GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum makes a dig at rival Mitt Romney in Texas.
While high gas prices are draining the wallets of American motorists, they're also driving heated debate over opening the spigot on the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
President Obama is facing pressure to tap the nation's oil reserves. CNN discusses what that would mean for gas prices.
To get a sense of how Ron Paul is tying the GOP establishment in knots, look no further than Sen. Jim DeMint, the powerful Republican from the site of the next major primary, South Carolina.
On CNN's Erin Burnett OutFront, political strategists examine the enduring appeal of Republican candidate Ron Paul.
GOP presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney on Thursday aggressively defended his tenure as head of Bain Capital, asserting again that his private-equity career resulted in the net creation of over 100,000 jobs while also calling any job losses an unfortunate fact of life in the private sector.
Senate Republicans on Monday blocked President Obama's choice to be ambassador to El Salvador after raising questions about whether her former boyfriend was a spy for Cuba. Republicans also were concerned that Mari Carmen Aponte wrote a commentary about gay pride that offended some citizens in the conservative Catholic country.
Yes, Virginia, there was supposed to be a Christmas tree "tax" -- and it's just what the people who will pay the tax wanted. But its fate is as up in the air as Santa's sleigh at midnight.
As portions of the Arab world struggle to extinguish decades of oppression and dictorial rule, the rights and opportunities for women in these societies stand at a delicate precipice, U.S. State Department officials told a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee Wednesday.
Five of the Republican Party's leading presidential contenders traveled to South Carolina on Labor Day to kiss the ring of tea party kingmaker Jim DeMint at a first-of-its-kind forum devoted to the Constitution and the role of government.
CNN's John King asks Sen. Jim DeMint about his 2008 endorsement of Mitt Romney and who he plans to support in 2012.
Sarah Palin speaks at a tea party rally in Indianola, Iowa. CNN's Peter Hamby reports.
A Republican presidential race that has been anything but slow kicks into an even higher gear this week.
Sen. Jim DeMint tells CNN's Candy Crowley what he thinks President Obama will unveil in his jobs plan on Thursday.
President Barack Obama told a Labor Day crowd in Detroit that he's prepared to fight for a new job growth plan, defend organized labor and take steps to "restore the middle class in America," while five Republican candidates hoping to defeat him next year all called for repealing the major legislation passed so far in Obama's presidency.
South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint has become a firebrand, capitalizing on a tidal wave of anti-Washington sentiment that makes him the darling of the Republican conservative base and political dynamite to the party establishment.
South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint says Tea party members have been unnecessarily blamed for the country's problems.
CNN's Anderson Cooper talks to John Chambers, the man behind the decision for the S&P downgrade.
Friday was the 155th day the federal government has operated without a budget, and some lawmakers spent it arguing over nickels and dimes.
Political reporters are like market researchers -- always looking for the next big thing.
CNN's Candy Crowley reports on those who keep saying they don't want to play in campaign 2012 for the White House.
Thousands of conservative activists are descending on the nation's capital this week for the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, a three-day political carnival of speeches, strategy sessions and after-hours networking.
GOP candidates are taking their time getting into the 2012 race. CNN's Jessica Yellin reports.
Sen. Jim DeMint tells CNN's Wolf Blitzer that he's not running for president in 2012.
U.S. President Barack Obama defended Friday his administration's signature health care law that House Republicans have vowed to repeal.
The Senate ratifies the START treaty which will allow inspections to resume and weapons arsenals to be limited.
The Senate voted Wednesday to approve the new nuclear arms control treaty with Russia -- a major foreign policy victory for the Obama administration near the end of the lame-duck session of Congress.
I'm not a Christian, but like many Jews, I've envied Christmas since childhood. I like the twinkly lights, pink-cheeked carolers, heartwarming television specials, and exuberantly ho-ho-ho-ing Santa Clauses ... pretty much everything except the endless renditions of "Jingle Bells" warbling from every audio speaker in the country.
Critics are blasting a new omnibus bill that contains billions in earmarks. CNN's Anderson Cooper reports.
The Senate voted Wednesday to begin debate on ratifying a new nuclear arms treaty with Russia, a top presidential priority that conservative Republicans were trying to block in the current lame-duck session of Congress.
In November, President Obama said ratifying the New START, a pivotal treaty with Russia, must happen this year.
Against the backdrop of a bitterly divided Congress and an angry and frustrated electorate, the most expensive midterm election in history finally comes to a climax Tuesday as America votes on 37 Senate seats and all 435 seats in the House of Representatives.
Sarah Palin is upset over an article that says top Republican party leaders don't want her to run for president.
The question of whether the Tea Party will have a real impact on American politics (yes!) has evolved into a new debate: Is the Tea Party really about more than taxes?
After NPR fired analyst Juan Williams, Sen. Jim DeMint sent this tweet to his Twitter followers:
Delaware Republican Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell granted me a 10-minute interview at her campaign headquarters on Thursday. Here are the highlights:
Candy and her team scan the other Sunday morning talk shows and bring you the best sound that you may have missed.
Hotly energized social conservatives gave a hero's welcome to Delaware political upstart Christine O'Donnell on Friday -- one of the highlights of a two-day gathering of so-called "values voters" that illustrated the GOP's promise and peril heading into November's midterm elections.
