With support from the University of Richmond
History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Hot Topics

HNN Hot Topics: Election 2012


The Electoral College in the 2012 general election. Credit: Wikipedia

Related Links

  • HNN Hot Topics: Barack Obama
  • HNN Hot Topics: Mitt Romney
  • HNN Hot Topics: Paul Ryan
  • HNN Hot Topics: Election 2012: Primaries

    • The Results

  • Ira Chernus's MythicAmerica: “Hope and Change” Born Again: The New, Improved Version (11-7-12)
  • Ross Douthat: The Obama Realignment (11-7-12)
  • Kevin M. Kruse: The Real Loser: Truth (11-5-12)
  • Robert Brent Toplin: What Sunk Mitt: GOP Extremism (11-7-12)
  • David Stebenne: How Obama Won Ohio (11-7-12)
  • Gil Troy: It Is Now Obamerica -- Barack is No Obamanomaly (11-7-12)
  • John B. Judis: Despite Their Losses Last Night, Republicans Have One Trick Left: Gridlock (11-7-12)

    • The Final Debate

  • Timothy R. Furnish: Face/Off: The Last 2012 Presidential Debate (10-29-12)
  • Ruth Rosen: The Debate over "National Security" (10-24-12)
  • Jim Sleeper: Barack Obama's Broken Heart Wins Him the Last Debate (10-24-12)
  • Bernard Weisberger: Whoever Won Last Night, the American People Lost (10-23-12)
  • Leo P. Ribuffo: Neither Candidate Heeded the Words of John F. Kennedy (10-23-12)
  • Gil Troy: Our Surprisingly Bipartisan Foreign Policy Consensus (10-23-12)
  • Ira Chernus: Romney's (Seeming) Break with the Neocons (10-23-12)
  • Daniel Pipes: Mitt's Night of Lost Opportunities (10-23-12)

    • The Second Debate

  • Ruth Rosen: Obama Did More than Simply Win the Debate (10-17-12)
  • Gil Troy: Nothing Has Changed Except for the Media Narrative (10-17-12)
  • Bernard Weisberger: Obama and Romney Have Fundamentally Different Visions (10-17-12)
  • Leo P. Ribuffo: My Fantasy Questions for Obama and Romney (10-17-12)
  • Ira Chernus: "Was It a Good Show?" (10-17-12)
  • K.C. Johnson: Romney's Lost Libya Opportunity (10-17-12)
  • Daniel Pipes: Obama Was Hurt on Libya (10-17-12)

    • The VP Debate

  • Gil Troy: Joe Biden: Barack Obama's Hatchet Man (10-12-12)
  • Daniel Pipes: Three Reactions to Last Night's Debate (10-12-12)
  • Bernard Weisberger: Biden Nailed It (10-11-12)
  • Ruth Rosen: Did Either Ryan or Biden Manage to Rally Women Voters? (10-11-12)

    • The First Debate

  • Ruth Rosen: Who Cares Most About Ordinary Americans (10-3-12)
  • Gil Troy: The Debate Worked (10-3-12)
  • Lewis Gould: Ninety Minutes of Talking Points (10-3-12)
  • K.C. Johnson: Was It 1992 Redux? (10-3-12)
  • Leo Ribuffo: Obama's Bad Night (10-3-12)
  • Bernard Weisberger: Romney Takes Round One (10-3-12)
  • Ira Chernus: Another Act in the "Theater-State" (10-3-12)

    • News

  • David Greenberg: Chris Christie has to watch himself at the convention (8-15-12)
  • Harvard historian David Landes cited in Romney controversy (7-30-12)
  • What do historians really think of Obama? (6-8-12)
  • Allan Lichtman: Obama’s victory is certain (5-29-12)

