Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee is switching parties to become a Democrat. Why? Because President Obama is enjoying decent approval ratings, and Rhode Island is a Democratic state. We plotted the timing of politicians' party switching along the president's Gallup polls — and found that White House approval is a pretty good guide for when these guys will jump ship.
Obama will be giving a speech in Florida on Tuesday about the "Buffett Rule," which would make sure that rich guys like Warren Buffett won't pay a lower tax rate than middle class workers like their secretaries. It would make the tax code more fair, but as a new poll from ABC News and The Washington Post shows, fairness doesn't yet look like a winning strategy for Obama.
On Wednesday, Arby's inflamed the conservative blogosphere with the announcement on Twitter that it will no longer advertise on Rush Limbaugh's show. Big mistake.
In this week's Etch A Sketch moment, Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus said the GOP's perceived "war on women" was as fictional as a war on caterpillars.
While the media focused on President Obama's attacks on Paul Ryan's budget yesterday, the president had a separate message for the press: Here's how to cover my re-election campaign.
So your wacky sitcom-ready plot to pay off your student loans — winning the lottery perhaps? — didn't work out. Here's another: start painting super literal anti-Obama art.
It's not a prospect many legal observers took seriously until earlier today, but now that swing-vote Justice Anthony Kennedy has shown some of his true colors, everyone's wondering what will become of Obamacare if the court strikes down the individual mandate.
It's the most important day of the Supreme Court's three-day review of President Obama's health care bill.
Robert De Niro's joke about caucasian first ladies isn't even racist, but we have a feeling his comments from an Obama fundraiser are going to fuel some Republican rage today.
The Violence Against Women Act is a U.S. federal law signed into effect by President Bill Clinton in September of 1994, providing $1.6 billion to help investigate and prosecute violent crimes against women. Now, once again, it's the focus of a fight.
A phrase that keeps coming up this Republican primary season is "war on women." But what's interesting in the conversations about a so-called "war on women" is that women do not seem to be having it.
Congress isn't as much fun as it used to be because lots of the perks, like free food from lobbyists, are gone, while the moderate pay and low public esteem remain. And also because, for some, it's harder to master the horse trading behind closed doors that helps an ambitious politician rise in the ranks.
With his loss in last night's Ohio primary, Dennis Kucinich faces the end of his congressional career. But that doesn't mean he has to fade from cultural relevance.
The race to prove who's more pro-Israel received a steroid injection this week with President Obama's speech before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Sunday and today's visit to the White House by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The hunt for a third-party candidate to heal the nation's partisan-ravaged woes broke wide open Tuesday with Olympia Snowe's surprise departure from the Senate, followed by her veiled promise to work toward change "outside the United States Senate."
Sen. Roy Blunt's contraception amendment was just defeated in the Senate by a vote of 51 to 48. This means things have gone just about perfectly for the Democrats, and for the Obama Administration.
The report that former Sen. Bob Kerrey will run for Senate in Nebraska came as a surprise to lots of people -- to Nebraska Democrats, to the Democrat already in the race -- and maybe to Kerrey himself?
It's supposed to be the president's signature legislative achievement, but a majority of registered voters in the battleground states that matter most support a repeal of the health care overhaul and say it's a "bad thing," according to a new USA Today/Gallup Poll.
The Obama administration has a new corporate tax plan that is sensible, supported by both parties, and sure to fail.
At least as recently as 2005, new Army recruits watched videos instructing them, "Do not attempt a gay marriage."
Everyone will get what he wants in New Jersey when it comes to gay marriage, except the gay people who want to get married.
Mitt Romney slams China, Fareed Zakaria talks "zones of immunity," and The New York Times edit board gives a bipartisan round of applause.
Rick Santorum got a lot of applause railing against the Obama administration over whether religious institutions should have to offer health insurance that covers birth control. But applause aside, even Republicans are on the president's side. Here's our guide to today's polls and which ones matter.
They're not happy about it but Republicans are set to join Democrats in adding $100 billion to the deficit for a 10-month payroll tax holiday.
House Oversight Committee chair Darrell Issa says he'll "move forward with the contempt process" against Attorney General Eric Holder if the Justice Department doesn't at least describe the Fast and Furious documents it won't turnover to Issa's committee, Talking Points Memo reports.
