Democratic convention

On Medicare and Social Security, the battle lines for the presidential election are now clearly drawn.

Democrats had headliners like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland bemoan the GOP approach to Social Security and Medicare. But it was Rep. John Larson of Connecticut who brought the Democratic National…

From mayors to members of Congress, and from governors to Cabinet secretaries, opening-night speakers at the Democratic National Convention pushed one of the biggest emerging issues of the 2012 presidential campaign - Medicare - into prime-time prominence.

Now that the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa is history, the political junkies and undecided voters among us get to take the weekend off, before we immerse ourselves in still more hoopla and impassioned rhetoric at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Sept.…