Political conventions are all about the speeches and the strategic messaging being sent out to the American people. After three long nights of speeches at the Democratic National Convention, thousands of words were uttered on stage. Takeaway Washington Correspondent Todd Zwillich patrolled the convention floor in Charlotte and asked attendees what words and messages they had not heard.

Whether or not President Obama is reelected in November, Clinton plans to leave her post in December 2012. How will Americans reflect on her tenure as Secretary of State? Will she run for President in 2016?

Although delegates are entrusted with the task of choosing their party’s next presidential nominee, modern-day convention voting is little more than a well-rehearsed ritual. Mitt Romney has been the Republican Party’s nominee for months, while Barack Obama has been the Democratic Party’s 2012 candidate for years.

In February, Maine Senator Olympia Snowe announced that she would not pursue a fourth term in November. She cited the Senate's "atmosphere of polarization" as one of the reasons she decided not to run. Now there’s a closely contested race to fill the seat.

Today marks the start of the Paralympic Games in London. For these athletes, preparing for the games means more than training, eating well and getting plenty of sleep: there is the added pressure of making sure their equipment is working properly.

Historians have made careers out of examining pieces of paper — letters, manuscripts, articles — to decipher just a little bit of history, to learn someone's story. But in an age of smartphones and digital file-sharing, why aren't we letting our family members' voices speak for themselves?

Since Air Jordans debuted in 1985, the sneaker industry has been dominated by basketball's biggest stars. But how have shoes risen to this level of prominence? And where does fashion intersect with sports, race, and class?

Paul Ryan is perhaps best known as the architect of the leading Republican plan to balance the budget. The book that may very well have influenced his economic ideals is George Gilder’s "Wealth and Poverty," a book regarded as the intellectual guide for Reaganomics and the Reagan White House in the 1980s.

In recent New Yorker articles, staff writer Jon Lee Anderson describes a country torn by civil war without clear factions. The campaign by President Bashar al-Assad against the rebels has been going on for 17 months, with some estimates placing the death toll at around 20,000.

The shooting at the Sikh temple in Wisconsin earlier this month drew national attention to America's peaceful Sikh community. One of the most heartfelt tributes to the victims to emerge in the last few weeks comes from a Muslim-American rapper.

In 2004, a McDonald’s manager in Kentucky received a disturbing call from a man pretending to be a police officer. He told her one of her employees was under suspicion of stealing from customers, and that he needed her help. Several bizarre instructions followed.

As President Obama campaigns for reelection, as he delivers speech after speech in swing states from Ohio to Florida, there's one word that’s completely off-limits. The word-which-must-not be named? "Stimulus."

Facebook has forever changed our real-world interactions. The social media company keeps us connected, but what happens with that connectivity comes at the expense of our privacy? At what point do these virtual friendships start to replace — or hamper — our real friendships?

In the most anticipated rover landing in a generation, NASA landed its Mars Curiosity Rover on Mars at 1:31 am EST this morning. Curiosity will remain on Mars for two years, trying to find a signs that the planet can support life.

Throughout the summer, The Takeaway has covered parenting and the notion of “having it all” from a number of approaches — from women, from men, and from those who think having it all is the wrong thing to shoot for. Today, The Takeaway looks at it from the perspective of children.

'Having it all' is the phrase of a generation who fought for equal rights in the workplace. Earning an income, raising a family, and maintaining a social life became the ultimate standard of balanced success in the modern era. But who's to say when you have it all? And what standard are we measuring against?

Oscar Pistorius, the lightning-fast South African sprinter, isn't the only blade runner in the Olympics. Journalist and torch bearer Stuart Hughes, who lost his right leg, carried the Olympic torch through West London wearing his carbon fiber blade prosthesis.

It's no secret that voter turnout in America is low, hovering around 50 percent. But Norman Ornstein is trying to change that. He's a columnist for Roll Call and wrote “The U.S. should require all citizens to vote” for The Atlantic.

In the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001, Congress passed the Patriot Act, a law that expanded the government's powers of surveillance and intelligence-gathering. While Sen. Ron Wyden voted for the Act in 2001, he has since changed his mind.

Bob Costas won’t tell you, but watching the Olympics on NBC this year cost the network more than a billion dollars, a price tag that nearly covers the security bill for the 2012 Games. With a projected cost of around $17 billion, is hosting the Olympics worth it?