By Elaine Donnelly
Extending sexual misconduct to combat units
Republican Mark Sanford's campaign for South Carolina's open House seat was slumping two weeks ago when he gambled on a stunt many at the time ridiculed: He "debated" a life-size poster-photo of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
With Republican candidate Mark Sanford surging ahead in Tuesday's special congressional election in South Carolina, the party is increasingly hopeful it can avoid an embarrassing defeat in a district that analysts said it should have been able to hold easily.
A new poll shows that Congress is less popular than root canals and colonoscopies, but more popular than the Ebola virus, meth labs and gonorrhea.
Mitt Romney crossed a major threshold this week, moving above 50 percent in his favorability rating, according to the Real Clear Politics average of polls — and for the first time in the campaign he leads President Obama on that measure.
The Democratic Party of Virginia's State Central Committee voted to oppose an eminent-domain measure that Democratic voters in the state support by a 20-point margin, and expected to pass overwhelmingly on the Nov. 6 ballot.
In the all-important swing state of Virginia, no state politician cracked 50 percent in their approval ratings in a poll released Tuesday, though a strong plurality of voters approve of the job performances of Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell and Democratic Sen. Mark R. Warner.
President Obama leads polls in Virginia, Connecticut and Massachusetts but that has not yet translated into strong support for Democrats in those states' crucial Senate races.
President Obama leads presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney in Virginia, 50 percent to 45 percent -- down from an 8-point lead he held in early July, according to a survey released Tuesday by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling.
U.S. Senate candidates Tim Kaine and George Allen on Wednesday announced their best quarterly fundraising totals, even as a new poll showed the Virginia political heavyweights still neck and neck heading into the summer campaign season.
President Obama leads presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney by eight points in Virginia as both campaigns turn their focus toward the all-important swing state this week.
Former Virginia Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr.'s bid for the White House as the Constitution Party's nominee could help resuscitate a political career cut short by a razor-thin loss in 2008 — but it also carries the risk of tipping the scales toward President Obama in the all-important swing state.
Another poll, another virtual tie between Tim Kaine and George Allen.
President Obama has a healthy 51 to 43 percent lead over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the crucial battleground state of Virginia - with or without Gov. Bob McDonnell on the ticket, according to a new poll.
Michigan native son Mitt Romney is mounting a giant effort to win back some love in the state of his birth, amid fresh signs he will have trouble winning the Feb. 28 primary or a general election matchup for the state's 16 electoral votes this fall against President Obama.
Minnesota's Democrats would love to knock her off, but Rep. Michele Bachmann looks likely to win a fourth term in her redrawn district. But her failed presidential bid may have clouded the tea party favorite's hopes of moving up to higher office in the future.
"We all know Congress is unpopular," said Dean Debnam, PPP president. "But the fact that voters like it even less than cockroaches, lice and Genghis Khan really shows how far its esteem has fallen with the American public over the last few weeks."
Inside Politics: Root canals, colonoscopies more popular than Congress →
"Nikki Haley could score some points with the Democrats and independent voters she's struggling with by appointing Stephen Colbert to the U.S. Senate," says Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling. "But if she goes down a more traditional path, voters' top choice is Tim Scott."
