In the battle of unlimited-money political groups that will play a major role in the 2012 general election, Republican groups have stockpiled far more cash than their Democratic rivals, and a tiny group of people is set to have a dramatic influence on the electoral process.
When Mitt Romney's backers started a super PAC, it seemed they had hoped to hold their fire until the general election. But Newt Gingrich may have shaken both Romney and Obama strategists' assurance that the former Massachusetts governor will make it that far.
Think of super PACs as shadow cash machines for presidential candidates. They're going to be big this year. Real big.
President Obama's veto pen didn't see much action in the past two years, but history suggests that's likely to change now that Republicans control the House and want to dismantle some of his marquee legislative achievements.
President Obama lobbied senators by phone Monday to back an arms treaty with Russia that he's called a national security imperative, as a top Senate Democrat conceded "house by house combat" would be needed to win enough GOP votes to prevail.
The Democrats' agenda of jobs and tax cuts has begun to lose support within the party's own ranks, even as House and Senate members rush to finish their pre-election business and return home to seek votes for November's midterms.
Former President Jimmy Carter, on a trip promoting his new book, developed an upset stomach on a flight to Cleveland on Tuesday and was taken to a hospital, officials said.
This is a first. The "tea party" has bested both the Republican and Democratic parties in a Zogby favorability poll: 44 percent of likely voters surveyed gave a thumbs up to tea partiers, compared with 38 percent who favored Democrats and 30 percent who preferred Republicans.
President Obama is considering bypassing the Senate and naming a temporary director to run his new consumer protection agency, the White House said Tuesday.
