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!
Jan 20, 2012
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Obama's "We Can't Wait" Juggling Act
By Alexis Simendinger, RealClearPoliticsAs President Obama visited Orlando, Fla., on Thursday to describe an initiative to expand international tourism to the United States, Vice President Biden was in Reno, Nev., to discuss the economic hazards of rising college tuitions. As Obama flew on Air Force One later in the day to New York City for four campaign fundraising events, Biden traveled to Los Angeles for an economic event with business leaders, plus another fundraiser.
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Ex-wife, Perry exit roil GOP race in SC
By Charles Babington, Associated PressRepublican activists hoping to deny the presidential nomination to Mitt Romney have long dreamed of finding one conservative alternative who could consolidate the anti-Romney feelings of many hard-core conservatives. That goal briefly seemed a step closer Thursday in South Carolina. Texas Gov. Rick Perry quit the race and endorsed Newt Gingrich, who already was thought to be rising.
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The Brawl
By John Dickerson, SlateNewt Gingrich said "No." Mitt Romney said "Maybe." And Rick Santorum said everything better than he has in any other debate. The last Republican debate before Saturday’s South Carolina primary—and the first with just four candidates—was perhaps the most lively of the 17 that have come during this campaign.
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Jan 19, 2012
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Perry Ends Bid for Presidency
By Jeff Zeleny and Michael D. Shear, New York TimesGov. Rick Perry of Texas dropped out of the Republican presidential race here on Thursday and announced his endorsement for the candidacy of Newt Gingrich, a man he called a “conservative visionary.”
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Former Texas Governor Rick Perry (CNN) -
Obama Rejects Keystone Pipeline from Canada to Texas
By Aamer Madhani and Susan Davis, USA TODAYPresident Obama's rejection Wednesday of rapid approval of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to Texas triggered Republican and business community objections but also signs from Obama and the pipeline company that the issue was far from over. Russ Girling, president of TransCanada, the pipeline's builder, said the company would reapply for permitting and asked for the application to be processed in time to get the pipeline online by 2014.
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Gingrich Sees a South Carolina Surge
By Karen Tumulty, Washington PostOn the morning after a bellicose debate performance that had the audience leaping to its feet, Newt Gingrich got this challenge from a retired Marine officer who had come to hear him speak at an art gallery here. “What I’ve been looking for in my candidate is, we’ve got to bloody Obama’s nose,” Vence Jelovchan said. “I don’t want to bloody his nose,” the former House speaker replied. “I want to knock him out.”
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Poll Shows Obama’s Vulnerability With Swing Voters
By Jeff Zeleny and Dalia Sussman, New York TimesPresident Obama opens his re-election bid facing significant obstacles among independent voters, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, with the critical piece of the electorate that cemented his victory four years ago open to denying him a second term.
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Justices Side with Death Row Inmate Abandoned by Counsel
By Joan Biskupic, USA TODAYAn Alabama death row prisoner should not be prevented from appealing because he missed a deadline after his lawyers dropped his case and failed to tell him, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled by a 7-2 vote Wednesday. The two lawyers at the New York office of Sullivan and Cromwell did not alert Alabama court authorities that they were withdrawing, so that when a court clerk sent papers to the lawyers, the firm's mailroom sent them back unopened and marked, "Return to Sender — Left Firm" and "Returned to Sender — Attempted, Unknown."
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Insiders Detail Obama Administration's Tough Choice About Iran
By Yochi J. Dreazen, National JournalThe Obama administration is locked in a fierce internal debate about whether to order military strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities, a move that would represent a high-stakes gamble that Iran’s nuclear program could be destroyed without triggering a new Mideast war. High-level deliberations about issues as important as Iran are held behind closed doors in secure facilities at the White House and the Pentagon, rarely giving outsiders a view of various options under discussion.
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Romney Delivers a Low Blow to Gingrich
By Janet Hook, Wall Street JournalGOP front-runner Mitt Romney struck an especially low blow at Newt Gingrich in South Carolina Tuesday: He compared the former speaker to Al Gore.
