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“If Romney cannot win Michigan, we need a new candidate,” said the senator, who has not endorsed anyone and requested anonymity. The senator believes Romney will ultimately win in Michigan but says he will publicly call for the party to find a new candidate if he does not. “We’d get killed,” the senator said if Romney manages to win the nomination after he failed to win the state in which he grew up.

A faux pax by Senator Diane Feinstein outed the presence of Mossad chief Tamir Pardo in Washington to discuss a possible strike on Iran. Mossad director Tamir Pardo is in Washington for talks about a possible attack on Iran's nuclear installations, Israel's Channel 2 reported on Tuesday. Pardo's visit, which would normally be conducted in secret, was revealed by US Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, 78, who made the faux pax at committee hearing. The hearing was being broadcast live by US television. Feinstein said she had spoken with Pardo, who also met with CIA director David Petraeus, adding...

So an ex-senator walks into a comedy club . . . That's not the setup to a joke - it's what happened Tuesday night when Arlen Specter took the stage at the Helium Comedy Club's open-mike night in Center City. "I've been in comedy now for 30 years," the former senator explained. Taking a try at stand-up was a natural step after spending so many years in the "sit-down comedy" of Congress - and, Specter noted, it was considerably less expensive. While some of his jokes are unprintable in a family newspaper - don't ask about the paraplegic who wanted...

usa today http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2011/12/ben-nelson-retirement/1

Brooklyn Senator Expected to Plead Guilty in Corruption CaseBy WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM and BENJAMIN WEISER Published: December 19, 2011 State Senator Carl Kruger was expected to plead guilty on Tuesday to federal corruption charges that he accepted at least $1 million in bribes to finance a lavish lifestyle, including a large home in Mill Basin, Brooklyn, where he lived with two gynecologist brothers and their mother, according to several people briefed on the case. One of the brothers, Michael Turano, who was also charged in the corruption case unveiled in the spring, was expected to plead guilty along with Mr....

The endorsement of a powerful gun-rights group is up for grabs in a key Senate race. The National Rifle Association’s (NRA) decision on whether to endorse Democratic incumbent Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) or Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg (Mont.) could be the deciding factor in what is expected to be a close contest. Political analysts say that the winner of this election could determine which party will control the Senate in January of 2013. Tester and Rehberg have strong gun rights voting records. The NRA gives Tester an A grade and Rehberg an A+. A Montana State University-Billings poll released earlier...

The ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee says the Justice Department has refused to make available 11 of 12 department witnesses called by the panel for transcribed interviews in the ongoing investigation of the botched Fast and Furious weapons operation. Sen. Chuck Grassley said that despite the department’s promises of good faith cooperation in the probe, only one witness has been provided so far - former U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke in Arizona, who resigned in August after taking responsibility for his mistakes during testimony about Fast and Furious before a House committee. “The department has refused to schedule interviews...

Counterfeit military parts from China a ‘clear and present danger,’ senators sayBy John T. Bennett - 11/08/11 02:46 PM ET Senate Armed Services Committee leaders are fashioning a plan that would force the Defense Department to step up efforts to prevent counterfeit parts from being used on U.S. military platforms. The panel said a probe it launched in March has uncovered what senators of both parties labeled alarming evidence that most of the counterfeit components come from China, America’s top economic and military competitor. “During the course of the committee’s investigation, virtually every one of the dozens of people our...

Russell and Patricia Caswell are a hard-working couple who may soon have their American Dream taken from them by the unholy alliance of local and federal law enforcement officials seeking to cash in on the Caswell’s property. The Caswells face this dilemma even though they have broken no law and have spent their entire professional career working to combat crime with the very police force that now seeks to take their property though civil forfeiture. What is happening to Russ and Pat, however, is by no means an isolated instance and local law enforcement’s end-run around state laws designed to...

Author of Durbin amendment doesnt like a bank reacting to the negative effect of his amendment. “Bank of America customers, vote with your feet, get the heck out of that bank,” Durbin said on the Senate floor.

White House kept Democratic senators hanging on phoneBy Alexander Bolton - 10/04/11 05:30 AM ET President Obama’s relations with Senate Democratic leaders are deteriorating along with his poll numbers. With Obama’s approval ratings at record lows and the 2012 electoral map favoring Senate Republicans, the president and Senate Democrats are, in many ways, on divergent paths. Vulnerable Democrats from red states see Obama as impeding their chances of winning reelection, while the president often seems aloof to their concerns. Obama, focused on winning a second term, has distanced himself from Congress altogether, at times not making the distinction between Republicans...

Secret Service Agent-Turned Senate Hopeful: ‘I Like the President,’ but ‘Policies Just Wrong’ After more than a decade protecting presidents with the Secret Service, Daniel Bongino is currently running against the policies that the most recent president he worked under – President Obama – has moved along. Bongino, who quit his job with the Secret Service in May to run for the Senate as a Republican in Maryland, told us on ABC’s “Top Line” today that it’s nothing personal. “I like the president a lot personally. We had a good relationship. He was a wonderful man to me, and this...

Well, it looks like we have a new Anthony Weiner in town. A Puerto Rican TV show called Dando Candela presented Republican Senator Roberto Arango with naked pictures found on the Internet that they claimed were of him. He wouldn’t deny the allegations, saying he had taken photos like that but only to document his weight loss. Of course, that doesn’t explain the fact that the pictures were found on Grindr, a hook up site for gay and bisexual men.

