President Obama recently acknowledged that he doesn't have the supernatural powers necessary to do a mind meld, Jedi or otherwise, with Republicans in Congress. But as a dinner invitation shows, he can at least still get meetings with them.

In the end, President Obama and other Democrats had less leverage than Republicans because of a fundamental asymmetry: Large federal spending cuts alarmed Democrats; Republicans, not so much.

The measure's reauthorization showed us again that as much as the two sides of the aisle in the House often can't seem to stand each other, they remain lashed together when it comes to issues that divide Republicans but unite Democrats.

A slow-motion train wreck of $1.2 trillion in spending cuts spread out over 10 years would definitely be at odds with the growing urgency of the president's warnings as the March 1 deadline draws near.

If, as the White House indicated on Tuesday, President Obama takes the lead in a movement for more effective gun control now that he's been stirred to action by the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, it would mark a significant break from his pattern so far as chief executive.

With U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice withdrawing her name from secretary of state consideration Thursday, attention turned to Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., as a possible successor to Hillary Clinton. And that would have repercussions on Capitol Hill and in Massachusetts.

In Washington's latest game of chicken, President Obama is recruiting voters who see things his way to provide an edge in his quest to get congressional Republicans to accept tax increases on the nation's wealthiest. His newest weapon? A Twitter hashtag.

The White House issued a short report Monday warning of the risks to holiday spending and the 2013 economy if policymakers fail to reach an agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff. The report seemed aimed at raising pressure on Republicans to strike a deal with President Obama.

President Obama's campaign operation apparently isn't going to be totally retired just yet. Instead, the Obama team is considering deploying some of its grass-roots elements to push Congress to solve the fiscal cliff problem and help pass the president's agenda.

Senate Democrats did better than just keep their slim majority. Wednesday brought news that they expanded it by managing to retain control of two of their most threatened seats, in Montana and North Dakota.

GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney showed his softer side and President Obama got to his points more quickly in Tuesday appearances on the campaign trail. Romney was in Iowa; Obama, in Ohio.

Sesame Workshop asked President Obama's campaign to take down an anti-Mitt Romney ad featuring Big Bird. Since the first presidential debate, Obama has used a remark Romney made about the Sesame Street character to mock Romney.

The latest jobs report was good news for President Obama and not so much for Mitt Romney, whose campaign has been predicated on the argument that a bad economy requires a change in White House occupancy.

The day after his widely panned debate performance, President Obama went on the attack.

Mitt Romney's release Friday of his 2011 tax return and a summary of his tax rate over 20 years gave friends and foes alike something to grab hold of. But not all his allies greeted the move.

Tim Pawlenty's resignation as co-chairman of Mitt Romney's presidential campaign comes less than seven weeks before Election Day and during a bad stretch for the candidate.

The punching and counterpunching between the presidential campaigns over Mitt Romney's remarks about President Obama's supporters continued Tuesday. Romney and other Republicans tried to change the subject by citing a 1998 video in which Obama, then an Illinois legislator, talked positively about "redistribution."

The Obama administration and the president's Chicago-based re-election campaign are trying to minimize the risks of offending teachers and union members by carefully navigating the tricky waters between Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the striking teachers.

President Obama and GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan were in Iowa, where they told supporters that the general election would give voters a stark choice between two visions of the nation's future. With Mitt Romney in Florida and Joe Biden in North Carolina, all four candidates worked to energize supporters in key swing states.

In new ads, President Obama and Mitt Romney seek to raise doubts about each other's character. Romney accuses the president of being willing to do anything to stay president. Obama's ad accuses Romney of making a "blatantly false" claim.