CORRESPONDENTS

Anita Kumar

Obama budget: An act of political outreach?

President Barack Obama will unveil a spending plan Wednesday that he hopes will provide a compromise to the two feuding parties on Capitol Hill, offering Republican-friendly proposals – including those that cut Social Security and Medicare – tied to tax increases on the wealthiest Americans. | 04/05/13 17:25:11 By - By Anita Kumar, Lesley Clark and Kevin G. Hall

NRA-paid study calls for armed guards on all school campuses

A task force working for the National Rifle Association recommended Tuesday that at least one armed guard be stationed on every campus in America as part of a three-month review on how to make schools safer in the wake of the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn. | 04/02/13 18:03:43 By - By Anita Kumar

Quietly and behind the scenes, gun research and regulation has been stymied

Each year, lawmakers quietly tuck language into spending bills that restricts the ability of the federal government to regulate the firearms industry and combat gun crime. | 04/02/13 18:28:29 By - By Anita Kumar

NRA consultant recommends a gun on every school campus

A consultant hired by the National Rifle Association recommended Tuesday that at least one armed guard be stationed on every campus in America as part of a three-month review on how to make schools safer in the wake of the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn. | 04/02/13 13:41:05 By - Anita Kumar

Democrats fear Obama group will siphon money from them

President Barack Obama’s decision to launch his own political organization has some Democrats wondering: Is he just in it for himself? | 04/01/13 14:33:03 By - By Anita Kumar

Obama: ‘Shame on us’ if Congress does little about guns after Newtown

President Barack Obama delivered an emotional plea Thursday for lawmakers to pass legislation intended to curb gun violence, saying Americans couldn’t possibly have forgotten the horror three months ago of 20 children shot to death in their elementary school in Newtown, Conn. | 03/28/13 17:33:18 By - By Anita Kumar

Obama turning to executive power to get what he wants

President Barack Obama came into office four years ago skeptical of pushing the power of the White House to the limit, especially if it appeared to be circumventing Congress. Now, as he launches his second term, Obama has grown more comfortable wielding power to try to move his own agenda forward, particularly when a deeply fractured, often-hostile Congress gets in his way. He’s done it with a package of tools, some of which date to George Washington and some invented in the modern era of an increasingly powerful presidency. And he’s done it with a frequency that belies his original campaign criticisms of predecessor George W. Bush. | 03/19/13 14:32:39 By - By Anita Kumar

Gun background-check database missing vital information

Even as lawmakers look for ways to curb gun violence, the federal government and various states haven’t sent millions of mental-health and drug abuse records to the database that’s designed to keep firearms from people who are barred from owning them, according to recent studies. | 03/13/13 18:16:16 By - By Anita Kumar

Like Bush, Obama rebuffs pardon for boxing great Jack Johnson

For nine years, a pair Hill lawmakers have asked the president to posthumously pardon American boxing legend Jack Johnson. George W. Bush failed to act, but the congressmen thought they might be able to convince the nation’s first African-American president to do so on behalf of the world’s first African-American heavyweight boxing champ. But Obama hasn’t issued a pardon either, and his administration says it’s unlikely he will. That isn’t stopping the lifelong boxing fans from trying again. | 03/11/13 14:27:07 By - By Anita Kumar

Report: Obama still secretive despite transparency vow

President Barack Obama has relied on state secrets and secret laws to make national security decisions with little congressional or public oversight much as his predecessor did, according to a report being released Sunday by a liberal government watchdog group. | 03/10/13 00:00:00 By - By Anita Kumar

Obama changing course, talking to Congress

President Barack Obama is doing something he rarely does: Talking to Congress. | 03/07/13 18:09:09 By - By Anita Kumar

Did Obama go too far in warnings of sequestration?

