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A collection of seven Senate Democrats are pressuring President Obama to scale-back the proposed carbon limits on new coal-fired power plants. In a letter to Obama on Wednesday, the senators asserted that the technology the rule is based on is not commercially viable. ADVERTISEMENT "We are committed to improving air quality; however, the emissions standards in the proposed rule are not based on technology that has been adequately demonstrated on a commercial scale," the letter, spearheaded by Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) and Joe Donnelly (Ind.) states. Sens. Mary Landrieu (La.), Mark Pryor (Ark.) and Mark Warner (Va.), all vulnerable Democrats...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) says in a new interview that Republicans should embrace a more tolerant view of those who don't hold conservative positions on social issues."I think that the Republican Party, in order to get bigger, will have to agree to disagree on social issues," Paul told vocativ.com. "The Republican Party is not going to give up on having quite a few people who do believe in traditional marriage. But the Republican Party also has to find a place for young people and others who don’t want to be festooned by those issues."Paul's comments harken back somewhat to former...

For five decades of Saturdays, Jerry's Barber Shop has been a center of Arkansas politics, servicing receding hairlines for governors, legislators and judges alongside the voters who elect and reject them. "I know how to make a politician tell the truth," owner Jerry Hood says, "put a razor to his neck." That joke never fails. On this Saturday morning, Hood's audience consists of two fellow barbers and four customers, including me – and the crowd guffaws while I blindly scribble quotes in a notepad beneath my barber's smock. I've ordered a Number 1 buzz cut. "People are sick and tired...

Here's a riddle: Many Republicans deny it's happening. Some Democrats don't want to talk about it. What is it? The answer is the growing U.S. economy, on pace to expand as much as 3.5 percent this year, about the best performance in the industrialized world. Unemployment has fallen from 10 percent to about 6.3 percent and consumer confidence is at a six-year high. Better economic data could help persuade voters in November to look past President Barack Obama's weak approval ratings and his unpopular healthcare law and give Democrats enough lift to hold onto the Senate and limit their losses...

In the past few days, three candidates who ran for the last Republican presidential nomination, including nominee Mitt Romney, have endorsed a higher minimum wage. Yahoo!Finance asks Mitt Romney Calls for Higher Minimum Wage. Does it Matter? Mitt Romney, the GOP presidential nominee in 2012, called on Republicans Friday to raise the minimum wage, going against the congressional leadership of his own party. Related Stories "I think we ought to raise it, because frankly, our party is all about more jobs and better pay, and I think communicating that is important to us," Mr. Romney said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”...

Four years ago it was 61 percent. I had a theory to explain the most recent drop when I started reading the poll, but now that I’ve looked at the trends over time, it just doesn’t hold up. I thought this new low was a reaction to the shutdown last fall; the first big dip in tea-party popularity came after the first debt-ceiling standoff in 2011, after all, so it would stand to reason that a new economic disruption would drive the numbers down further. Ted Cruz was on camera throughout the process promoting “defund” so tea partiers are bearing...

The Nevada Republican Party is defending its decision to remove anti-gay and anti-abortion language from its state platform, saying that the exclusions doesn't mean the party is "for" either issue. Members of the delegation, meeting with other party members at the Republican National Convention's meeting in Memphis, rebuked Oklahoma Republican National Committee member Carolyn McLarty, who questioned Nevada Republicans' loyalty to the national party's goals in an email, reports The Washington Times. -SNIP- Nevada says it shortened its platform to benefit voters and candidates, but Arizona RNC member Bruce Ash said he questions the state party's strategy in picking the...

There are precious few sure bets in American politics, but if Nate Silver starts giving you a 60% chance at something you generally pay attention. And that’s the odds Nate is laying out for the GOP to retake the Senate. But for a group of people who seem so entirely hell bent for leather on getting this done, we don’t really know what they plan to do with it if they get it. Over at Outside the Beltway, Doug shares some predictions from Michael Tomasky, who is not particularly optimistic. Let’s start with the bleak view. “If the Republicans win...

Pollster John Zogby reports in our weekly White House report card that President Obama is no longer seen as an agent of change, but the boss of an oppressive national security state. "Not only did the president not get a triumph from his Asia trip, but he hit a wall of bad news. First quarter economic growth is worse than expected, just 0.1 percent. "Next, the administration admits that its Middle East efforts is on life support. And the Europeans haven't jumped on board with another round of sanctions against Russia. “Mr. Obama is no longer seen as the transformational...

Democrats face serious obstacles as they look to the November elections, with President Obama’s approval rating at a new low and a majority of voters saying they prefer a Congress in Republican hands to check the president’s agenda, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Obama’s approval rating fell to 41 percent, down from 46 percent through the first three months of the year and the lowest of his presidency in Post-ABC News polls. Just 42 percent approve of his handling of the economy, 37 percent approve of how he is handling the implementation of the Affordable Care Act...

