Washington Times Politics

President Obama says the federal government needs more revenue, while House Minority Leader John A. Boehner says it needs to spend less. One of them could walk out of this year's congressional elections with a mandate to handle one of the most intractable problems facing the country.

Spending has risen ...

Using his strongest political rhetoric yet, President Obama said Wednesday that Republicans are banking on the calculation that "if I fail, they win," and he told Congress to make a clean break with the Bush-era tax policies by letting the tax cuts for the wealthiest expire.

In a stump-style speech ...

Republican Governors Association Chairman Haley Barbour says the GOP is lucky that the "tea party" movement didn't form a third party, and describes Democrats as running from President Obama like "scalded dogs."

The Mississippi governor also is confident in his party's gubernatorial candidates and their ability to get out the ...

NEW YORK | Kelsey Grammer is an investor and public face supporting a network that launched Wednesday with entertainment designed to appeal to political conservatives.

RightNetwork, whose first series, "Running," follows the fortunes of some "tea party"-backed candidates for public office, also is trying a new model to establish itself. ...

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel might want to return to Chicago to become mayor, but his connection to a presidency with a sinking approval rating and his association to convicted former Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich could have voters thinking otherwise.

He also faces a crowded field of ...

From Alaska to Florida, the swelling "tea party" front catapulted underdog candidates in Republican primaries this year, but one of its greatest forces has been a highly organized California-based group initially formed to defeat Barack Obama's presidential bid.

The Tea Party Express has donated at least $2.1 million to candidates ...

DEFENSE

Arms cheating would backfire

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates assured lawmakers Wednesday that he expects Russia to abide by a new nuclear-arms treaty, but that even if Moscow cheats, it won't gain any military advantage.

In a newly declassified letter provided to the Associated Press, Mr. Gates wrote that ...

TRUTH OR TRUTHINESS

He landed Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. as a guest on Wednesday, Sen. Jim Webb, Virginia Democrat, for Thursday. Comedy Central's svelte crackpot host Stephen Colbert appears to be on a profile-raising mission to best such friendly rivals as Jon Stewart. But Mr. Colbert also has ...

Mayor Adrian Fenty is calling in a favor from the White House: He wants an endorsement from the other chief executive in town, President Barack Obama.

Mr. Fenty, who is down in the polls, made the appeal during a radio interview on WTOP, acknowledging he is personally seeking an endorsement ...

Accusing Republicans of calculating that "if I fail, they win," President Obama said Wednesday that Congress must let tax cuts for the wealthy expire at the end of this year, arguing the government cannot balance its books without that revenue.

In a stump-style speech in Cleveland, Mr. Obama blasted the ...

CLEVELAND (AP) — White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday he has "no doubt" that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel will be weighing his future options now that the race for Chicago mayor is wide open.

"Obviously, something like that doesn't come around a lot," Mr. Gibbs ...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, has asked Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to address accusations that federal workers ignored complaints about conditions at an Iowa farm involved in a recall of salmonella-tainted eggs.

Mr. Grassley sent a letter to Mr. Vilsack on Tuesday, asking whether ...

NEW YORK (AP) — Kelsey Grammer is an investor and public face supporting a new network that launched Wednesday with entertainment designed to appeal to political conservatives.

RightNetwork, whose first series, "Running," follows the fortunes of some Tea Party-backed candidates for public office, is also trying a new model to ...

Countering President Obama's call for tax rates to return to their past levels, House Minority Leader John A. Boehner said Wednesday morning that Congress should strike a bipartisan deal to lower spending to what it was in 2008.

Mr. Boehner, an Ohio Republican, said the economy is shaky because ...

ALASKA

Murkowski hints at indy Senate bid

JUNEAU | A week after conceding the tight GOP primary to Joe Miller, Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she's not a quitter and is "still in this game."

Mrs. Murkowski told the Associated Press on Tuesday that she's been inundated with calls and ...

President Obama is not finding many allies in his latest call for bipartisan cooperation on new infrastructure spending and tax breaks, and even Democrats say nothing will get done in the two months before congressional elections.

"He's just throwing it on the wall, hoping it will stick," said Sen. James ...

In what could prove a sleeper race with national implications, some West Virginia Democrats say they are seeing signs that the state's Senate race could be turning into an unexpectedly tough and expensive battle.

While popular Gov. Joe Manchin III, 63, was widely regarded by Democrats as a sure thing ...

Never before have so many governorships been up for grabs - and with so much at stake.

The races come just ahead of once-in-a-decade congressional and legislative redistricting to reflect the U.S. population of the 2010 census, a process in which governors will play a central role. Of the 37 ...

Turns out politics, for all its focus on the gloomy economy, is a recession-proof industry.

This year's volatile election is bursting with money, setting fundraising and spending records in a high-stakes struggle for control of Congress amid looser but still fuzzy campaign-finance rules.

Based on the latest financial reports, House ...

If you thought passing the health care overhaul was messy, wait until Republicans try to repeal it if they regain power this fall.

It could come down to who blinks first, with some Republicans raising the prospect of a government shutdown.

Even if Republicans succeed beyond any current predictions and ...