Stephen Dinan
Articles by Stephen Dinan
‘Fiscal cliff’ nudges deal-making talk
House Speaker John A. Boehner offered the first olive branch Wednesday in what is expected to be a frenetic spate of postelection deal-making to avert the looming "fiscal cliff," saying the GOP will let the government collect more tax revenue if President Obama will drop his plan to raise tax rates on the wealthy. Published November 7, 2012
Boehner: GOP willing to accept new tax revenue
House Speaker John A. Boehner said Wednesday that Republicans are "willing to accept new revenue" coming to the federal government as part of a new debt deal, offering an early olive branch in the aftermath of Tuesday's election. Published November 7, 2012
Reid moves to limit GOP filibusters
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday that he will try to push through a change to Senate rules that would limit the GOP's ability to filibuster bills. Published November 7, 2012
ELECTION 2012: Morning-after reality: No easy answers to gridlock
From illegal immigrants to defense contractors and millionaires to Medicaid patients, Americans had plenty riding on Tuesday's outcome — but few were expecting the election to provide answers to the gridlock that has prevented Washington from tackling the big issues. Published November 6, 2012
ELECTION 2012: Obama wins second term
President Obama won re-election to the White House on Tuesday night, holding together enough of his hope-and-change coalition to repeat his historic 2008 election and surviving a sluggish economy and a fractured electorate that desired a change but failed to find Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney a credible alternative. Published November 6, 2012
ELECTION 2012: Romney beats Obama in Indiana, N. Carolina
Republicans on Tuesday recaptured some of the Electoral College battlegrounds they had ceded to President Obama in 2008, narrowing the playing field between the two parties once again. Published November 6, 2012
ELECTION 2012: Long haul to election reaches a messy end
The 2012 presidential campaign has been one defined by candidates bumping against ceilings — and, in the final week, by a storm that appears to have helped President Obama regain his footing. Published November 5, 2012
Leaning left or right, red or blue? Answer may be in your genes
That vote you're about to cast may have been set in motion long ago — going all the way back to your birth and early years, when your genes and your developing brain helped determine whether you leaned conservative or liberal and how strongly you tilted that way. Published November 5, 2012
Democrats’ odds of holding Senate improving
Far from losing control of the Senate, the latest polling suggests Democrats could actually expand their majority on Tuesday — a stunning turnaround for a party that entered this cycle playing defense across the board. Published November 4, 2012
Poll: Enthusiasm and economy favor Romney; Obama leads on immigration, foreign affairs
President Obama and Mitt Romney are deadlocked with each holding 49 percent support nationally as they head into Tuesday's election, though Mr. Romney holds a lead on enthusiasm, according to this week's The Washington Times/Zogby Poll of likely voters, released Thursday night. Published November 1, 2012
Two-thirds of jobs go to immigrants during Obama’s four years
Two-thirds of those who have found employment under President Obama are immigrants, both legal and illegal, according to an analysis that suggests immigration has soaked up a large portion of what little job growth there has been over the past three years. Published October 31, 2012
GOP makes push in Pennsylvania
Both presidential campaigns and their super PAC allies are now running television ads in Pennsylvania, with Republicans making a late push to try to swing the state their way, and Democrats moving to block them. Published October 30, 2012
Hurricane Sandy hits the campaign trail
Hurricane Sandy is already changing plans for both presidential campaigns, who canceled events across the eastern seaboard ahead of the massive storm's landfall this weekend. Published October 26, 2012
Audit: Green jobs stimulus program wastes cash
President Obama's green jobs training program, which was part of his stimulus, has failed on most key jobs measures, according to a new internal audit that found it was training workers who already had jobs that didn't need green energy skills, and was failing to place new enrollees in jobs once they finished the training. Published October 26, 2012
Panetta: Benghazi intelligence too sketchy to send troops
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said Thursday that a U.S. commando team was mobilizing as the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya was unfolding last month, but the lethal assault was over by the time the team arrived. Published October 25, 2012
Boehner demands that Obama disclose more details on attack in Libya
House Speaker John A. Boehner on Thursday demanded that President Obama explain why his administration has struggled to handle the terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in a move that could raise the political peril to the White House. Published October 25, 2012
Ryan: Government rules crippling social safety net
Seeking to lay groundwork for a rewrite of the social safety net, Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan said Wednesday the federal government must stop measuring its programs by dollars spent and instead grade them by how many people are lifted out of poverty. Published October 24, 2012
Romney says Obama campaign ‘taking on water’
Mitt Romney said Tuesday the debates have "supercharged" his supporters and left President Obama's campaign "taking on water" as he traveled out west, seeking to shore up his support in several states before returning to the eastern battlegrounds. Published October 23, 2012
Debates boost Romney favorables
Mitt Romney crossed a major threshold this week, moving above 50 percent in his favorability rating, according to the Real Clear Politics average of polls — and for the first time in the campaign he leads President Obama on that measure. Published October 23, 2012
Obama, Romney tangle on al Qaeda, foreign policy in final presidential debate
Mitt Romney accused President Obama of failing to protect the military from budget cuts and squandering U.S. leadership in the Middle East, leaving America standing by as al Qaeda has surged to become active in a dozen countries, as the two men faced off Monday night in their final debate. Published October 22, 2012