Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) asks Chuck Hagel when he stopped beating his wife during the SecDef confirmation hearing.
Senate
Todd Akin Resists Calls to Withdraw from Missouri Senate Race After Rape Comments
Politics is tribal. When a candidate commits a typical gaffe, his opponents attack while his allies mount a defense. That’s just the way it goes. But once in a while, a candidate says something so devastatingly stupid everything …
The Obama Presidency in Pictures
As Barack Obama campaigns for a second term, TIME’s photo editors recap his White House tenure to date.
Cruz Wins in Texas as the GOP Establishment Cracks
Thirty years ago, it was said Texas Republicans were so few that they met in a phone booth. These days, a Roman amphitheater might be a more suitable venue. The colossal $45 million GOP U.S. Senate primary battle that culminated …
Bain Already Killed Mitt Romney Once. And I Was a Witness.
I haven’t studied the details of Mitt Romney’s tenure at Bain & Co. And I’m no expert in political tactics; when I write about them, it’s usually to make a larger point about a politician. My only credential for discussing whether Bain will hurt Romney in 2012 is that I lived in Massachusetts in 1994, when he was running for …
Political Pictures of the Week, April 14-20
TIME’s photo editors bring you the best pictures of the past week from the Beltway and beyond.
Dick Lugar and Barack Obama: The End of Bipartisan Bromance
It was Washington’s most charming bipartisan bromance. When Barack Obama ran for President in 2008, he was eager to embrace Indiana’s Republican Senator, Dick Lugar. Obama dropped Lugar’s name into his announcement speech, featured him in a TV ad, and cited him as a key foreign policy influence in a debate. Hugging Lugar, the …
Senate Blocks Republican Contraception Measure, but the Debate Can’t Be Voted Away
In a 51-48 vote on Thursday, the Senate rejected a Republican amendment that would have allowed any employer to deny medical coverage for services it objected to on religious grounds. Drawn up in the wake of the Obama Administration’s decision to mandate contraception coverage at Catholic universities and hospitals, the amendment, …
Can a Bipartisan Pact Really Disarm the Super PAC Arsenal in Massachusetts?
From its start, the race for Ted Kennedy’s old Senate seat seemed destined to be one of most expensive political battles in Massachusetts history. Challenger Elizabeth Warren, bank-scolding darling of the left, and Scott Brown, …
Obama to Recess Appoint Cordray to Consumer Bureau
President Obama is reportedly planning to name Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in a recess appointment today, which means the drawn-out Congressional standoff over Cordray’s nomination to …
Ben Nelson Retiring, the ‘Kickback’ Kicks Back
Ben Nelson, the conservative two-term Nebraska Democrat, won’t seek re-election to the Senate next year, according to Politico.
Nelson is 70–not exactly an adolescent, but hardly outside the norm for a Senate whose average …
Obama Trades a Likely Consumer Bureau Loss for a Political Win
Now that President Barack Obama has embraced his inner populist, he’s finding all kinds of weapons lying around to beat Republicans with. The payroll tax cut is getting a lot of attention. If his success with conservative appellate court judges is any indication, the constitutionality of ObamaCare will be another. The latest weapon …
Why Obama Is Threatening to Veto a Defense Bill Over Detention Policy
The White House is threatening to veto a long-awaited defense funding bill over a perennial policy dispute: whether the President can prosecute terrorists in civilian courts, or must transfer them to military custody. The battle has raged since the very first day of Barack Obama’s presidency, but this time Obama’s opponent is not the …
