It’s been decades since any political business was hashed out at a national political convention. They’re stage productions, and music is a big part of the image they’re designed to project. At smaller rallies out on the campaign trail, music plays a more mundane but essential role ...

For its religious blessings during their convention, Republicans are looking to New Yorkers.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the New York archbishop and the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, will give the benediction after Mitt Romney accepts the nomination, Romney announced on Wednesday. Greek Orthodox Archibishop Demetrios, the leader of the archdiocese based in New York City, will give the benediction after Rep. Paul Ryan accepts the nomination for Vice President on Wednesday night.

The unemployment rate has rapidly improved in Florida this year, but the overall recovery has been uneven at best. As Florida prepares for the national spotlight of the Republican convention, not even its most strident boosters are suggesting the state has fully recovered from the combined blows of a collapsed construction market, foreclosure crisis and job losses that started here in 2007.

It makes for an electoral paradox. Jobs and the economy is by far the top issue for Florida voters, but after five years of struggle, it is not clear how decisive their experiences will be in the voting booth. As President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney’s campaigns hammer on their messages about the economy, those who are still struggling don’t have much hope that a single election will offer salvation.

To win this state again in 2012, the Obama campaign must hold on to the advantages it gained outside the state’s traditional Democratic strongholds.

It's A Free Country politics reporter Anna Sale discusses what she learned on her trip to the swing states that will help decide the 2012 election.

If there's one place you'd expect to find an enthusiasm gap for Obama supporters, it'd be in Madison. But after running into weary and cynical voters in Colorado and Iowa, Wisconsin voters sounded remarkably resolved for another contest.

Anna Sale, politics reporter for It's A Free Country, continues her swing state road trip with a stop in Ohio. It's the state you have to win if you want to become President. 

Anna Sale, It's A Free Country politics reporter, continues her tour of the swing states, heading to Ohio from Wisconsin talking to voters about the upcoming election.

President Barack Obama won Iowa in 2008 by nine percentage points, but his support here is softening as his approval rating and favor with independent voters has dipped. 

The disappointed Iowa voters I met, though, aren't convinced that Mitt Romney is a viable alternative, particularly because of his wealth and his failure in their eyes to adequately address the struggling middle class.

Remember the huge groundswell for Ron Paul in Iowa? Well, those voters are still out there, and they’re up for grabs. A recent poll has Obama leading, but by less than he was a few months ago.

Winning this state in 2012 will come down to which campaign can woo Iowa’s ticket-splitting rural voters and swing Catholic voters, while establishing a edge in the politically diversifying cities.

The choice Colorado voters are anticipating in November is not so much Obama versus Romney, but whether voting for the guy they kind of like is worth the trouble.

As the Obama and Romney campaigns set their sights on swing states, Anna Sale, reporter for our co-producer WNYC’s It's a Free Country, follows along.

Anna Sale, politics reporter for It's A Free Country, discusses her tour of the swing states to talk to voters about the upcoming election. Today she checks in from northern Colorado.

In this first swing swing, we'll hear from voters in Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin and Ohio about what's changed in their lives since 2008 and what matters most to them for the next four years.

Follow along as Anna Sale makes her way through the swing states, talking to to the most coveted — and besieged — voters in the country. In the swing state of Colorado, those are residents of the swelling suburbs and the growing numbers of Latino voters.

This week President Obama is visiting Ohio and Pennsylvania, two states that are already pegged as crucial swing states in the 2012 presidential election. But although these two states are getting the majority of the attention, there are many states that could go to either candidate.

This decision completely alters the narrative of Obama’s presidency. This legislative achievement was the policy priority where the president chose to invest his significant post-election political capital with a Democratic Congress. It wasn't Social Security. It wasn't the tax code. It wasn't immigration reform. It was health care.

And the Supreme Court has let him keep it.

New York went to the polls Tuesday to select their parties' nominees for the Congressional elections in November. 

As the end of June approaches, The Takeaway looks at how the Obama and Romney presidential campaigns faired this month, and moreover, what July could have in store — especially as the Supreme Court is set to rule on Healthcare this week.