Politics

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** FILE ** President Obama acknowledges House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, while speaking to reporters in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington on Sunday, Nov. 16, 2012, as he hosts a meeting of the bipartisan, bicameral leadership of Congress to discuss the deficit and the economy. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

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** FILE ** Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa talks to journalists during a joint press conference with Italian Premier Romano Prodi at the Chigi Palace in Rome in 2007. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

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Legislators look over the 2013 Virignia budget as well as related materials as Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell addresses a joint meeting of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance committees at the Capitol Monday, Dec. 17, 2012 in Richmond, Va (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

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Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell acknowledges the applause as he arrives to address a joint meeting of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance committees at the Capitol on Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, in Richmond. Mr. McDonnell delivered his 2013 budget before the committees. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

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Delegate Lacey Putney, the House Appropriations Committee chairman, and Delegate William Howell (right), the House speaker, listen as Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell addresses a joint meeting of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance committees at the Capitol on Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, in Richmond. The governor delivered his 2013 budget proposals to the committees. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

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Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell kisses his wife, Maureen, after he addressed a joint meeting of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance committees at the Capitol on Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, in Richmond. Mr. McDonnell delivered his 2013 budget proposals to the committees. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

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Jarrod McKenna of Perth, Australia, jumps down from a wall after taking a photograph of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012, the same day the Department of the Interior announced it will remove a controversial "drum major" quote on the side of the memorial (pictured center) in Washington. The quote, which paraphrases King's words, was originally marked to be replaced by the full quote. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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Members of the media crowd around a model of the White House as the Joint Task Force-National Capital Region and the D.C. National Guard hold a final Inauguration Day planning symposium using a 40-by 60-foot map of downtown Washington and the National Mall on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012, in Washington. The inaugural events are planned out for months with a number of different military and civilian organizations. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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North Koreans arrive to pay their respects to the late leader Kim Jong-il on Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Monday, Dec. 17, 2012. North Korea marked the first anniversary of the death of the former leader on Monday. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

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Shinzo Abe, leader of the main Japanese opposition Liberal Democratic Party, answers a reporter's question at party headquarters in Tokyo on Sunday night, Dec. 16, 2012. The conservative LDP stormed back into power in parliamentary elections Sunday after three years in opposition, exit polls showed, signaling a rightward shift in the government that could further heighten tensions with rival China. (AP Photo/Junji Kurokawa)

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Afghan security men inspect the scene of a car bomb explosion in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, outside a compound housing a U.S. military contractor. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

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Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John F. Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, has been a trooper on foreign policy for President Obama, flying to Afghanistan and Pakistan many times to discuss diplomatic issues. (Associated Press)