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WASHINGTON — Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer backed the idea behind President Trump’s sweeping reciprocal tariffs Wednesday morning, but argued that levies should be “used like a scalpel.” Whitmer, seen by many as a possible contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, told an audience in the nation’s capital that “I understand the motivation behind the tariffs,” the application of which has sent the stock market into free fall. “Here’s where President Trump and I do agree,” the 53-year-old said. “We do need to make more stuff in America. More cars and chips. More steel and ships. We do need...

With the GOP's presidential primary fight fast approaching, TIME takes a look at the prospective contenders to take on Barack Obama Age: 59 Last held public office: U.S. Senator for South Carolina, 2005-Present Tea Party candidates in the 2010 midterms had no greater champion than DeMint, who bucked his party's establishment to endorse nurture, and fund candidates like Rand Paul in Kentucky and Marco Rubio in Florida. He's been a leader of Tea Party legislative initiatives like the push to ban earmarks and would be one of the most socially conservative contenders in the 2012 field, opposing abortion even in...

WASHINGTON -- President Obama yesterday bowed to criticism that his new health-care laws exempt him from buying coverage at the government-run "exchanges" and announced the first family will get its insurance just like everyday folks. The White House revealed Obama's pledge to shop at the "exchanges" in response to an amendment by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) that would have stripped the president and other executive-branch officials of the exemption. "We think the amendment is unnecessary; the president will participate in the exchange. But let's be clear: the amendments being offered by Senate Republicans, including this one, are just a ploy...

As John A. Pérez became speaker of the state Assembly on Monday, the Los Angeles Democrat remarked that his first political campaign, 20-plus years ago, was as a teenager opposing construction of a prison in East Los Angeles. "To my young mind, it was the last thing I needed," Pérez said, "so I got active. I registered voters. I attended rallies and handed out fliers." "I learned many lessons from that early effort," he continued. "I learned the power of community, the power of organizing and the power of perseverance." Perhaps Pérez was unaware that the man who brokered the...

"President Obama kicks off what might be called his "Save the Senate" tour this week, heading west to campaign for two embattled Democrats trailing badly against Republican challengers - including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. With high-profile Democrats already bailing out of re-election campaigns - Sen. Evan Bayh's decision on Monday to drop out of the race in Indiana brings the number of retirees to five - Mr. Obama is putting his popularity and fundraising prowess on the line as he tries to help his party hold the majority in the Senate. (cut) Mr. Obama is aware of...

... How [Obama] defines recovery may be far different from any definition we've come to expect. Most of us would define recovery as GDP growth, rising employment, higher incomes and a stock market going up 10% a year. Not so Mr. Obama, apparently. Each day it becomes clearer that he has a different idea of recovery. President Obama believes America must "recover" from its sin and addiction. According to Obama the national sin is greed, and the national addiction is to cheap energy. Google "Obama on greed" and you get 7,570,000 hits. Read Obama's campaign book, The Audacity of Hope,...

U.S. Sen. John Kerry denounced John McCain's negative messages on Friday, saying the Arizonan's campaign has turned "ugly" and "desperate." Kerry, a Boston Democrat, made his remarks in a message distributed to his large email list. Here are the key grafs, John McCain has shown a stunning failure of leadership. His campaign, in a time of economic crisis and foreign policy drift, has degenerated into a negative and nasty campaign of smears. The reports are piling up of ugliness at the campaign rallies of John McCain and Sarah Palin. Audience members hurl insults and racial epithets, call out "Kill Him!"...

SCRANTON, PA — It’s no secret he wanted the job, but Joe Biden may let his true feelings out in a Scranton slip. Biden told the crowd at an Italian festival downtown that he wouldn’t be doing as much campaigning today as hed promised. “I will be back, I’ll be back to campaign in earnest, but today is not the moment for me to campaign,” he said. “Today is the moment for me as a United States senator running for president to put aside the national politics and focus on what’s happening down there.”

DENVER – Picking a winner of the presidential contest is front and center at what's being billed as the largest astrologers' convention in years. More than 1,500 astrologers from 45 countries have descended on Denver, site of the Democratic National Convention in August, for the “United Astrology Conference: Rockin' the Universe.” The gathering concludes Tuesday with a panel predicting a presidential winner in November. Key to those picks: Astrological charts for John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. And integral to those charts: The candidates' exact birth times. A hush fell over the convention hall late Thursday when Dallas astrologer...

Appearing on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" Sunday, senator John McCain tried to qualify his remark from 2005 that senator Hillary Clinton "would make a good president."" The likely Republican presidential nominee said Clinton "would be a good president in the respect that I think she has integrity, I think she has all of the qualities that are necessary, but she has a very different philosophical view, the liberal Democratic view, than I have, which is conservative Republican."

WASHINGTON - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich acknowledged he was having an extramarital affair even as he led the charge against President Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair, he acknowledged in an interview with a conservative Christian group. "The honest answer is yes," Gingrich, a potential 2008 Republican presidential candidate, said in an interview with Focus on the Family founder James Dobson to be aired Friday, according to a transcript provided to The Associated Press. "There are times that I have fallen short of my own standards. There's certainly times when I've fallen short of God's standards." Gingrich argued in...

The Next Reagan? By Bruce Walker Fred Thompson has been consistently conservative on social policy and provided critical help in getting John Roberts confirmed as Chief Justice. The Republican Party presidential field seems wide open. Giuliani has lost valuable campaign papers, which might compromise a promising candidacy. He also is to the left of the Republican center on many issues, but his honesty and likeability make up for much of that. McCain is nominally pretty conservative, but he is simply disliked and mistrusted by too many Republicans. Romney is handsome and smooth, but unless he runs away from the pack...

Poll: New Yorkers not sure Clinton should run for prez By MARC HUMBERT AP Political Writer April 12, 2005, 2:43 PM EDT ALBANY, N.Y. -- While Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2006 re-election chances look good unless Rudolph Giuliani challenges her New York voters aren't sure she should run for president in 2008, a statewide poll reported Tuesday. On the other hand, a slim majority of New York voters think Giuliani should run for president in 2008, according to the poll from the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. **SNIP** Fifty-one percent of registered voters polled by Marist said they definitely...

Here SHE is. The President of the United States. Coming soon, if ABC's drama pilot "Commander in Chief" gets picked up. Anticipating a run by Hillary Clinton, Geena Davis will star as the first female president of the United States! Davis, a Democrat political activist, is set for the two-hour pilot with writer/director Rod Lurie. Casting Director Jeanne Boisineau will hold an open call for men and women to play government officials and members of the secret service and military this Saturday in Richmond, VA. Developing...

Bill wants to take over leadership of the U.N. in 2006, and Hillary wants the White House in 2008..Could these two be the Antichrists? I mean the antichrist promises to give anything to anybody that will follow him...Isnt that what the Liberals do already? They promise free welfare, free healthcare, free schooling for all? What do you all think about these two having this much power if it does happen?? http://www.theconservativerepublican.com/

WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) retains an advantage with voters on such qualities as decisiveness and strength of leadership despite the Democrats' effort to promote John Kerry (news - web sites) as a strong leader, a poll this week finds. "The Kerry campaign spent $80 million to $100 million on advertising and then held the convention in July, all to showcase John Kerry as a strong leader," said Bush campaign strategist Matthew Dowd. "When the polls showed very little movement, they said the goal was to change the public perception of his attributes." When asked which candidate...