Donald Lambro

Liberals seek Cabinet shifts

It has taken nearly 10 months for Democrats to face reality, but it's finally dawning on some of President Obama's allies in Congress that his economic policies aren't working.

November 26, 2009

Life after recount battle for Norm Coleman

Former Sen. Norm Coleman, Minnesota Republican, who narrowly lost his bid for a second term in a bitter eight-month recount battle with Democrat Al Franken, may be poised for an improbable comeback after a new survey showed that half of all Republicans polled would support him if he enters the gubernatorial race next year.

November 24, 2009

Money for phantom jobs

The shocking Government Accountability Office audit of President Obama's stimulus plan raises new doubts about how many real jobs are being created by his $787 billion big-spending package.

November 23, 2009

Obama’s approval rating falls below 50%

For the first time in his presidency, President Obama's job approval rating has slipped below 50 percent in the Gallup Polls daily tracking survey.

November 21, 2009

Obama dips below 50% in new poll

For the first time in his presidency, President Obama's job approval rating has slipped below 50 percent in the Gallup Polls daily tracking survey.

November 21, 2009

Split over health care bill

Democratic officials portrayed the Republican Party's squabble in New York's special House election as an intolerant right-wing purge of liberal Republicans. In fact, Dede Scozzafava was driven from the race by falling polls and voters who said she sounded and voted like a Democrat, and in the end, she endorsed the Democratic candidate.

November 19, 2009

Left turns on defecting Democrats

Democrats who opposed the House-passed health care reform bill earlier this month have come under heavy fire from their party's left, including a top Internet activist who urged liberals to halt further contributions to the Democratic Party committee that finances their campaigns.

November 17, 2009

Ohio getting a ‘reddish tinge’

Ohio is turning a "reddish tinge," says the Columbus Dispatch, referring to the rising Republican tide that threatens to break the Democrats' political grip on the state.

November 17, 2009

Asian excursion is Job No. 1?

Let me get this straight: President Obama is on a nine-day tour of Asia after devoting much of his time to his troubled health care tax plan - yet the country's No. 1 worry is the economy and jobs.

November 16, 2009

Tax penalties and prison

In all the sanitized TV news reports about the House-passed health care plan, no one mentions the shocking tax penalties and maybe jail time implicit in the bill's nearly 2,000 pages.

November 12, 2009

Republicans face fights over primary races

Double-digit unemployment, a fierce health care battle and record government spending and debt have lifted GOP hopes of making a comeback in the 2010 midterm elections, but also produced a string of party primary battles among Republicans.

November 10, 2009

Democrats sent reeling

Last week's Democratic losses in Virginia and New Jersey left the White House and party leaders grasping for answers and sputtering off-the-cuff excuses that were patently untrue.

November 9, 2009

Not all Dem governors for health reform

When the nation's 28 Democratic governors were asked to send a letter to congressional leaders last month expressing their support for health care reform, seven refused to sign the letter and even some who did complained that the pending reform plans could hit them with budget-busting expenses.

November 5, 2009

A bumpy ride for Democrats

If you want to understand what is really happening in American politics today, the latest Rothenberg Political Report on the 2010 Senate races is an eye-opener.

November 5, 2009

Independents changing course after Obama’s first year

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine said Wednesday that President Obama remains popular among voters, including independents, despite his party's gubernatorial losses in Tuesday's elections and polls showing a sharp decline in his job approval ratings.

November 5, 2009

Tea partiers hone skills in N.Y. House race

Their candidate lost in the end, but for many in the rapidly expanding "tea party" movement, this fall's special House race in upstate New York was a "training ground" that taught its cadre of loosely organized grass-roots activists how to challenge both major parties and has only whetted the movement's appetite for the 2010 midterm elections.

November 4, 2009

Beware the health insurance police

A constitutional debate among legal scholars is being waged over a key provision in the Democrats' health care legislation that poses this question about the freedom to be an American: Can the federal government force people to purchase medical insurance or pay a tax if they refuse?

November 2, 2009

Big gamble’s slender reed

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's big health care gamble immediately began losing support Monday when he announced he was including a government-run insurance plan in the massive bill.

October 29, 2009

Constitutionality of health overhaul questioned

On top of all the other obstacles facing President Obama in his quest to pass health reform is this one: Does the U.S. Constitution allow the government to require uninsured Americans to buy medical insurance or impose a tax penalty if they refuse?

October 28, 2009

Glimmering new dawn for the GOP

This may be the age of Barack Obama, but not for the Democratic Party.

October 26, 2009