Susan Crabtree
Articles by Susan Crabtree
Campus tour brings Obama to University of Virginia
President Obama is bringing his counter-GOP convention tour Wednesday to the dead-heat battle for Virginia, a state where he enjoyed a historic win in 2008 but where he and fellow Democrats have faced a series of obstacles and setbacks ever since. Published August 28, 2012
Obama counters GOP convention coverage with campus tour
President Obama hit the road Tuesday to compete for media time with the Republican convention, courting young voters with a two-day tour of college campuses in Iowa, Colorado and Virginia. Published August 28, 2012
Lawmakers ask if Holder’s use of FBI planes abuses privilege
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, wants answers about whether Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and other senior Justice Department officials misused FBI aircraft, hindering the agency's investigations and ignoring a White House order to cut travel costs. Published August 23, 2012
Obama to Akin: ‘Rape is rape’
President Obama condemned Rep. W. Todd Akin, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate from Missouri, for asserting that "legitimate rape" victims rarely get pregnant, and he used the incident to blast GOP rival Mitt Romney's and running mate Rep. Paul Ryan's views on abortion. Published August 20, 2012
GOP tries to oust Akin after rape remarks
Top Republicans on Monday backed away from their Senate candidate in Missouri and party leaders threatened to revoke financial support if he doesn't withdraw from the race after his comments about rape and abortion, but Rep. W. Todd Akin insisted he is in to stay. Published August 20, 2012
White House’s ‘We Can’t Wait’ initiatives dwindle, become political
Last October, nearly a year before voters would head to the polls, President Obama said he was fed up with Republicans standing in the way of his agenda and rolled out a series of executive branch steps aimed at circumventing Congress and giving the economy a shot in the arm. Published August 16, 2012
Romney seeks to elevate tone of debate
Flashing anger at the direction the presidential campaign has taken, Mitt Romney on Wednesday challenged President Obama to elevate the debate after a month in which Democratic operatives and the Obama campaign charged Mr. Romney was a felon and connected him to a woman's cancer death. Published August 15, 2012
Obama tries to recapture Iowa magic
Hoping to recapture some of the same electricity that fueled his 2008 victory, President Obama has spent the last three days in Iowa on a nostalgia tour, reminding voters how they helped catapult him into the White House and asking them to do it again in November. Published August 15, 2012
Obama labels Romney tax plan ‘snake oil’
In a campaign that has become nastier by the day, President Obama ratcheted up his rhetoric against Mitt Romney's economic policies Wednesday, labeling his tax plan "trickle-down snake oil." Published August 15, 2012
In Iowa, Obama slams Romney on wind energy cuts
Nationally, the 2012 presidential race is about big issues — Medicare, immigration and the federal budget. But in Iowa, a state that could swing the election toward either presidential candidate, President Obama has gone local, attempting to create a wedge issue by supporting wind-energy tax credits. Published August 14, 2012
Obama, Ryan take longtime rift to the next level
President Obama and Mitt Romney's vice-presidential pick, Paul Ryan, have never seen eye to eye when it comes to policy, and now that the congressman from Wisconsin is on the GOP ticket, Mr. Obama is wasting no time in going after the Republicans' popular budget man. Published August 13, 2012
Obama team deflecting criticism by citing Bush
For an administration that touts its desire to make a clean break with its predecessor, President Obama and his aides have taken to citing President George W. Bush's White House tenure several times lately when challenged on the same type of indiscretions they once condemned. Published August 9, 2012
Obama: Wis. shootings should prompt ‘soul-searching’
President Obama said mass shootings like the one in Wisconsin over the weekend are becoming far too commonplace and should prompt some "soul searching" by all Americans. Published August 6, 2012
Carney: GOP criticism of Plouffe’s $100K speaking fee purely ‘political’
The White House is brushing aside a report that one of President Obama's top aides and a key member of his inner circle was paid $100,000 in speaking fees from an affiliate with a company doing business with Iran's government. Published August 6, 2012
Obama says too many people still out of work
President Obama is highlighting the positive numbers in Friday's employment report, taking credit for 29 straight months of slow-but-steady job increases even as he concedes that too many Americans are still out of work. Published August 3, 2012
U.S. sends $12M in new aid for Syrian refugees
The Obama administration is providing $12 million in new humanitarian assistance to help hundreds of thousands of displaced or suffering Syrian civilians as civil war continues to rage between rebels and the Assad regime. Published August 2, 2012
Waters’ case faces another delay
The House has prolonged its three-year ethics investigation of Rep. Maxine Waters, a Democrat from California, yet again but is pledging to try to wrap up the case by the end of the year. Published August 2, 2012
House reprimands California congresswoman
The House prolonged its three-year ethics investigation of one California Democrat while officially voting to reprimand and fine another. Published August 2, 2012
Obama aide sent lobbyists private email
With three months to go before Election Day, President Obama's campaign manager faced a fusillade of questions Wednesday about whether he deliberately skirted disclosure rules during his time as deputy White House chief of staff, undermining the administration's claim to be "the most transparent administration in history." Published August 1, 2012
Ethics panel finds Richardson guilty, fines her $10K
The House Ethics Committee has found Rep. Laura Richardson guilty of violating rules that prohibit pressuring her staff to perform campaign work and personal errands and is recommending that the House issue a reprimand and fine her $10,000. Published August 1, 2012