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GOP Field Leaves SC's Religious Right Uninspired
By Charles Babington, Associated PressThe Greenville-Spartanburg area, home to many of South Carolina's evangelical voters, should be prime political ground for Rick Santorum, a longtime anti-abortion crusader who was embraced by a group of Christian leaders meeting last weekend in Texas. Or maybe for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who talks forcefully of his conversion to Catholicism and his hope for redemption for past sins, including infidelity.
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Gingrich Comes Back—Again
By John Dickerson, SlateMitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are both trying to help South Carolina voters imagine what will happen if Gingrich captures the nomination. In the Gingrich model, he crushes President Obama in the fall 2012 debates, wins a huge victory on Election Day, and prepares the country for fundamental change. In the Romney vision, the undisciplined Gingrich clatters into the fall surrounded by the wreckage of his campaign: His oddball comments set off a series of press feeding frenzies, and he manages to squander a huge Republican opportunity to regain the White House.
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Jan 18, 2012
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Romney Says He is Taxed at Around 15 Percent Rate
By Sam Youngman, ReutersRepublican Mitt Romney acknowledged Tuesday that his income tax rate is "probably closer to 15 percent than anything," suggesting that one of the wealthiest people to ever run for U.S. president pays a much lower rate than most Americans.
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Rivals Vie to Battle Romney from the Right — Alone
By Rosalind S. Helderman and Karen Tumulty, Washington PostMitt Romney’s rivals tried to shove one another aside Tuesday in an effort to consolidate support around a single conservative alternative to the former Massachusetts governor. Not surprisingly, there was disagreement among the three men — former House speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.), former senator Rick Santorum (Pa.) and Texas Gov. Rick Perry — over who ought to do the shoving and who ought to do the stepping aside.
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GOP Candidate Mitt Romney speaks in Spartanburg, SC (CNN) -
Appeals Court Rules: Perry Remains Off Virginia Ballot
By Janet Hook, Wall Street JournalTexas Gov. Rick Perry Tuesday lost the latest round in his court battle to get his name on the presidential primary ballot in Virginia. The federal Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Tuesday rejected his appeal of a lower-court ruling refusing to place Mr. Perry, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Sen. Rick Santorum on the ballot for the March 6 primary.
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Romney Looks Past Weekend’s Primary as Rivals Find New Hope
By Jeff Zeleny and Ashley Parker, New York TimesMitt Romney delivered a 13-minute speech here on Tuesday morning, shook hands with an audience that filled only a small part of a ballroom and caught a plane for a fund-raising gala in New York, a clear sign that he is looking beyond South Carolina. The outward confidence in Mr. Romney’s posture belied a deeply uncertain and fluid conclusion to the Republican presidential primary here.
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Nancy Pelosi: Romney Won't be President
By Susan Davis, USA TODAYHouse Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., leveled a harsh critique against Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney on Tuesday, stating in no uncertain terms that she does not believe he poses a real threat to President Obama's re-election if he becomes the nominee.
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Republican Win for Romney 'Inevitable'?
With Jeff Zeleny, New York Times; Sam Youngman, Reuters; and Steve Hayes, The Weekly StandardLeading up to the South Carolina Primary, Jeff Zeleny, Sam Youngman, and Steve Hayes look at the field of candidates.
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Democrats Shorten Convention to Three Days
By Alexis Simendinger, RealClearPoliticsVotes in the South may be in doubt, President Obama and the Democratic National Committee decided, but his delegate support is not. So the president's September nominating convention in Charlotte will shrink to three days while Labor Day will become a telegenic "y'all come" festival in that city aimed at wooing Southern, white and NASCAR voters.
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Electorate is Sharply Split over Obama, Poll Finds
By Dan Balz and Jon Cohen, Washington PostAs President Obama prepares to give his third State of the Union address next week, he faces a dispirited and polarized electorate that is sharply divided over his record, worried about the pace of the economic recovery and deeply pessimistic about the country’s trajectory. In a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, 9 percent of Americans see a strong economic recovery — a number that has hardly budged in more than two years. Twice as many say they are worse off financially since Obama became president than say their situations have improved.
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President Barack Obama in the White House Situation Room
(The White House/Pete Souza)
