politics

The uproar last week over a proposed campaign ad highlighting President Barack Obama's former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, lit up political circles before organizers finally backed off the idea.

Vice President Biden gives Romney credit for creating wealth for Bain Capital but says that's not the president's job.

A former Obama aide criticized a new ad by a Republican "super PAC" for featuring a fictional family suffering from President Obama's economic policies.

Ryan C. Crocker says he will step down for health reasons, after helping to secure a strategic partnership deal.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker clearly misspoke on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday when he lumped attacks on former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital into the same category as attacks on President Obama’s connection to Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

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Gov. Scott Walker (R) is not safe in next month’s recall election, Wisconsin Democrats say.

Walker has been pulling ahead of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (D) in polls on the June 5 recall election sparked by the governor’s collective bargaining reforms. But internal polling from We Are Wisconsin, a labor-backed coalition supporting the recall, finds a dead heat.

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As they form a new caucus, all 24 Republican women in the House release a video laying out their credentials as family women and conservative lawmakers.

Of all the incredible stories to come out of the effort to rebuild Joplin, Missouri after the May 22, 2011 tornados, few are more powerful than that of the response from volunteers -- everyday people from all over the country and the world who poured into the community and returned again and again to help with the recovery.

In the year since the storm, more than 126,800 individuals put in some 755,300 hours of community service in the Joplin area. Their efforts in everything from clean-up and repairs to home construction represent more than 82 years of community service.

Learn more

• Read about the efforts to rebuild Joplin.
• Watch President Obama's commencement address to the 2012 graduates of Joplin High School.

While many within the church community are rooting for Mitt Romney, minority Mormon voices are becoming more assertive.

LZ Granderson says the storyline that the black and gay communities are separate is nonsense. Gays have always been a big part of black culture.

CNN's Erin Burnett honors an older generation of leaders she met at this year's fiscal summit.

Former Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.) might run for Congress in 2014 — possibly as a Republican.

BuzzFeed reports that the conservative Democrat is looking at challenging Rep. Gerry Connolly (D) in 2014.

The Fix reached out to Davis via email and the man who sought the 2010 Democratic nomination for governor in the Yellow Hammer State was very careful to leave the door open to another bid — possibly from the other side of the partisan aisle.

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Priorities USA Action, a pro-Obama "super PAC," revives the highlights - or, to Mr. Romney, the lowlights - from the Republican primary.

Summer Jobs+ is a call to action for businesses, non-profits, and government to work together to provide pathways to employment for young people in the summer of 2012. It's about helping people find their first jobs.

Andy Katz, a sports reporter and analyst, got his first job at a sporting goods store, where he once sold a pair of hand weights to then-Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis. Katz said Gov. Dukakis used the weights as he walked to the state capitol in Boston.

So far, employers have listed more than 300,000 jobs, mentorships, and other employment opportunities this summer through Summer Jobs+.

You heard about Andy Katz’s first job. Now go find yours.

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Every month, we hold a political trivia night at a bar in D.C. We call it “Politics and Pints” and, if we are being modest, it rules.

Of course, not everyone who reads the Fix lives in and around D.C. and, therefore, many of you missed out on the festivities last night at the Capitol Lounge. (If you do live in/around D.C. and want to be added to our early alert list, send an email to chris.cillizza@wpost.com.)

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Ed. note: This is cross-posted from HealthCare.gov

Judy Lamb from Colorado is an inspiration. Despite fighting breast cancer that has spread to her bones and liver and undergoing weekly chemotherapy, she has a positive outlook on life.

“I have three children, I’m married, and I cook dinner every night. It’s not really exciting, but it’s a wonderful life. I’m so glad I’m here, because without my treatments I wouldn’t be here,” she says.

She is able to maintain her positive attitude partly because the Affordable Care Act has removed a tremendous burden: the fear that her health plan would stop paying for her treatments.

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The proposal, introduced by a bipartisan group of senators during an election year, challenges the fixed positions Congressional leaders of both parties hold on the issue of immigration.

The U.S. Senate unanimously voted to tighten sanctions on Iran on Monday, three days after a dispute over including the threat of American force stalled the legislation.

The 2012 presidential election is going to be close. Very close. Incredibly close. Like Al-Gore-vs-George-W.-Bush close.

A review of the last year’s worth of national polling conducted by the Washington Post and ABC News makes clear that not only is the electorate almost equally divided between President Obama and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney but people are also equally split on which of the two men is better equipped to handle the economy, which, of course, is the only issue that matters to a majority of voters.

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The European financial crisis is poorly understood in the United States.