Katy Steinmetz

Katy Steinmetz is a reporter in TIME's Washington bureau. In addition to working on features for TIME and TIME.com, she contributes to TIME's Swampland, Healthland and NewsFeed blogs. She pens a weekly column on language called Wednesday Words, and acts as impresario for political columnist Joe Klein's annual road trips.

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Oratory, Bore-atory: Obama, Romney and Political Rhetoric in 2012

Speechwriters spanning the Nixon era to the Clinton agree that presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney is not the guy you call if you want tears brought to your audience’s eyes. This is man, after all, who started a speech in Ohio this week with the line, “Now, as you can tell, we’re in a factory.” [...]

Campaign Soundtrack: 13 Songs That Rocked the Primary

Charles Dharapak / AP

With Rick Santorum out of the running, the Republican nominating race is all but over. TIME looks back at the musical moments that made 2012′s primary the funkiest in recent memory.

Can an Upstart Occupy-Supporter Compete with Michele Bachmann?

Anne Nolan formally announced her bid for Minnesota’s 6th-district House seat on March 9. The following Monday, she was still her own campaign manager and press secretary, a one-woman-show without an official website. This level of organization places her in a very different league from her competition: Rep. Michele Bachmann, the incumbent and former presidential [...]

Facing Long Odds, Ron Paul Aims High in Nevada

Ron Paul is aiming high in Saturday’s Nevada caucus. The conventional wisdom states that Mitt Romney has the Silver State and its 28 nominating delegates in his pocket, following his massive 51% share of the vote in the 2008 primary. Four years ago, Paul came in second with just 14%. Still, the Paul campaign has [...]

The Confident Front Runner Once More: Primary Day with Mitt Romney

Tampa, Florida At the Romney headquarters in Tampa, there are ghosts of the Republican past. On the wall, along with Florida maps and volunteer-made signs, is a collage of swag from the McCain-Palin 2008 campaign. It’s a symbol of GOP solidarity, but also a reminder that Barack Obama will be waiting to take on whoever [...]

Occupy Mitt: Protesters Come Face-to-Face with the 1% in Florida

Dunedin, Florida After Mitt Romney spoke at a rally in Naples on Sunday, a young man worked his way through the crowd, swimming against the current of tanned, elderly attendees leaving the plaza. A one-dollar bill was plastered over his mouth, symbolizing the silencing power of money. On it, he had written “99%.” An older [...]

Mitt Romney and Ron Paul: A Tale of Two Very Different Candidates

The Villages, Florida Mitt Romney and Ron Paul may be running in the same race, but they’re different animals. While Romney was holding rallies across Florida in the run up to Tuesday’s primary, Paul’s camp was busy in less conspicuous places such as Maine and Nevada, where voters will head to the polls on Feb. [...]

For Mitt Romney in Florida, It’s All About Character (Attacks)

Pompano Beach, Florida A political riddle presents itself on the trail with Mitt Romney: Can a true man of character constantly attack the character of another man? From the first introductions on Sunday, character was presented as the defining, most winning attribute of the former governor: Romney was touted as the candidate whose moral qualities [...]

Political Words of the Week: Lunch Meat and Space Travel

The American political lexicon is always evolving, and during campaign season, new phrases are as common as retirees in Boca Raton. Here are some of the words that have worked their way into the conversations this week.

Political Words of the Week: Attacks and Dead Ends

During George H.W. Bush’s ’88 campaign, his media adviser Roger Ailes, now president of Fox News, said the press was interested in three things: gaffes, attacks and good visuals. Much of this week’s vocab comes from the attacks candidates are leveling now that the presidential primary circus has pitched its tent in South Carolina. Here [...]