Much has been written about the effect of abortion on the 2012 presidential race and the apparent sudden shift in polls from the pro-life plurality (or majority, which we have seen in recent years) to a plurality or bare majority self identifying as pro-choice.

What has not been reported is that 1) of those who voted on the basis of abortion, the pro-life vote for pro-life candidates essentially equaled the pro-abortion vote for pro-abortion candidates; and 2) basic attitudes on abortion itself have not changed. A plurality, or even majority, of the public continues to oppose the vast majority of abortions that are actually performed.

While much has also been written about the “women’s vote,” race and ethnicity was a much greater determinant of how people voted than gender.

The CNN exit poll found that Mitt Romney won 59% of the white vote while Obama won 93% of the black vote and 73% of the Hispanic vote.

Republicans are turning the tables on the Obama campaign, launching an aggressive effort to cast the president as the "outsourcer in chief" in response to Democrats labeling Mitt Romney an "outsourcing pioneer."

The belated counter-attack comes weeks after President Obama's campaign seized on a Washington Post story examining how Romney's former company Bain Capital invested in firms that provided outsourcing services like call centers.

As it happens, the Republican National Committee on Tuesday pointed to a new Post story -- this one examining Obama's "outsourcing" record -- as the GOP unveiled a website that outlines in fine detail how federal dollars under the Obama administration funded foreign projects.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, who traveled to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Tuesday for a press conference shortly before Obama arrived to speak at a community college, told Fox News that Republicans are "getting aggressive" with this message...

President Obama's comment Friday that the private sector is "doing fine" and the GOP Congress is slowing down the economy was immediately pounced on by Mitt Romney and other Republican leaders, resulting in the president backpedaling by the afternoon.

Obama said late Friday it is "absolutely clear" that the U.S. economy is "not doing fine." He also said there has been some "good momentum" in the private sector, but Congress needs to act to help boost jobs in the public sector.

“The private sector is doing fine,” the president said during a morning White House press conference. “Where we're seeing weaknesses in our economy have to do with state and local government. … If Republicans want to be helpful, if they really want to move forward and put people back to work, what they should be thinking about is how do we help state and local governments”...

Republican presidential candidates are spending their final hours before Tuesday evening's vote pressing the flesh and making one last appeal to Iowa's caucus-goers, who they are counting on to upend the pundits and polling data and offer big surprises on election night.

For Rick Santorum, whose late surge is the timeliest in the twisting and turning race, perseverance is paying off after nearly a year of glad-handing.

"I don't know what the result is going to be, but it's going to be a surprise and a pleasant one for us," Santorum told Fox News on Tuesday, counting on his supporters to go into the 1,700 caucus sites to make a case that he is a viable candidate to go head-to-head with President Obama.

Santorum said he has the essential ingredients headed into the evening's endeavor.

"Caucuses are about enthusiasm and momentum, and we certainly have enthusiasm and momentum," he said.

But Michele Bachmann, an Iowa native and the candidate casting herself as the only real c

House Democrats tried Wednesday to force a vote on the Senate’s two-month extension of the payroll-tax cut, but Republicans gaveled the House closed to prevent them from having a chance, as top GOP leaders huddled down the hall to try to figure a way out of the mess.

The House was set to hold a pro forma session, but two top Democrats, Reps. Steny H. Hoyer and Chris Van Hollen, demanded to be recognized to try to force a vote on the two-month extension. House Republicans have blocked that deal, which is strongly backed by President Obama, and are holding out for an extension that covers all of 2012.

Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican who was serving as the presiding officer, banged his gavel to close the session Wednesday morning even as the two Democrats were demanding to be recognized.

“You’re walking out, you’re walking away, just as so many Republicans have walked away from middle-class taxpayers,,” Mr. Hoyer shouted after Mr.

The White House said Tuesday it will veto a payroll tax cut extension being prepared by House Republicans, with President Obama insisting the bill also must raise taxes on the wealthy rather than cut government spending.

In a statement of policy, the White House said the bill, which the House will vote on later Tuesday, is a Republican effort at politics rather than a compromise deal.

"This debate should not be about scoring political points. This debate should be about cutting taxes for the middle class," the statement said...

Republicans claimed enough support to push legislation through the House on Tuesday that would continue a payroll tax cut for 160 million workers, a vote that would shift the battleground to a staunchly opposed Senate.

House GOP lawmakers emerged from a closed-door meeting Tuesday morning expressing confidence and daring President Barack Obama and the Democratic-led Senate to oppose them at a time when the economy remains on its knees. The roughly $180 billion bill would also extend unemployment benefits and prevent deep cuts in Medicare payments to doctors.

"You can't be for the middle class" and oppose the tax cuts and job creation the bill contains, said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va.

"Mr. President, we can't wait," Cantor said.

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- New Hampshire takes center stage for GOP 2012 rivals Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney campaign Monday as they battle it out to win the crucial state's vote that is just weeks away.

Romney, who is a former governor in neighboring Massachusetts, had been holding a commanding lead in the state, but Gingrich is edging in on him.

New Hampshire's key newspaper, The Union Leader, endorsed Gingrich over Romney a few weeks ago, which was a blow to the former governor, who was passed over for John McCain by the paper in 2008.

Monday morning Manchester's mayor Ted Gatsas will endorse Romney.

Sunday Gatsas said, "[Romney] has the skills and the executive experience that the next president will need to turn around our struggling economy" and that he's "impressed with the time and effort that [Gov.

The word from the companies that evaluate sovereign debt is that the U.S. government has used up its last time-out on its massive indebtedness.

There will be no downgrades as a result of the supercommittee’s long-expected failure and likely none for the next year as a fickle American electorate decides whether it is going back into the arms of the Obama Democrats or will stay on the run with the GOP.

The message from Fitch Ratings on Monday: Have your election, make up your mind and then do something quick. This reinforces the fact that however the election goes – revenge of the left, affirmation of the right or some muddle – there will be very little time in which to make some dramatic moves to curb the exploding debt. Like maybe five weeks.

The 2012 election looks mostly to be about how America should deal with this debt.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich threw down the gauntlet to conservative Republicans at Tuesday night's presidential debate, challenging his rivals to upend his argument against mass deportations of illegal immigrants while also taking a huge risk with the law-and-order GOP base.

The Republican presidential hopeful, who has sprung to the top of the polling charts in the past two weeks, warned against a policy that proposes deporting illegals who have been in the country for 25 years.