One of the biggest land grabs in American history occurred in 1976, when President Jimmy Carter signed into a law the “Federal Land Policy and Management Act.” That stroke of the pen transferred hundreds of millions of acres of land, located primarily in the western states, into the control of the federal government. In reaction, an alliance of ranchers, farmers, and other concerned citizens – the “Sagebrush Rebels” as they came to be known -- challenged the move and sought to return the land back into the hands of the states. Ronald Reagan, at the time running for president, supported...

Former Governor Charlie Crist went where few Democrats dare, a full endorsement of Obamacare Democratic gubernatorial candidate is doing something with his campaign that almost no other Democrat in America is willing to do: give a full-throated endorsement of the Affordable Care Act. Crist made an appearance at the Capital Tiger Bay Club and repeatedly called the ACA “great” during his lunch speech. Crist also took aim at attack ads against him being run by a political action committee backing Republican Governor Rick Scott.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee warned if the Republican Party ignores social issues in the upcoming national elections, then evangelical voters will simply stay home. The evangelical vote in America has been a key ingredient in deciding who becomes the Republican nominee for president. Polling bears that out. Yet the social issues near and dear to the hearts of evangelicals are under attack within Republican circles. A few years ago, former Gov. Mitch Daniels, R-Ind., wanted to declare a truce on the hot button social issues. "All I was saying was we are going to need to unify all kinds...

On the Sunday, April 20, Melissa Harris-Perry show on MSNBC, as host Harris-Perry chastised Democrats for not bragging about ObamaCare for the year's midterm elections, she at one point mocked Americans angry about having their health insurance plans cancelled, which she referred to as "crappy plans," as she lamented that Democrats are not boasting about ObamaCare or declaring, "Yeah, you can't keep your crappy plans. Just deal with that!" Her mockery of the ObamaCare-induced insurance cancellations came as she compared Republicans to people who flip houses and brag about doing only a little work, as she characterized Democrats, by contrast,...

At $3.67, US Regular gasoline prices are their highest since March 2013 having risen over 12% (40c) in the last 2 months. This must be great news, right? It must mean world demand is picking up and driving up prices of crude oil as global trade soars (amid a collapsing Baltic Dry and decelerating Chinese growth). This can't be related to "war premia" right? - as we noted here - because stocks (which always know best) have discounted all this tomfoolery. However, as the following chart shows, each time gas prices have surged up toards the Maginot Line of $3.80,...

Las Vegas, Nev., Apr 18, 2014 / 02:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Several hundred delegates of the Nevada Republican Party approved a party platform Saturday that lacks a pro-life plank and drops support for the definition of marriage as a union of one man and one woman. Nevada State Party Chairman Michael McDonald told the Las Vegas Review-Journal he thought the party platform was “about inclusion, not exclusion.” “This is where the party is going.” Fewer than half of the original 520 party delegates were present to vote to approve the platform the evening of April 12 at the party’s annual...

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) is "hellbent" on passing amnesty legislation, and other GOP leaders are signaling to donors and lobbyists that they also want to pass legislation this Congress, even though attempting to do so would depress the GOP base and create divisions within the party ahead of 2014's midterm elections that could give Republicans control of Congress. According to the Wall Street Journal, Boehner told donors at a Las Vegas fundraiser in March that he was "hellbent on getting this done this year." After he met with President Barack Obama at the White House in February, Boehner said...

Jared Polis really doesn’t care what anyone else thinks. If you saw the Colorado congressman speaking on the House floor last month wearing a clip-on bowtie with a polo shirt under his blazer, you know what I’m talking about. He’s been this way since he first emerged on the scene. About 10 years ago, when he was just 28, Polis was one of four wealthy Colorado Democrats who pooled their considerable personal resources to create a state-of-the-art political machine that was ruthlessly effective in turning this once-red heartland state a stunning shade of blue. But Polis wouldn’t run with that...

LAS VEGAS (AP) - The Nevada Republican Party stripped opposition to abortion and gay marriage from its platform Saturday as state convention delegates instead focused on judging fellow Republicans on their worthiness to serve in office and adherence to GOP values. The platform, with few changes, was adopted overwhelmingly as the Las Vegas convention stretched late into the evening. The vote mirrors that of the Clark County GOP, which voted earlier to remove platform language defining marriage as between a man and a woman and statements opposing abortion. Many Republicans are re-evaluating their strong stances on conservative social issues as...

When David Jolly beat Alex Sink in a recent special election for a Florida congressional seat, the knee jerk reaction from the GOPe’s pet pollsters was to immediately warn the Republican rank and file that Jolly didn’t win because of Obamacare. “Who are you going to believe, us or your lying eyes?” came to mind. Phonies like Karl Rove pontificated about how winning elections requires more than simply getting on the right side of issues voters care about and hammering that message home. Hey, who knew there was more to winning elections than supporting the things voters want and opposing...