For weeks, President Barack Obama has warned Americans about the dire consequences of allowing the automatic across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration to go into effect . | 02/28/13 19:17:38 By - By Anita Kumar and Lesley Clark

Now the parties don’t even agree on when sequester starts

Republicans said the spending cuts start Friday. The White House said it’s really Saturday. Either way, the seemingly trivial dispute underscored the inability of the two sides to avert spending cuts neither side wanted when they were first enacted and signed into law in 2011. | 02/27/13 19:00:08 By - By William Douglas and Anita Kumar

As Congress wrangles, Obama warns naval shipyard workers of defense cuts

President Barack Obama journeyed Tuesday to military-rich Virginia to prod Congress to halt looming federal spending cuts, warning of the potential consequences on America’s armed forces and economy. | 02/26/13 17:53:02 By - By Anita Kumar and William Douglas

State by state, guns laws form an uneven and conflicting mosaic

California forbids the sale of assault weapons. Florida mandates a three-day wait before handgun purchases. And while Texas and Kansas don’t require dealers to apply for licenses, Missouri and Idaho don’t regulate much of anything at all when it comes to firearms. | 02/26/13 13:14:51 By - By Anita Kumar

GOP will propose sequester changes; wary Democrats plan their own

In a last-minute bid to minimize the most painful impacts of federal spending cuts – and perhaps blame – Republicans will propose this week allowing the government to choose where to cut. | 02/25/13 18:57:40 By - By Anita Kumar and William Douglas

White House warns again of budget cuts

The White House on Sunday ramped up its campaign to avoid across-the-board spending cuts scheduled to take place in less than a week by releasing detailed estimates of what reductions could mean in every state. | 02/24/13 20:09:38 By - By Anita Kumar

U.S.: Hacking attacks are constant topic of talks with China

Obama administration officials acknowledged Tuesday that China’s involvement in cyber-attacks on sensitive U.S. companies is a near-constant subject of conversation between the nations’ officials but that there have been few signs that China is willing to stop the attacks. | 02/19/13 18:33:05 By - By Anita Kumar and Tom Lasseter

Obama on State of the Union: ‘We can fix this’

President Barack Obama returned to the unfinished business of a still struggling economy Tuesday night, outlining a second-term agenda with proposals designed to create jobs, expand the middle class and spur financial growth. | 02/12/13 23:14:49 By - By Anita Kumar and Lesley Clark

U.S. will reduce the number of troops in Afghanistan by 34,000

President Obama will announce in his State of the Union Address Tuesday night that by this time next year 34,000 troops will have returned to the United States, according to a senior administration official. | 02/12/13 10:18:40 By - Anita Kumar

State of the Union could be ‘call to action’ on jobs, energy and immigration

A confident President Barack Obama is expected Tuesday to unveil an aggressive agenda in the first State of the Union address of his second term, calling for a rewrite of the nation’s outdated immigration laws, steps to prevent gun violence and ways to bolster a still fragile economy. | 02/08/13 15:45:11 By - By Lesley Clark and Anita Kumar

On gun control, Reid feels tug of both state and statesmanship

At Wild West Guns, where stuffed caribou and Dall sheep adorn the walls, customers know Harry Reid as someone who understands guns. | 02/06/13 17:03:43 By - By Anita Kumar

Obama urges short-term budget fix, but GOP balks at more revenue

President Barack Obama urged Congress on Tuesday to pass a package of modest cuts and tax changes as a way to delay drastic, across-the-board federal spending reductions that could harm the economy. | 02/05/13 17:51:37 By - By Anita Kumar and David Lightman

Obama: Women should get free contraception but church groups shouldn’t have to pay

After months of criticism and legal challenges, President Barack Obama’s administration proposed Friday that religious institutions no longer be required to provide their employees with health insurance coverage for birth control. | 02/01/13 18:22:35 By - By Anita Kumar and Lesley Clark

Obama joins bipartisan Senate group on immigration, best shot at overhaul in decades

