WRAL.com Politics

Deadline nears, Obama wants payroll tax cut action

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 06:00:00 -0500

President Barack Obama is pressuring Congress to extend a payroll tax cut for the rest of the year as another deadline nears for Congress to act or see taxes go up for millions of working people.

In Maine, Paul vies to extend Romney losing streak

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:58:18 -0500

Mitt Romney hoped to avoid a fourth straight election setback Saturday in the GOP presidential nomination race, but feisty Ron Paul could extend that losing streak with a victory in Maine's caucuses.

Conservatives shrug at Obama birth control rewrite

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 07:18:01 -0500

President Barack Obama's political shifting over contraception coverage has united conservative Republicans in protest even as they split over which GOP presidential hopeful should face him in the general election.

Death penalty, race divide NC House panel members

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:02:20 -0500

Sharp partisan differences surfaced once again as lawmakers considering changes to North Carolina's Racial Justice Act held their first meeting Friday.

Analysis: Obama's course correction shifts dynamic

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 12:09:40 -0500

President Barack Obama's opposition is now the divided one.

First lady: Girls can choose to have campaign role

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:45:08 -0500

Michelle Obama says her daughters' main concern about the coming presidential election is all about them.

Obama revamps birth control policy

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:33:54 -0500

Retreating in the face of a political uproar, President Barack Obama on Friday announced that religious employers won't have to cover birth control for their employees. The administration instead will demand that insurance companies be the ones directly responsible for providing free contraception.

Santorum, Romney sell selves to conservatives

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 04:33:21 -0500

GOP presidential rivals made contrasting appeals to conservatives Friday, with Mitt Romney saying he proved his mettle as Massachusetts governor and Rick Santorum saying Romney is so moderate that electing him would be a "hollow victory."

Congressman overcomes segregation, lives the legacy

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:20:45 -0500

Congressman G.K. Butterfield overcame bitter segregation to rise to a leadership position in the House of Representatives. However, his work as an attorney may be the best example of how he is Living the Legacy.

Ginsburg questions 1973 abortion ruling's timing

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:18:13 -0500

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg suggested Friday that her predecessors on the high court mistimed the milestone 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide.

Romney and Paul: Not allies but not foes, either

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:38:42 -0500

Mitt Romney and Ron Paul rarely even acknowledge each other in the Republican presidential race, focusing their attention and attacks on rivals Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum instead. That curious detente is being tested in Maine's caucuses this week, where Romney's reputation as a political shape shifter is going head-to-head with Paul's consistent libertarian views.

At CPAC, Santorum casts self as true conservative

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:49:37 -0500

Rick Santorum is telling conservatives he's the only Republican presidential candidate who shares their values and implicitly attacking rival Mitt Romney as a moderate.

Obama budget predicts $1.3T deficit for 2012

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:45:16 -0500

President Barack Obama's new budget predicts a $1.3 trillion deficit for the ongoing fiscal year but that would drop to $575 billion in 2018 if the president gets his wish to raise taxes and if policymakers can live within tight restraints on the Pentagon and other Cabinet agency budgets, the White House said Friday.

Ethics panel looking at chairman's stock trades

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:03:18 -0500

The chairman of the House Financial Services Committee said Friday he is cooperating with an ethics panel's investigation of his stock trades and expects to be exonerated.

They're back: Social issues overtake US politics

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:47:15 -0500

All of a sudden, abortion, contraception and gay marriage are at the center of American political discourse, with the struggling — though improving — economy pushed to the background.

Disgraced lobbyist Abramoff in NC: DC unchanged

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:18:14 -0500

Disgraced Washington influence-peddler Jack Abramoff told a North Carolina audience Thursday about the Capitol Hill corruption in which he played a role.

New legislative voting maps strike Democratic women

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:24:43 -0500

Women Democrats in the General Assembly were hit hardest by new maps of legislative voting districts, but Republicans insisted Thursday that gender wasn't a factor in the way they drew the maps.

Obama tells gay donors more work to be done

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:34:33 -0500

President Barack Obama told gay and lesbian supporters at a big-ticket fundraiser Thursday that there's more work to do to ensure fairness for all, but he said he "couldn't be prouder" of his track record for them.

