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U.S. PRESIDENCY


	2012 JULY July 31, 2012 Romney's Comments in Israel Overshadow Visit to Poland Remarks Mitt Romney made over the weekend in Israel have overshadowed his visit to Poland, where on Tuesday he delivered a major foreign policy speech in Warsaw praising the friendship between the United States and the Eastern European nation.

	July 30, 2012 During Visit to Israel, Romney Endorses Hard Line Against Iran During his visit Sunday in Jerusalem, Mitt Romney endorsed the use of "any and all measures" by the United States and Israel to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, a threat the presumptive Republican presidential nominee deemed America's "highest national security priority."

	July 27, 2012 Shields and Brooks on the Veepstakes, Their Favorite Olympic Sports It's been way too long since we last sat in the NewsHour newsroom for the Doubleheader. But the good news is, syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks were reunited this week.

	July 27, 2012 Romney's Trip Abroad: Campaign Peril or Credential Maker? A challenger who lacks foreign policy credentials doesn't have to match a sitting president's international battle scars. All he or she has to do is appear plausible to the voters as a potential commander in chief.

	July 27, 2012 Campaign 2012 Panoramas Zeke Miller of BuzzFeed, Jon Ward of Huffington Post and PBS NewsHour's very own Travis Daub snapped panoramic photographs of campaign and political events over the last several months. Get a sense of what it would feel like to look around on the trail with these 360-degree images.

	July 27, 2012 Let the Games Begin: Romney Tries to Rebound From Olympics Gaffe We're 101 days from Election Day, but everyone's looking overseas. The Olympics, played in the shadows of Parliament and Big Ben this year, won't escape American politics, since Mitt Romney is in the country for the first leg of his six-day campaign trip abroad.

	July 26, 2012 British Paper Puts Romney on Defense as Foreign Trip Begins It wasn't the first time an unnamed adviser's comment to the media sparked a political spat, and it's highly unlikely to be the last before Nov. 6. It also wasn't the headline presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney probably wanted as he began his trip abroad and certainly not what he wanted to be defending.

	July 25, 2012 Obama Leads in New Poll, Plays Defense Over Small Business Comment One thing we know for certain: Polls taken in July don't tell us what will happen on Election Day. But what surprised pollsters who conducted the new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll is how little things have changed despite major events over the last month.

	July 24, 2012 Candidates' Foreign Policy Stances Take Center Stage With Mitt Romney planning to visit England, Israel and Poland, the Republican is looking to contrast himself sharply with President Obama. He will begin that push Tuesday afternoon in a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention.

	July 23, 2012 After Pause in Politics, Campaigns Evaluate the Next Focus President Obama's brief remarks Sunday night were aimed to honor the victims of the mass shooting instead of focusing on the man who committed the horrific act. They were devoid of politics, even as some in Washington looked to revive a debate over gun control.

	July 22, 2012 Obama Seeks to Comfort Families as Aurora Remembers Shooting Victims President Obama told the nation Sunday night that he hoped Americans would not only remember the victims killed and injured in the tragic theater shooting in Colorado, but also focus on the determination, resilience and courage shown by many as the massacre was happening.

	July 20, 2012 Colo. Shooting to Influence Friday's Campaign Rhetoric There are events that transcend politics in America, and the Thursday night shooting at a movie theater outside Denver is one such example. The tragic killing of at least a dozen people will likely result in the pause button being hit for at least a day in what has been a brutal stretch of the campaign.

	July 19, 2012 Obama, Romney Look to Define Campaign on Their Terms Can President Obama's re-election team define Mitt Romney before the economy defines the Democrat's presidency? That has become the race within the race of the 2012 campaign as three consecutive months of discouraging employment reports have taken their toll on the president's standing among the American people.

	July 18, 2012 Sharpened Attacks Mark Shift to Bruising Phase of Campaign With President Obama's campaign posing questions about what might be in Mitt Romney's tax returns, the GOP candidate's campaign is firing back with a query of its own Wednesday: "Where did all the money go?"

	July 17, 2012 New Obama TV Ad Hammers Romney on Release of Taxes The Obama campaign is welcoming Mitt Romney to Pennsylvania on Tuesday with a new television ad that keeps up the drumbeat over the presumptive GOP nominee's taxes.

	July 16, 2012 Obama's Campaign Attack Strikes a Familiar Tune On the trail this year, Mitt Romney has made it a habit to go phrase-by-phrase through several verses of "America the Beautiful." The tune was also the central focus of a tough new television ad that President Obama's re-election campaign says will air in key swing states.