House and Senate leaders could reach a deal tonight on extending the payroll tax cut, jobless benefits, and the Medicare reimbursement rate, The Hill's Bernie Becker reports.
President Obama met with Chinese vice president Xi Jinping Tuesday and sounded like Spider-Man's Uncle Ben, saying, "We have tried to emphasize that because of China’s extraordinary development over the last two decades, with expanding power and prosperity also comes increased responsibilities."
While both President Obama and Mitt Romney surround themselves with lobbyists, there's a difference between how the two campaigns respond to questions about their K Street ties: Obama actually does it.
Everyone agrees that much of President Obama's 2013 budget is dead-on-arrival in Congress but some aspects of the White House fiscal plan actually stand a chance in the Republican-controlled House.
How did the White House let the decision to make Catholic employers offer insurance that covers birth control turn into a huge controversy?
President Obama's reelection team released it's playlist on Spotify Thursday, and the main theme is: inoffensive. We've gathered all the songs so you can listen for yourself.
President Obama's reelection campaign has enlisted fancy designers to elevate its campaign t-shirts out of the standard blue men's boxy XL zone, a move that Republicans say is an illegal in-kind campaign contribution since the designers' merchandise is usually way outside the budget of a typical campaign volunteer.
If you live next to a member of Congress, you're in luck. A new Washington Post investigation shows the myriad ways lawmakers "spruce up" their neighborhoods by steering more than $300 million in earmarks to public projects that are "next to or near" their own properties.
Chrysler's campaign to convince Americans how great it was that automaker got bailed out has the side effect of helping the man who did the bailing: President Obama.
President Obama -- the guy whose economic policies inspired the creation of the Tea Party -- is the guy more Americans trust, compared to Mitt Romney at least, to handle tax policy, a new poll from ABC News and The Washington Post finds.
President Obama has been acting like he's already in a general election campaign against Mitt Romney for months, but every day he gets a little less subtle about attacking the guy he expects to be on the ballot in November.
The White House posted a whole bunch of holiday photos on the official Flickr stream late on Tuesday while everyone was paying attention to the Florida Republican primary, a sort of news dump usually reserved for embarrassing emails or other bad news. What are they hoping we don't notice?
What does Mitt Romney have to do to make Republican voters like him—hand out free treats?
When it comes to being a class warrior, Elizabeth Warren is merely a studio gangster.
Hillary Clinton gives the same answer whenever a reporter asks her if she'll serve a second term as Secretary of State, yet it's huge news each and every time.
President Obama's plea to ban Congressional insider trading may poll well and have bipartisan support, but it's already facing stiff resistance from lawmakers the morning after his State of the Union address.
It's really hard to get a real sense of the way the president delivered the State of the Union address without watching it, but the speeches are so long they're almost impossible to sit through.
All signs point to a hotly-contested special election to fill the vacant seat left by outgoing Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. But as she resigns this week to focus on her recovery from last year's shooting, the Arizona Democrat leaves behind a few distinct advantages for her party.
In something of an exit interview with The New York Times Magazine, retiring Congressman Barney Frank took the opportunity to score one last dig against Newt Gingrich, bookending their drawn out match of verbal fisticuffs.
The pro-Obama superPAC Priorities USA isn't raising much money because President Obama just can't stand the thought of all that unaccountable anonymous big-donor money being spent on his behalf, Politico reports.
In our guide to the day's polls and why they matter, it's a tired trope to complain that most Americans don't know anything about anything, but a new survey shows while most voters don't know much about the Republican candidates , it's women voters who are distinctly clueless.
Mitt Romney is trying to turn a weakness -- that people got fired when his Bain Capitol took over companies -- into a strength by saying he rescued household brands everybody knows and loves.
It's odd David Axelrod is so excited to see the attacks on Mitt Romney's business career in the Republican primary, considering that four years ago, the early airing of another emotional issue in the primaries was expected to stop Axelrod's own candidate, Barack Obama.
A lot of conservatives think Mitt Romney's record will offer a clear contrast with President Obama's, but what they don't dwell on is that the two men's personality flaws are almost exactly the same.
The William J. Clinton Foundation has released its contributor information for 2011, a veritable who's who of rich, international donors.
Newt Gingrich is finally breaking his pledge to run a positive campaign -- what took him so long?
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