According to a Gallup Poll released Monday, 40 percent of American voters identified themselves as poltically independent in 2011. This is the highest yearly yield in the poll's history. But whether independents get burned out after their favorite spitfire candidate doesn't make it past the primaries or if they successfully push mainstream candidates towards the fringe in 2012 is still unclear.

If Mitt Romney can hold on for a victory in New Hampshire, he will have history on his side: in every contested Republican primary season since 1980, no candidate has won the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary. And while Romney may not have a hometown advantage, his reputation as former governor of neighboring Massachusetts has in part helped propel him to the top of many pre-primary polls. But polls and actual votes — as evidenced by his eight-vote caucus victory — are very different things.

With five days to go until the Iowa caucus, all six contenders for the Republican presidential nomination are making their rounds in small towns across Iowa. Newt Gingrich's poll numbers continue to fall in the Hawkeye state, opening up the possibility for another candidate to overtake the lead. Hopefuls who have stuck it out since the beginning — like Rick Santorum and Ron Paul — have experienced a recent uptick in popularity.

In response to the coverage of Egypt's elections, the Takeaway has heard a lot from listeners about our use of the term "Islamist" to describe the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood and other parties in Egypt. One Takeaway listener wrote on our Web site, "Is there Christianists and Jewists? It is about time that sensitivity was built in the media discourse."

Egypt's first democratic elections since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak entered their second day on Tuesday. Although the elections capped weeks of bloody clashes between the military and protesters, who felt that they were loosing their revolution to military rule, the atmosphere throughout voting centers was one of hope. Protesters have been unhappy with the pace of transition as the country moves from military to civilian rule. The Obama administration came out in support of the protesters before the election began.

Tuesday was Election Day across the country and voters in several states cast ballots on issues with national dimensions. Ohio voters struck down a law that restricts the collective bargaining rights of public workers. The landslide 62-38 result was setback for Republican Governor John Kasich, who implemented the law as a budget-cutting measure and campaigned across the state to prevent its defeat. Mississippi voters rejected the so-called "Personhood Amendment," which sought to outlaw abortions. In Arizona, voters defeated the main architect of that state's controversial immigration law.

Presidential candidates put a lot of effort into strategizing their election campaigns, and timing is an important part of that. Republican candidates could find their carefully arranged schedules completely flipped tomorrow, if Florida decides to move its primary election to January 31 — a month earlier than party leaders expected. This could result in other states changing the dates of their primaries, including the traditional early states: Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada.

Two special elections for Congressional seats scheduled for today could end in losses for Democrats. In New York City, Rep. Anthony Weiner's old seat is up for grabs. Republican Bob Turner, a 70 year old businessman without any government experience, is facing off against State Assemblyman David Weprin. If Turner is elected, he will be the first Republican to represent this part of Queens in the House since 1920. Acorss the country in Nevada, Republican Mark Amodei is comfortable leading Democrat Kate Marshall in the Second Congressional District.

President Barack Obama continues his jobs tour this week, with stops in Columbus, Ohio and Raleigh-Durham, N.C., rallying support for his jobs plan. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is expected to speak at a conference on regulation of systemic risk on Thursday, five days before the Federal Open Market Committee begins its meetings next week. Tonight, is the first Tea Party debate, which GOP presidential hopefuls Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney and Rick Perry are expected to attend. And Anthony Weiner's old Congressional seat in New York's ninth district is up for grabs in a special election tomorrow.

In advance of tomorrow night's Republican presidential debate — the second for GOP candidates hoping to run in the 2012 election, and first for Texas Gov. Rick Perry — former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney unveiled a plan to boost economic growth, in a speech yesterday in Las Vegas, Nevada. It hasn't seemed to boost his standing yet — a new poll shows Perry in the lead over Romney and other GOP candidates.

Independent voters were a key part of the coalition that elected Barack Obama in 2008. But President Obama has lost the support of many of those independents, throughout his term. As potential candidates begin to prepare for the 2012 presidential election, the hunt is on to try to capture the independent vote.

Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann made it official yesterday - she is running for president. She will go up against the likes of Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Tim Pawlenty, for the Republican nomination.  How will her entry change the race?

With Jon Huntsman announcing his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination, Mitt Romney is no longer the only Mormon in the running. Both candidates have the potential to become front-runners in the race, even though a recent Gallup poll shows 22 percent of the nation would not vote for a Mormon. 

Bothaina Kamel, is a television anchor in Egypt, but she is seriously thinking of changing careers. She has thrown her hat into the political ring, becoming Egypt's first female nominee for president. She joins us to talk about her campaign and her views on a post-Mubarak Egypt. Also joining us is Nancy Yousef, Egyptian-American and professor of English literature at the City University of New York-Baruch.

Results in Haiti show that musician Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly has won the runoff for the presidential election. Martelly defeated former first lady Mirlande Manigat. Running on a campaign of change, the outsider garnered 67 percent of the vote, according to the Provisional Electoral Council, while Manigat only managed just over 30 percent. However, observers say turnout was low and Martelly has a slew of challenges facing him once he is in office.

After months of controversy surrounding the election results in Ivory Coast, mediators from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), have been sent in to try and resolve the political crisis before it turns violent. Four leaders from the 15-nation ECOWAS talked with incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo yesterday, in hopes of convincing him to cede his presidency to Alassane Ouattara, who won the election last November. 

All week long we're talking with some of our favorite guests from 2010 about the year that was…the good, the bad, and the ridiculous. Today, our subject is the year’s big breakups, and our guest is author, humorist, and newshound Andy Borowitz. But rather than just talk about or look at the breakups, we’re also inviting listeners to participate and answer a quiz that we’re calling the Takeaway’s 2010 Breakup Quiz.

How well do we really know our president? All week we’ll be looking at the President Obama that has emerged over the past two years, and what that portends about Barack Obama’s future plans as he seeks re-election in 2012. David Bromowich, Sterling Professor of English at Yale University, says that when the nation elected Barack Obama, they actually got two presidents, not one.  

Both voters and candidates are calling yesterday's elections in Haiti invalid, citing widespread fraud. Twelve of the nineteen presidential candidates held a press conference yesterday afternoon calling for the vote to be canceled, and protesters took to the streets after scores of complaints from those whose names did not appear on the rolls at polling stations were unable to vote.

It was 50 years ago today that a young Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy became the first 20th-century born President of the United States, defeating incumbent vice-President Richard Nixon.

We remember that historic election with the man who was coordinator of the Civil Rights section of Kennedy's 1960 presidential campaign, former Sen. Harris Wofford (D-Penn.).