At last, the rivals who were supposed to savage front-runner Mitt Romney in the final weekend before Tuesday's primary in New Hampshire got down to business.
In the opening minutes of their debate Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press, several of those chasing Romney in the polls let fly the roundhouse punches they'd been pulling through weeks and months of TV debates.
When it comes to last words, there's a kind of poetry in even the oddest ones. Oscar Wilde hated the wallpaper in the room where he died: "One of us has to go," he muttered. Salvador Dali: "Where is my clock?" Steve Jobs: "Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow," according to his sister, who was in the room.
Sunday is the first anniversary of the shootings in Tucson where 13 people were injured and six killed. NPR's State of the Re:Union asked people who were there that day and relatives of victims to write letters to their city in the aftermath.
In Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai is demanding that the United States hand over control of a prison facility that houses about 3,000 inmates. An Afghan commission has alleged abuse of prisoners there, and says that conditions violate the Afghan constitution. The demands may have more to do with a growing animosity between President Karzai and Washington, however, as NPR's Kabul bureau chief Quil Lawrence tells host Rachel Martin.
With so much campaigning compressed into one small state, New Hampshire is nirvana this week for fans of primary politics. NPR's Greg Allen ran into three self-professed "political junkies" from Baltimore who make a pilgrimage to the Granite State every four years to see the candidates up close and immerse themselves in the nominating process.
New Hampshire Republican Congressman Frank Guinta is a veteran of New Hampshire politics. The former state representative and mayor of Manchester gives host Rachel Martin a sense of the state's mood just two days before the primary.
There were lots of attacks and counter-attacks at the Republican candidates debate in New Hampshire Saturday night. Mostly the candidates fought among themselves, while front-runner Mitt Romney stuck to his talking points on President Obama. Host Rachel Martin talks with NPR's Mara Liasson about the takeaways from the event.
The NFL postseason is under way. Saturday night's games included a record-setting performance by the New Orleans Saints, and Sunday's matchups feature two Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks, plus a third who still manages to grab headlines: Tim Tebow. Host Rachel Martin talks with NPR's Mike Pesca about the first weekend in the NFL playoffs.
One year ago Sunday a gunman opened fire while Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was holding a "Congress on Your Corner" event at a shopping center. She was shot in the head, one of 13 who were wounded. Six others were killed. Tucson is remembering the day with memorials, a candle-light vigil and dozens of other events. Host Rachel Martin talks with NPR's Ted Robbins about the day's services.
There are calls on Capitol Hill to scale back U.S. military aid to Egypt. Congress is furious over Egyptian raids on American democracy promotion groups, and some lawmakers accuse the Obama administration of being too timid in its response. As NPR's Michele Kelemen reports, several U.S.-funded, non-governmental groups have had their offices in Cairo shuttered for more than a week.