In the battle for Congress, 41 is the crucial number. That's the number of seats the Republicans need to win back from the Democrats in next year's midterm elections to take control of the House of Representatives.
In the early days of his campaign for governor in Virginia, Republican Bob McDonnell hired longtime GOP pollster Glen Bolger to take the pulse of the state's notoriously independent-minded voters.
Amid conflicting and heated rhetoric, a political pragmatism began to emerge Sunday as senators prepared for a debate on a sweeping Democratic health care bill.
Traditional Senate decorum yielded to brass-knuckle politicking Friday in the health care debate as top Democrats sought to close party ranks before a key procedural vote this weekend.
Nearly two years into the recession, opinion about which political party is responsible for the severe economic downturn is shifting, according to a new national poll.
Nearly two years into the recession, opinion about which political party is responsible for the severe economic downturn is shifting, according to a new national poll.
A year ago this week I packed up my cot and flew to Washington for freshman orientation. It was my first chance to meet fellow members of the freshman class. It's a fascinating experience to realize that someone in the class could potentially be a future speaker of the House, while someone else may serve two years and never come back.
The Senate's top Democrat declined Tuesday to say when he would introduce a hotly anticipated health care reform bill.
As Republicans swept the top three offices in Democratic-leaning Virginia last week, Rep. Eric Cantor was in Richmond, shaking hands with supporters and rallying GOP troops as he proclaimed, "The Republican resurgence begins tonight."
He walks through Washington's Reagan National Airport, arriving as he does nearly every Monday from a weekend home in South Dakota. He makes his way unnoticed.
In the battle for Congress, 41 is the crucial number. That's the number of seats the Republicans need to win back from the Democrats in next year's midterm elections to take control of the House of Representatives.
In the early days of his campaign for governor in Virginia, Republican Bob McDonnell hired longtime GOP pollster Glen Bolger to take the pulse of the state's notoriously independent-minded voters.
Amid conflicting and heated rhetoric, a political pragmatism began to emerge Sunday as senators prepared for a debate on a sweeping Democratic health care bill.
Traditional Senate decorum yielded to brass-knuckle politicking Friday in the health care debate as top Democrats sought to close party ranks before a key procedural vote this weekend.
Nearly two years into the recession, opinion about which political party is responsible for the severe economic downturn is shifting, according to a new national poll.
Nearly two years into the recession, opinion about which political party is responsible for the severe economic downturn is shifting, according to a new national poll.
A year ago this week I packed up my cot and flew to Washington for freshman orientation. It was my first chance to meet fellow members of the freshman class. It's a fascinating experience to realize that someone in the class could potentially be a future speaker of the House, while someone else may serve two years and never come back.
The Senate's top Democrat declined Tuesday to say when he would introduce a hotly anticipated health care reform bill.
As Republicans swept the top three offices in Democratic-leaning Virginia last week, Rep. Eric Cantor was in Richmond, shaking hands with supporters and rallying GOP troops as he proclaimed, "The Republican resurgence begins tonight."
He walks through Washington's Reagan National Airport, arriving as he does nearly every Monday from a weekend home in South Dakota. He makes his way unnoticed.
Tea Party activists and other conservative Republicans are threatening to run their candidates against more moderate senatorial and congressional candidates in next year's primaries.
Republicans have been downright giddy following the off-year elections in Virginia and New Jersey. In a swing state and a blue state, Republicans pulled off significant victories with Chris Christie's defeat of Gov. John Corzine and Robert McDonnell defeating Creigh Deeds.
For a moment, you might think Mitt Romney was still running for office if you look at his travel schedule crisscrossing the country.
President Obama on Sunday praised the "historic" House vote to pass a bill overhauling the nation's ailing health care system, and said now it is time for the Senate to "take the baton" and complete its work.
A Senate committee Thursday approved a major climate change bill despite a boycott by all of the panel's seven Republican members.
A Republican Party left for dead by many in the wake of recent Democratic landslides sprang back to life with wins in hotly contested races for governor in Virginia and New Jersey.
