In honor of president’s day, the Spectator will be republishing this week essays and reviews on our nation’s best — and worst — leaders. Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph over Adversity 1822-1865By Brooks D. SimpsonsHoughton-Mifflin/533 pages/$35 President Grant ReconsideredBy Frank J….

No Republican presidential candidate has come within hailing distance of winning New York since Ronald Reagan’s 49-state sweep of 1984. Since then, a state that was once hotly competitive between the parties — Herbert Hoover even managed to carry it…