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• Menendez Pressed Bernanke to Favor New Jersey Bank
  Sen. Robert Menendez wrote to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke last summer seeking help for a home state bank operated by campaign contributors, specifically asking for approval of an acquisition that would have rescued the institution.Requests on behalf of...
• White House Launches Mocking Attack on Palin
  
  Even the White House's top spokesman is getting in on the act of mocking former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin for looking to talking points written on her palm during a speech to tea party activists.Robert Gibbs showed the words hope and change on...
• Despite All the Nice Talk, Partisanship Reigns
  Partisanship is reaching new heights in Washington, even as President Barack Obama makes almost daily pleas to get along. He's scheduled a bipartisan health care summit, and just Tuesday he hosted GOP leaders at the White House for the first time in two months.But he often...
• GOP Blocks Obama Labor Board Nominee
  Senate Democrats on Tuesday failed to push through President Barack Obama's choice of a union lawyer to serve on the National Labor Relations Board after two of their own joined Republicans to block the nomination.By a 52-33 vote, Democrats fell far short of the 60 needed...
• Obama Speaks Hopefully of Movement On Jobs Bill
  President Barack Obama says he doesn't think it's necessary to get an ideal jobs package out of Congress, but that passing something quickly could build momentum toward greater achievements.Obama told reporters Tuesday he thinks Democrats and Republicans agree on a number...
• Obama: Both Parties Have to Give on Healthcare
  President Barack Obama's says he's willing to start from scratch on healthcare as long as the final bill meets his goals.Answering reporters' questions Tuesday after a meeting with congressional leaders of both parties, Obama said both sides have to give ground on...
• Paulson Says Nation May Profit From Bank Bailout
  Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson predicted the U.S. government will regain every penny given to the nation's banks during the economic meltdown and may even profit.Billionaire Warren Buffett agreed with Paulson Tuesday that the bank bailout will eventually be...
• Democrats Blaming Emanuel for Healthcare Defeat
  
  Congressional Democrats are turning on White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, holding him accountable for the collapse of healthcare reform. The emerging consensus among critics in both chambers is that Emanuel s lack of Senate expertise crippled the effort, according to...
• Boehner: GOP May Join Obama Deficit Panel
  
  WASHINGTON House Republican leader John Boehner said on Tuesday he was considering appointing Republicans to President Barack Obama's planned deficit commission and also that it was time to start over on healthcare reform.Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said...
• Snow Storms Force House to Scrap Work Week
  
  WASHINGTON Mother Nature's wrath has forced the U.S. House to scrap its work week. No. 2 House Democrat Steny Hoyer said Tuesday the body will not meet the rest of the week and no votes are scheduled. His comments came as Washington remained paralyzed from one blizzard...
• Murtha's Death Sets Stage for Competitive Race
  Democrats have long dominated the late Rep. John Murtha's district, but Republicans have made inroads in recent years that could help them win back the seat.Political analysts said Tuesday they expect a competitive contest in the race to replace Murtha, whose ability to...
• Clinton Asked to Intervene in Haiti Kidnap Case
  The U.S.-based lawyer for one of 10 American Baptists charged with child kidnapping in Haiti is asking Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to personally intervene in the case.Attorney Reginald Brown said in a Tuesday letter to Clinton that he is concerned his client...
• Planned Parenthood Pushes Sex Ed for Kids
  
  A new Planned Parenthood report advocates telling children as young as 10 about the pleasures of sex and undermines religious taboos against premarital sex. The report from the International Planned Parenthood Federation criticizes denominations such as the Catholic Church...
• Bush Billboard: 'Miss Me Yet'
  
  Drivers on Interstate 35 near Wyoming, Minn., are greeted by a large billboard (see below) bearing a photo of former President George W. Bush, smiling and waving. The caption beside the photo: Miss Me Yet? A photo of the billboard was widely circulated on the Internet on...
• Army Warned about Jihadist Threat in '08
  
  Almost two years before the deadly Fort Hood shooting by a radicalized Muslim officer, the U.S. Army was explicitly warned that jihadism Islamic holy war was a serious problem and threat to personnel in the U.S., according to participants at a major Army-sponsored...
• State Farm Says It Warned Gov't on Toyota in 2007
  The nation's largest auto insurer says it alerted federal safety regulators in late 2007 about a rise in reports of unexpected acceleration in Toyota vehicles.State Farm insurance says it noticed an uptick in reports of unwanted acceleration in Toyotas from its large...
• Cuba Travel Bill Buried in Political Agenda
  
  A bipartisan drive in Congress to end a Cold War-era travel ban on Cuba was buried during the healthcare reform debate but its supporters hope to dig it out this year. Sponsors of two bills allowing Americans to travel freely to Cuba, introduced last year in the Senate and...
• First Lady: President Had 'Phenomenal Year'
  First lady Michelle Obama says President Barack Obama has done a phenomenal job, but that people have a right to criticize him.In an interview broadcast Tuesday on ABC's Good Morning America, she said getting things accomplished in heavily politicized Washington is a...
• GOP Wary of Pitfalls in Healthcare Summit
  Even as Republicans publicly welcome President Barack Obama's call for a bipartisan confab on health care, some privately worry that he might be laying a trap to portray their ideas as flimsy.If so, a shaky showing by GOP leaders could possibly embolden congressional...
• Congressman: Surgical Mishap Killed Murtha
  A Pennsylvania congressman and longtime friend of the late Rep. John Murtha says the congressman's large intestine was damaged during gallbladder surgery and the complications led him to be hospitalized.Murtha died Monday at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Va., where...
• Ben Nelson Joins GOP to Oppose Labor Nominee
  
  WASHINGTON Nebraska's Democratic senator says he will join Republicans in opposing a union lawyer's nomination to serve on the National Labor Relations Board. Sen. Ben Nelson is the first Democrat to come out against the nomination of Craig Becker. His decision likely...
• Murtha’s Seat a Tossup
  The House seat of Pennsylvania Democrat John Murtha, who died suddenly Monday at the age of 77, is at best a tossup in a swing district that recently has leaned toward the GOP, says political analyst Charlie Cook. The special election in the 12th Congressional District...
• UK's Iraq Inquiry Turns Focus to Bush Officials
  Britain's inquiry into the Iraq war will seek meetings with former members of the Bush administration after taking evidence from Tony Blair and other key British officials, the panel's chairman said Monday.John Chilcot, head of the inquiry, confirmed that he hopes to obtain...
• Obama: Murtha 'Tough-As-Nails' Leader
  President Barack Obama says he was saddened to hear of the death of Rep. John Murtha and called his fellow Democrat a steadfast advocate for the people of Pennsylvania for nearly 40 years.Obama on Monday called Murtha a devoted husband and a loving father who had a...
• Obama's Health Care Summit: Just for Show?
  Could this turn into something more than political theater? President Barack Obama's televised dialogue with Republican lawmakers on health care, promised for later this month, has the makings of an entertaining exchange. But the differences between the basic Democratic and...