W hat in the world is the matter with the Republican Party? This is an election year when pretty much everything should be going the GOP’s way. A Democratic president is facing the worst reelection environment in a generation. The conservative base is fired up to defeat him and should be riding high after securing the largest GOP House majority since the 1940s. Looser campaign finance restrictions have unleashed the ability of the party’s wealthiest donors to spend unlimited amounts. Read full article > >

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Election 2012: Republicans united on goal — beat Obama — divided on how to get there

In the opening weeks of the Republican presidential race, Rick Santorum came across as a prickly, exasperated figure on the fringe of the debate stage, spending much of his airtime complaining about the lack of attention from the moderators. Read full article > >

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Rick Santorum has honed his image along the GOP campaign trail

All elected officials, and those who help finance elections in the expectation that certain promises will be kept — and everyone who cares about the rule of law — should hope the Supreme Court agrees to hear Don Siegelman’s appeal of his conviction. Until the court clarifies what constitutes quid pro quo political corruption, Americans engage in politics at their peril because prosecutors have dangerous discretion to criminalize politics. Read full article > >

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Is it bribery or just politics?

Republicans are expressing fresh concerns that Mitt Romney is limping toward the presidential nomination, suffering new blows at the very moment he needs to grow stronger if he is to take on President Obama in November. Read full article > >

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Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign stuck in lukewarm

So, the inevitable has occurred: After the withdrawal of U.S. troops, the American diplomatic presence in Baghdad may be cut drastically, making the new $750 million embassy compound a monstrous white elephant. Read full article > >

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Baghdad embassy for sale: An In the Loop contest

Listen close after a Mitt Romney rally, and you’ll hear a soundtrack with a very un-Romney-like tone. Romney’s main theme song for this campaign is a bland, upbeat anthem: “Born Free,” by Kid Rock. But, after his speeches, Romney plays music with an angrier edge. Read full article > >

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Mitt Romney’s campaign songs, from sunny to angry

Listen close after a Mitt Romney rally, and you’ll hear a soundtrack with a very un-Romney-like tone. Romney’s main theme song for this campaign is a bland, upbeat anthem: “Born Free,” by Kid Rock. But, after his speeches, Romney plays music with an angrier edge. Read full article > >

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Mitt Romney’s campaign songs, from sunny to angry

Twenty years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, one thing is increasingly clear: Boy, do the Republicans miss communism. For Republicans, being anti-communist didn’t merely mean opposition to the Soviets and their ideology. That kind of anti-communism was all but universal in the United States, from the Republican right to the small, democratic socialist left (and encompassing European socialists as well). For the 45 years after World War II, however, anti-communism was also the Republicans’ ultimate wedge issue in U.S. politics. Read full article > >

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The GOP scrambles for a bogeyman

The Post has just released some new polling that demonstrates very strong support for Obama’s counterterrorism policies, including 83 percent of Americans approving of his use of drone strikes against terror suspects overseas. Read full article > >

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Greg Sargent: Liberals, Dems approve of drone strikes on American citizens abroad

Whatever your perspective on how likely Mitt Romney was to lose the Republican nomination race prior to Tuesday evening, it should be acknowledged that he had about the worst results conceivable.

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FiveThirtyEight: G.O.P. Race Has Hallmarks of Prolonged Battle

Fearing a tide of spending by outside conservative groups, President Obama is giving his blessing to a pro-Democratic Party “super PAC” that will work to help his reelection, his campaign said late Monday. Read full article > >

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Obama gives blessing to a super PAC

RICHMOND — Virginia will likely become the second state in the nation — after North Dakota — to allow private adoption agencies to turn away parents based on sexual orientation or religious and moral beliefs. Read full article > >

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Virginia adding ‘conscience clause’ to adoption laws

LOS ANGELES — The entire staff at a Los Angeles elementary school is being removed while authorities investigate horrific allegations of sexual abuse by two of the school’s teachers, one of whom is accused of blindfolding children, taping their mouths and photographing them in a classroom. Read full article > >

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Staff removed at LA school during abuse probe

President Obama will use the backdrop of a White House science fair Tuesday to highlight a nationwide shortage of math and science teachers and unveil a plan to invest $100 million to help train 100,000 new educators over the next decade. Read full article > >

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Obama to announce $100 million plan to train new educators

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Mitt Romney returned to the campaign trail here Monday and trained his focus on President Obama, but his top aides and key surrogates fought to beat back a possible surge by Rick Santorum on the eve of Republican presidential contests in a trio of states . Read full article > >

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Romney tries to beat back possible Santorum surge in trio of states