President Barack Obama proposed to rewrite U.S. immigration laws Tuesday, echoing a bipartisan group of influential U.S. senators in a one-two step that signaled a changing political landscape and the best chance in a generation to change the way the nation treats those who arrived here illegally. | 01/29/13 18:56:25 By - By Anita Kumar and Franco Ordonez

Obama names longtime aide as new chief of staff

When it came time to select a new chief of staff, President Barack Obama didn’t look very far. | 01/25/13 18:55:55 By - By Anita Kumar

White House kicks off on gun control campaign

Vice President Joe Biden spoke Friday to Virginia leaders who responded to the worst school shooting in the nation’s history as the White House begins its try to sell America on a contentious gun control proposal. | 01/25/13 18:27:08 By - By Anita Kumar

At National Cathedral, prayers for Obama

More than 2,000 people filled the National Cathedral on Tuesday to offer a prayer for President Barack Obama as he enters his second term in office. | 01/22/13 17:14:31 By - By Anita Kumar

Obama summons nation for 2nd term: ‘We are made for this moment’

“America’s possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive, diversity and openness, an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention,” he said on a crisp, sun-filled afternoon. “My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it, so long as we seize it together.” | 01/21/13 22:22:52 By - By Anita Kumar and Lesley Clark

It’s official: Obama sworn in for second term

President Barack Obama was officially sworn into office for a second term Sunday in a small ceremony at the White House as the nation’s capital geared up for a full inauguration on Monday. | 01/20/13 22:35:21 By - By Anita Kumar

Obama’s second term: Guns, immigration, taxes – and warnings of hubris

Four years ago, President Barack Obama used his inaugural address to declare “an end to the petty grievances, and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics.” | 01/18/13 15:22:27 By - By Lesley Clark and Anita Kumar

Gun concerns evoking sound and fury, but will anything change?

Poll after poll finds more Americans agree that their elected officials need to do something, anything, to prevent more children from dying in a nation with more firearms than any other in the world. But in Washington – where cooperation in a divided Congress is tenuous at best – it still may not be enough. | 01/17/13 18:48:13 By - By Anita Kumar

Obama proposes assault-weapons ban, other controls on guns

President Barack Obama pledged Wednesday to put the full weight of his office behind the nation’s most aggressive gun-control plan in generations as he hopes to decrease the number of mass shootings and acts of random violence that occur every day in America. | 01/16/13 19:04:53 By - By Anita Kumar

NRA releases video attacking Obama

Hours before President Obama unveils his proposals to curb gun violence, the National Rifle Association released a video late Tuesday calling President Obama an “elitist hypocrite” for requiring the Secret Service to protect his daughters school but not endorsing a proposal to install armed guards in all schools. | 01/16/13 10:27:40 By - Anita Kumar

Obama push for assault weapons ban, other gun restrictions faces steep climb in Congress

Obama will be joined at the White House announcement by Vice President Joe Biden and children who wrote to him after the shooting in Newtown, Conn. Gun control activists and lawmakers also have been invited. His proposals will include executive actions that don’t need congressional approval, as well as legislation. | 01/15/13 18:46:38 By - By David Lightman and Anita Kumar

The selling of an inauguration: Prices run from $5 to $1 million

The taxpayers will pick up the tab – as they do every four years -- for the official swearing-in ceremony, a luncheon with Congress and extra security. The rest comes from contributions. And Obama supporters -- both individuals and corporations -- are helping to raise the millions of dollars, sometimes in ways that alarm government-watchdog groups. | 01/14/13 18:28:06 By - By Anita Kumar

Biden on gun control: Public wants us to act

Moving quickly, Vice President Joe Biden announced Thursday that he’ll urge President Barack Obama to pursue new gun controls as the first, best way to curb gun violence. | 01/10/13 18:38:37 By - By Anita Kumar

As new fiscal crises near, Democrats seek more tax increases

In case you thought there was no risk of your taxes going up again, think again. Washington isn’t done with you yet. | 01/09/13 16:16:35 By - By Anita Kumar and Kevin G. Hall

