By Candy Crowley, CNN Chief Political Correspondent

It was probably only a matter of time - about 365 days, in fact - before the death of Osama bin Laden got into the political groundwater of 2012.

In a campaign ad for President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton praises Obama for approving the risky raid into Pakistan and suggests Mitt Romney wouldn't have.

"He took the harder and more honorable path, and the one that produced, in my opinion, the best result," Clinton says.

Which path, the silent screen asks, would Romney have taken? It quotes his criticism of candidate Obama's promise to strike inside Pakistan if needed to go after terrorists. It quotes Romney in 2007 questioning whether the pursuit of bin Laden was worth moving heaven and earth.
Where to begin in what can best be described as situational politics?

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By Candy Crowley, CNN Chief Political Correspondent

There is nothing good to say about a scandal involving 12 Secret Service agents in a foreign country in advance of a presidential trip with 20 prostitutes and too much liquor.

"It included two supervisors," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. "That is particularly shocking and appalling."

Widespread respect for the Secret Service in general helps blunt the impact. It also helps that Director Mark Sullivan seems well-versed in the rules of Scandal Handling 101.

Rule 1: The best defense is lightning-speed offense.

"[The agents involved] are gone, half of them, and I think others will be leaving shortly," U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland, told me Sunday.

Rule 2: Whatever you've got, put it out there.

"From every indication I've seen, from the moment this scandal broke until now, there's no attempt to cover anything over," U.S. Rep. Peter King, R-New York, told NBC.

Rule 3: Information is the coin of the realm in Washington - keep in touch.

Members of Congress filled the Sunday talk shows with information they got directly from the director. U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-New York, said she had spoken with Sullivan the night before.

And don't forget the boss.

"The president has confidence in Director Sullivan and the agency," David Axelrod, President Barack Obama's re-election campaign communications director, said Sunday.

It's the worst Secret Service scandal in history. The president's security might not have been compromised, but it certainly could have been.

By Candy Crowley, CNN Chief Political Correspondent

Washington (CNN) - Spoiler alert: The Senate on Monday will not get the 60 votes needed to move ahead with the so-called Buffett Rule, which makes critics think the White House spent a week pushing it just to make a political point.

Shocking, we know.

It's also the kind of icky suggestion serious treasury secretaries don't like to talk about.

"I don't know - I've heard that concern, but I don't understand it. I mean, just because they oppose this doesn't mean it's not the right thing to do," Timothy Geithner said on CBS' "Face the Nation."
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By Candy Crowley, CNN Chief Political Correspondent

Washington (CNN) - Mitt Romney thinks a Wisconsin/Maryland/D.C. sweep Tuesday night will set him sailing to the nomination long before the August Republican convention.

Still, he's not about to own it.

Asked at a diner in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin whether he had made a vice presidential pick, Romney said no. "I'm not presumptuous enough because I'm not the nominee yet."

Rest assured someone inside Camp Romney is thinking about vice presidential picks. The candidate, though, follows a long line of almost-nominees who do not want to be caught publicly musing about a No. 2.

There is no such reticence in the rest of political world, where it is never too early to rush the season with a quick round of veepstakes.

Among the most frequently mentioned vice presidential possibilities:

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By Candy Crowley, CNN Chief Political Correspondent

(CNN) - What does it say when a politician is willing to get up early to do four of the five national Sunday talk shows?

It means that Super Tuesday is near, and Newt Gingrich is running out of time and space to get his juice back.

The former speaker of the U.S. House hasn't won a state since South Carolina on January 21, pretty much ceding the headlines to Mitt Romney vs. Rick Santorum. He pins his hope for a return to marquee status on two things: a big win in Georgia and big increases in prices at the gas pump.

Candy reports that the chance of a new candidate emerging before a brokered GOP convention is unlikely.

Candy recaps today's edition of State of the Union.

From the Washington Post:

"Candy Crowley, host of CNN’s “State of the Union,” was presented with orchids for challenging ads run by AARP, the Air Transport Association and the American Petroleum Institute during deliberations in the fall by the “supercommittee” convened to come up with a plan to reduce the country’s deficit..."

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Sen. John Thune talks to Candy about Mitt Romney's middling support from the GOP in Iowa and nationwide.

CANDY’S POST-GAME ANALYSIS

Watch the video

On State of the Union:
Listening to Rick Santorum, you are going to see, you are going to hear some interesting things over the next three weeks before the Iowa caucuses. Remember, on the debate on Saturday night Santorum had very nice things to say about Newt Gingrich by in large saying that he inspired him to get into conservative politics, etc., etc., and today talking about Gingrich he said, ‘You know I’m just saying, after three years in the leadership there was a coup to try and get rid of Newt Gingrich’ and that doesn’t happen very often, so even those who consider themselves admirers of Newt Gingrich understand that you have to go after him and certainly Santorum did that in this morning’s interview.
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