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Washington Post Political News

If U.S. economy strengthens, Mitt Romney’s pitch could be undercut

SPARKS, Nev. — With Friday’s jobs report punctuating the nation’s steadily improving conditions, Mitt Romney and his advisers are confronting an unexpected economic turnaround that threatens to undercut the central rationale for his candidacy.

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Many House GOP freshmen still undecided about a presidential nominee

A year after storming the Capitol in the vanguard of the tea party revolution, the House Republican freshman class has fallen largely silent on the most pressing issue facing their party at the moment: Who should be the GOP presidential nominee?

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Defiant Gingrich campaigns in Nevada against long odds

LAS VEGAS — Stoney’s Rockin’ Country dance hall is a place that celebrates defiance of long odds: Every night, inebriated non-cowboys climb up on a mechanical bull under the mistaken impression that they can hang on. On Thursday nights, they do it in bikinis.

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OMB personnel changes are on the way

Changes are coming to the top ranks of the Office of Management and Budget just as the agency prepares to release President Obama’s proposed fiscal 2013 federal budget on Feb. 13.

With OMB Director Jacob J. Lew moving across the street to serve as White House chief of staff and Jeffrey D. Zients sliding into the acting director role, other staffers will be asked to pick up elements of Zients’s previously broad portfolio as deputy director for management.

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Mitt Romney’s Mormon advantage

Mitt Romney’s opponents really never had much of a chance in Nevada.

And it’s largely because of Romney’s Mormon religion.

While Romney’s faith has rightly been described as a liability in previous states — most notably Iowa and South Carolina, where evangelical Christians have balked at supporting Romney — it’s hard to call it anything but a trump card in Nevada (so to speak).

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President Obama’s claim that some wanted to let the auto industry die

“It’s good to remember that the fact that there were some folks who were willing to let this industry die. Because of folks coming together, we are now back in a place where we can compete with any car company in the world.”

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Gifts and pocket fillers on the campaign trail

LAS VEGAS — A pair of hand-knit slippers, adorned with a Mormon symbol. Rosary beads. A tiny stack of yard signs. An autographed Ron Paul placard.

Nevada had its strange moment in the political spotlight this week, as stage-managed campaigns roared through with rallies and TV ads. This was faux intimacy, done in a city where faux is a fact of life: The casinos are named after Paris and New York, and the dust-dry streets around them are named, aspirationally, for trees and oceans.

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Gingrich suggests Romney ‘clearly against the American ideal’

Newt Gingrich goes on the attack, Romney was once a Democrat, Santorum didn’t qualify for the ballot in Indiana and Florida Democrats seem ready to go to court.

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Nevada caucus: The Fix prediction contest!

Do you want an offiical Fix t-shirt? Of course you do! And it’s easy.

All you have to do is guess the finish order and vote share of all four GOP presidential candidates in Nevada’s Saturday caucuses. (Okay, maybe not that easy. Those shirts are highly coveted; we can’t just give them away.)

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The best Nevada music: A Fix playlist

The Nevada caucuses are tomorrow, and that means we need music to listen to while we wait for the results.

Here’s how you can help. Tell us your favorite songs from or about the Silver State with the hashtag #fixplaylist, and we’ll add them to our primary day playlist. Deal?

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