrate the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to be the next Supreme Court justice. 

Dear Mom,

I thought I would attempt to explain how the presidential election really works in this country. I did some research and was shocked at how little I knew about the process and even worse how little the press explains it. After a lifetime of reading about politics, you and I should understand this better!

In 1987, while running for president, U.S. Senator Gary Hart was caught hanging out with a woman, not his wife. He was driven from the campaign and made a political punch line for decades, despite being one of the smartest, most talented senators in history. (I covered him as a young reporter and our discussion of the Kennedy assassination still keeps me awake)