	July 13, 2012 Romney's New Strategy: Frame Obama as Just Another Politician Mitt Romney and his Republican allies have signaled a new strategy in an attempt to undermine something that was a strength for President Obama in 2008: Tell voters that the president is just like every other politician.

	July 12, 2012 An Election on Facebook: Old Media Enters New World Do "likes" on Facebook translate to votes? Howard Kurtz and Lauren Ashburn of Daily-Download.com examine that issue with Ray Suarez and also explore why traditional news outlets are partnering with social media sites this election year.

	July 11, 2012 House GOP Pushes Health Care Repeal as Candidates Target Battleground States The Republican-led House of Representatives will render judgment on President Obama's signature health care law for the 31st time on Wednesday. The final tally isn't a certainty, but the result will be the same: It will still be the law of the land tomorrow.

	July 10, 2012 President Obama, Romney Tied in Latest Washington Post-ABC Poll Less than four months until Election Day, President Obama and Mitt Romney have almost no room for error, as the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll has the Democratic incumbent and his Republican challenger tied at 47 percent among registered voters.

	July 9, 2012 Obama's Search for Himself: 'A Classic Odyssey' Judy Woodruff speaks with author and journalist David Maraniss about his new book, "Barack Obama: The Story", which describes President Obama's earlier years and how he tried to find his own way.

	July 9, 2012 From Kansas to Washington, Barack Obama's 'Story' Different chapters of a president built from "randomness."

	July 9, 2012 Political Checklist: Tax Talk and Name Calling Judy Woodruff, Gwen Ifill and I talked Monday about the other thing heating up Washington this week: tax cuts.

	July 9, 2012 David Maraniss on Writing Obama's 'Story' "No life could have been more the product of randomness than that of Barack Obama," writes author David Maraniss. In his latest biography, "Barack Obama: The Story," Maraniss narrates a series of events in the president's family history that put him on the road to attaining the highest office in American politics.

	July 9, 2012 Watch President Obama's Tax Cuts Speech President Obama plans to announce Monday a renewed pressure campaign on Congress related to the issue of tax cuts, specifically calling for lawmakers to pass a one-year extension of the President Bush-era tax cuts for families making less than $250,000 a year.

	July 9, 2012 President Obama Set to Renew Battle Over Bush Tax Cuts Three days after a third consecutive disappointing jobs report, President Obama intends to shift his attention Monday to the issue of tax fairness, calling on Congress to pass a one-year extension of the Bush tax cuts for families making less than $250,000 a year.

	July 4, 2012 U.S. Observes Sultry Fourth of July Heat and hardship didn't stop Americans from celebrating Independence Day on Wednesday with parades barbecues and fireworks. But prolonged power outages, record high temperatures and wildfires made it a challenging Fourth of July for many. Gwen Ifill reports.

	July 3, 2012 Romney, GOP Split on Whether Health Care Mandate Is a Tax In its ruling in favor of President Obama's health care law, the Supreme Court handed Republicans a political weapon by calling the individual mandate a tax. But likely GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney appears set to disarm his party's attacks by siding with the president in terms of how the mandate is interpreted.

	July 2, 2012 Supreme Court's Health Care Ruling Dominates Debate, Shapes Election Reports that Chief Justice John Roberts switched his vote to uphold President Obama's health care law aside, what remains clear is that last week's Supreme Court decision will reverberate on the campaign trail, shaping the outcomes of elections on Nov. 6 and beyond.



	JUNE June 29, 2012 Supreme Court Ruling Moves to Campaign Trail "It should be pretty clear by now that I didn't do this because it was good politics," President Obama said Thursday, using the Supreme Court's blessing of his signature legislation to re-frame the health care debate in terms of how Americans can be helped by the law.

	June 28, 2012 While Dems Celebrate Health Care Decision, GOP Leaders Threaten Repeal The Supreme Court's ruling on the Affordable Care Act reverberated on the campaign trail Thursday. Judy Woodruff talks to politics editor Christina Bellantoni about how will it play out this election year.

	June 27, 2012 Obama Ahead in Battlegrounds Despite Economic Concerns The latest snapshot of the presidential race reveals President Obama and Mitt Romney locked in a close race nationally, but it also finds the Democratic incumbent in a stronger position when it comes to the battleground states that will ultimately decide which of the two men takes the oath of office in January 2013.

	June 26, 2012 Both Sides Claim Victory After Court's Ruling on Ariz. Immigration Law With a big decision on the health care reform law still to come, the Supreme Court on Monday delivered a handful of significant rulings, chief among them a split decision on Arizona's immigration law that each side spun as a victory.

