All Politics
- Romney’s wavering path on abortion. Do voters care?
Abortion is a tricky issue for both Romney and Obama campaigns. In polls, a plurality agrees that abortion should be generally available. But a substantial number want to restrict its availability.
- Presidential debate 101: Does Romney want extra $2 trillion for Pentagon?
Romney's call for Pentagon spending to be no less than 4 percent of GDP could add $2 trillion to its budget. But Obama's claim that this is money the military doesn't want misses a key issue: civilian control.
- Set aside debate over Romney tax math: Is tax reform a good idea?
The momentous policy challenge of how to fix America's dysfunctional tax system has been largely obscured by the debate over Mitt Romney's tax math. But there's broad support for tax reform.
- Senate race? What Senate race? Why Virginians pay a big race little heed.
Senate race in Virginia between Tim Kaine (D) and George Allen (R) is one of the marquee contests in the US. But Virginians, perhaps swamped by presidential politicking, seem to be barely paying attention.
- Presidential debate 101: Does $25,000 deduction cap make Romney tax math work?
At the last presidential debate, Romney floated the number $25,000. According to one analysis, such a cap on deductions would generate $1.3 trillion in revenues, short of the estimated $5 trillion in tax cuts.
- Presidential debate 101: Where did Romney get those 'binders full of women'?
Mitt Romney misspoke at the presidential debate when he said he'd asked women's groups to help find qualified women for top Massachusetts jobs. In fact, they initiated the binders. But Romney did use them – and did appoint more women to leadership positions than other governors.
- Presidential debate: How would you rate this musical parody?
The musical comedy stylings of The Gregory Brothers are audio-video parodies of the presidential debates. The latest one, set to music, replicates Tuesday night's town-hall debate between President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney.
- What women want: Is it abortion, contraception, and equal pay – or jobs?
The Obama campaign is targeting so-called 'women's issues,' as Romney doubles down on an appeal to women on a promise for more and better jobs. The presidential race could turn on who gets it right.
- Bruce Springsteen's letter: supporting Obama, despite 'rough ride'
As Bruce Springsteen campaigns Thursday in key swing states, he's also penned an open letter endorsing President Obama. It's a window into how Mr. Obama's supporters have gone from giddy inspiration to gritty realism.
- Presidential debate 101: When did Obama label Libya attack 'terror'?
In a narrow sense, Mitt Romney was wrong when he said at the presidential debate that Obama took weeks to describe the consulate attack in Libya as an act of 'terror.' But in a larger sense, Romney isn’t wrong.
- Presidential debate 101: In oil drilling spat, did Obama make his best case?
A tense exchange between Romney and Obama on oil drilling was perhaps the most contentious of the second presidential debate. Here's a look at what was said, and whether it was accurate.
- Presidential debate 101: Did Mitt Romney want Detroit to go bankrupt?
Mitt Romney said in the presidential debate that, in effect, Obama followed his plan in calling for Detroit automakers to go bankrupt. But there's a key difference: At the height of the fiscal crisis In 2008, commercial lending was dead, hence the need for government funding.
- Presidential debate 101: Does Romney’s tax math add up?
Here’s a closer look at the tax reform proposals that Mitt Romney discussed during Tuesday night's debate. Do President Obama and others have a point in challenging the math?
- Would Romney really dare to tag China a 'currency manipulator'?
Mitt Romney said again, during Tuesday's presidential debate, that on Day 1 in office he'll declare China a 'currency manipulator' – something recent presidents have resisted doing. The aim: to improve prospects for US exports. The risk: that China will retaliate in a most unpleasant way.
- 'Binders full of women': a revealing remark from Romney, or a sideshow?
'Binders full of women' is already the most memorable phrase of the second presidential debate, showing just how much the 2012 campaign revolves around issues narrowly targeted to specific groups – a strategy of the Obama campaign.
- Viewing the Romney-Obama debate in battleground Ohio: a tribal experience
There's much cheering and a close watch on social media as two partisan crowds in Ohio, a state that could swing the election, track the ebb and flow of momentum in Tuesday's presidential debate.
- Has Obama reenergized Democrats with debate performance?
Obama’s forceful performance Tuesday night is likely to quiet Democrats’ doubts and help energize them for the tough final weeks of the campaign. Snap surveys judged Obama the winner, but the big question is whether his slide in the polls will stop now.
- Cuban Missile Crisis: the 3 most surprising things you didn't know Fifty years ago, the Cuban Missile Crisis brought the United States and the Soviet Union within a hair’s breadth of nuclear war. Here are three things that many Americans don’t know about what historians routinely call “the most dangerous moment in human history.”
- From the 'Wastebook': robotic squirrels, talking urinals, and Congress
Sen. Tom Coburn's annual Wastebook comes up with $18 billion of spending that never should have occurred, with an eye to getting Washington priorities back in line. The No. 1 wasteful item: $132 million to run a Congress that won't say no to waste.
- Town-hall presidential debate: what to know about Candy Crowley's rules
From an audience of 80 undecided voters at Tuesday night's presidential debate, CNN's Candy Crowley will select some to ask questions of President Obama and Mitt Romney. In question is how much leeway Crowley has to follow up or press the candidates.