RON FOURNIER

Associated Press Writer
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Analysis: Obama the 'outsider' from inside DC

The throw-the-bums-out mentality is so strong in American politics that even the ultimate insider — the president of the United States — is running against Washington.

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Analysis: Politics and posing trump health policy

What happens when you throw 38 lawmakers, four television cameras and the president of the United States together and tell them to fix health care? Sniping. Posing. Serious election-year politics. And little hope of bridging the gap between Barack Obama and Republicans.

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Analysis: Disparate cultures on display on Hill

Corporate leaders in Japan are affable cheerleaders who solicit everyone's views and avoid confrontation at almost any cost. It's called "nemawashi." U.S. lawmakers are cutthroat partisans who clamor for the spotlight, especially in an election year. It's called politics.

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Analysis: Untruths have consequences in politics

Conservatives leapt to their feet when Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney declared Democrats the party of "No!" — no to balanced budgets, limits on lawsuits, tax cuts and tough interrogations of terror suspects.

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Mississippi governor discusses potential 2012 bid

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a former lobbyist and Republican Party chairman, says he has not ruled out a presidential race in 2012.

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Source: Indiana's Evan Bayh to retire from Senate

Sen. Evan Bayh, a centrist Democrat from Indiana, is ready to announce he won't seek a third term in Congress, giving Republicans a chance to pick up a Senate seat.

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Analysis: Obama gambles on making nice, no vetoes

Barack Obama faces the same obstacles that plagued former President Bill Clinton during a health care standoff 15 years ago. But Obama took a strikingly different path around them Wednesday night, choosing the promise of compromise over Clinton's sharp-edged veto pen.

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Analysis: Translating the Sotomayor hearing code

In the polite yet white-hot world of confirmation hearings, senators and witnesses can't always say what they want to say. So they speak in code.

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Analysis: Fine line for Obama on Iran

So much for studied neutrality. Even as he said he wasn't doing it, President Barack Obama threw his rhetorical might behind the protesters in Iran, a risky move he hopes will force the hardline regime to deal peacefully with its postelection tumult.

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Analysis: Obama channels FDR amid crises

Banks failing and the economy in shambles, the new U.S. president reassured a nationwide audience that his administration was putting America back on the right track.

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AP Poll: After Obama's 100 days, US on right track

Millions of people jobless. Billions of dollars in bailouts. Trillions of dollars in U.S. debt. And yet, for the first time in years, more Americans than not say the country is on the right track.

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AP Poll: Americans high on Obama, direction of US

For the first time in years, more Americans than not say the country is headed in the right direction, a sign that Barack Obama has used the first 100 days of his presidency to lift the public's mood and inspire hopes for a brighter future.

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Analysis: Teleprompter telegraphs Obama caution

What kind of politician brings a teleprompter to a news conference?

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Analysis: Obama address renews audacity to hope

President Barack Obama gave America the audacity to hope again.

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Analysis: Obama says GOP can't criticize stimulus

President Barack Obama looked comfortable enough at his first White House news conference, but he sounded like a man fed up with one thing: Republicans lecturing him about his $820 billion economic stimulus plan.

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Obama's view an ode to America's promise

When Barack Obama mounts the podium to take the oath and deliver his inaugural address, when he looks out upon the National Mall and hundreds of thousands of bright and hopeful faces, he will see so much more: the symbols of a nation forever struggling to live up to its promise.

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Essay: Obama's transcendence is beyond race

The elevation of Barack Obama to the White House is a transcendent moment, for what this election says about a nation where blacks were once considered property.

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AP Poll: Obama leads or tied in 8 crucial states

Barack Obama leads in four states won by President Bush in 2004 and is essentially tied in two other Republican states, according to new AP-GfK battleground polling that suggests most roads to victory are closed to John McCain. Obama could win big.

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AP Poll: Obama leads or tied in 8 crucial states

Barack Obama leads in four states won by President Bush in 2004 and is essentially tied with John McCain in two other Republican states, according to new AP-GfK battleground polling.

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AP Poll: Obama leads or tied in 8 crucial states

Barack Obama leads in four states won by President Bush in 2004 and is essentially tied with John McCain in two other Republican states, according to new AP-GfK battleground polling.

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Blacks, whites show prejudices along racial divide

The Classic Creations barber shop sits empty, surrounded by drunks and shuttered storefronts just two blocks from the manicured lawns of Grosse Pointe Park. The contrast isn't lost on LaVar Anthony, a young barber who speaks in riddles of race, class and politics.

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Poll: Racial misgivings of Dems an Obama issue

Deep-seated racial misgivings could cost Barack Obama the White House if the election is close, according to an AP-Yahoo News poll that found one-third of white Democrats harbor negative views toward blacks — many calling them "lazy," "violent" or responsible for their own troubles.

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