    • Commentary: Historians

  • Erwin Chemerinsky: What Nov. 6 Means for the Supreme Court (10-30-12)
  • Niall Ferguson: Obama’s Possible Mideast Surprise (10-28-12)
  •  
  • Ira Chernus: Obama's Other Debate Failure: No Narrative (10-8-12)
  • Jonathan Zimmerman: Media Shouldn't Dismiss Value of Romney, Obama Presidential Debate (10-3-12)
  • Gil Troy: The 1980 Debates as Inspiration -- and Warning (10-2-12)
  • Ira Chernus: "Hope and Change:" The "Comeback Kid" of Political Narratives? (10-1-12)
  • Alan Schoeder: TV Campaign Debates: America’s Political Gift to the World (10-1-12)
  • Gil Troy: Ahmadinejad’s Pathetic Critique of Presidential Campaigning (9-30-12)
  • Victor Davis Hanson: Election, 1980-Style (9-27-12)
  • Ira Chernus: GOP vs. Dems: The Failure to Communicate (9-25-12)
  • Robert Schmuhl: The Last Time America Had So Many Two-Term Presidents was the 1820s (9-24-12)
  • Thomas Fleming: The Bad Things Presidents and Would-Be Presidents Have Said About Each Other (9-24-12)
  • Leo Ribuffo: Watch the Polls -- Where People Vote (9-24-12)
  • Steve Hochstadt: Partisan Wars Over Foreign Policy (9-24-12)
  • Gil Troy: America's Surprisingly Substantive Campaign (9-21-12)
  • Robert Mason: The "Bought Vote" of the 47 Percent (9-20-12)
  • Kevin Mattson: What Nixon Wrought With the Checkers Speech ... And What Romney Can Learn (9-19-12)
  • Jim Loewen: Registering to Vote, Then and Now (9-18-12)
  • Julian Zelizer: When Foreign Policy Becomes Campaign Focus, Who Wins? (9-18-12)
  • David Austin Walsh: Why Can Paul Ryan Run for Vice President and Congress at the Same Time? (9-17-12)
  • Daniel Herman: Lincoln Would Choose Obama over Romney (9-17-12)
  • K.C. Johnson: Judging Romney Fairly (9-17-12)
  • Gil Troy: Let's Not Rush to Judge Mitt's Libyan Rush to Judgment (9-13-12)
  • Chester Pach: Romney, Reagan, and Campaign Foreign Policy (9-13-12)
  • Juan Cole: Romney Jumps the Shark: Libya, Egypt and the Butterfly Effect (9-13-12)
  • Steve Hochstadt: Who Gets to Vote? (9-11-12)
  • Ira Chernus's MythicAmerica: The Simple Message Dems Are Missing (9-9-12)
  • Ruth Rosen: Voter Suppression: The Unraveling of American Democracy (9-3-12)
  • Gil Troy: Clinton Eastwood’s GOP Performance: Unforgiven or Beguiling (9-3-12)
  • Robert Brent Toplin: Clint (and Mitt), What Were You Thinking? (9-3-12)
  • Steve Hochstadt: Election Primer 2012: Religion and Government (9-3-12)
  • Ira Chernus's MythicAmerica: For GOP, It’s the Patriotism, Stupid (9-2-12)
  • Julian Zelizer: In Republican and Democratic National Conventions, Speeches Make History (8-20-12)
  • Niall Ferguson: Obama’s Gotta Go (8-19-12)
  • Lewis Gould: From the House to the White House (8-17-12)
  • Julian Zelizer: How Ryan Could Help Romney (8-11-12)
  • Walter Russell Mead: 2012 ... Suddenly, A Historic Election? (8-12-12)
  • Jonathan Zimmerman: Voting 'Reform' Across the Ages (8-7-12)
  • Julian Zelizer: Campaign 2012: The Phony War of Markets vs. Government (7-23-12)
  • Michael Kazin: Why Businessmen Don’t Get Elected President (7-17-12)
  • Julian Zelizer: Why Democrats Need Labor Unions (7-17-12)
  • Harvey J. Kaye: Re-Re-elect FDR! Make 2012 the New 1936! (7-6-12)
  • Ronald Radosh: Mitt Romney’s Big Problem -- and Hence Ours (7-2-12)
  • Gil Troy: A Short History of Presidential Politicking (6-25-12)
  • Julian Zelizer: Can Obama Split the GOP? (6-25-12)
  • Sean Wilentz: Why Lyndon Johnson Should Matter, Not Least to Barack Obama. (6-21-12)
  • Julian Zelizer: Ten Flubs that Helped Sink Candidates (6-18-12)
  • Timothy Stanley: Why Should the Press Be Polite to Presidents? (6-22-12)
  • Colin Woodard: Running for President on a Divided Continent (6-25-12)
  • Julian Zelizer: Obama's Attacks on Romney's Business Record Aren't Working (6-4-12)
  • Julian Zelizer: How Political Ads Can Elect a President (5-29-12)
  • Trygve Throntveit: Obama and the New Freedom (5-20-12)
  • Ronald Radosh: Romney Edges Ahead, as the Obama Team Gets Desperate (5-15-12)
  • Julian Zelizer: Tea Party Could Make or Break Romney (5-14-12)
  • Jonathan Zimmerman: Why Romney's Choice for Vice President Could Determine America's Future (5-9-12)
  • Julian Zelizer: For Obama, Foreign Policy Campaign Could Backfire (5-7-12)
  • Gil Troy: Culture Warriors Don’t Win (4-26-12)