- Mitt Romney delivered a speech to members of the National Guard in Nevada on Tuesday, trying to move the discussion of his military and foreign policy credentials beyond the critiques of his convention speech and toward the threat of automatic cuts to the Pentagon budget, Ashley Parker reports.
- For the first time since the inception of public campaign financing, the presidential candidates of both the Republican and Democratic Parties are declining the funds and betting that they can raise far more money on their own, Nicholas Confessore and Ashley Parker found. The result: wooing fund-raisers cuts into the time for wooing voters.
- Former President Bill Clinton continued his Obama surrogacy tour in Miami on Tuesday, lavishing special attention on two issues with appeal in a state with many students and older voters: education loans and health care, Mark Landler writes.
- Though Moody's Investor Service warned that it would downgrade the federal government's debt if there was no solution to the “fiscal cliff,†Congressional leaders are refusing to make any quick deals toward resolving the looming disaster, Jonathan Weisman reports. If no agreement is reached by year's end, economists say the impasse will surely send the nation back into recession.
Around the Web
- Remember when the General Services Administration held an $823,000 Las Vegas conference featuring a mind-reader, a clown and artisanal cheese plates? The House does. Lawmakers approved a bill on Tuesday that caps federal agency spending on conferences and limits the number of people who can attend, The Hill reports.
- Candidates have started casting their mothers for starring roles in their campaign ads, Politico reports.
Happenings in Washington
- Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his wife, Jill, will have a reception for Jewish community leaders at the Naval Observatory.
- Congressional leaders will give Arnold Palmer the Congressional Gold Medal for his contributions to the game of golf.
