Molly Ball

The candidate and his campaign employed an elaborate routine of subterfuge to ensure they would control the running-mate announcement. More »

The same conservative base that's thrilled to see Paul Ryan on the GOP ticket is in love with Ryan's budget proposals -- which Romney is already backing away from. More »

Under overcast skies in Virginia, the Wisconsin representative electrified the GOP ticket. More »

The Republican nominee plans to announce his running mate at a campaign stop in southeastern Virginia. More »

He's already promised to release another tax return before the election -- a guarantee that the issue will be reopened at an inopportune time. More »

The polls put the incumbent in the lead, but there are plenty of reasons for Republicans to be optimistic -- and Democrats to be jittery. More »

Republicans charge the president with 'gutting' the landmark 1990s legislation. That's hardly the case -- but the proposed change could give more people access to benefits. More »

Romney could choose a running mate any day now, but don't believe the din of ill-informed speculation and analysis. More »

Same-sex marriage has been consistently defeated at the ballot box. With four blue states voting on the issue in November, will 2012 be the year the tide turns? More »

The erstwhile Eastern Bloc nation has a dim view of Obama and a connection to a lot of voters in the American heartland. More »

Nancy Pelosi is not likely to come close to regaining the speaker's gavel, thanks in part to a cavalcade of Democratic missteps. More »

Last week's mass shooting in Aurora has put the gun issue in the spotlight, and now both presidential candidates are addressing it. More »

The Republican's attacks on Obama are more rhetorical than substantive. Is he trapped by his party's longstanding foreign-policy divisions? More »

Republican Rick Scott's attempt to cleanse the voter rolls of noncitizens has Democrats in a panic. Could the pivotal swing state be headed for another 2000-style voting debacle? More »

The president strikes a somber and personal note as politics is suspended in the wake of Friday morning's mass movie-theater shooting. More »

At a time when his campaign was in need of a boost, Romney suddenly comes alive on the stump. More »

It's a measure of how little loyalty Romney commands within his own party that so many are publicly calling on him to release his tax returns. More »

In questioning Obama's Americanness on Tuesday, the perpetually overheated John Sununu wasn't that far off Mitt Romney's regular message. More »

The challenger tries to paint the president as corrupt but just ends up calling attention to his own refusal to disclose who his biggest donors are. More »

The president's chances to win this Southern swing state look surprisingly strong, even as other states trend away from him. More »