Essential Reads
Essential Reads is your one-stop source for the top stories of the day as reported by your favorite Washington Week panelists. It's a simple way to save time and stay informed about the news you need to know. Check it out every day!
Oct 20, 2011
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CLASS Act?
By Major Garrett, National JournalCLASS dismissed. With extreme prejudice. The Obama administration has deemed the CLASS Act, a portion of the landmark health care law, a budget-buster. It terminated the program last Friday, less than a month after most of its staff had been dismissed or reassigned and denials flew about the CLASS Act’s demise.
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Obama campaign manager: Romney 'has no credibility' on middle-class issues
By Julianna Goldman, BloombergPresident Barack Obama, promoting his jobs plan in Virginia, said a group of 270 companies including ConAgra Foods Inc. and Tyson Foods Inc. has pledged to hire 25,000 military veterans and spouses by the end of 2013.
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AP-GfK Poll: Public unsettled on Obama challenger
By Charles Babington, Associated PressAmericans have yet to find a Republican they'd clearly prefer over President Barack Obama, although half say the president does not deserve re-election. Among Republicans, the desire to oust Obama is clear, according to a new AP-GfK poll. But it has not resolved divisions over the choice of a nominee. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is reasonably popular, but he has not pulled away from the field.
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Obama in the Occupy Wall Street camp
By Doyle McManus, Los Angeles TimesIf you're one of the thousands of demonstrators sleeping in parks, carrying signs and banging on drums to protest Wall Street's hammerlock on American politics, President Obama wants you to know he feels your pain.
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Bad Blood Between Perry and Romney Is Longstanding
By Jeff Zeleny and Michael D. Shear, New York TimesThe hostilities flaring between Mitt Romney and Gov. Rick Perry of Texas have been steadily rising inside both camps and may signal a new, more combative phase in the Republican presidential campaign.
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Oct 19, 2011
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Unlike in Israel, Missing U.S. Soldiers' Plight Not a National Struggle
By Yochi J. Dreazen, National JournalIn the years since their capture in Afghanistan and Iraq, U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl and Army Staff Sgt. Ahmed Altaie have been largely forgotten by both Washington and the American public. There have been no protests demanding the government make whatever concessions necessary to win their release. Most Americans don’t even know their names.
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Hillary Clinton Visits Libya to Meet Rebel Leaders
By Martha Raddatz, ABC NewsSecretary of State Hillary Clinton touched down in Libya Tuesday afternoon, becoming the first cabinet level official to visit the country since NATO airstrikes began in March and Tripoli fell in late August. A senior State Department official said that the purpose of Secretary Clinton's visit is to congratulate the Libyan people on the ouster of Gadhafi from power, help with transition issues like unifying the rebel fighters and forge a deeper partnership with Libya.
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President Obama's strategy on jobs is working — even if Americans aren’t
By Sam Youngman, The HillIt’s certainly not pretty, but darn if it doesn’t appear to be working. President Obama’s newfound message discipline on jobs and his two-pronged attack on the GOP are providing the beleaguered president with new signs of life not long after many were wondering if he had anything left.
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Both McConnell and Reid Dismiss Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 Tax Plan.
By Naftali Bendavid, Wall Street JournalGOP presidential candidate Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 tax plan is getting lots of buzz, but congressional leaders of both parties are less than enthusiastic.
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Analysis: GOP contenders turn fire on each other
By Charles Babington, Associated PressThe Republican presidential candidates tore into each other as never before in their latest debate, mindful that voting starts within 11 weeks and many GOP voters remain up for grabs.
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Staying in Vegas? The Hermanator Doesn't Make the Grade
By Beth Reinhard, National JournalFaced with making a giant leap from novelty act to political statesman -- in Las Vegas, of all places -- surging Republican candidate Herman Cain predictably fell short in Tuesday’s debate.
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Obama Finds Economy Makes Policies a Hard Sell on Bus Tour
By Julianna Goldman, BloombergLisa Hensley was thrilled when President Barack Obama unexpectedly showed up during the lunch hour at the Countryside Barbeque in Marion, North Carolina, a town of about 8,000 along the Blue Ridge Mountains.
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A Fierce Clash for Romney and Perry as Republican Candidates Debate
By Jeff Zeleny and Jim Rutenberg, New York TimesMitt Romney came under intensive attack from his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination at a debate here Tuesday night, with a newly assertive Rick Perry leading a sometimes personal barrage against him on conservative consistency, health care policy and even the immigration status of yard workers at his home.
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Republican presidential debate puts Herman Cain to test
By Karen Tumulty, Washington POstThe near-weekly ritual of Republican presidential debates took a raucous turn Tuesday night as the unsettled field of candidates ganged up on one another in a series of attacks more intense and personal than any in their previous appearances together.
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After sharp GOP debate, campaign shifts focus
By Dan Balz, Washington PostAfter five debates in six weeks, the race for the Republican presidential nomination will soon shift to a new phase, one focused on states with early primaries and caucuses and dominated by retail campaign skills and television commercials rather than by prepared sound bites and testy exchanges on a debate stage.
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Fightin' Words: Rick Perry and Mitt Romney duke it out at the presidential debate in Las Vegas.
by John Dickerson, SlateIn order to give the CNN Western Republican Presidential Debate a regional flair, the network created a horseshoe logo. The candidates went one better. They turned the debate into a Wild West bar fight. It started with a scuffle over Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 tax plan, then tipped over tables in a skirmish over Mitt Romney’s health care plan in Massachusetts. The candidates talked over each other, their voices escalating. They accused each other of lying. At one testy point, when Romney was lecturing Rick Perry about interrupting, he put his hand on the Texas governor’s shoulder. He was trying to provoke him. Watch it, Mitt—he could be packing.
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Oct 18, 2011
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Street Cred: Why Herman Cain keeps trying to say Mitt Romney is Wall Street’s candidate.
by John Dickerson, SlateMitt Romney can claim a lot of geography. He was born in Michigan, was governor of Massachusetts, worked and lived in Utah, and has a summer place in New Hampshire. Oh, and he’s said to be building in San Diego.
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Hillary Clinton Visits Libya to Meet Rebel Leaders
With Martha Raddatz, ABC NewsSecretary of State Hillary Clinton touched down in Libya Tuesday afternoon, becoming the first cabinet level official to visit the country since NATO airstrikes began in March and Tripoli fell in late August.
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Hillary Clinton Visits Libya to Meet Rebel Leaders
by Martha Raddatz, ABC NewsSecretary of State Hillary Clinton touched down in Libya Tuesday afternoon, becoming the first cabinet level official to visit the country since NATO airstrikes began in March and Tripoli fell in late August.
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Street Cred: Why Herman Cain keeps trying to say Mitt Romney is Wall Street’s candidate.
by John Dickerson, Slate MagazineMitt Romney can claim a lot of geography. He was born in Michigan, was governor of Massachusetts, worked and lived in Utah, and has a summer place in New Hampshire. Oh, and he’s said to be building in San Diego.
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