Ongoing Coverage:

Ari Shapiro

Ari Shapiro has been NPR's White House Correspondent since 2010. His stories appear on all of NPR's newsmagazines, including All Things Considered and Morning Edition, where he is also a frequent guest host.

Shapiro began reporting on the White House after five years as NPR's Justice Correspondent, covering national security and counterterrorism during one of the most tumultuous periods in the Justice Department's history.

He spent 2012 on the campaign trail, leading NPR's coverage of Mitt Romney during the primary and general election. He also travels widely overseas in his reporting, including visits to Afghanistan with President Obama and to Iraq with Attorney General Michael Mukasey.

The first NPR reporter to be promoted to correspondent before age 30, Shapiro has been recognized with several journalism prizes, including The American Bar Association's Silver Gavel for his coverage of prisoners lost in Louisiana's detention system after Hurricane Katrina; The Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize for his investigation of methamphetamine use and HIV transmission; the Columbia Journalism Review's "laurel" recognition of his investigation into disability benefits for injured veterans; and the American Judges' Association's American Gavel for a body of work reporting on courts and the justice system. He regularly appears as a guest analyst on CNN, PBS, NBC, and other TV news outlets.

Before covering the Justice Department, Shapiro worked as a public radio reporter in Atlanta, Miami, and Boston.

Shapiro moonlights as a guest singer with the "little orchestra" Pink Martini, based in his hometown of Portland, Oregon. Since he debuted with them at the Hollywood Bowl in 2009, he has performed with the band at many of the world's most storied venues, including Carnegie Hall in New York, L'Olympia in Paris, and Mount Lycabettus in Athens. He has recorded songs on three of Pink Martini's albums, in five languages.

Shapiro is a magna cum laude graduate of Yale. He began his journalism career in 2001 in the office of NPR Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg. Shapiro was born in Fargo, North Dakota, and grew up in Portland, Oregon.

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Presidential Race
7:00 am
Sun February 26, 2012

Mich. Prospects Looking Up For Romney

Michigan holds its Republican primary on Tuesday. The former Massachusetts governor, and Michigan native, Mitt Romney has been touring the state in search of votes. A week ago, Rick Santorum held a double-digit lead in the polls. Now, NPR's Ari Shapiro reports, Romney seems to have closed the gap.

Presidential Race
5:09 am
Sat February 25, 2012

On Romney's Michigan Tour, A Change Of Pace

Credit Gerald Herbert / AP
Mitt Romney greets patrons at a restaurant called The Mitt in Mount Clemens, Mich., on Friday. The candidate hasn't done as much handshaking lately, given the size of the recent primary states.

Originally published on Thu March 29, 2012 4:18 pm

Mitt Romney is on a bus tour across Michigan, hoping to win the votes of the state where he grew up. With primary day on Tuesday, Romney seems to have closed the gap in polls with Rick Santorum.

This trip has the feel of those early days campaigning back in New Hampshire, before any votes were actually cast: the long bus rides, the snowy landscape, even the impromptu restaurant drop-ins.

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Election 2012
3:00 am
Fri February 17, 2012

Romney Campaigns In Michigan

Symbolically speaking, this month's Michigan's primary may be the most important of the GOP presidential race to date. It's the state where Mitt Romney grew up, and his father was a beloved government and business leader. And now, Romney seems to have a real chance of losing the state to Rick Santorum.

Mitt Romney
3:44 am
Sat February 11, 2012

As CPAC Ends, Contest In Conservatism Goes On

Credit Evan Vucci / AP
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, Friday.

Thousands of Republican activists from around the country are in Washington listening to party leaders and conservative media stars. The Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, wraps up Saturday.

The backdrop of the gathering is the heated presidential race. Three of the remaining candidates spoke Friday. The fourth, Ron Paul, skipped the conference. The headliner for the final session Saturday will be Sarah Palin.

Four years ago, this meeting was where Mitt Romney took his farewell bow, leaving the presidential race.

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Presidential Race
5:09 am
Sun February 5, 2012

Romney Vows To Take Nev.'s Vote To Washington

Credit Emmanuel Dunand / AFP/Getty Images
Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney won the Nevada caucus Saturday, maintaining strong front-runner status in the race to the nomination.

There was no 11th-hour surprise in the Nevada caucuses Saturday night. The first state in the West to vote in the Republican presidential race chose Mitt Romney, who won with support from a broad base and left his rivals trailing behind.

No Thanks To You, Mr. President

Nevada has been Romney country since at least 2008. That year, he took about half the vote in the caucuses but lost the Republican nomination to John McCain.

This year, he has his sights set higher.

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Presidential Race
5:10 am
Sat February 4, 2012

Out West, GOP Candidates Mine For Caucus Votes

Credit Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Romney supporters gather for a rally at the Elko Regional Airport in Nevada on Friday. The state holds its caucus Saturday.

Originally published on Sat February 4, 2012 12:05 pm

Saturday is caucus day in Nevada, the first state in the West to vote as Republicans go about choosing their presidential candidate.

Mitt Romney is counting on another win here to keep him on the path to the nomination. Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul have also been campaigning across the state, while Rick Santorum is in the Midwest looking ahead to later contests next week.

Believe it or not, Nevada leads the country in unemployment, home foreclosures and bankruptcy.

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Election 2012
3:41 pm
Mon January 30, 2012

In the GOP Primary Race, Can Steadiness Trump Passion?

Credit Charles Dharapak / AP
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney campaigns at Ring Power Lift Trucks in Jacksonville, Fla., on Monday. Polls show him widening his lead in Florida after adopting a more aggressive campaign style.

Originally published on Mon January 30, 2012 11:02 pm

Mitt Romney starts the week having undergone a transformation.

For almost a year, he tried to portray himself as the grown-up in the Republican race for the presidential nomination. Now, over the course of two debates and countless Florida campaign stops, the buttoned-up businessman is showing that he can get tough.

This shift has upended the yin-yang dynamic that has been playing out for weeks between the passionate, fiery Newt Gingrich and the staid, steady Romney.

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It's All Politics
3:29 pm
Thu January 26, 2012

Candidates Campaign On An Economic Silver Bullet: Worker Retraining

Credit Julie Jacobson / AP
President Barack Obama waves after speaking at a UPS facility in Las Vegas on Thursday. Nevada is one stop on the president's latest road trip focusing on the economy.

There are not many things that Barack Obama, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney agree on, but when it comes to job training there is common ground.

"It is time to turn our unemployment system into a reemployment system that puts people to work," President Obama said during his State of the Union address Tuesday.

Earlier in the week, Newt Gingrich offered a similar solution for helping those facing long-term unemployment.

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Election 2012
3:00 am
Tue January 24, 2012

Housing Woes Affect Florida's GOP Primary

One of the biggest issues in the Florida GOP primary race is housing. Mitt Romney is attacking Newt Gingrich's work for the housing giant Freddie Mac. This issue is not just a political talking point though. Three years after the economic collapse, foreclosures continue to affect real people every day in an extremely personal way.

Election 2012
3:00 am
Mon January 23, 2012

Romney Criticizes Gingrich: He Resigned In 'Disgrace'

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is campaigning in Florida following a big loss over the weekend to Newt Gingrich in the South Carolina primary. Romney told a crowd that Gingrich resigned in disgrace after four years as speaker of the House.

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