The Big Questions

In this week's issue of TIME Magazine (available to subscribers here), Mark Halperin looks at how Romney and Obama closed in 2011.

Quote: "The former Massachusetts governor has lucked out: he is less a target in the final days of 2011 than rivals Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul.....Romney might be in sight of the nomination before President Obama delivers his State of the Union address on Jan. 24.... [Obama's] approval rating has risen along with some statistics that track the nation’s finances. And the President’s personal confidence that he can best Romney or any other contender next fall has been boosted by the spectacle put on by the GOP field in 2011."