Stephen Dinan
Articles by Stephen Dinan
Arlen Specter, former Pa. senator, dies at 82
Former longtime Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, who as a Republican pushed two conservative justices onto the Supreme Court and then later switched to the Democratic Party and became a deciding vote for the health care law, died Sunday. Published October 14, 2012
Final 2012 federal deficit tops $1 trillion — again
The federal government officially closed out the fiscal year with a $1.089 trillion deficit — the fourth straight trillion-dollar year in the red — according to the Treasury Department's final count, released Friday afternoon. Published October 12, 2012
Romney says Biden ‘doubling down on denial’ on Libya
Mitt Romney said Friday that Vice President Joseph R. Biden raised more questions than he answered in this week's debate when he denied he had been told about security warnings in Libya ahead of the terrorist assault that killed four Americans, including the ambassador. Published October 12, 2012
Biden muffs Obama’s tax plans during debate
Vice President Joseph R. Biden on Thursday seemed to open the door to adjusting President Obama's tax increases to only apply to those making $1 million or more a year — a much higher threshold than the $250,000 level they had pushed previously. Published October 12, 2012
Romney dogs Obama with response to Libya attack
Mitt Romney on Thursday elevated the Benghazi terrorist attack to the forefront of the presidential campaign, saying President Obama and his campaign are politicizing the issue rather than explaining why the administration botched the initial response. Published October 11, 2012
Democrats claim lead in battleground voter registration
Led by a surge in Hispanic voters, President Obama's campaign said Thursday that Democrats are leading the party registration fight in nearly every battleground state this fall as campaign officials try to combat disillusionment among Democrats after last week's presidential debate. Published October 11, 2012
Miss. governor joins suit on deportations, says Obama’s policy costs his state millions
Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant wants a judge to halt President Obama’s new nondeportation policy, arguing that failing to send illegal immigrants back home is costing his state tens of millions of dollars a year. Published October 10, 2012
GOP governors ace fiscal exam; report praises executives elected in tea party wave
Republican governors elected in 2010's tea party wave have generally made good on pledges to cut taxes and limit spending, according to the latest fiscal report card released Tuesday by the Cato Institute think tank, which graded the states' executives on their boldness is reining in government expansion. Published October 9, 2012
Obama loses lead on key voter issues: Economy, national security
Voters now give Mitt Romney the nod when it comes to handling national security, and he has recaptured a lead over President Obama when voters are asked who will do a better job on the economy — findings that spell bad news for the incumbent. Published October 8, 2012
Round of polls shows tight race after Obama-Romney debate
Powered by his widely-acclaimed debate performance last week, Mitt Romney has closed a 9 percentage-point gap and is once again tied with President Obama in the latest The Washington Times/Zogby Poll conducted by Zogby Analytics, released Monday. Published October 8, 2012
Romney to slam Obama on warfare
Mitt Romney on Monday will accuse the Obama administration of fundamentally misunderstanding the threat of radical Islam, using a major foreign-policy speech at the Virginia Military Institute to say President Obama is rejecting six decades of bipartisan consensus by not flexing more U.S. muscle on the world stage. Published October 8, 2012
Romney tries personal touch on campaign stump
Fresh off a debate performance he spent highlighting American stories, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Friday peppered his campaign stump speech with those same kinds of personal anecdotes. Published October 5, 2012
Feds end 2012 with $1.1 trillion deficit
The federal government notched a $1.1 trillion deficit in fiscal year 2012 — the fourth straight year over $1 trillion — according to a preliminary estimate that the Congressional Budget Office released Friday. Published October 5, 2012
Obama hails job picture; Romney says improvement too slow
President Obama hailed a modest improvement in job growth last month as evidence his policies are working and pleaded with voters not to risk handing control of the country to GOP rival Mitt Romney, whose supply-side economics he said are the same policies that caused the financial crisis. Published October 5, 2012
Romney: Jobs growth not enough to re-elect Obama
The jobs picture improved in September, but Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said the fall in the nation's jobless rate still is not enough to justify giving President Obama another term in office. Published October 5, 2012
Romney energizes GOP base with debate showdown
Far from running to the political middle, Republican nominee Mitt Romney used this week's first presidential debate to embrace exactly the same kinds of spending cuts he talked about throughout the GOP primary, including backing trims that House Republicans tried to push through Congress last year. Published October 4, 2012
Romney energizes GOP base with debate showdown
Far from running to the political middle, Republican nominee Mitt Romney used this week's first presidential debate to embrace exactly the same kinds of spending cuts he talked about throughout the GOP primary, including backing trims that House Republicans tried to push through Congress last year. Published October 4, 2012
Romney attacks Obama’s ‘trickle down government’ in first debate
Claiming he's the true champion of a middle class that's being "crushed" under President Obama, Mitt Romney went straight at the president Wednesday in the first debate of the campaign, saying his four years in office have doubled the deficit and left the economy gasping. Published October 3, 2012
Debates not last word on presidential race
The presidential debates may be the biggest news events between now and Election Day, but with two monthly jobs reports, the final deficit tally and several other end-of-the-fiscal-year numbers due, the calendar is littered with other potential political land mines. Published October 3, 2012
Third parties work for their candidates’ inclusion in 2016 debates
Third-party presidential candidates always have tried to crash presidential debates, but now there's a bigger movement trying to break the two main political parties' monopoly on the debates themselves. Published October 2, 2012