Obama picks fight as he selects Hagel for Defense, Brennan for CIA

President Barack Obama’s selection of Chuck Hagel to be secretary of defense has turned the presidential nomination process into something it is traditionally not: a fight. | 01/07/13 19:00:56 By - By Anita Kumar and David Lightman

Obama signs 'fiscal cliff' bill

President Barack Obama, vacationing in Hawaii, signed the so-called fiscal cliff bill to avert massive tax hikes on most Americans and postpone spending cuts. He ordered the legislation be signed by autopen. | 01/03/13 06:45:07 By - Anita Kumar

A fiscal cliff solution, served with a side of tax breaks

There are breaks for movie producers and racetracks, a little gift for Captain Morgan rum and tax credits galore for makers of two- or three-wheeled plug-in electric vehicles, Indian coal facilities and companies that do business in American Samoa. | 01/02/13 18:49:20 By - By Anita Kumar and William Douglas

Senate passes fiscal deal, fate uncertain in House

The Senate passed an agreement early Tuesday to solve the nation’s threatening fiscal crisis, a last minute plan to avert sweeping tax increases for most Americans and postponing cuts to government spending that economists say could have triggered a recession. | 01/01/13 06:34:12 By - By Anita Kumar and William Douglas

10 politicians to watch in 2013

From the halls of the U.S. Capitol to the Oval Office, plenty of political personalities will garner attention in 2013. Some have been in the spotlight for years, while others are embarking on the national stage for the first time. | 12/31/12 14:26:20 By - By Anita Kumar and William Douglas

Budget cliffhanger: talks drag into final hours

The White House and congressional leaders worked overtime Sunday to ward off tax increases set to kick in for most Americans, with Republican leaders signaling a grudging acceptance that some taxes will go up and the two parties narrowing their differences over who should pay more. | 12/30/12 21:11:32 By - By William Douglas and Anita Kumar

Taxes key as budget talks start in private

Senate leaders worked feverishly behind closed doors Saturday to avert the most painful parts of a looming fiscal crisis, debating which taxpayers could or should pay more as part of a deal that would ward off looming tax increases for everyone. | 12/29/12 21:56:57 By - By William Douglas and Anita Kumar

At fiscal cliff’s edge, budget talks resume

Just days from a fiscal meltdown, President Barack Obama and congressional leaders resumed stalled talks Friday and head into the weekend with a final attempt to negotiate a last-minute budget compromise that would avert looming tax increases for most Americans that could plunge the country back into recession. | 12/28/12 19:45:14 By - By Anita Kumar and William Douglas

Obama and Senate return to D.C., can’t find a deal

President Barack Obama and the Senate returned Thursday to Washington to revive stalled negotiations to avert a potentially devastating series of tax increases and spending cuts – but both parties remained pessimistic they would find a solution before a crucial end-of-the-year deadline. | 12/27/12 19:12:14 By - By Anita Kumar and William Douglas

EPA administrator Lisa Jackson to resign

Lisa Jackson, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, announced Thursday that she is resigning. | 12/27/12 11:51:19 By - Anita Kumar

Postcard from Myanmar, the world Obama left behind after visit

In many ways, Myanmar is the land time forgot. Tourists arriving in the country for the first time in two generations find it still looks much as it must have in the 1960s, when the military seized control of the government and began its 49-year rule. | 12/24/12 12:03:58 By - By Anita Kumar

Much talk, little action from Obama on gun control

Even before he became president, Barack Obama stressed the need to curb gun violence. | 12/21/12 18:15:05 By - By Anita Kumar and Lesley Clark

Obama, Boehner return to verbal fisticuffs on fiscal cliff

President Barack Obama on Wednesday accused House Republicans of letting their animosity toward him prevent them from approving a deal to avert the nation’s imminent fiscal crisis, even though the two sides had been close to a compromise days ago. | 12/19/12 17:38:02 By - By Anita Kumar and David Lightman