A Republican Party that struggled in the wake of recent Democratic landslides sprang back to life Tuesday with wins in hotly contested races for governor in Virginia and New Jersey, according to CNN projections.
With a year to go before midterm congressional elections, a new national poll indicates that Americans are divided over whether they'd vote for the Democratic or Republican candidate in their district.
Right now, the political intelligentsia is consumed with the outcome of a congressional district in upstate New York.
Right now, the political intelligentsia is consumed with the outcome of a congressional district in upstate New York.
Republicans boycotted a Senate committee hearing Tuesday on a major bill to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.
If Democrats suffer a loss in an upstate New York congressional race Tuesday, it could well spark an uneasy celebration among Republican leaders.
As voters across the country head to the polls Tuesday, one thing appears certain: Many of them are angry.
When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced he would be pushing for a public option in the final health care bill, it looked as if he had given up on the possibility of a bipartisan agreement.
Usually, on the day before an election, the top story is how the candidates from each party are doing all they can to beat up the other side.
When the stock market broke the 10,000 point barrier a few weeks ago, many investors celebrated. Economists have started to talk about the end of the "Great Recession." But many Americans can't see what all the enthusiasm is about.
Given the heated rhetoric and sharp partisan divides that have characterized this year's debate, it's easy to forget that there are several key reforms in health care that Democrats and Republicans can agree on.
Every president believes, upon election, that his term of service will be transformative. Some, like Barack Obama, actually campaign on the idea: that his brand of leadership and force of personality are so persuasive that they will change the way the world (aka Washington) does business. "We are the hope for the future," the candidate told a crowd before his huge wins on Super Tuesday last year. "[We are] the answer to the cynics who tell us our house must stand divided."
The 1994 elections were approaching, and House Republicans were on a mission to take control of their chamber for the first time in nearly 50 years.
Is the largest one-time economic recovery effort in U.S. history creating jobs?
The 1994 elections were approaching, and House Republicans were on a mission to take back control of their chamber for the first time in nearly 50 years.
Could a little-known freshman Democrat from a conservative-leaning Florida district be just what the doctor ordered for liberals wary of what they view as a timid president too ready to compromise on overhauling health care?
A compromise health care proposal widely seen as having the best chance to win Democratic and Republican support would cost $829 billion over the next 10 years, nonpartisan budget analysts concluded Wednesday.
In my next life, I'd like to be an opposition party leader. What fun to go to work every day knowing you will always be right, largely because your ideas will remain untested.
I'm sure Republican strategists look at their bench and think of what Casey Stengel said of the 1962 Mets: "Can't anybody here play this game?"
House Republicans will target freshman Rep. Tom Perriello in a new television commercial that criticizes the Virginia Democrat for his recent vote in favor of controversial energy reform legislation.
In bellwether Ohio, hopes for a new Republican beginning rest largely on two familiar faces from the GOP past.
Much has been said and written about the decline and fall of the Republican Party. That is unsurprising, given the last two elections, when Republicans got their heads handed to them.
House Republicans on Wednesday presented what they called a "sorely needed" alternative to Democrats' proposals to overhaul health care.
Congressional Republicans offered what they call a "centrist, practical" plan to overhaul the U.S. health care system Tuesday, one they say would be the cheapest of any option proposed so far.
The Republican Party is in need of a leader and boost in its self-esteem, a new poll suggests.
A Republican official involved in the planning for Monday night's major GOP fundraising dinner said the Alaska governor is "expected to attend" the event "and will be sitting with Sen. John Cornyn and his wife at their table."
The House Republican leadership upped the ante Thursday in the ongoing debate over the size and scope of the federal budget, unveiling a proposal to cut spending by $375 billion over the next five years.
It seems as if Republican opponents of President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court are now coalescing around the issue of affirmative action as their main point of attack.
Score a big one for John Cornyn.
"It is important for us to have a strong Republican Party," Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi tauntingly told a press conference on April 23. "And I hope that the next generation will take back the Republican Party for the Grand Old Party that it used to be."
