Todd Zwillich

The results are in. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney edged a narrow victory in Ohio, the most hotly contested state, and Massachusetts, Virginia, Vermont, Idaho and Alaska. Elsewhere, Rick Santorum won Oklahoma and Tennessee and Newt Gingrich won his home state of Georgia. But what do these results mean for the rest of the GOP campaign? And do they tell us anything about how the country will vote in November?

After Super Tuesday, the GOP contest is no longer all over the map. The candidates' speeches last night reflected their current status: Romney as the tentative frontrunner, Santorum the conservative with a headwind, Gingrich a factor but probably not a player, and Ron Paul as the embodiment of voter anger.

Dennis Kucinich and Marcy Kaptur have been friends for many years, but you wouldn't know it from listening to the attack ads the two Ohio Democrats have been airing against one another. While Republican voters in Ohio cast their ballots for a presidential nominee, Ohio Democrats in district nine will be picking between Kucinich and Kaptur in a Congressional primary. The race is the product of redistricting in Ohio — and it's just the first of many of its kind. In the coming months, 11 primary contests in states like Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and California will similarly pit incumbents against each other.

Voters in 10 states weigh in on the Republican presidential line-up today in Super Tuesday primary elections and caucuses around the country. Four hundred and thirty-seven delegates are up for grabs -- but also at stake is the momentum of the campaign. Who is out there voting today? Is the Republican primary voter demographic in Idaho and Alaska the same as in Tennessee and Georgia? And who are they voting for?

Every Monday, The Takeaway looks at the big news stories from the week ahead. The Agenda includes a preview of tomorrow's Super Tuesday vote, an upcoming jobs report, and other things to look for in the headlines this week.

The Republican presidential hopefuls aren't the only ones who have been flocking to states like Ohio and Michigan. President Obama has also been campaigning hard in the rust belt. Manufacturing jobs and the state of the economy are on everyone's mind.

In a surprising move, Maine Senator Olympia Snowe announced on Tuesday that she will not pursue a fourth term in November. One of the three Republicans to support president Obama's 2009 stimulus package, Snowe cited the senate's "atmosphere of polarization" as one of the reasons she decided not to run. Her departure is yet another sign that moderates are less influential in D.C.

If there's one thing that Republicans and Democrats traditionally agree on it's transportation legislation. Yet this is not the case for two different transportation bills that are stalled in the House and Senate. Tea Party conservatives are complaining about the cost, even thought traditional GOP members want to create jobs. Some think the problem is lack of earmarks, which bring "pork" to certain districts.

After months of squabbling, congress has reached a tentative deal on an extension of the payroll tax cut and jobless benefits that would last until the end of the year. Initially the GOP said they would not approve an extension unless it was financed by other spending cuts, but have since rescinded that position. So what's changed?

Despite months of partisan bickering, plans to extend the payroll tax cut have remained at an impasse — and all the while, the end-of-the-month expiration date was drawing nearer. But Monday afternoon, GOP leaders reversed their stance and agreed to extend the payroll tax cuts for another ten months beyond February. They have also rescinded their demand that congress find a way to pay for it.

Monday morning, President Obama sends Congress his 2013 budget plan. The president’s budget includes stimulus-style spending increases on highway construction projects, schools, and other public works. It also includes increased taxes for wealthy Americans and corporations. What it doesn’t include are significant cuts, and the president already getting push-back from Republicans about his plan. They say it avoids making needed sacrifices and that it doesn’t do enough to curb the deficit or keep the rapid growth of benefit programs like Medicare in check.

The 39th annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) began on Thursday with speeches from Jim DeMint, Stephen Halbrook, Michele Bachmann, Anne Coulter, and President Eisenhower’s granddaughter Susan Eisenhower, among others. With invocations of Reagan and cries for party unity, the three-day event could help give focus to what has been a lukewarm GOP race.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has taken issue with the Obama administration's healthcare bill, which requires all university and hospital insurance plans to cover contraception. Archbishop Timothy Dolan wrote in a Wall Street Journal editorial that this provision infringes on personal freedoms, "coercing religious ministries and citizens to pay directly for actions that violate their teaching." However, two new recently released polls reveal that American Catholics are more supportive of contraception coverage in employer-provided insurance than non-Catholics.

Every Monday, The Takeaway looks at the big news stories from the week ahead. Republican presidential candidates head to Colorado, Minnesota and Maine this week; Colorado and Minnesota's caucuses are tomorrow. In Washington, President Obama holds talks on the European debt crisis with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti while Congress takes up the STOCK Act.

What happens in the Florida Primary is not just important to Florida, Romney, Gingrich and the gang. This is a campaign year for everyone in the House of Representatives and a third of the Senate. And while Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor is in a safe seat in his own district he's leading the charge to get more GOP members into the House and Senate.

Last night the University of South Florida hosted a GOP presidential debate, the first of two scheduled in Florida leading up to the state's January 31 primary. The crowd was silenced by a no-applause policy which seems to have muted the effect of Newt Gingrich, who in the past has received accolades from the audience after partisan broadsides. The debate sets the agenda for the next week as candidates prepare for a primary which may ultimately decide the nominee to challenge President Obama in November.

This week, President Obama delivers the State of the Union, then travels to five states that promise to be key battlegrounds for this year's election: Iowa, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Michigan. As the President begins his swing state tour, Republican candidates will be setting up camp in Florida, preparing for two debates in the next primary state.

Anna Sale, It's A Free Country political reporter, and Todd Zwillich, Washington correspondent for The Takeaway, discuss what went down at last night's GOP debate - the last before the Iowa caucuses.

Takeaway Washington correspondent Todd Zwillich looks at two major stories playing out inside the halls of Congress this week. The White House is attempting to push recalcitrant Senate Republicans to confirm former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Forty-five Senate Republicans signed a letter in May vowing to block any nominee unless Congress was given more oversight of the bureau. Zwillich also spent time on Capitol hill talking to lawmakers about GOP frontrunner Newt Gingrich. 

Todd Zwillich, Washington correspondent for the Takeaway, and Reihan Salam, columnist at The Daily and blogger for National Review Online's The Agenda, discuss last night's GOP debate and go through what the candidates did and didn't say about foreign policy.