Obama, Speaker John Boehner edge toward deal on federal budget

President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner inched closer to a solution to avert a looming fiscal crisis Tuesday with a deal that would fail to meet one of the president’s top campaign pledges of raising taxes on the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. | 12/18/12 17:41:45 By - By David Lightman and Anita Kumar

Obama offers new fiscal cliff proposal; deal may be nearer

President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner moved closer to a deal on tax increases and spending cuts late Monday, though some details remain to meet an end-of-the-year deadline. | 12/17/12 21:58:26 By - By Anita Kumar

Rice drops bid to be nominated for secretary of state

United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice took herself out of the running Thursday to be the next secretary of state, bowing to a torrent of criticism by Republicans on Capitol Hill over remarks she made after a deadly attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya. | 12/13/12 20:13:28 By - By Anita Kumar and William Douglas

White House, GOP trade new offers on fiscal cliff budget debate

House Speaker John Boehner on Tuesday rejected a new White House offer aimed at averting the tax increases and automatic spending cuts that are due to take effect in three weeks and countered with a plan of his own, an indication that the two sides are starting to negotiate. | 12/11/12 19:36:35 By - By David Lightman and Anita Kumar

Speaker Boehner hints he could accept higher tax rates

House Speaker John Boehner on Friday wouldn’t rule out higher income-tax rates as part of an agreement to avert the coming “fiscal cliff,” but he also said no such movement was possible unless President Barack Obama showed more interest in compromising. | 12/07/12 17:09:29 By - By David Lightman and Anita Kumar

Peeking over the ‘fiscal cliff’: What’s down there?

Now just weeks away, a crisis looms that might touch every paycheck in the land, and government services from the border to national parks. | 12/06/12 17:58:24 By - By Anita Kumar and Kevin G. Hall

White House proposes $600 billion in unidentified tax hikes, $50 billion in new stimulus spending

The Obama administration Thursday offered to get the nation off the fiscal cliff with a package that includes $1.6 trillion in tax increases over 10 years, more controversial spending to stimulate the economy and a permanent solution to the fights over raising the nation’s debt ceiling. | 11/29/12 19:24:08 By - By David Lightman, Anita Kumar and Kevin G. Hall

Obama makes public pitch for fiscal cliff deal, leaves details to aides

Fresh off his re-election victory, President Barack Obama has started campaigning again, this time to sell the nation on his solution to avert a series of spending cuts and tax increases that could throw the economy back into a recession | 11/29/12 17:38:41 By - By Anita Kumar

Michelle Obama shows White House Christmas cheer

Michelle Obama unveiled the 2012 holiday decorations at the White House, kicking off a season that will bring 90,000 guests to the first family's adopted house. | 11/28/12 17:50:58 By - Anita Kumar

Obama returns from Asia, his ‘pivot’ clouded by Middle East

Welcomed by U.S. friend Thailand and greeted with rock star status during a historic visit to Myanmar, President Barack Obama felt the love on much of his three-nation tour of Southeast Asia. The tour was overshadowed, though, by violence in the Middle East, and the verdict is still out on whether he achieved tangible results in a region that’s often felt neglected by Washington. | 11/20/12 18:01:58 By - By Anita Kumar and William Douglas

Obama to Myanmar: You gave us hope

Tens of thousands of people filled the streets of Yangon on Monday, desperate for a glimpse of something no one had ever seen in their country before: a president of the United States. “O-bam-a!” the sarong-clad crowds chanted, waving and holding signs. “O-bam-a!” | 11/19/12 15:11:32 By - By Anita Kumar

Obama lands in Myanmar, a first for a US president

President Barack Obama makes an historic visit to Myanmar Monday, becoming the first U.S. president to visit the Southeast Asia nation in the hopes his high profile presence encourages the government’s shift from military rule to fledgling democracy. | 11/18/12 22:38:20 By - By Anita Kumar

