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November 21, 2012 The U.S. envoy to the U.N. is seen as a front-runner for the job of secretary of state in President Obama's second term, but her comments in the wake of the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi have made her a focus of criticism. Rice also said she looked forward to discussing Sen. John McCain's concerns over her comments with the Republican.

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November 21, 2012 Election-related lawsuits have more than doubled since 2000. There has been at least one post-election litigation in every general or midterm election since 2000, with the exception of 2002. Legal experts blame the flawed election process and the fact that voters don't like their candidates to concede.

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November 21, 2012 The end of the congressman's career continues a dubious streak, one that residents of Illinois' 2nd District would no doubt gladly see a future lawmaker break.

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November 21, 2012 The election may be over, but the bickering continues, and not just between NPR's Ron Elving and Ken Rudin. As President Obama defends his U.N. ambassador, Republicans continue to lambast her for "misleading" reports about what happened in the aftermath of the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi.

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November 21, 2012 "People who have any brains" will avoid dredging up politics during the holidays, says one psychologist. But in our highly polarized era, family gatherings offer the chance for rare encounters with people who don't already share our partisan leanings.

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November 20, 2012 Craig Miller has been raising turkeys on his farm near Harrisonburg, Va., for 26 years. On Wednesday, two of Miller's toms will briefly achieve national celebrity at the annual White House turkey pardoning ceremony. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Miller says.

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November 20, 2012 President Obama's campaign operation apparently isn't going to be totally retired just yet. Instead, the Obama team is considering deploying some of its grass-roots elements to push Congress to solve the fiscal cliff problem and help pass the president's agenda.

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November 20, 2012 Two weeks after Election Day, it appears the partisan makeup of the new House of Representatives will be 234 Republicans and 201 Democrats, although the outcome is not yet official in two states. That would be a gain of eight seats for the minority Democrats.

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November 20, 2012 Every year, the president pardons a turkey in a lighthearted Thanksgiving tradition. But while the business of pardoning humans is more serious, it's also increasingly rare. President Obama has granted just 1 pardon for every 290 applications — a much lower rate than other recent presidents.

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November 20, 2012 The race between West, who joined the House during the 2010 conservative sweep, and Democrat Patrick Murphy will go down as one of the most expensive and bitter in history.

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November 20, 2012 A Republican who sometimes worked across party lines, he was known for an effort to narrow budget deficits and for a pre-2001 commission report that warned America would "become increasingly vulnerable to hostile attack."

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