It was hardly the newsiest answer at his 100-day prime-time news conference, but President Obama's careful assessment of the state of the Republican Party is noteworthy.
House Republican leader John Boehner released a lengthy Web video Thursday suggesting Democrats are not keeping Americans safe -- part of what GOP sources tell CNN is a renewed political effort to push a historically winning issue for Republicans: national security.
Bruised by charges from Democrats that they've become the "party of no," Republicans on Thursday are launching an outreach effort to reshape their party's image.
Just when it seemed as if the Republican Party's political standing couldn't get any worse, Sen. Arlen Specter decides to ditch the GOP and join the Democratic Party.
The Senate passed a $3.53 trillion version of the federal budget for fiscal year 2010 late Thursday night in a party-line vote, ending several weeks of acrimonious partisan debate.
The House of Representatives passed a $3.55 trillion budget for fiscal year 2010 Thursday night, capping off weeks of acrimonious partisan debate and a long day of voting marked by the defeat of several alternative plans.
House Republican leaders unveiled their alternative to the proposed Democratic budget Wednesday, calling for $4.8 trillion less in overall spending over the next decade -- in part through a five-year freeze in most nondefense discretionary spending.
House Republican leaders unveiled their alternative to the proposed Democratic budget Thursday. They're calling for $4.8 trillion less in overall spending over the next decade, in part through a five-year freeze in most nondefense discretionary spending.
Despite crushing defeats in the last two elections, Senate Republicans have new "energy and enthusiasm" for winning back the majority, according to their leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
As Republicans wrangle over the ideological direction of the party, a new generation of conservatives is reaching out to GOP activists and honing the use of a 21st century megaphone to promote Republican policy goals through new media networking tools.
As the first unofficial ballots are cast in the 2012 presidential race, a new national poll of Republicans indicates no clear front-runner for the next GOP White House nominee.
U.S. senators began debate on a massive economic-recovery package Friday evening, after a working coalition of Democrats and some Republicans reached a compromise that trimmed billions in spending from an earlier version.
Republicans took the first step toward rebuilding on Friday after suffering demoralizing losses in November that left them with little power and acknowledging that much needs to be done to restore the GOP to its former glory.
One of the best Marx Brothers movies, "Horse Feathers," played in movie theaters at the height of the Great Depression in 1932.
The 111th Congress has just barely begun as Senate Republicans brace for more grueling elections in 2010 that threaten to further weaken the party's influence in Congress.
When Michigan GOP Chairman Saul Anuzis decided to throw his hat in the ring to head the Republican Party, he announced his intentions on an unlikely forum: Twitter.
It's no surprise that when a political team loses an election, it asks the obvious questions: What went wrong? What could we have done differently? Who (or what) cost us the election? And, of course, what do we do next?
The Republican Party faces a long list of problems with no clear national leader and an identity crisis that will play out during a period of good will for the first African-American elected president.
Sure, the Republicans were routed, but they held the line in some key seats whose loss could have doomed the party
Democrats increased their 36-seat majority in the U.S. House, according to CNN projections, by defeating established Republicans and winning open seats as they capitalized on an unpopular GOP president.
House Democratic leaders are putting together a second economic stimulus package costing as much as $150 billion and are likely to call Congress back shortly after the election to vote on the measure, according to several Democratic leadership aides.
All the talk of bipartisanship turned into a flurry of finger-pointing and recriminations after the Administration's controversial financial markets rescue plan goes down in defeat in the House
Capitol Hill negotiators spent Friday working on details of a $700 billion financial rescue plan while President Bush and leading lawmakers offered assurances that Congress and the administration would get a deal done.
Congressional leaders say they are near an agreement on a $700 billion bailout package for Wall Street, but many Republican members of Congress are still balking at the deal.
It's been said that the Republican coalition, when it wins, is a perfect intersection of four streets: Main Street (middle class America), Church Street (cultural conservatives), Wall Street, and Easy Street (high-net-worth, birthright Republicans).
