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The freshman senator took direct aim at the parts of the Republican Party that eschew foreign interventions or global coalitions.

The faceoff between President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney has already entered the ugly and negative phase, so it may be hard to believe that Romney is just set to accrue the required delegates to secure the nomination with the results in Texas today.

Right now, we’re at the crucial phase in the general election season where both leading candidates for president are looking to define themselves and the presidential race before their opponent does it for them. So where do we stand on presidential campaign definitions? Molly Ball, staff writer for The Atlantic, and Ron Christie, Takeaway contributor and Republican strategist, break it down.

David Sanger, chief Washington correspondent for The New York Times, WNYC contributor and author of the forthcoming book, Confront and Conceal: Obama's Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power, discusses the Presidential candidates' speeches yesterday and international politics.

Race has played a major factor in these predominately white rural counties. Since the 2008 election, political scientists have been working to measure how racial attitudes are linked to voting, and when it comes to Obama, the data spikes.

Sean Trende, senior elections analyst at Real Clear Politics, discusses some of the discrepancies in early presidential polling, and how best to understand the numbers.

As the race for the presidency heats up, President Obama's reelection team continues to attack Mitt Romney's career at Bain Capital, while questioning private equity's role in the American economy. Edward Conard, former managing director at Bain Capital and author of "Unintended Consequences," worked with Mitt Romney throughout the Republican candidate's years in private equity. Conard explains why he believes Romney's experience in private equity will prove essential should the Republican candidate take the White House this fall.

After President Obama announced his personal support for legalizing gay marriage earlier this month, much of the attention has focused on how this has moved the opinions of minorities his way. A poll this week shows Republican support for gay marriage has also moved since, but it has gone the other way.   

Whether you love or hate politics, it’s hard to deny that when it comes to identity and culture, this year’s presidential election is truly historic. The incumbent is, of course, half black and thus, a racial minority. The challenger is Mormon, and thus, a religious minority. What if you’re one of the one million Americans who is both black and Mormon? How does identity factor in? Two African-American Mormons join us today to share their thoughts.

A former candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, whose campaign was perceived to be negatively affected by the fact he served in the Obama administration, said he had no regrets about crossing party lines.

E.J. Dionne, Washington Post columnist, senior fellow at the Brookings Institute and professor at Georgetown University, talks partisan politics, the conversation over Bain Capital, and his new book, Our Divided Political Heart: The Battle for the American Idea in an Age of Discontent.  

EVENT: E.J. Dionne will discuss the book at the Players Club (16 Gramercy Park South) on Thursday, May 24 at 7 p.m.

President Obama has come out swinging on Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital. As the NATO Summit came to a close on Monday, President Obama defined the presidential election in terms of his economic vision for the country compared to Mitt Romney’s. Washington correspondent Todd Zwillich joins us to answer: Where does the campaign go from here?

USA Today Washington bureau chief Susan Page talks about what the new USA Today/Gallup poll says about the presidential campaign and other national politics.

Samuel Popkin, Professor of Political Science at the University of California, San Diego, examines the winners—and losers—of the last 60 years of presidential campaigns, explaining how challengers get to the White House, how incumbents stay, and how successors hold power for their party. His book The Candidate: What it Takes to Win—and Hold—the White House looks George H. W. Bush's campaign for reelection in 1992, Al Gore's campaign for the presidency in 2000, and Hillary Clinton's effort to win the nomination in 2008, and gives an account of what goes on inside a campaign and what makes one succeed while another fails.

You've probably heard pundits point to various attributes of each presidential candidate, Obama's likeability or Romney's stance on the economy, for instance, as explanations of why they appeal with different demographics, or to explain rises and falls in the polls. But it could turn out that none of these factors make much of a difference.

Sean Trende, senior elections analyst at RealClearPolitics and author of Lost Majority: Why the Future of Government Is Up for Grabs - and Who Will Take It, discusses the issues and trends to keep an eye on in the Obama-Romney race, from the gender gap to the continuing fight over long-term debt and tax rates.

Mara Liasson, national political correspondent for NPR, discusses recent political headlines in the 2012 election and in Washington DC.

Coming just a few days after President Obama embraced gay marriage, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's commencement speech at Liberty University emphasized the strength and power that comes from religious faithfulness. “Moral certainty, clear standards, and a commitment to spiritual ideals will set you apart in a world that searches for meaning,” Romney told the Liberty graduating class.

When Romney addressed the 2010 graduating class at Groton School, the elite private boarding school in Massachusetts, it was a different message. He implored graduates to find the courage to question social and political orthodoxy and left references to religion and Christianity largely out.

Republicans have chosen a man whose behavior, demeanor and record makes us believe he could be the bully his old friends described.

Village Voice writer Steven Thrasher discusses whether the Obama endorsement of gay marriage will shift the black vote and takes your calls on whether his endorsement shifts your view.