- Why Incumbents Lose Debates - With remarkable prescience, George Condon filed his historical look at how presidential incumbents frequently get bested in campaign debates nearly a week before President Obama's lackluster performance in Denver.
- Shades of Brown - Beth Reinhard, reporting from the always consequential state of Florida, found that the story of the Hispanic vote is the story of the 2012 campaign.
- Nationalizing the Industry - Reid Wilson examined the diffusion of political power away from traditional hubs and toward outside groups and found that as contests become national, rather than local, the individual candidates who once were able to appeal across party lines -- and the parties themselves -- lost control.
- Sorry, Wrong Number - The 2012 campaign featured an explosion of polls, but sorting the good from the bad could be a difficult task. National Journal Hotline's Steven Shepard explained how the rapidly changing world of telephone polls had put the industry at a crossroads.
- A Desert Mirage - As the campaign drew to a close, it became clear that the Obama campaign's early dreams of winning Arizona were just that - dreams. Alex Roarty knew that back in February.
- The Other Half - Months before Mitt Romney made "the 47%" a campaign talking point, Nancy Cook reported in depth on the half of Americans who don't pay federal income taxes and the conservatives who want to change that.
- Heads in the Sand - Coral Davenport wrote the definitive report on how Republicans in Congress and on the campaign trail systematically turned away from science on global climate change.
- The Reality of Benghazi - Michael Hirsh cut through the haze of intelligence and conspiracy theories surrounding the Benghazi consulate attack and found the real story...is no story.
...and behind-the-scenes reporting that broke news and cut through the spin.
- Narrowing the Map - Major Garrett produced consistently insightful reporting from deep inside the campaign teams. This story, in which David Plouffe signaled wavering confidence for the Obama team in North Carolina, Virginia, and Florida, pointed the way to the campaign's late-stage "all about Ohio" focus.
- Rankings and Resources - Peter Bell and Reid Wilson set the standard for tracking ad spending in the battleground states. And the entire team at National Journal Hotline kept the most comprehensive rankings of competitive House and Senate races around.
- Akin, Alone - Dan Friedman got a deeply personal inside look at the GOP's most controversial Senate candidate.
- Gone Phishing - Shane Goldmacher uncovered a network of look-alike campaign websites that netted more than $570,000 from donors who thought they were contributing to Republican candidates.
- Stocking the Cabinet - Ahead of the election, George Condon and Jim O'Sullivan quarterbacked the Power Players package, the most in-depth looks at the likely contenders for the top jobs in a future Obama or Romney administration.
- Compare the Candidates - Over the course of ten weeks, National Journal compiled the most comprehensive set of issue comparisons in the campaign - one stop for nearly everything a truly engaged voter - or political professional - needed to know.
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