The gatherings are smaller than expected and the marches mostly peaceful, but breakaway radicals are causing trouble
The microphones were off and the lights were dim, but more than a dozen House Republicans refused to go home Friday after the body adjourned for August recess.
Republicans on Saturday blocked the Senate from considering a bill next week that would nearly double federal aid to help the poor pay heating bills
The Senate on Monday voted to debate a Democratic-backed bill to dramatically cut harmful greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Sensing trouble in the fall, the House GOP leadership on Wednesday addressed recent losses in special Congressional elections by unleashing a new agenda aimed at changing that party's image.
A bill meant to help homeowners caught up in the spreading mortgage crisis received committee approval Thursday after Democrats fended off numerous Republican challenges to the bill.
Yes, he's still around. And Paul's stubborn candidacy says a lot about how the Republican Party has strayed from its ideals
There are two major national political parties in the United States: the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. But have those groups been at the forefront of American politics since the birth of the nation? This One-Sheet helps students learn about the history of political parties in America.
House Republican leader John Boehner and other Republicans warned on Thursday that a successful program to combat AIDS in Africa would be in jeopardy if Democrats move ahead with plans to make changes that he said would support abortions
The GOP presidential hopefuls have their eyes set on South Carolina, which hosts the South's first party nominee contest Saturday.
The party is headed for the most wide-open nomination fight since Wendell Willkie. You remember him
Thanks to scandal and retirements, the GOP must now worry that Democrats could gain a filibuster-proof majority in 2008
As Democratic and Republican presidential candidates scour the country for votes during the 2008 campaign, they'll inevitably court the Hispanic community, a voting group growing rapidly in number and diversity.
That's right, I said it. And I mean it.
Only one candidate has agreed to the next Univision Spanish- language debate. Has the GOP given up on the Latino vote?
McCain was back in stride, while Romney was off his game, says Mark Halperin of last night's Thompson-free gathering
Voters concerned about where presidential candidates stand on gay rights may have their question answered tonight.
His party is in a funk, and there's no clear front-runner for the nomination. Can the actor-politician meet great expectations?
NEW CENSUS DATA show that the top 1% of U.S. earners now take home a greater share of national income than at any time since the height of the go-go 1920s. The top 300,000 earners together receive almost as much income as the bottom 150 million. Democrats inhale these facts and breathe out fire. Republicans say, "Hey, this is no time to be complacent. With a little effort we can push this closer to Louis XVI levels of inequality!"
New requirements to track down, deport and permanently bar people who overstay their visas would be added to a broad immigration bill under a GOP bid to attract more Republican support
New Census data show that the top 1 percent of U.S. earners now take home a greater share of national income than at any time since the height of the go-go 1920s. The top 300,000 earners together receive almost as much income as the bottom 150 million.
Ten Republicans who want to be president will take the stage Tuesday night for their first debate in New Hampshire, hoping to make an impression on the voters who will cast ballots in the nation's first primary early next year.
When it comes to Ronald Reagan's 11th commandment -- "Thou shalt not speak ill of thy fellow Republicans" -- GOP presidential candidates seem to be losing their religion.
Republicans were faced Tuesday with the possibility that the war in Iraq, an unpopular president and a series of scandals would thwart their chances of maintaining a grip on Congress.
OK, so maybe we did have to wait 37 days to find out who won in 2000; and maybe it took until dawn two years ago to know that Bush had won a second term. But that doesn't mean you early-to-bed types won't have important clues to the big stories tonight. Here's an hour-by-hour guide to some of the key questions we'll be asking:
Power may be corrupting, but it is also addictive. That's why no party likes to lose an election. But the truth is that sometimes a loss is just what is needed to regain a sense of purpose and energy. And that's why the Republicans need to lose in November.
In tackling the immigration issue, Republicans in Congress really outdid themselves. Call it: "Immigration Reform for Dummies."
Conservative Republicans gathering to talk about the upcoming elections normally would be a welcome event for national party leaders. But not this year.
Most American taxpayers would get $100 rebate checks to offset the pain of higher pump prices for gasoline, under an amendment Senate Republicans hope to bring to a vote soon.
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