VP Biden touts US economic resiliency at Ohio stop

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:54:28 -0500

Vice President Joe Biden says he's convinced America is better positioned than other nations to continue to lead the world's economy — whether or not his boss is still in charge.

Conservatives: Romney's OK if Obama is alternative

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:33:26 -0500

If Mitt Romney needs some good news in an otherwise lousy week, he might find it in an improbable place: the packed hallways of the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

New NC law could delay primary runoff by three weeks

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:58:22 -0500

If a leading candidate fails to get more than 40 percent of the vote in a North Carolina primary election race this May, when is the runoff?

SC governor to help raise money for McCrory

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:59:17 -0500

North Carolina governor candidate Pat McCrory is getting more help raising money from a sitting Republican governor, Nikki Haley of South Carolina.

Obama birth control policy divides Democrats

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:58:11 -0500

Democrats are deeply divided over President Barack Obama's new rule that religious schools and hospitals must provide insurance for free birth control to their employees amid fresh signs that the administration was scrambling for a way out.

A fourth defeat for Romney? Lack of ads could hurt

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:53:12 -0500

Mitt Romney is in danger of losing his fourth straight state in Saturday's caucuses in Maine, where he and his allies have been all but absent from TV.

Gingrich hopes high road, new funds can save him

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:24:29 -0500

Newt Gingrich, suddenly in danger of losing his perch as Mitt Romney's strongest GOP challenger, is fine-tuning his presidential campaign to place more emphasis on raising money, guarding his home turf and trying to avoid nasty quarrels with the front-runner.

Analysis: Obama contraceptive mandate has a price

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:20:30 -0500

The Obama administration's new mandate that religious organizations pay for their workers' birth control has become a bludgeon for Republican culture warriors, as social issues have surged to the forefront in the presidential campaign.

Democrats renew push for campaign finance overhaul

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:47:33 -0500

The campaign finance system is so broken that legislative changes, including a constitutional amendment, are needed to rein in runaway, secret spending in elections, congressional Democrats said Thursday.

GOP report questions Guantanamo detainee releases

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:03:57 -0500

Facing domestic political pressures, the Bush and Obama administrations released or transferred 600 terror suspects deemed an acceptable threat from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, only to find that 27 percent re-engaged in terrorist or insurgent activities, according to a report by Republicans on the investigations panel of the House Armed Services Committee.

Edwards campaign owes taxpayers but still spending

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:59:54 -0500

Federal election officials say John Edwards owes taxpayers more than $2.1 million in public matching funds improperly received after he dropped his 2008 run for the White House, yet disclosure reports show his failed campaign is still spending freely.

For Santorum, new challenges follow his big wins

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:05:32 -0500

One day after Rick Santorum's startling breakthrough in the presidential race, his few aides decamped to distant states to start building campaign organizations from scratch. It was evidence of his challenge in converting sudden momentum into victories in the rush of contests ahead.

GOP vows to reverse Obama birth control policy

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:38:12 -0500

Republicans vowed Wednesday to reverse President Barack Obama's new policy on birth control, lambasting the rule that religious schools and hospitals must provide contraceptive coverage for their employees as an "unambiguous attack on religious freedom in our country."

Ex-Shuler aide to run for western NC Congress seat

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:22:57 -0500

The former chief of staff to departing U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler is running for his boss' western North Carolina seat in Congress.

Romney's Tuesday losses show conservative doubts

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:14:28 -0500

Mitt Romney still can't seem to win over the bulk of the conservatives who make up the bedrock of the Republican Party.

Rules limit money use for NC governor's race

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:09:38 -0500

More than $3 million in contributions for Democrats running for Congress or governor may not be used for its intended purpose because of the shake-up in North Carolina's governor's race.

NC offshore energy panel: Drilling prospects iffy

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:06:45 -0500

A science panel advising Gov. Beverly Perdue on offshore energy development says oil and gas drilling is unlikely in waters within North Carolina's authority, but the coast has some of the best East Coast locations for wind power.