Lincoln Bucks Tide; Business Leaders Win in California

Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas survived a tough challenge from her party’s left wing on Tuesday to capture the Democratic nomination in a runoff primary election, resisting the anti-incumbent wave that has defined the midterm election year. Mrs. Lincoln withstood a multi-million-dollar campaign against her from organized labor, environmental groups and liberal advocacy organizations from [...]

Raid Complicates U.S. Ties and Push for Peace

Israel’s deadly commando raid on Monday on a flotilla trying to break a blockade of Gaza complicated President Obama’s efforts to move ahead on Middle East peace negotiations and introduced a new strain into an already tense relationship between the United States and Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel canceled plans to come to [...]

House Votes to Allow Repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Law

The House voted Thursday to let the Defense Department repeal the ban on gay and bisexual people from serving openly in the military, a major step toward dismantling the 1993 law widely known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.” The provision would allow military commanders to repeal the ban. The repeal would permit gay men and [...]

Obama to Extend Drilling Moratorium

President Obama plans to announce Thursday that he is extending the moratorium on permits to drill new deepwater wells for six more months and will delay or cancel specific projects off the coasts of Alaska and Virginia and in the western Gulf of Mexico, a White House official said. Mr. Obama, who will discuss the [...]

Immigration Overhaul Advocates Question Troops

In deciding to deploy up to 1,200 National Guard troops to bolster security at the Mexican border, President Obama has stepped into one of the thorniest issues facing American presidents — illegal immigration — and has confounded allies who say he is squandering his chance to address it in a comprehensive way. The White House [...]

Republican Senators’ Lunch With Obama Is Marked by Spirited Confrontations

President Obama’s luncheon Tuesday with Senate Republicans was not televised like a similar session earlier this year with the House opposition, but evidently it would have made for captivating theater. By nearly all accounts, pent-up frustrations boiled over as the president and the very lawmakers who have consistently opposed much of his agenda engaged in [...]

Dodd Prepares to Depart in Triumph

As Senator Christopher J. Dodd completed what might be the capstone of his legislative career last week by shepherding a major banking overhaul through the Senate, the guest book in his office offered a glimpse of why he is not seeking re-election. It includes these recent greetings from visitors who stopped by to pay their [...]

Republicans See Big Chance, but Are Worried, Too

Republicans remain confident of making big gains in the fall elections, but as the midterm campaign begins in earnest, they face a series of challenges that could keep the party from fully capitalizing on an electorate clamoring for change in Washington. There are growing concerns among Republicans about the party’s get-out-the-vote operation and whether it [...]

Democrats, Pressuring G.O.P., Unite on Finance Bill

Senate Democrats said Sunday that they had bridged internal party differences and coalesced around a plan to tighten regulation of derivatives, the complex financial instruments that were a major factor in the 2008 economic crisis. The proposed derivatives rules are an important part of the effort to strengthen regulation of the nation’s financial system, and [...]

Justices Reject Ban on Videos of Animal Cruelty

In a major First Amendment ruling, the Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down a federal law that made it a crime to create or sell dogfight videos and other depictions of animal cruelty. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., writing for the majority in the 8-to-1 decision, said that the law had created “a criminal [...]

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