By John Whitesides WASHINGTON | Tue Feb 21, 2012 7:42pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum’s hard-charging focus on social issues has created a quandary for rival Mitt Romney, who usually prefers to steer clear of such sensitive topics and stress his business credentials. By warning of “the dangers of contraception,” claiming that some pre-natal tests should not be covered by insurers because the tests encourage abortions…

By Jeff Mason and Kim Dixon WASHINGTON | Tue Feb 21, 2012 7:21pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Treasury Department on Wednesday will roll out a corporate tax reform plan from President Barack Obama, administration officials said on Tuesday, with expectations low for any major tax code overhaul in an election year. The Obama plan will follow such principles as “fairness” that the president laid out in his State of…

Tue Feb 21, 2012 6:34pm EST (Reuters) – The Treasury Department will roll out President Barack Obama’s corporate tax reform plan on Wednesday, administration officials said on Tuesday. The plan will follow such principles as “fairness” that Obama laid out in his State of the Union address to Congress last month, the officials said.A package had been expected by the end of February, though most analysts highly doubt that substantive…

By Jeff Mason WASHINGTON | Tue Feb 21, 2012 12:38am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In early January, President Barack Obama’s campaign manager Jim Messina called David Axelrod, the president‘s top strategist, into his Chicago office and started writing on a white board. On one side of the board, Messina sketched out the amounts of money he expected Republican “Super PACs” and other groups to raise and spend to try to…

By Jeff Mason WASHINGTON | Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:10am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Winning The Future. Greater Together. We Don’t Quit. They may not be official but those are all phrases that could in one form or another be candidates to become President Barack Obama’s re-election slogan.Advisers say a fresh slogan to replace the winning “Change we can believe in” mantra of 2008, is unlikely to appear before Obama…