Anna Sale

All through August, Anna Sale is on a search for the independent voter. These are the prize voters who could make up the margin in the 2012 contest, but their definition is elusive ...

It's A Free Country political reporter Anna Sale discuss her search for the independent voter. First stop: Colorado.

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The bitter debt debate may be over on Capitol Hill, but average Americans are having trouble getting the taste out of their mouths. According to the Pew research group, a growing number of Americans are disgusted with both parties, and are choosing to affiliate with neither. Independents have played a determining role in the last three national elections. 

When the House votes later today, it could be a moment of triumph for Speaker John Boehner, in the aftermath of his full-court press to snap his caucus in line. Or it could all blow up in his face.

It’s in these moments that a leader’s legacy is made, but the consequences of a loss take time to sink in.

President Obama has had a muted legislative record so far this year, but this debt ceiling standoff is shaping up to be among his administration's most dramatic confrontations with Republicans. 

After signing the health care overhaul, the stimulus bill, and the auto bailout in his first two years – not to mention the tax deal, unemployment extension, DADT, 9/11 First Responders bill flurry during the lame duck Congress last year – Obama was forced to scale back his agenda with the new Republican majority in the House this year. 

Despite his past dismissiveness of small-scale initiatives, Obama has had to table other major pushes on immigration, clean energy, and education. But there was no way to avert this battle on the debt ceiling vote. And it only continues to heat up, with a firm primetime address on Monday and a veto threat on Tuesday. 

But now what? Here, a guide to how previous deals have made been made. 

A game of chicken. A standoff. Gridlock. Slow-motion collision. 

With a week to go, the metaphors are flying as President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner both dug in their heels in nighttime addresses to the American people. They repeated their cases, again, and blamed the other side for standing in the way of a deal, again. And if a new poll is any indication, this approach isn't doing anybody in Washington any favors. 

It's all inside the beltway maneuvering and hard to explain, but it is indispensible for the American people to understand it so public opinion can be mobilized to stop it. -Former U...

Could Rudy Giuliani be the key to a successful presidential run for Texas Governor Rick Perry? The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza floats the possibility, noting that the two men are friends, and Giuliani could vouch for the Texas governor and boost his fundraising potential.

“Rudy would be an awesome asset to any campaign,” Perry consultant Dave Carney told Cillizza, noting that "folks of the mayor’s stature bring lot of value added to any effort.”

How is it that Michele Bachmann, a candidate who rose to prominence in Minnesota state politics based in large part on her outspoken stand against gay marriage, who went to a Christ...

And he’s back!

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani traveled back up to New Hampshire today, where he told a crowd that if he chooses, he could run a campaign based on his economic record in New York City.

As the debt ceiling negotiations get scrappier, a new poll shows that a majority of voters approve of the way Obama is handling the economy, and that more will blame Republicans than the president if a deal doesn’t happen.

This is all for our own good, President Obama said as he tried again to press his case for a sweeping package of spending cuts, new tax revenues, and entitlement adjustments to reign in the size of the federal deficit.

 

South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint repeated his threat again that he’s willing to confront “economic disruptions” as a consequence of raising the debt ceiling, but that doesn’t mean default is certain.

DeMint repeated his charge that Treasury Secretary Geithner has irresponsible for implying that the U.S. would default, because ...

Fiery leader is just the latest role for Gillibrand, who’s preparing for her first campaign for her first full term in the U.S. Senate. No longer the upstate NRA darling who was app...

In his first press conference since March, President Obama was ostensibly focused on his ongoing negotiations with Congressional Republicans about a deal to raise the debt ceiling. The president didn't announce any substantive new policy positions, but he did bring a a new swagger to the positions he's staked out. He tried to paint Washington Republicans as posturing procrastinators, and to polish his own profile in five key messages.

A two-term governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty’s foreign policy experience consists mostly of his trips to Iraq and Afghanistan to visit Minnesota National Guard troops. Up to this point, he's run on his record in Minnesota, where he wielded vetoes to cut the size of government despite a Democratically controlled legislature. And he did it with unflappable niceness.

But in a Republican field without a John McCain (or a Colin Powell or David Petraeus waiting in the wings), Pawlenty sees some unclaimed territory on the party plank. In his first major speech about war and security at the Council on Foreign Relations on Tuesday, Pawlenty articulated a robust, hawkish foreign policy driven by “moral clarity” — and took swings at President Obama and his fellow Republicans in the process.

Barack Obama, as a senator then presidential candidate and now as president, has struggled with his political position when it comes to supporting same-sex marriage. As a candidate for State Senate in Illinois, Obama filled out a questionnaire and wrote, "I favor legalizing same-sex marriages." (White House officials have said he was really referring to civil unions.)

In 2004 when he ran for the U.S. Senate, Obama said he would fight for equality for gay couples, but not for gay marriage. And on the presidential campaign trail in 2008, the candidate told Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren that, "marriage is the union between a man and a woman." Since becoming president, Obama has had a strong track record on supporting LGBT issues and has said that his position on gay marriage is "evolving." Last night in New York City, speaking at the “Gala with the Gay Community,” gay leaders were listening to see if the president would come any closer to endorsing gay marriage. 

President Barack Obama was met with standing ovations and jeers at a Manhattan fundraiser geared toward LGBT supporters. He emphasized his belief in equality for gay couples, but stopped short of endorsing gay marriage.

President Barack Obama is holding a LGBT fundraising gala for gay and supporters in New York City Thursday night at a pivotal moment for the same-sex marriage bill in New York.

President Barack Obama detailed his plans for beginning troop withdrawals from Afghanistan in a White House address Wednesday night. He said this was made possible because of Osama bi...