Politics @ The NY Times

“This is not some pie-in-the-sky kind of thing,” Mitt Romney said of his plan to make North America energy independent by 2020. “This is a real, achievable objective.”

A new poll on Paul Ryan's impact on the race. | Reaction to Todd Akin's comments. | The perks awaiting delegates in Tampa.

In Missouri, changing nominees in the middle of a campaign is complicated.

This video series checks in with voters in Central Florida and along the I-4 corridor, a highway that bisects the state, to see how they might swing the state's 29 Electoral College votes in the 2012 election.

New surveys show the ratings for governors in Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin as well as the state of play in key Senate contests.

While President Obama and Mitt Romney crisscross the nation raising money for their campaigns, in battleground states Republican and Democratic organizations have been laying the groundwork for voter organization and turnout for the November election.

Republican delegates hammered out an immigration plank calling for tough border enforcement and opposing “any forms of amnesty” for illegal immigrants, instead endorsing “humane procedures to encourage illegal aliens to return home voluntarily,” a policy of self-deportation.

A new Obama campaign ad features former President Clinton speaking directly to the camera.

Political news from today's Times, plus a look at what's happening in Washington.

New polls show that Medicare ranks as the third most crucial issue to likely voters in Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin, and that more respondents in each state trust President Obama to manage the program.

Campaign advisers say Mr. Romney’s economic message will still resonate with female voters after the controversy created by Todd Akin’s “legitimate rape” comment subsides.

Representative Todd Akin is having fund-raising and party problems since the abortion controversy erupted, but some say he could still win his Senate race in Missouri.

A spokesman for the New York archdiocese said that Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan’s agreement to participate should not be seen as partisan.

Heated exchanges over the “war on women” have suddenly come to dominate the closely watched Senate race in Massachusetts.

The Illinois-based energy producer Exelon Corporation has sometimes benefited from close ties with the Obama administration.

Remarks from the Republican chairman in Franklin County, Doug Preisse, angered Democrats and African-American leaders.

Mr. Romney’s plan would give states more control over drilling on federal land, promote the nuclear power industry and approve an oil pipeline from Canada.

Wednesday was among the busiest polling days of the year; we added 14 new surveys to our database. But it was not a knockout day for either of the candidates.

A federal judge ruled that a Nevada option to vote for "none of these candidates" is unconstitutional in response to a Republican-backed lawsuit.

Beer enthusiasts have started a petition to obtain the White House's recipe for its home brew.