Obama says he's 'fully supportive' of Israel

President Barack Obama Sunday strongly backed Israel’s right to defend itself against attacks by the Hamas, but said everyone should want a decrease in the violence that has erupted in the region for days. | 11/18/12 10:54:28 By - By Anita Kumar

Shifting focus to Asia, Obama to visit Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia

Two weeks after winning re-election to a second term, President Barack Obama will embark on a four-day, three-nation trip to Southeast Asia as he continues to try to leave his imprint on a region increasingly influenced by China. | 11/15/12 14:37:25 By - By Anita Kumar

Obama, House speaker Boehner say they’re ready to deal, but will parties let them?

President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner said Friday that they want to work together to avert spending cuts and tax increases that could throw the economy back into a recession – but both also come to the negotiations with the same sharp differences they had before this week’s elections. | 11/09/12 17:39:33 By - By Anita Kumar and David Lightman

Obama now gets a chance to remake his Cabinet, staff

President Barack Obama’s first task as he launches his second term will be to fill a number of key vacancies expected in the White House, positions that will be instrumental in helping him tackle his legislative agenda as well as navigate conflicts around the globe. | 11/09/12 18:06:36 By - By Anita Kumar and Lesley Clark

Obama win signals new Democratic coalition

President Barack Obama is remaking the Democratic Party, forging a new political coalition that is steadily replacing the old party alignment first built by Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s. | 11/07/12 18:57:05 By - By Anita Kumar and Lesley Clark

Economic uptick, Obama’s ability to define Romney key to re-election

Barack Obama wasn’t supposed to win re-election. The hope was gone, critics said, evaporated by endless partisan gridlock in Washington and a jobless rate that hovered above 8 percent for much of his first term. | 11/07/12 16:28:30 By - By Lesley Clark and Anita Kumar

Obama’s challenges carry over to his second term

President Barack Obama confronts a daunting array of domestic and foreign policy challenges as he begins a second term amid a political climate so fractured that compromise has become all but impossible. | 11/07/12 14:46:41 By - By Anita Kumar and Lesley Clark

Romney makes a play for Pennsylvania, Obama plays the Bill Clinton card

President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney clashed Sunday over who could deliver change to a gridlocked nation as they crisscrossed the country on the second to last day of campaigning in a race that remains too close to call. | 11/04/12 20:14:28 By - By William Douglas and Anita Kumar

Obama and Romney race across map in final weekend

President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney dashed across the map in search of votes Saturday, the hours growing short and polls showing still that either man still could win the presidency on Tuesday. | 11/03/12 17:18:31 By - By Anita Kumar, William Douglas and David Lightman

Boys and girls on the bus – snapshots from the campaign trail

Day in, day out, the food’s the same. The music’s the same. The plane is the same. The speeches are the same. Until you switch sides. | 11/01/12 16:41:59 By - By Anita Kumar, Lesley Clark, William Douglas and David Lightman

Hurricane Sandy is a duty and opportunity for Obama

In the final days of his final election, President Barack Obama is finding that a storm IS his campaign. | 10/30/12 18:46:12 By - By Anita Kumar , Lesley Clark and David Lightman

Once a sign of his game-changing appeal, Virginia now could slip away from Obama

As he stood waiting for President Barack Obama to arrive for a campaign rally at a minor league baseball field, longtime Virginia resident Rick Flaherty marveled that his state could help the Democrat remain in the White House. | 10/28/12 20:36:31 By - By Anita Kumar

Campaign races against Hurricane Sandy

Racing to get their last-minute messages across before campaigning is overshadowed by Hurricane Sandy, President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney Saturday made impassioned pitches to voters in the swing states of Florida and New Hampshire. | 10/27/12 22:58:42 By - By David Lightman and Anita Kumar

Obama and Romney barnstorm the country

Now in the presidential campaign’s final two weeks, President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney crisscrossed the nation Wednesday in search of support from the remaining undecided voters in swing states who will determine the next occupant of the White House. | 10/24/12 18:55:33 By - By William Douglas, Lesley Clark and Anita Kumar

