Politics

As the presumptive presidential nominee, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is currently the face of the Republican Party. But, as journalist Ryan Lizza suggests in his article in this week's New Yorker, the party's agenda and ideology are being driven by a very different figure: Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.

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This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan, in Washington. The Texas Tea Party cruises to victory. Congress actually acts to avoid a shutdown, and former Veep Dick Cheney pans the Palin pick. It's Wednesday and time for a...

VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY: A mistake.

CONAN: ...edition of the Political Junkie.

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: There you go again.

VICE PRESIDENT WALTER MONDALE: When I hear your new ideas, I'm reminded of that ad: Where's the beef?

"In what could be a first nationwide, the husband of South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is heading on a yearlong National Guard deployment to Afghanistan, starting in January," The State reports.

Michael Haley, the South Carolina newspaper says, is "a first lieutenant in the SC National Guard [and] will be part of an agribusiness team of 100 to 200 Guard members in Afghanistan."

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And members of Congress, this week, are head-lining rallies meant to inspire public outrage, outrage over potential cuts to Pentagon spending. Military contractors say they could lose a million jobs if Congress goes ahead with across-the-board spending reductions known as sequestration. As NPR's Larry Abramson reports, the fuss is about budget cuts that were never intended to actually happen.

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The Tea Party got a big win yesterday in Texas. Its candidate for a U.S. Senate race won the Republican primary. Ted Cruz is the former state's solicitor general. He defeated the lieutenant governor who was backed by the governor, Rick Perry.

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Ted Cruz received millions of dollars in backing from national conservative groups. And now he is the Republican nominee and heavy favorite to win this fall, a Canadian-born Texan with Cuban ancestry. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.

Chick-fil-A has been in the news lately, not because of its chicken sandwiches but thanks to comments by the fast food company's president opposing same-sex marriage.

Social media helped spread the story and some of the country's mayors urged Chick-fil-A not to come to their cities. This led conservatives, including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, to call for the public to support the chain on Wednesday by eating at one of its restaurants.

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This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.

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Mitt Romney has finished an overseas tour that generated bad headlines at every stop. Now the question is whether a stream of awkward moments will influence voters. Here's NPR's Ari Shapiro.

ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: Before Mitt Romney took off last week, Robert Danin of the Council on Foreign Relations described the reasons for and the potential risks of a trip like this.

As part of our series on the campaign toolbox, Audie Cornish talks to Wally Clinton about the early days of phone banking. In the 1960s, he helped to turn the phone into a tool for mass contacts in presidential campaigns. He still works in political telemarketing as Chairman and CEO of the American Directions Group.

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From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Audie Cornish. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney wrapped up a week-long foreign trip today with a speech in Warsaw. Romney hailed Poland as a symbol of economic and political freedom and met with Polish leaders before boarding a plane for the U.S.

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As Mitt Romney returns from Poland, the suspense continues to build over who he'll pick as his running mate. And Romney's campaign has been stoking the tension. Earlier this month, they offered a lottery to supporters who donated a mere $3. The prize, a meeting with Romney and his V.P. pick. Last week, the woman in charge of the search for a vice presidential candidate, Beth Myers, tweeted out the names of several top contenders, sending the Twitter world into a tizzy.