	June 25, 2012 All Eyes on Supreme Court for Health Care, Immigration Rulings Monumental. Crucial. Consequential. Pick whatever word you want, but there is no denying that what happens this week at the Supreme Court will have far-reaching implications for the fall campaign and beyond.

	June 22, 2012 Obama Draws Distinctions With Romney On Immigration President Obama took his turn before a conference of Latino officials Friday, leading off his remarks with a "gracias" and telling the crowd "it's a pleasure to be here with so many friends" in Spanish. He quickly drew a distinction between himself and Mitt Romney, who addressed the crowd Thursday.

	June 22, 2012 Bain Back in Spotlight as Romney Releases Ads in Four Swing States A Washington Post investigation on Bain Capital has provided Mitt Romney's rivals with fresh fodder, and it's no surprise President Obama's re-election team and aligned forces jumped on the story.

	June 22, 2012 The Apple War: How One Man Took On the Nation's Divisive Politics Gwen Ifill talks applesauce and silo politics in her weekly blog post. Go behind the scenes of her recent reporting trip to Ohio for the PBS NewsHour.

	June 21, 2012 Campaign Finance Reports Reveal Shifting Dynamic in Presidential Campaigns The latest campaign finance reports revealed Priorities USA, a super PAC supporting President Obama, closed some of the fundraising gap with Restore Our Future, a group supporting Mitt Romney. Jeffrey Brown, Ken Vogel of Politico and Matea Gold of the Los Angeles Times discuss the latest on campaign fundraising.

	June 21, 2012 Economic Gains in Key States Pose Messaging Dilemma for Romney For Mitt Romney, the improving jobs picture in some battleground states led by Republican governors has made it a bit tougher to label President Obama's economic record a failure.

	June 20, 2012 Take a Deep Breath: Veepstakes Aren't Over Yet Let's get something straight. You aren't going to learn about Mitt Romney's choice to be his running mate by reading a newspaper or clicking on a story. Especially not in June.

	June 19, 2012 New Poll Shows Strong Support for Obama on Immigration Decision Poll after poll has consistently shown President Obama with an overwhelming advantage over Mitt Romney among Hispanic voters. Friday's move to halt deportations of some undocumented immigrants also appears to be going over well with a broad spectrum of voters.

	June 18, 2012 President's Decision on Immigration Shapes Campaign Weekend President Obama's move to loosen deportation rules for nearly 1 million young, undocumented immigrants has brought immigration back to the political stage, as both sides continue to battle for the hearts and minds of the growing Hispanic population.

	June 15, 2012 Romney Responds to President Obama's Immigration Decision Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney reacted to President Obama's decision to ease deportation policy for some young people living in the country illegally outside his campaign bus in Milford, New Hampshire Friday.

	June 15, 2012 Watergate Remembered: Watch PBS's 1973 Special Report "How high did the scandals reach and was President Nixon himself involved?" That was what the NewsHour's Robert MacNeil, then co-anchoring with Jim Lehrer, dubbed "the ultimate question" as the program began its gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Watergate hearings on May 17, 1973.

	June 15, 2012 Forty Years Later, Watergate Still Intrigues The NewsHour's Jim Lehrer shared the stage with Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein and a host of other speakers whose lives were influenced by the Watergate cover-up to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the break-in.

	June 15, 2012 Obama Relaxes Deportation Rules for Some Undocumented Youth Hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children will no longer be subject to deportation, according to a statement released Friday by the Department of Homeland Security highlighting a policy change for the Obama administration on immigration.

	June 15, 2012 Romney Campaign Previews Bus Tour Mitt Romney's five-day, six-state bus tour set to launch Friday will take the candidate to turf friendly to President Obama, a top campaign strategist told reporters at a morning briefing at the team's headquarters in Boston.

	June 15, 2012 Romney Bus Tour Begins After Day of Economic Debate Mitt Romney is hitting the road in his first real battleground barnstorm. The presumptive Republican nominee's bus tour began Friday morning in New Hampshire and will cross through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa and Michigan over the next few days.

	June 14, 2012 Political Parodies on Twitter: 'Mockery Can Be a Very Effective Tool' As part of an ongoing series on how candidates use social media this election season, Margaret Warner and journalists Lauren Ashburn and Howard Kurtz of Daily-Download.com discuss how parody accounts of politicians and surrogates on Twitter and Pinterest are creating buzz online.

	June 14, 2012 Gwen's Take: Dearth of Civility in the Public Square In her weekly blog, Gwen Ifill looks at how we disagree -- on the playground, over the airwaves, and along the campaign trail.