BARACK OBAMA

Ron Paul's 2012 campaign is beginning to gather some serious steam. He has polled first in some Iowa polls and third in national polls.

President Barack Obama tried to budge a Congress currently deadlocked over how to bridge a divide between Senate and House plans for extending the payroll tax cut, with both sides seemingly stubborn in ceding middle ground.

Bank of Nova Scotia has applied to re-establish a presence in Cuba and a report says rival Royal Bank of Canada is considering a similar move in the wake of Cuban reforms and a thawing of the country's icy relationship with the United States.

Investigation had revealed that Countrywide had charged higher fees and rates for more than 200,0000 minority borrowers from 2004-2008, in the midst of the housing boom. Some 10,000 borrowers were also pushed in to sub-prime mortgages when others with similar qualifications got standard mortgages.

Barack Obama won an upset victory in Virginia in 2008, and many people believe he has no chance to win it again in 2012 with his approval ratings so low. But a new Quinnipiac University poll shows that Obama's position is stronger than one might think.

Several of the states that are applying for relief from provisions of the No Child Left Behind education law have submitted proposals that lack detail and evidence that they will produce substantive reform, according to a new report.port.

The unemployment extension for 2012 has not passed yet. Some politicians in Washington still call for lawmakers to work out a solution before Jan. 1, 2012. Many critics and unemployment benefits recipients, however, fear no deal will be made by then.

A near-record high rate of Americans is concerned about the threat of big government, according to a recent Gallup Poll, trumping worries over big business and big labor. While not a specific political barometer, the results offer a good temperature reading of the nation's mood -- and it could spell trouble for Democrats in 2012.

The International Business Times has compiled comprehensive profiles of the top seven Republican presidential candidates, with complete rundowns of their political positions, from Rick Santorum on abortion to Newt Gingrich on taxes. These profiles will be updated as the primary campaign continues.

Europe's highest court will on Wednesday deliver a final ruling in a case over airline emissions that has triggered tit-for-tat legislation in the U.S. Congress and drawn a threat from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

President Barack Obama demanded Tuesday that House Republicans pass a short-term extension of a payroll tax cut, showing an unwillingness to back down in a fight that could result in higher taxes for 160 million Americans.

Last week, it seemed Washington would pass an unemployment extension for 2012 that would last two months (January and February 2012) until Congress can strike a longer-term deal next year.

The House of Representatives on Tuesday rejected a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut passed by the Senate on Saturday, calling for a conference committee to find a middle ground between the two houses of Congress.

What will it take to get the U.S. economy growing at a faster rate and to stabilize Europe's economy? Courage. The courage to deploy more fiscal stimulus and stabilization funds.

The U.S. Cabinet comprises the Vice President and the head of fifteen executive departments, the most prominent of which is probably the Secretary of State.

The Family Leader, an influential Christian conservative group in Iowa, will remain neutral in the Republican primaries, but President Bob Vander Plaats and board member Chuck Hurley personally endorsed Rick Santorum.

Steven Rattner, the former head of the United States auto task force, attempted to clarify remarks about the salary of United Auto Workers members that he made last Thursday in speaking before the Detroit Economic Club.

U.S. District Court Judge Edward Korman ruled the Center for Reproductive Rights can reopen a lawsuit against the FDA that alleges the agency's decision to deny over-the-counter access to Plan B for all women is not supported by medical or scientific evidence.

The U.S. Supreme Court Monday set the schedule for health care reform law arguments: March 26-28, 2012.

A high school student confronted Rick Perry at a campaign stop in Decorah, Iowa, about his support for the military's former don't ask, don't tell policy, making Perry the latest Republican candidate to be challenged by a child on a gay-rights issue.

In a transcript of the interview posted on the 60 Minutes web site Obama said his accomplishments measure against those of former U.S. presidents including Lyndon B. Johnson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.