Luke Rosiak

Missing dads is a problem 
not only in poor 
homes

The inner cities, where only 1 in 10 black children live with both parents, and the wealthy suburbs, where many fathers spend more than 60 hours a week on the job, have more in common than meets the eye, family advocates and faith leaders said.

December 27, 2012

Fathers disappear from households across America

In every state, the portion of families where children have two parents, rather than one, has dropped significantly over the past decade.

December 25, 2012

As Florida goes, so goes nation of aging communities

More than a half-century after the baby boom, echoes shake the nation. The first boomers are now 66, the number of people younger than 45 has declined in most states over the past decade, and the 2011 birthrate was the lowest on record, at nearly half the 1957 rate. The divide between the population needing care and the working adults who do the earning and caring worsens each year.

December 24, 2012

SSI overpaid billions to disabled poor

The federal government has overpaid billions of dollars in benefits to people who have been ruled disabled and impoverished, often because they understated their income. Debt because of overpayments has doubled over the past decade to $7.3 billion, according to a new government report.

December 17, 2012

Romney loss: Big bucks, but less bang

Mitt Romney's presidential campaign paid millions of dollars to companies led by top advisers and, by many measures, the campaign got less to show for it than in-house staffers performing a labor of love for President Obama's campaign, expenditure records show.

November 26, 2012

Gerrymandering partisan lock: Shape of things to come

Poisonous lizards are coming to Washington, and they're hailing disproportionately from Maryland, North Carolina and Texas.

November 22, 2012

Big PAC donors find cash isn’t king

Even Sheldon Adelson only gets to vote once.

November 7, 2012

Emotions run high in District’s hyperlocal races

While President Obama and Mitt Romney played it cool waiting for election results to trickle in Tuesday, the scene was sometimes remarkably different at the very bottom of the ballot, where candidates in hyperlocal races in which a few votes can make a difference cursed at voters or were removed from polling places in handcuffs.

November 6, 2012

ELECTION 2012: Campaign-funding floodgates burst open in 2012

President Obama and Mitt Romney raised about $1 billion each and relied on outside groups that spent another billion on the presidential race, mounting a stimulus for political consultants and broadcasters everywhere and obliterating a decades-old system that provided taxpayer funds to candidates in exchange for keeping spending low.

November 6, 2012

Shadow groups with unknown funders enter election fray

Election Day is upon the nation, and groups that did not even exist just weeks ago are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to sway voters, while the big-money advertisers are switching to boots-on-the-ground tactics.

November 6, 2012

Where to find gas in New York and New Jersey

With lines at gas stations stretching for blocks in areas devastated by Superstorm Sandy as people desperate to power generators for their homes or take refuge in other areas seek gasoline that, in many cases, can't be pumped because the refueling stations are themselves outside of power, a group connected to Rutgers University and students at New Jersey's Franklin High School is using technology to help people in those areas find fuel.

November 4, 2012

Obama campaign’s Messina: Long odds for Romney in N.C., Iowa and Colorado

Based on ballots already cast in states that allow early voting, Mitt Romney would need to win 65 percent of remaining voters in North Carolina, 59 percent in Iowa and Colorado, 58 percent in Nevada, and 55 percent in Florida and Ohio, President Obama's campaign manager said Saturday.

November 3, 2012

Report gives Obama failing marks on transparency

Despite promising his administration would be "the most open and transparent in history," President Obama has lagged in making government information accessible to the public, and been bested when it comes to public access to data by the House Republicans, according to grades to be released Monday by the libertarian Cato Institute.

November 3, 2012

Outsiders turn on spending spigot full blast

Outside political groups spent $90 million on ads and activism in a single day Monday, a high-water mark in the history of political spending, as super PACs, parties and nonprofit political groups furiously unloaded money that will have little value to them in just one week.

November 1, 2012

RNC flush with cash for endgame blitz

A late surge of support and months of restrained spending have left the Republican National Committee flush with cash with little time to spend it — $68 million as of Oct. 17, which was nearly seven times the amount the Democratic National Committee had in the bank.

October 30, 2012

Obama ad tidal wave swamps foes

President Obama's advertising advantage is so pronounced that he is running more ads than not only Mitt Romney's campaign, but all of the outside groups supporting the Republican nominee combined.

October 25, 2012

Outside groups paying more for same campaign spots

The day before the election, President Obama will be running ads during Cleveland ABC affiliate WEWS-TV's 11:35 p.m. showing of 'Nightline' for only $250 for a 30-second slot. By contrast, American Crossroads, an anti-Obama super PAC, will pay $1,000 for a same-length ad in the same time slot.

October 25, 2012

Labor unions set to unleash millions for ad buys

Labor unions are sitting on at least $122 million in cash that can be spent on politics — more than corporate political action committees have on hand — and have already sent millions to Democratic super PACs that are purchasing ad buys daily.

October 23, 2012

Late Romney ad surge possible

The presidential candidates are as closely matched in cash as they are in the polls, new disclosures show, adding pressure for both candidates to raise money at a breakneck speed even as their attention is most needed to court voters in swing states.

October 21, 2012

Liberal dollars make big bang in little races

Liberal and environmental groups that have been dramatically outspent in the 2012 election cycle are nevertheless wielding outsized influence by focusing their campaign cash on down-ballot races that typically see comparatively low levels of spending.

October 18, 2012