Obama, Romney head back to battleground states

President Barack Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney joined their running mates in rallying thousands of supporters in must-win battleground states Tuesday as they entered the final, frenzied, two-week stretch of the presidential race. | 10/23/12 19:14:34 By - By Lesley Clark, William Douglas and Anita Kumar

As leader of the free world, Obama is a loner at the top

Barack Obama hits the exit early at glitzy fundraisers with rock stars. He makes only brief small talk in a roomful of supporters or at a rope line. He rarely rewards a supporter, donor or lawmaker with a game of golf, a drink at the White House or a trip to the presidential retreat at Camp David. | 10/23/12 13:54:24 By - By Anita Kumar and Lesley Clark

Romney and Obama divided over abortion, contraception, gay marriage

The economy still may dominate the nation’s to-do list, but a nation divided in its values continues to passionately debate social issues: abortion, birth control and gay marriage. | 10/19/12 15:55:26 By - By Anita Kumar

In rematch, Obama and Romney get testy over jobs, energy and immigration

President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney aggressively challenged each other Tuesday night in their second debate, with more than 90 minutes of sharp attacks, interrupted answers and testy exchanges over the economy, taxes, immigration and energy. | 10/16/12 23:46:23 By - By David Lightman and Anita Kumar

Biden comment on Libya feeds 2nd day of debate

Republicans on Friday seized on a debate remark by Vice President Joe Biden that seemed to contradict the Obama administration’s own position about last month’s fatal attack on U.S. diplomats in Libya. | 10/12/12 18:35:13 By - By Anita Kumar and Lindsay Wise

In a blur of facts, VP debate strained the truth

In their first and only debate, Vice President Joe Biden and Republican Rep. Paul Ryan verbally wrestled over Medicare, Social Security and abortion. But sometimes it was the truth that got tackled. | 10/11/12 23:27:43 By - By William Douglas and Anita Kumar

Romney tests town-hall format on the stump

Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney deviated Wednesday from his usual well-choreographed campaign rally for a flying-without-a-net Oprah-style town hall in which audience members asked questions. The question-and-answer session at the Ariel Corp. manufacturing plant appeared to be a warm-up for next week’s presidential debate between Republican nominee Romney and President Barack Obama. The debate will use a town-hall format with an inquisitor audience. | 10/10/12 19:11:38 By - By William Douglas and Anita Kumar

Romney gains in key polls, Obama fights to hold ground

What a difference two weeks – and a lackluster debate performance by President Barack Obama – has made for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in key swing states. | 10/09/12 19:32:27 By - By William Douglas and Anita Kumar

Romney basks in glow of debate win, Obama looks for comeback

Republican Mitt Romney sought Thursday to use his superior performance at the first presidential debate as a springboard to build momentum for his once beleaguered campaign. | 10/04/12 21:03:51 By - By Anita Kumar, William Douglas and Sean Cockerham

Obama and Romney clash over economy, taxes, health care

With the presidency hanging in the balance, President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney clashed sharply Wednesday in their first debate, trying to convince voters they’re uniquely qualified to lead the country to full recovery from the worst economic downturn since the 1930s. | 10/03/12 23:10:54 By - By David Lightman and Anita Kumar

Economy to dominate crucial first debate for Obama, Romney

President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney – who has struggled to find momentum – will offer voters two starkly different prescriptions for fixing the ailing economy as they duel Wednesday in their first and perhaps most critical debate. | 10/02/12 18:01:15 By - By David Lightman and Anita Kumar

Ohio’s auto jobs may help Obama keep his

The road to the White House winds through every corner of Ohio – past the coal mines in the south, the insurance companies in the cities and the dairy farms that dot the countryside. | 10/01/12 17:57:28 By - By Anita Kumar and William Douglas

