Current Political Climate in US

Pennsylvania, whose 20 electoral votes have long been among the most closely watched states in the race for the White House, is now rated as leaning Democratic, according to the latest New York Times ranking of presidential battlegrounds.

FOND du LAC, Wis. — A month ago, many people in this state presumed that Tommy G. Thompson — still a household name here after serving an unprecedented four terms as governor — had a lock on the Republican nomination for the Senate.

Maybe the timing wasn’t meant to rain on the union’s parade, but Democrats found it curious that Wednesday’s hearing on airport screener misdeeds fell on the same day the agency met to finalize a labor contract.

High-income households would get tax cuts under a system like the one Mitt Romney is proposing, the Tax Policy Center found.

Not unlike his first 30-second TV spot, Chris Donovan is back with a second ad he where looks directly in the camera to talk to voters.

The Pontifical Catholic University has refused to change its name or to enact other changes that would give the church more control over its operations.

An F.B.I. hunt for leakers of national security information has coincided with Senate consideration of new legislation designed to curb intelligence officials’ exchanges with reporters.

Remarks by Mitt Romney that enraged Palestinians were based on the writings of a top adviser, Dan Senor.

We’re on the trail with Mitt Romney today as he heads to Colorado for his first campaign events since returning home from his foreign trip.
What have the VP shortlisters been up to in the meantime?

Political news from today's Times and around the Web, plus a look at what's happening in Washington.

A new ad from President Obama’s campaign hits Mitt Romney two ways on taxes, suggesting that the former Massachusetts governor’s tax plan is just a way to help line his own pockets.

United States stock futures slid on Thursday morning with no concrete action taken by the European Central Bank to address the Continent’s debt crisis.

President Obama attacked Mitt Romney's proposal to cut taxes for individuals and businesses by more than $5 trillion over the next decade.

The Federal Reserve’s policy committee signaled in a statement that it was ready to take new action if job growth did not improve.

The Senate’s rejection Monday of Oklahoma Magistrate Judge
Robert Bacharach
for a U.S.

An infusion of new blood could alter the complexion of the Senate, increasing the sorts of conflicts among moderate and conservative Republicans that have reshaped the House.

NEW YORK — Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) packed 70 of her top donors into a conference room overlooking Times Square this week and urged them to give more money and spread the word.

On a campaign stop in Ohio, President Obama said the new study showed that Mr. Romney’s plans would mean more large tax cuts for millionaires at the expense of other Americans.

Congressional leaders have launched more partisan back-and-forth on the way to the edge of the fiscal cliff.

Chick-fil-A is now smack in the middle of the gay marriage debate, and the fried chicken chain had a busy day yesterday.

Sequestration could cause extensive unemployment among the federal work force, former Virginia governor Tim Kaine said at a campaign event Wednesday evening in Arlington.

“Mitt Romney’s plan? A new $250,000 tax cut for millionaires …increase military spending…adding trillions to the deficit.  Or President Obama’s plan?

Representative Laura Richardson, Democrat of California, has agreed to be punished by the House and to pay a $10,000 fine for compelling her Congressional staff members to work on her 2010 campaign.

And now, a few words from some presidential debate principals, even as three savvy New Jersey girls clamor for a woman to moderate at least one Obama-GOP presidential candidate face-off this fall.