Politics

Santorum wins Minn. caucuses, nonbinding Missouri

Tuesday, Feb 7, 7:58 pm
A resurgent Rick Santorum won Minnesota's Republican caucuses with ease Tuesday night, relegating front-runner Mitt Romney to a distant third-place finish that raised fresh questions about his ability to attract ardent conservatives at the core of the GOP political base. Read more...
Paul says GOP result 'opens up the door'

Tuesday, Feb 7, 7:49 pm
Republican Ron Paul said front-runner Mitt Romney's inability to brush back challenges in votes Tuesday "opens up the door" to him and others looking to deny the former Massachusetts governor the party's presidential nomination. Read more...
Santorum wins Minnesota caucuses

Tuesday, Feb 7, 7:41 pm
Former Sen. Rick Santorum has easily won Minnesota's Republican presidential caucuses, relegating Mitt Romney to third place behind Texas congressman Ron Paul. Read more...
Santorum picks up Missouri win, awaits 2 caucuses

Tuesday, Feb 7, 7:39 pm
Rick Santorum says his victories in Minnesota's caucuses and Missouri's non-binding primary are triumphs for conservatism and the tea party movement. Read more...
Santorum wins Missouri GOP presidential primary

Tuesday, Feb 7, 6:50 pm
Rick Santorum has won the Missouri Republican primary, a nonbinding election that carries bragging rights but does not award any delegates in the race for the presidential nomination. Read more...
Senate struggles to pay for highway programs

Tuesday, Feb 7, 6:01 pm
The Senate was scheduled to take up a bill to extend federal highway and transit programs later this week even though Democrats were still struggling Tuesday to find a way to pay for the programs. Read more...
Colo. caucuses allow a view of support out West

Tuesday, Feb 7, 4:23 pm
Colorado's caucuses offer the Republican candidates for president a glimpse of their support in the Mountain West. Read more...
White House hinting compromise on birth control

Tuesday, Feb 7, 3:35 pm
Hammered by Republicans and the Catholic Church, the White House hinted at compromise Tuesday as it struggled to calm an election-year uproar caused by its rule requiring religious schools and hospitals to provide employees with access to free birth control. Read more...
Abortion, birth control grab political spotlight

Tuesday, Feb 7, 3:26 pm
Political turmoil over abortion and birth control spread suddenly on Tuesday. A high-ranking official resigned from the Komen breast-cancer charity after its backtracking treaty with Planned Parenthood, and Republican presidential candidates blistered the Obama administration for a recent ruling on Catholic hospitals and contraception. Read more...
Texas primary likely delayed as court redraws maps

Tuesday, Feb 7, 3:08 pm
Last-ditch negotiations to save the April 3 Texas primary appeared dead Tuesday, throwing the state's messy redistricting battle back to a federal court that must now sort through a widely panned partial deal and pick a new primary date. Read more...
Romney intensifies fight for social conservatives

Tuesday, Feb 7, 2:52 pm
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney set aside his focus on the economy in recent days and shifted to abortion, religious freedom and gay marriage, part of an intensified effort to win over social conservatives in GOP caucuses in Colorado and Minnesota on Tuesday. Read more...
A political tip sheet for the rest of us

Tuesday, Feb 7, 2:50 pm
A political tip sheet for the rest of us outside the Washington Beltway, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012: Read more...
PROMISES, PROMISES: Obama embraces 'super PAC'

Tuesday, Feb 7, 2:19 pm
In a reversal, President Barack Obama is embracing the big-money fundraising groups he assailed as a "threat to democracy" on the grounds they let money corrode elections. His shift is a pragmatic move to win re-election, and a concession that his team had no choice but to catch up and go along with today's supercharged rules. Read more...
Kerrey declines Senate bid, Nebraska Dems scramble

Tuesday, Feb 7, 2:16 pm
Former Sen. Bob Kerrey on Tuesday rejected a comeback run for Senate, dashing Democrats' hopes of holding a coveted Nebraska seat and leaving the party to scramble for a race all but guaranteed to go Republicans' way. Read more...
Payroll tax cut talks adrift on Capitol Hill

Tuesday, Feb 7, 2:02 pm
The prospects for an extension of President Barack Obama's signature payroll tax cut, once considered a slam dunk on Capitol Hill, now seem far less certain as House-Senate talks have deadlocked over finding ways to pay for it. Read more...

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