Mike Huckabee tells attendees at the Voters Value Summit that President Obama is "uncomfortable" leading the U.S.
Senate Republicans have an internal memo from the Department of Homeland Security that they say shows the Obama administration "conspiring" and "scheming" to allow millions of illegal immigrants to stay and work in the United States.
South Carolina Democratic Senatorial candidate Alvin Greene urged voters Sunday to "get South Carolina and America back to work" in his first major public speech since surprising the political world last month by capturing his party's nomination.
Controversial U.S. Senate nominee Alvin Greene gives his first major campaign speech. CNN's Jessica Yellin reports.
The Senate confirmed Deputy FBI Director John Pistole as head of the Transportation Security Administration on Friday, ending a lengthy search process in which two previous nominees withdrew from consideration.
There was little debate about job qualifications and more talk about whether screeners at the nation's airports should be able to unionize during Thursday's confirmation hearing for the president's latest nominee to head the Transportation Security Administration.
Jim DeMint has a message to the Washington political establishment: An "American awakening" is taking place across the country, as seen in the Tea Party-backed Rand Paul's win in Kentucky's Republican Senate primary.
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's expected announcement Thursday that he is giving up his bid for the Republican Party's Senate nomination and instead running as an independent is just one chapter in a wider war for the heart and soul of the GOP.
The battle for Congress picks up steam Tuesday as three states hold primaries.
CNN's Susan Candiotti reports on a town hall meeting with Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania.
President Obama is expected to sign the final health care legislation into law this week, but while the action wraps up on Capitol Hill, the heated debate over reform shows no sign of cooling down.
House Democrats impose a one-year ban on some earmarks. CNN's Brianna Keilar reports.
House Democrats said Wednesday that they will ban earmarks directed to for-profit companies.
The Obama administration's nominee to head the Transportation Security Administration withdrew his name from consideration Wednesday.
Republican Sen. Jim DeMint explains his concerns about the president's choice to lead the TSA.
President Obama enters 2010 facing many of the problems he vowed to confront during his first year, along with a handful of new responsibilities.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux on what is on the president's agenda after returning from vacation in Hawaii.
Almost as soon as the botched Christmas airplane bombing hit the airwaves, the politics of national security reared its head.
Erroll Southers In the aftermath of the attempted bombing of Northwest Flight 253, it is likely the Senate will move to confirm the embattled nomination of Southers as head of the Transportation Security Administration when it returns from its winter recess. Objections to Southers' confirmation were first made by Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina over the potential unionization of TSA employees. Southers is the Los Angeles International Airport's assistant chief for homeland security and intelligence. The airport's police department, which Southers has helped manage since early 2007, is the largest such operation in the country, with approximately 1,200 employees. Southers is also associate director at the Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events at the University of Southern California. The former FBI special agent served as a deputy director of homeland security for California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Is the 'anatomically congruent' bomb that the suspect allegedly carried foolproof to detection? CNN's Brian todd reports.
The most recent independent tests of airport checkpoints showed screener performance "falling off the charts," according to the top Republican on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
A handful of Republican senators have proposed a constitutional amendment to limit how long a person may serve in Congress.
Jobless Americans in high-unemployment states would see their benefits extended for another 13 weeks under legislation to be considered by Congress next Wednesday.
The U.S. economy is no longer on the edge of collapse, but Americans face tough choices in reducing the national deficit, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Sunday.
The White House and congressional Democratic negotiators have reached a conceptual agreement on a proposed $15 billion automakers bailout package, according to senior administration officials and a Senate Democratic aide.
CNN's Randi Kaye looks at calls for GM CEO Rick Wagoner to resign.
House conservatives urged Congress on Tuesday to "take a breath" and consider other alternatives before rushing to pass a $700 billion plan to bail out Wall Street, a measure the White House says must pass by the end of the week.
Congressional leaders said Friday that they were determined to quickly pass a massive plan to stabilize the financial market after they heard a "sobering" assessment from the administration's economic team.
When it came to buying influence in Washington, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were among Corporate America's biggest spenders.
Republicans praised John McCain's pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate Friday, but Democrats said it didn't change the dynamics of the presidential race.
Gov. Sarah Palin says she is "honored to be chosen" as Sen. John McCain's running mate.
Last year Sen. Barack Obama, submitted a laundry list of federal funding requests, known as earmarks, to the Senate Appropriations Committee: 112 earmarks totaling more than $330 million in taxpayer funds.
The Democrats claim their new ethics bill fulfills a campaign promise to clean up Congress. But some Republicans say there are too many loopholes
As Congress begins voting on the controversial bill, the White House and the G.O.P. trade jabs -- and spin
The President's emphasis on border security has given his bill a second chance, but he's still a long way from victory
The days of lawmakers slipping pet projects into spending bills at the last minute are ending after the Senate approved a new rule Tuesday forcing members to disclose requests for those "earmarks."
Republican Jim DeMint is considered the front-runner in the race to replace retiring Democratic U.S. Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings despite a few recent stumbles, political observers said.
Check out the links below to hot political stories around the country this morning.



