Free Republic

<p>Republican incumbent: Senator Robert Cowles of Allouez. First elected to state Senate in April 1987 special election.</p> <p>Democratic challenger: Nancy Nusbaum of De Pere, a former mayor of De Pere and Brown County executive.</p> <p>Republican incumbent: Senator Alberta Darling of River Hills. First elected to the Senate in 1992.</p>

Seeking leverage against Republicans in the debt-limit standoff, President Obama on Friday declared a vast majority of Americans support his "balanced approach" to getting the nation's fiscal house in order. "You have 80 percent of the American people who support a balanced approach. Eighty percent of the American people support an approach that includes revenues and includes cuts. So the notion that somehow the American people aren't sold is not the problem," Obama said at a White House briefing room news conference. "The problem is members of Congress are dug in ideologically into various positions because they boxed themselves in...

After meeting for exactly 90 minutes, the president and members of congress achieved absolutely nothing except for what ZH readers already knew: that a debt deal has to be reached by July 22 or else. "President Barack Obama said Sunday that "we need to" work out a debt deal within the next 10 days as he convened a meeting with congressional leaders, aiming to fashion a deficit reduction package for the next 10 years. As the meeting opened, Obama and the leaders sat around the table in Sunday casual dress. Asked whether the White House and Congress could "work it...

The Obama administration said Thursday that its top health official will "exercise her discretion" in enforcing a new health-law requirement, a move that could help McDonald's Corp. and other employers from disrupting their health-care policies for hourly workers. The announcement Thursday followed a report in The Wall Street Journal that McDonald's warned federal regulators it could drop its health-insurance plan for nearly 30,000 restaurant workers unless regulators waive a new requirement of the health overhaul. The requirement, known as the minimum medical loss ratio, concerns the percentage of revenue received from premiums that must be spent on benefits. McDonald's is...

The planet may be saved after all, and it will only cost $100 billion. Just as the Copenhagen climate summit appeared to be on the verge of unraveling, the United States Thursday announced its support of an annual $100 billion climate protection fund, the Associated Press reports. “The US is prepared to work with other countries toward a goal of jointly mobilizing $100 billion a year by 2020 to address the climate change needs of developing countries,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said. Included in the conditions for the US' contribution, Clinton demanded that China's emissions reductions be scrutinized...