Scott Horsley

Scott Horsley is a White House correspondent for NPR News. He reports on the policy and politics of the Obama Administration, with a special emphasis on economic issues.

The 2012 campaign is the third presidential contest Horsley has covered for NPR. He previously reported on Senator John McCain's White House bid in 2008 and Senator John Kerry's campaign in 2004. Thanks to this experience, Horsley has become an expert in the motel shampoo offerings of various battleground states.

Horsley took up the White House beat after serving as a San Diego-based business correspondent for NPR where he covered fast food, gasoline prices, and the California electricity crunch of 2000. He reported from the Pentagon during the early phases of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Before joining NPR in 2001, Horsley was a reporter for member station KPBS-FM, where he received numerous honors, including a Public Radio News Directors' award for coverage of the California energy crisis.

Earlier in his career, Horsley worked as a reporter for WUSF-FM in Tampa, Florida, and as a news writer and reporter for commercial radio stations in Boston and Concord, New Hampshire. Horsley began his professional career as a production assistant for NPR's Morning Edition.

Horsley earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard University and an MBA from San Diego State University.

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Presidential Race
2:31 am
Tue September 11, 2012

Rhetoric Aside, Few Details Of Romney's Tax Plan

Credit Charles Dharapak / AP
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney campaigns at PR Machine Works in Mansfield, Ohio, on Monday.

Originally published on Tue September 11, 2012 2:59 pm

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's proposal to overhaul the tax code continues to draw scrutiny.

Romney says it is possible to cut tax rates without driving the government deeper into the red, and that he can make up for the lost revenue by closing tax loopholes. But analysts have had a hard time testing Romney's claim because he hasn't offered many specifics.

When he was pressed by NBC's David Gregory this weekend to give an example of a loophole he would close, Romney didn't offer much detail.

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Politics
3:49 pm
Thu September 6, 2012

Obama More Partisan, Practical Than Four Years Ago

Originally published on Thu September 6, 2012 6:09 pm

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Robert Siegel.

Four years ago, then-Senator Barack Obama took the stage in Denver to accept his party's presidential nomination. He spoke of overcoming partisanship and economic turmoil. Well, tonight, President Obama will do it again with four years of experience under his belt. Since taking office, he has struggled to overcome a crushing recession, a weak recovery and a deeply divided electorate.

NPR's Scott Horsley has this story on the path the president has traveled.

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Election 2012
3:04 am
Mon September 3, 2012

Labor Day Mark Homestretch In Presidential Race

Credit David Zalubowski / AP
President Obama waves as he walks on stage during a campaign stop on the campus of the University of Colorado in Boulder on Sunday.

Originally published on Mon September 3, 2012 4:01 pm

President Obama holds a Labor Day campaign rally in Toledo, Ohio, on Monday, and then flies to Louisiana to inspect the damage from Hurricane Isaac. The Toledo rally is part of a long weekend of campaigning, leading up to the Democratic National Convention, which starts Tuesday in Charlotte, N.C.

The president held a rally with thousands of students at the University of Colorado over the weekend. Just five days earlier, he'd been at Colorado State. Obama is hoping to harness the cross-state rivalry between the schools in the service of his re-election campaign.

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U.S.
5:12 am
Sat September 1, 2012

Obama To Troops: 'We're Here To Help You'

Credit Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP
Members of the military listen to President Obama during his visit to Fort Bliss, Texas, on Friday.

Originally published on Sun September 2, 2012 10:09 pm

On Friday, President Obama was at Fort Bliss, Texas, where he spoke to troops and met with military families, including some who lost loved ones in Afghanistan.

As that war winds down, the president is ordering additional help for those with invisible battle scars. A rash of suicides has shown mental injuries can be just as deadly as a roadside bomb.

Surrounded by soldiers in camouflage fatigues, Obama recalled his last visit to Fort Bliss, exactly two years earlier. That was the day he announced a formal end to combat operations in Iraq.

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Election 2012
4:56 am
Thu August 30, 2012

Obama's Campaign Trips Blunt GOP Criticism From Tampa

Originally published on Thu August 30, 2012 6:16 am

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

We're getting a reminder here of how fiercely competitive this race is. Even as his party's convention is going on, Mitt Romney, campaigning in Indiana and President Obama, of course, not taking the week off - as rival candidates sometimes do during the opponent's convention. He's been making his case the last couple of days in college towns, trying to energize young voters.

And NPR's Scott Horsley is on the road with the president.

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Politics
5:28 am
Sat August 25, 2012

Ahead Of Conventions, Candidates Hone Message

Originally published on Sat August 25, 2012 9:16 am

Transcript

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Republicans and Democrats will talk a lot about the economy during their national conventions over the next couple of weeks. And yet, the man who is about to be nominated by the Republican convention, Mitt Romney, briefly strayed from an economic message yesterday, while speaking in the Detroit suburb of Commerce, Michigan.

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Election 2012
4:23 am
Wed August 22, 2012

Obama Tells Student Voters That He Was One Of Them

Originally published on Wed August 22, 2012 6:23 am

President Obama has been campaigning among college students. In Nevada and Ohio Tuesday, he told them his policies are better than his opponents for keeping higher education affordable.

NPR Story
4:14 am
Wed August 15, 2012

Obama Backs Wind Energy, Romney Favors Coal

Originally published on Wed August 15, 2012 4:22 am

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm David Greene.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And I'm Renee Montagne.

You could say that the presidential campaign got a jolt of energy this week. President Obama was in Iowa yesterday, touting the electric potential of wind power. Republican rival Mitt Romney was in Ohio, talking up that old standby, coal. Each man accused the other of standing in the way of a rival energy source.

NPR's Scott Horsley has more.

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Election 2012
4:05 am
Wed August 8, 2012

Democratic Field Offices Boost Obama In Colorado

Originally published on Wed August 8, 2012 10:52 am

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And I'm Renee Montagne.

Look at the electoral maps put up by political analysts and a few things become clear: President Obama holds an advantage in the state-by-state electoral votes that determine this fall's election.

INSKEEP: But his lead in several key states is narrow, and as of now, the red and blue maps put up by those analysts suggest he is still short of the 270 votes he would need to win.

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Presidential Race
4:52 am
Sat August 4, 2012

Obama, Romney Each Read Jobs Numbers Differently

Credit Paul Sakuma / AP
A job recruiter talks with an unemployed man, at a job fair in San Jose, Calif., last week. The Labor Department reported Friday that employers added 163,000 net jobs last month but the unemployment rate rose to 8.3 percent.

Originally published on Sun August 5, 2012 10:43 am

The stock market rallied on Friday's jobs report, with the Dow Jones industrial average jumping more than 200 points. But what do the numbers mean for the political stocks of President Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney? That's harder to measure.

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