When the Republicans won the White House in 2000 and 2004, many attributed the victories to the GOP’s sophisticated voter databases.

Mark J. Penn, one of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s key and most controversial advisers, is leaving her campaign.

If Hillary Clinton is a ninth cousin (twice removed) to Angelina Jolie, and Barack Obama is a ninth cousin to Brad Pitt, maybe the race for the Democratic nomination is just an ancient lovers’ quarrel, looping endlessly, one generation to the next.

Whether or not Sen. Barack Obama wins the Democratic presidential nomination could depend on the political skills and persuasive powers of Matthew D. Nugen, a behind-the-scenes political veteran at the age of 36.

The man sworn in today as New York’s 55th governor may be virtually unknown to non-New Yorkers, but he is a seasoned political player and the scion of a legendary political clubhouse that has been a lever of black political power in the state.

History will be made Monday when the resignation of Gov. Eliot Spitzer takes effect and Lt. Gov. David A. Paterson becomes the first African-American governor in the state’s history.

It may be too early for the post-mortems on the presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-NY.

But given her troubles of late, the pre-mortems are rolling in.

There’s enough blame to go around, but Mark Penn, Clinton’s chief strategist and pollster, is taking a lot of the hits.

Millionaire Susie Tompkins Buell is a candidate’s dream, the sort of contributor who’s willing to give again and again and again.

“I get worked up and ask, ‘What can I do?’ and the first answer is always to give money,” Buell told The New York Times in 2004.

Buell is worked up again - this time over the prospect that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton might not get the Democratic presidential nomination.

Maggie Williams has been part of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s political life for years, often behind the scenes.

She moved onto center stage Sunday, becoming Clinton’s campaign manager as the senator from New York seeks the Democratic presidential nomination.

Williams replaces Patti Solis Doyle, who just a month ago seemed to have secured her job by helping Clinton win the New Hampshire primary.

In times of real need, the Bill and Hillary Clintons turn to Harold M. Ickes.

So it’s no surprise that Ickes, the son of Harold L. Ickes, Franklin Roosevelt’s secretary of the interior, is leading the effort to sew up Democrat superdelegates for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-NY, in her bid for the Democratic nomination.