Does Iowa matter? Maybe, maybe not. My advice in the weeks to come: Don't let the giddiness of the campaign coverage distract from what will really matter.

Billions of dollars are lost each year to online piracy, which stifles the ability of writers, songwriters and others in the creative arts to earn the royalties they are due and drains profits from legitimate manufacturers.

WASHINGTON - Mitt Romney, who as governor of Massachusetts turned to John Sasso for help in getting a health-care bill through the state legislature, may want to solicit the Democratic operative's advice again, this time on how to handle Ron Paul.

The Washington Post asked Republicans who ran or considered running for president this year what the remaining contenders should focus on heading into the Iowa caucuses.

The last New Year's Day in human history is here. You may not believe so, but millions do. They're convinced that ancient Maya priests calculated Dec. 21, 2012, as the end of the world as we know it.

In 1918 a German scholar named Oswald Spengler produced a weighty tome titled "Decline of the West," which had quite a vogue in the first half of the 20th century and probably still sits unread in American homes.

WASHINGTON - The most important social trend of the past 20 years is as positive as it is underappreciated: the United States' plunging crime rate. Between 1991 and 2010, the homicide rate in the United States fell 51 percent, from 9.

The United States and its allies have been working for months to remove Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh from the multi-sided, bloody and increasingly anarchic political conflict in his country.

Dmitry Medvedev has proved timid, ineffectual and ultimately powerless during his tenure as Russia's president. But give him this: The Deep Purple fan at least has recognized that the authoritarian regime built by his boss, Vladimir Putin, is unworkable.

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama probably will have to pull out a familiar card next year: the luck of the draw. In winning the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, the president defeated political heavyweights, starting with Hillary Clinton.