All Things Considered

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, Host:

The Republican candidates for president will gather for another debate tonight, this time in Orlando, Florida. It's sponsored by Fox News and YouTube, and some of the questions will be submitted by homemade video from voters. The debate also comes as a new two-man dynamic is emerging in the race: Texas Governor Rick Perry versus former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

MICHELE NORRIS, Host:

NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson is in Orlando and she joins us now.

Michele Norris and Melissa Block read comments from listeners. Thursday, we hear criticism of a story about Federal Reserve bashing — and both criticism and praise for our piece about obesity's impact on sexual health.

To make the point that America's infrastructure is in need of repair and the federal government should do it, President Obama traveled to the Brent Spence Bridge. It runs over the Ohio River, and it connects House Speaker John Boehner's Ohio to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's Kentucky. Melissa Block talks to NPR's Ari Shapiro for more.

The nation’s top defense officials told a Senate committee on Thursday the U-S must remain invested in Iraq and Afghanistan for now. But Colorado Senator Mark Udall had another country on his mind.

Oil and gas companies across Colorado and the West are lashing out against President Obama’s proposed deficit reduction plan saying it will stifle jobs in the region.  It's the latest tit for tat in the ongoing political battle over drilling on federal public lands.