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US Elections 2012

Barack Obama's second term

Now, hug a Republican

A budget deal makes sense for the re-elected president, his opponents, his country and the world 516

How Obama was re-elected

The remaking of the president

Niche campaigning, negativity and nitty-gritty organisation put Barack Obama back in the White House 55

Obama's re-election abroad

Hope and no change

After Barack Obama’s re-election, it is time to push for transatlantic free trade 137

The Republicans

Mitt Romney’s legacy

Trashing their defeated candidate is doing Republicans a power of good 190

Congress

Much ado about nothing

The new Congress looks almost exactly like the last 14

Election forecasting

Running numbers

The poll-crunchers proved their critics wrong on election night 8

Our American endorsement

Why Obama was the better choice

America could do better than Barack Obama; sadly, Mitt Romney does not fit the bill 3532

Voting blocs

Fed up with everyone

Though culturally conservative, white working-class voters in the crucial battleground states of the Midwest are not all in the bag for Mitt Romney 288

Get out the vote

Knock, knock

Some old truths are being rediscovered in the ground war 5

Campaign finance

Money trouble

Barack Obama faces a cash gap in the final weeks of the campaign 11

Election laws

Does Florida have a democracy problem?

Odious voting laws in the Sunshine State 314

Strict rules on voting could determine the outcome of November’s election 316

Also on this channel

Overview

The choice

All elections get called the most important for decades. This one really is: two very different paths for the future are on offer51

Congress

Gridlock central

To put almost any policy into practice, a president must win over Congress. In the unstintingly partisan atmosphere of Washington, that will be a tall order for either candidate3

Taxes, spending and the deficit

Trillion-dollar questions

With the deficit at over $1 trillion for a fourth year running, taxes and government spending are critical to the campaign11

Regulation, trade and job creation

Defining the state

The role of government intervention in the economy is perhaps the starkest difference between the candidates6

Health care

Election fever

Health care defined Barack Obama’s first term. It may determine whether he wins a second3

Education

Class warfare

How will the candidates tackle schools and colleges?68

Immigration

In or out?

Both candidates have disappointed America’s fastest-growing community8

Energy and the environment

Boom times, not green

Both candidates are revelling in America’s abundant hydrocarbons. The planet, they feel, can wait12

Foreign policy

A world of troubles

The economy has dominated the campaign, but there are serious foreign-policy issues to grapple with9

Defence

Arms and the men

There is a clear distinction between the candidates on military spending: more versus less16

Criminal justice

Intelligent sentences

Mitt Romney has shown few cards on this issue, but it is an area where Republicans are being more tolerant1

Social values

Culture wars, again

But this time it is the Democrats who are making hay with their opponents’ excesses10

Conclusion

Four more weeks

Mr Romney’s plans are vaguer than those of Mr Obama, and he now has little time to change that8

Features

A country divided

The stable, narrow, bitter partisan divide in America is a phenomenon driven by an interaction between two major players: the parties themselves, and the media

A liberal drift