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Colorado Rep. Cory Gardner plans to enter the Republican Senate primary to take on freshman Sen. Mark Udall, three sources told POLITICO Wednesday. Gardner had rebuffed multiple overtures from national Republicans over the past year, but recruitment efforts continued into this week as the GOP strained to find a viable challenger to Udall, who polls have shown is vulnerable. News of Gardner’s move was first reported by The Denver Post. Continue Reading Text Size -+resetAdvertisementLatest on POLITICO Hagel turns up heat about U.S. POW Perry: 'We will continue to fight' Hagel sells tighter defense budget Cynthia Brown joins Blank Rome...

Congressman Todd Akin is set to kick-start the 2012 campaign, announcing today his entry into the race for U.S. Senate in a move that will set off a cascade of maneuvering among those trying to replace the Wildwood Republican in the House. Akin's decision to leave his relatively safe perch in Congress — he hasn't had a competitive race in over a decade — to challenge U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill underscores the belief among many Republicans that the incumbent Democrat is vulnerable. McCaskill's close relationship with the White House, along with the recent disclosure she failed to pay taxes on...

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal finally apologized for having lied about his Vietnam-era military service. Well, sort of. He e-mailed a Hartford newspaper expressing "regret [for] offending anyone." And then, only after the paper asked the Democratic US Senate candidate flat-out whether he intended to apologize. The New York Times last week disclosed that Blumenthal has often claimed to have served in Vietnam when, in fact, he received five deferments, then enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserves for stateside service. In his e-mail to the Hartford Courant, Blumenthal -- who over the weekend accepted the Democratic nomination to succeed Sen....

Veteran political analyst Charlie Cook says retirements are creating a “vicious circle” for Democratic politicians. For the first time, he sees a significant risk that Democrats could lose the House this year if trends continue. (Somebody alert RNC Chairman Michael Steele). From Cook: How many other wavering House -- or Senate -- Democrats will look at the past five weeks and decide that spending the rest of this year as a lame duck is more attractive than spending a horrific year fundraising, scarfing down fast food, and shaking hands -- all the while facing the very real possibility of losing...

Sens:Won't Vote To Lift Debt Ceiling Without Action On Spending By Corey Boles, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Two Democratic senators said Tuesday they wouldn't vote to support an increase in the nation's debt ceiling without corresponding action to address the country's long term fiscal imbalances. Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) and Evan Bayh (D., Ind.) told a hearing of the Senate Budget Committee they would vote against a needed increase in the limit the federal government can borrow unless Congress creates a commission to come up with proposals to bring the deficit and debt under control. The...

MINNEAPOLIS -- This coming week, Minnesota's Canvassing Board will declare what everyone's been waiting for in the state's prolonged U.S. Senate race: A winner. Well, sort of.

My new book, "Impostor," is very critical of President Bush for not standing up for conservative principles. One of the main criticisms I have heard is that Republicans in Congress deserve much of the blame for out-of-control spending and other sins I blame on him. This is a valid point. But I take the view members of Congress will always behave myopically, seeing spending that benefits their constituents as supremely virtuous even as they decry deficits and bloated budgets.

Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) is not happy that the majority party in the Senate is debating on using the U.S. Constitution and senate rules as guide to allow Federal judicial nominees their rightful vote in the full Senate. According to UPI the pompous ex-Klansman is threatening to become a "major presence on the Senate floor if Republicans alter Senate rules to prevent judicial nominations from being blocked by a minority of senators." The former KKK member then compared the GOP to Adolf Hitler. From Fox News: On Tuesday, Sen. Robert Byrd compared Republican tactics on nominees to Adolph Hitler's use...

October 7, 2004--The race to replace John Edwards as North Carolina's next U.S. Senator is too close to call. The latest Rasmussen Reports survey shows Republican Richard Burr with 47% of the vote and Democrat Erskine Bowles with 45%. The survey of 500 Likely Voters was conducted Monday, October 4, 2004.

AUSTRALIAN Democrats leader Natasha Stott Despoja failed in her bid to force the Government to rule out a first strike against Iraq. Senator Stott Despoja moved the Government rule out committing troops unless there was evidence of an imminent attack by Iraq on another nation. But the urgency motion lost 11-57, with the seven Democrats, two Greens and Len Harris (ON, Qld) and Meg Lees (Ind, SA), defeated by the Government and Labor. Senator Stott Despoja said there were insufficient grounds for Australia to support a first strike and the Government must support diplomatic endeavours. Party debate in the Senate...