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The Most Important Moments From 2012 in Pictures

By National Journal Staff

Updated: December 18, 2012 | 10:18 a.m.
December 18, 2012 | 7:00 a.m.

From the big (historic elections, pivotal Supreme Court decisions, massive protests overseas, once-in-a-generation storms, the London Olympics) to the
small (an empty chair, a tarmac argument, political rhetoric, endless political rhetoric) 2012 was a year replete with moments. Check out some of the best
ones captured on camera below.

President Obama meets with the members of the U.S. women's gymnastics team in the White House on Nov. 15. Here, the president poses with
McKayla Maroney, who is not impressed. (White House / Pete Souza)

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer points during an intense conversation with President Obama on Jan. 25 after he arrived at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway
Airport, in Mesa, Ariz. Brewer had written a recent book, Scorpions for Breakfast, in which she said that she and her staff were treated
poorly during a June 2010 Oval Office meeting with Obama. The president took offense at her characterization of the meeting.
(AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

Actor Clint Eastwood addresses an empty chair at the Republican National Convention on Aug. 31. In his widely mocked speech, the screen
legend pretended that an invisible President Obama was sitting in the chair, arguing with and cursing out Eastwood during the speech.
(Ralf-Finn Hestoft)

Former Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich, right, listens while Missouri Senate candidate Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., speaks during a
campaign stop at Bennett Packaging on Tuesday, Oct. 30, in Lee's Summit, Mo. Akin lost his bid to Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and
gained attention for his controversial comments on rape during the campaign. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Georgetown University law student student Sandra Fluke introduces President Obama at a campaign event in Denver on Aug. 8. Fluke gained
national attention when conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh called her a "slut" and a "prostitute" after she was not allowed to testify about
her advocacy work at a congressional hearing on birth control. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

Angela Botticella of ProtectYourCare.org celebrates the Supreme Court's decision on the Affordable Care Act in Washington, June 28.
In a 5-4 ruling, the high court upheld the majority of Obama's major health care reform law. (Richard A. Bloom)

American businessman Sheldon Adelson, is seated before Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney
delivers a speech in Jerusalem on July 29. Adelson, the casino magnate, spent roughly $50 million in various efforts to elect Republican
this past election. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Mitt Romney meets with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on July 29. Netanyahu's hardline comments about setting a
"red line" for Iran's nuclear weapons program spurred much discussion. If Iran crossed this "red line," Netanyahu said, countries should commit
to military retaliation. It was also thought that Netanyahu preferred Romney over President Obama in the election.
(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

President Obama, accompanied by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, meets with residents at the Brigantine Beach Community Center in
Brigantine, N.J., Wednesday, Oct. 31. Obama traveled to the Atlantic Coast to see first-hand the relief efforts after superstorm Sandy.
(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

A Christmas wreath hangs on the second-floor porch railing of a home adjacent to the fire-damaged zone in the Breezy Point section of
New York City, Friday, Dec. 7. More than 100 homes were burned to the ground during superstorm Sandy. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

Democrat Elizabeth Warren takes the stage after defeating GOP Sen. Scott Brown in the Massachusetts Senate race, during an election-night
rally at the Fairmont Copley Plaza hotel in Boston, Tuesday, Nov. 6. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., a first-term conservative and favorite of the tea party movement, leaves a strategy session with House Speaker John
Boehner and the GOP leadership, Wednesday, Nov. 28, on Capitol Hill. Following the election on Nov. 6, West resisted for nearly two weeks
before conceding defeat to his Democratic opponent. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

On Nov. 7, the day after the election, President Obama makes a surprise visit to his campaign headquarters in Chicago, Ill. Obama's speech
to the group went viral when he shed a few emotional tears. (White House /Pete Souza)

A view of Tahrir Square during a demonstration in Cairo, Friday, Nov. 30. Liberal and secular parties held major protests against
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi's decree granting himself almost complete power. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

On Tuesday, Nov. 27, Egyptians flocked to Cairo's Tahrir Square for a protest against Egypt's president in a significant test of whether the
opposition could rally the people in a confrontation aimed at forcing Islamist President Mohamed Morso to rescind decrees that granted him
near-absolute powers. (AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra)

The former commander of the International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, Gen. Davis Petraeus, left, shakes hands
with Paula Broadwell, coauthor of his biography, All In: The Education of General David Petraeus. Petraeus's affair with Broadwell, revealed
on Nov. 9, was uncovered during an FBI investigation of threatening e-mails sent to Broadwell. (AP Handout)

Gen. John Allen stands during an Oct. 10 media conference after a meeting of NATO defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
Allen was put under investigation for alleged inappropriate e-mails with socialite Jill Kelley. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Glass, debris, and overturned furniture are strewn inside the gutted U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, after an attack that killed four Americans,
including Ambassador Chris Stevens, Wednesday, Sept. 12. (AP Photo/Ibrahim Alaguri)

Republican presidential candidates, from left, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas; former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum; former Massachusetts Gov.
Mitt Romney; and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich stand for the national anthem during a Republican presidential debate among the
2012 candidates Wednesday, Feb. 22, in Mesa, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

President Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney participate in the first presidential debate at the University of Denver,
Wednesday, Oct. 3, in Denver. Romney was seen as the clear winner in the initial face-off. (AP Photo/Pool, Rick Wilking)

President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden wave to the crowd at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., in early
September. (Ralf-Finn Hestoft)

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan acknowledge the crowd at the Republican National
Convention in Tampa, Fla., in late August. (Chet Susslin)

Former President Clinton speaks to delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. on Sept. 5. (Ralf-Finn Hestoft)

President Obama pauses as he hosts a meeting of the bipartisan, bicameral leadership of Congress to discuss the deficit and the economy,
Friday, Nov. 16, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. From left are Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, House Speaker John Boehner,
the president, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)