Politics Audio/Video - NPR

Jeffrey Birnbaum, a managing editor at The Washington Times talks about how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac got to this point.

Analyst Juan Williams assesses the state of the presidential campaign two months ahead of election day. From the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, he tells us what he took away from each convention.

A day in the life of lobbying at the Republican National Convention: a party hosted by lobbyists, a congressman's dinner to "discuss business interests," and the reasons why all of this is legal — and creatively effective.

Florida Representative Adam Putnam was the youngest member of Congress when he arrived in Washington in 2000. He was 26 years old. Putnam is chairman of the Republican conference in the House, and he's worried about the party's chances in statewide elections. Putnam says even in the South, Republicans could be in trouble.

These days, party nominating conventions are events for the media as much as for the delegates. The McCain campaign took its turn carefully crafting its image visually and rhetorically before a captive media crowd this week. Did the GOP accomplish what it set out to achieve in St. Paul?

John McCain accepted the GOP's presidential nomination in a nearly hour-long speech Thursday night at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. McCain complimented rival Barack Obama for winning the Democratic nomination, but offered a long list of criticisms of the Illinois senator.

Robert Gibbs, senior strategist for Barack Obama's campaign, talks with Steve Inskeep about the GOP convention and the strategy for taking on the John McCain-Sarah Palin ticket in the final months of the presidential race.

Determined not to let the Republicans get the entire spotlight, Barack Obama has been campaigning hard in swing states. On Thursday, he was in Pennsylvania, which Democrats have won in the past two presidential elections.

When a politician takes the convention stage, he or she is speaking to two very different audiences: the undecided viewers at home and the delegates in the arena. Thursday night, John McCain officially accepted the GOP's presidential nomination. On the convention floor, his acceptance speech was well received.

In her speech Thursday evening, Cindy McCain said the world is facing perilous times and Americans need to help each other. She calls her husband a "source of inspiration" who has "shown the value of self-sacrifice." And she describes her upbringing, her role as a mother and her world charity work.

Former lobbyist Jack Abramoff is sentenced to four years in prison for conspiracy in connection with a highly publicized public corruption case. The scandal involved a number of members of Congress, many of them Republicans, and contributed to several key election defeats in 2006.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin addressed the Republican National Convention Wednesday and leveled a series of withering attacks at Barack Obama. The Democratic presidential nominee has responded during a pair of battleground campaign stops in Pennsylvania.

Sarah Palin's speech didn't really prove whether the 44-year-old former small-town mayor deserved the job of vice president after just 21 months as Alaska governor. But John McCain's running mate did show she knew how to take a punch, and how to deliver one, with a sly grin.

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama continued his swing through battleground states with a stop in Ohio. The Democrats and Republicans are in a fierce battle for the votes of women. At one stop Wednesday, a 24-year-old single mother working for minimum wage introduced Obama in a college courtyard.

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's speech at the GOP convention Wednesday was the occasion for parties in her hometown of Wasilla, Alaska. Residents there are proud of her, but they also are beginning to push back a little under all the national scrutiny.

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain spent years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. You might think people there would be less supportive of McCain because he is a conservative who backs the war in Iraq and was in the U.S. military during the Vietnam war. But McCain has a lot of supporters in Hanoi.

Delegates to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., say Sarah Palin left them feeling energized and made her case for the vice presidency.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin begins her vice presidential campaign as a self-proclaimed reformer. But as a mayor and as governor, she defended the pork brought home by Alaska's congressional delegation, and even hired a lobbyist to get more.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin electrified the crowd Wednesday night at the Republican National Convention. The vice presidential nominee attacked Barack Obama, praised John McCain and pushed back against criticism that she is too inexperienced to be on the ticket.

Balancing the number of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan is difficult militarily and politically. The question is how many troops are needed to fight each war. Do defense officials have an answer to that question?

Vice President Dick Cheney is visiting Georgia one day after the White House announced a $1 billion economic aid package for the country. The visit is the highest-ranking by a U.S. official since Russia invaded its smaller neighbor last month. The aid will help Georgia rebuild but at the same time sends a message to Moscow.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin came out swinging Wednesday night, saying she was honored to serve as running mate to John McCain, "a man who knows how tough fights are won." In the face of criticisms of her credentials to serve as VP, she attacked Democrat Barack Obama's experience.

John McCain, promising "change is coming" to Washington, accepted the Republican presidential nomination Thursday night, kicking off a fall campaign between two candidates who both pledge to upend the status quo in what may well remain a closely divided race until Election Day.

As the media storm rages around the selection of Sarah Palin to fill out the Republican presidential ticket, it's time to demystify some conventional (no pun intended) wisdom. For example, never underestimate the voters' dislike of the press.

In his Wednesday speech, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani tells Americans they are deciding on two candidates for "an important job that involves the safety and security of your family." He adds that Democrats are "in a state of denial about the threat that faces us now and in the future."

Day 2 of the Republican National Convention was about extolling John McCain as the man ready to lead America. Sen. Joe Lieberman, the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee, aimed his comments at disaffected Democrats and independents. President Bush and Fred Thompson also addressed the convention.

McCain's vice-presidential choice is unknown to most Americans. What she chooses to emphasize in her speech at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday, and the issues she decides to sidestep, will reveal a lot about her.

In One Party Country, journalists Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten explain what they call "The Republican plan for dominance in the 21st century." The Republicans, they argue, are "firmly in the lead when it comes to the science and strategy of attaining power — and keeping it."

John McCain announced last week that he had picked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate. Since then, Palin has been dogged by her involvement in an ethics investigation and by her 17-year-old daughter's pregnancy. Female voters in New Hampshire, where McCain won the GOP primary, question his choice of running mate.

Evangelical voters who make up a substantial part of the GOP's conservative base rejoiced when John McCain selected Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. Then it was revealed that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant. Many evangelical groups said they weren't fazed by the news, but fissures have appeared in that facade.

The selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is thought to have bolstered John McCain's conservative credibility, particularly among women. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and a group of his state's female delegates at the Republican National Convention say McCain's running mate will help the party.

The selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate electrified the social conservative base of the Republican Party. On Wednesday, Palin addresses delegates at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. Palin's gender, family and politics have people debating her place on the ticket.

John McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, addresses delegates at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday in St. Paul, Minnesota. Some Republicans question how thoroughly the McCain campaign examined Palin's background, while others are excited about the ticket.

President Bush Tuesday night hailed Sen. John McCain as "the man we need." Former Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Lieberman told delegates at the GOP convention that he was backing McCain "because country matters more than party."

The media continue to dig into Gov. Sarah Palin's past — from her foreign policy experience to her husband's affiliation with the Alaskan Independence Party. Cable news has 24 hours to fill. The McCain camp gave the media a gift with the Palin nomination.

A bill in the works by Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-MA) would hold FBI agents criminally liable if they fail to share with state and local authorities when one of their informants commits a crime. Some agents fear that if the bill becomes law, it will lead to the demise of the agency's informant program.

In these prepared remarks, Sen. Joseph Lieberman says he supports McCain because "country matters more than party" and McCain is the person to break through Washington's partisan divide.

As Sen. John McCain prepares to accept the Republican nomination, his challenge is to distance himself from President Bush's failures while holding onto the party's conservative core that still believes in the president.

Eight years ago, John McCain and George Bush faced off in a bitter battle for the Republican slot on the 2000 presidential ballot. Now, the two former rivals cross paths again, this time sharing what journalist Peter Baker describes as an unlikely and uneasy "mutual dependence."