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Trump Celebrates Christmas at Rally Talking Putin Praise By JOSH HASKELL JOHN SANTUCCI Dec 19, 2015 Christmas appears to have come early for Presidential candidate Donald Trump as he basked in the praise received from Russian President Vladimir Putin while on the campaign trail in Iowa Saturday. "Russia's got plenty of problems. But I'll tell you what, if Putin likes me and he thinks I'm a good, smart person, that's a good thing. Not a bad thing," Trump said. Acknowledging that Trump's GOP rivals didn't exactly think an endorsement from Putin was something to gloat about, the billionaire businessman told...

Immigrant rights activists have vowed to sign up 1 million immigrants — mostly Mexicans — for citizenship and then quickly register them to vote in time to punish Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans at the polls in November for their harsh rhetoric. The advocates say the new voters could make a difference in the presidential race, where most of the Republican field has tacked to the right in word and policy, and in key Senate races in Illinois and Florida, where Republicans will be reaching to hang on to critical seats.

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday narrowly approved the first cuts since 1997 to benefit programs such as Medicare (search), Medicaid (search) and farm subsidies, giving Republicans a symbolic victory against ever-rising government spending. The bill, passed by a 52-47 vote, would make modest cuts to the health care programs for the elderly, poor and disabled, but leave the food stamp program untouched. The measure also would permit exploratory oil drilling in an Alaskan wilderness (search) area. The spending battle now heads to the House, where Republicans are divided over whether to cut more deeply across a broader range of...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is, in a sense, fighting a two-front political war - not only seeking dominance over Democrats in the Capitol with a series of flanking maneuvers but trying to remake what has been a very conservative state Republican Party in his own ideologically centrist image. Were he to succeed on both fronts, Schwarzenegger could have a dramatic impact on California politics that would last beyond his governorship. And the key to both is the millions of moderate voters who have felt alienated from both a very conservative Republican Party and a very liberal Democratic Party, but who have...