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Certain things always get attention during a presidential contest, including debates and gaffes. They don't really matter, one political scientist suggests.

Medicaid is likely to undergo a major change regardless of whether President Obama is re-elected or replaced by Republican Mitt Romney. Democrats support a much bigger program. Republicans have plans to scale it back.

Police received a tip that revived the 37-year-old search for the Teamsters boss, but after running tests, it turned up empty.

Melissa Block profiles several of the newly announced 2012 MacArthur Fellows. In this segment she speaks with Laura Poitras, a documentarian who is making a trilogy of films about the post-Sept. 11 world.

Crowds of anxious Iranians are flocking to foreign exchange offices as the rial continues to plummet; it lost about one-third of its value in just a day. Tough economic and banking sanctions, and an oil embargo, are at the heart of the crisis. Tehran is blaming outsiders, and seems unable to stop the free fall.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has conceded defeat in parliamentary elections in the former Soviet republic, clearing the way for the opposition Georgian Dream party to form a new government. The country's new ruling party says it will continue a pro-Western stance but also seek to restore ties with Russia.

In this year's presidential election, more than 1 out of every 10 eligible voters is Hispanic, and Hispanic political clout is growing. But while Spanish-language ad spending by the campaigns is eight times what was spent in 2008, that spending has been focused mainly on just seven media markets.

Many cities spend millions on prisons annually, and often those moving in and out of jail come from the same neighborhoods. The Justice Mapping Center maps those costs, block by block, to help policymakers visualize where those public dollars are going — and determine if they could be better spent.

Only two groups of people really matter in any game: the players and the officials. That's the lesson the NFL inadvertently taught football fans in the past four weeks, says Frank Deford. At many stadiums, the regular officials were greeted with loud ovations after their lockout ended.

In political debates, candidates frequently avoid uncomfortable topics by diverting the conversation to an unrelated strength. Many politicians hire debate coaches who have perfected this technique, called "the pivot." So why do these dodges usually evade our cognitive radar? A psychologist explains.