Frank James
Frank James joined NPR News in April 2009 to launch the blog, "The Two-Way," with co-blogger Mark Memmott.
"The Two-Way" is the place where NPR.org gives readers breaking news and analysis — and engages users in conversations ("two-ways") about the most compelling stories being reported by NPR News and other news media.
James came to NPR from the Chicago Tribune, where he worked for 20 years. In 2006, James created "The Swamp," the paper's successful politics and policy news blog whose readership climbed to a peak of 3 million page-views a month.
Before that, James covered homeland security, technology and privacy and economics in the Tribune's Washington Bureau. He also reported for the Tribune from South Africa and covered politics and higher education.
James also reported for The Wall Street Journal for nearly 10 years.
James received a bachelor of arts degree in English from Dickinson College and now serves on its board of trustees.
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The Republican National Committee report offers the party a way forward after its 2012 failure to defeat President Obama, who was long seen as vulnerable because of a relatively high jobless rate and uninspiring economic growth. -
The controversy over President Obama's targeted-killings-by-drone policy is a reminder that the default position of presidents in times of crisis is to side with national security over civil liberties. That instinct has been true throughout history, and has been acted on by liberal presidents and core conservatives. -
If, as the White House indicated on Tuesday, President Obama takes the lead in a movement for more effective gun control now that he's been stirred to action by the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, it would mark a significant break from his pattern so far as chief executive. -
With U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice withdrawing her name from secretary of state consideration Thursday, attention turned to Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., as a possible successor to Hillary Clinton. And that would have repercussions on Capitol Hill and in Massachusetts. -
The final jobs report before Election Day had news both presidential campaigns could use. President Obama can point to the number of new jobs created to claim that his policies are working. And Mitt Romney can point to an uptick in the jobless rate to make the case that the economy is at a standstill. -
President Obama returned to the campaign trail for the first time since Sandy struck the U.S. His swing-state tour started in Wisconsin against a backdrop of high approval ratings from voters — and Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — for his management of the federal response to the disaster. -
Both President Obama and GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney found ways to use the second presidential debate against his rival. Obama mocked Romney for his "binders" comment. Romney cited questions asked by undecided voters at the debate, and Obama's answers, as an indictment of the president. -
Sesame Workshop asked President Obama's campaign to take down an anti-Mitt Romney ad featuring Big Bird. Since the first presidential debate, Obama has used a remark Romney made about the Sesame Street character to mock Romney. -
An oddity of presidential politics is that candidates and their campaigns spend nearly all their time telling voters how superior they are to their rivals in virtually every area: the wisdom of their policy proposals; the soundness of their judgments — everything, really. Except for debating. -
Mitt Romney's release Friday of his 2011 tax return and a summary of his tax rate over 20 years gave friends and foes alike something to grab hold of. But not all his allies greeted the move.