Crucial state of Ohio may be slipping away from Mitt Romney

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney barnstormed Ohio on Wednesday amid signs that the battleground state – and perhaps other key battlegrounds as well – is slipping farther from his grasp. | 09/26/12 19:45:29 By - By Anita Kumar and William Douglas

Politics looms over U.S. move against China trade

With election-year politics looming, the Obama administration accused China on Monday of hurting U.S. autoworkers by illegally subsidizing its own auto and auto parts industry. | 09/17/12 17:03:53 By - By Rob Hotakainen and Anita Kumar McClatchy Newspapers

White House: Looming federal budget cuts would be ‘deeply destructive’

President Barack Obama warned Friday that the federal government will face dire budget cuts – nearly 10 percent of the nation’s defense and domestic spending – unless Congress acts later this year to reduce the $16 trillion debt. | 09/14/12 20:41:08 By - By Anita Kumar and Kevin G. Hall

Obama launches Florida bus tour

President Barack Obama kicked off a bus tour in battleground Florida Saturday, urging voters to back his plan for economic recovery and reject Republican proposals that he said would give tax breaks to the wealthy, gut retiree benefits and put oil rigs offshore. | 09/08/12 16:26:14 By - By Anita Kumar

Obama, Romney open post-convention campaign with barbs

Their conventions behind them, President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney bore down Friday on the drive to November, trading barbs from key swing states on a day when a disappointing new jobs report underscored the economic anxiety that punctuates the election. | 09/07/12 17:46:20 By - By Anita Kumar and Lesley Clark

The fall brawl begins in 10 battleground states

Get ready for an all-out brawl in 10 too-close-to-call battleground states as President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney begin a two-month sprint to Election Day. | 09/07/12 18:19:26 By - By David Lightman

Obama asks for re-election with plea to reignite hope

With his presidency on the line, President Barack Obama on Thursday asked for more time from voters, acknowledging that despite his lofty goals of hope and change, the economy is going to take years to recover. | 09/06/12 23:40:52 By - By Lesley Clark and Anita Kumar

Clinton enthusiastically tells nation it needs Obama

Barack Obama shared center stage at the Democratic National Convention Wednesday night with Bill Clinton, an enormously popular predecessor who delivered a powerful endorsement of the president’s record, telling an overflow crowd that he had no doubt Obama could turn the troubled economy around if given a second term. | 09/06/12 00:00:18 By - By Anita Kumar and Lesley Clark

Michelle Obama: 'We must work like never before'

First lady Michelle Obama headlined the opening Tuesday of the Democratic National Convention, an emotion-charged finale to an opening act designed to build enthusiasm among women and minorities whose votes are critical to re-electing her husband. | 09/04/12 23:13:24 By - By Anita Kumar and Lesley Clark

Conventions Part Two – Here come the Democrats

Tens of thousands of Democrats descend on Charlotte for their party’s national convention Tuesday, two months before an election that will determine the direction of a divided nation. | 09/02/12 00:00:00 By - By Anita Kumar

GOP vice presidential pick Paul Ryan takes the spotlight

He’s just the running mate. But Americans could be more eager to see Paul Ryan when he takes the stage Wednesday at the Republican National Convention than the man at the top of the ticket, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. | 08/28/12 19:44:29 By - By Anita Kumar

Ann Romney gets prime-time chance to help husband

Ann Romney is considered one of her husband's biggest politics assets, helping soften the sometimes rigid demeanor he portrays as he runs for president. Tuesday, she will deliver one of the most important speeches of the Republican National Convention. | 08/27/12 19:52:19 By - By Anita Kumar

Romney strikes back at Obama as convention waits

Mitt Romney worked to make his voice heard above the roar of a tropical storm Sunday, striking back at President Barack Obama and scrambling plans for his weather-shortened convention to deliver his pitch to the nation. “A campaign of anger,” he said of Obama. | 08/26/12 18:51:29 By - By Anita Kumar and David Lightman

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