With the election, scandals and budget battles, 2012 saw plenty of political losers. Here are the top ten political losers in American politics for 2012.

1. Americans

With Congress and President Barack Obama on the verge of passing an agreement to avoid the "fiscal cliff," America's political leaders have again shown an unwillingness to make difficult choices to deal with the nation's national debt, now at around $16.4 trillion. Americans said they were unsatisfied with the status quo and wanted their political leaders to work together to solve the nation's difficult problems, yet they re-elected a Democratic president, Democratic Senate and Republican House. more >>

The U.S. House of Representatives late Tuesday passed a bill, 257-167, to avoid the "fiscal cliff." President Barack Obama said he will sign the bill into law.

The bill passed with a majority of Democrats, 172-16, and a minority of Republicans, 85-151. It was negotiated by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Vice President Joe Biden and easily passed the Senate, 89-8, early Tuesday morning.

House leaders had originally said they would not have enough time to review the bill and vote on it by Tuesday. If the bill had not been voted on by Thursday at noon, though, they would have had to pass a new bill with the new Congress that would then be in session. more >>

The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill, 89 to 8, that would prevent the "fiscal cliff" from going into effect. The U.S. House of Representatives is meeting Tuesday at noon, but House leaders have not said when, or if, they will vote on the measure.

The compromise legislation was put together by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Vice President Joe Biden.

"This shouldn't be the model for how we do things around here, but I think we can say we've done some good for the country," McConnell said on the Senate floor. more >>

An agreement has been reached between the White House and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to avoid the tax side of the "fiscal cliff," President Barack Obama announced Wednesday. He urged members of Congress to back the plan. Congress will not have time to vote on the plan tonight, before the fiscal cliff deadline, but votes could come later this week.

"An agreement to prevent this New Year's tax hike is in sight, but it is not done, there are still issues to resolve," Obama said.

The agreement would prevent taxes from going up on individuals making more than $400,000 and families making more than $450,000, extend unemployment benefits for a year, maintain the current child tax credit, tuition tax credit and clean energy tax credit, delay cuts to doctors who provide services for Medicare patients, and permanently fix the alternative minimum tax, which would otherwise impact many middle income families. more >>

An agreement appears to be coming together to avert the "fiscal cliff." While it would put off entitlement reform, it would give Republicans much of what they want on taxes. Republicans could still reject the plan even as liberals complain that Democrats are giving away too much.

The plan that appears to be coming together, according to Bloomberg's Joshua Green and New York Magazine's Jonathan Chait, would make the Bush-era tax cuts permanent for all taxable income below about $400,000 to $500,000 and increase the threshold and lower the rate for the estate tax. In return, Democrats would get an extension of unemployment benefits, a one year delay in planned cuts to doctors who provide services for Medicare patients, and a temporary fix to the alternative minimum tax to prevent tax increases on many middle income households.

In another concession to Republicans, an increase to the debt limit will not be part of the agreement. Republicans had tried to change how the cost-of-living allowance is calculated for Social Security as part of the deal, but Democrats rejected that idea. more >>

With the Monday at midnight deadline for the "fiscal cliff" fast approaching, political leaders still had not reached a compromise by Sunday night to avoid the recession that economists say will likely come with the combined tax increases and government spending cuts. With the House and Senate both in session on Sunday, members of Congress disagreed on whether there would be an agreement.

Much like the Budget Control Act of 2011, which is partly responsible for the fiscal cliff, Vice President Joe Biden is now leading efforts on behalf of the White House to reach an agreement. He met off and on with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) throughout much of the day.

Sounding optimistic on ABC's "This Week," Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said it would not be unusual to have an agreement at the last minute: "I've been a legislator for 37 years and I've watched how these things work. On these big, big agreements they almost always happen at the last minute." more >>