March Rubio's recent speech at the Reagan Library.

U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy is promoting a bill to suspend U.S. assistance to three elite Israel Defense Forces units, alleging they are involved in human rights violations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Leahy, a Democrat and senior member of the U.S. Senate, wants assistance withheld from the Israel Navy's Shayetet 13 unit, the undercover Duvdevan unit and the Israel Air Force's Shaldag unit. (Snip) According to a senior Israeli official in Jerusalem, Leahy began promoting the legislation in recent months after he was approached by voters in his home state of Vermont.

Final two recall elections could lead to state’s first tea party senatorJESSICA VANEGEREN | The Capital Times Posted: Thursday, August 11, 2011 8:15 am Wednesday morning, just hours after state Republicans learned they had retained control of the state Senate by defeating four of the six Democratic challengers in the state’s historic recall elections, a flurry of activity began in the two remaining Senate districts up for grabs on Tuesday, Aug. 16, the fourth and final recall election day. The seats, held by Democratic incumbents Jim Holperin of Conover and Robert Wirch of Pleasant Prairie, are the last of the...

  "We Go About Our Business Almost as Zombies." "Leadership Does Not Want Us to Make Hard Decisions." "The Senate is absolutely dysfunctional; and it’s dysfunctional because neither side wants to engage in the tough decisions of the day." "The fact is that we are all sort of two-bit pawns in all of this by allowing our country to continue to spend money." I was beginning to wonder when this Senator Corker was going to resurface.  He seemed poised and ready to take up the debt ceiling fight months ago when talk of the looming debate began on the Hill - which...

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) spent 31 years in manufacturing before his election to Congress last November. He’s not letting that experience go to waste. Johnson is out with a new video this morning to coincide with President Obama’s visit to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh to promote manufacturing. He criticizes Obama’s recent comments blaming inventions like the ATM for unemployment. “This is a depressing display of economic ignorance,” Johnson says. He adds: “Technological innovations create jobs. They drive our economy forward, by helping workers be more productive. That raises everyone’s living standards.” Johnson recounts a story of Milton Friedman’s visit...

“These findings are so disturbing … that had Sen. Ensign not resigned and had we been able to proceed to that adjudication, that it would have been substantial enough to warrant the consideration of expulsion,” Ethics Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said on the Senate floor.

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau Under this resolution, a senator who is absent without leave from two or more session days is subject to a penalty equal to $100 for each day that the senator is absent without leave. In addition, the senator must reimburse the senate for the actual costs incurred to compel his or her attendance. The penalties and costs are imposed by adopting a privileged resolution that identifies the senator who has been absent without leave. A senator who is subject to the penalties and costs imposed by the resolution may only be heard on the...

So says National Journal, which rated 96 key votes in the US Senate in 2010, in its annual listings announced this morning for both the Senate and the House. NJ once ranked a junior Senator from Illinois as the most liberal member of the upper chamber in 2007, but he still managed to win the Presidency running as a centrist. There’s reason to be suspicious of this outcome as well: The politician who once best exemplified the idea of a “maverick� independent has shifted so far to the right that he is now tied for the title of the...

...I want to point out the only reason this bill has not become law is because of the courageous actions from our Senate Democrats. In particular, I want to mention our own State Senator Kathleen Vinehout who has been particularly outspoken in opposition to this terrible legislation. While thousands of public workers; teachers, nurses, social workers, firefighters, police officers, service employees and many others came to Madison to use the last tool available to them, our Senate Democrats left Madison and are utilizing the only tool left to them.

MSNBC's Chris Matthews tried Monday to push the liberal media meme that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker exempted police and firefighters from his budget repair plan because their unions endorsed him in last November's election. "Well one more time you're completely uninformed," replied Republican State Senator Glenn Grothman who then proceeded to tell the facts to the obviously clueless "Hardball" host (video follows with transcript and commentary): CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Let me go to the Republican, Senator Grothman. My question of course is why does the Governor pick on the unions that didn't endorse him in the last campaign but give...

Two Democratic senators are asking baseball commissioner Bud Selig to ban all tobacco use in the sport, specifically citing smokeless products. Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey are suggesting that Selig push for a ban as part of the negotiations in the players' collective bargaining agreement later this year. Major League Baseball banned tobacco use in its minor leagues in 1993, but still allows it in the big leagues. The senators say Major League Baseball "is undoubtedly complicit" in the increase its use with school-aged boys.

Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Monday he is open to the possibility of running for the seat of retiring Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) in 2012. Arpaio, the conservative sheriff famous for his hard-line anti-immigration stances, made the remarks in light of a poll released Monday by Summit Consulting Group Inc., which is fundraising for Arpaio's reelection campaign for sheriff. The company's Chad Willems is Arpaio's campaign manager. Arpaio said the deciding factor is neither the money, which he said he could raise, nor his ability to do the job. Rather, he said, it's whether he would be willing to leave...

wo GOP sources confirm to Fox that 3-term Senator Jon Kyl will announce his retirement at a noon news conference Thursday in Phoenix. The Arizona lawmaker is the No. 2 Republican in the Senate. Kyl, 68, served four terms in the House before winning a Senate seat. In 2006, he was named one of the 10 best senators by Time Magazine.

Senator seeks expedited Supreme Court review of health care lawBy: CNN Congressional Producer Ted Barrett February 2nd, 2011 05:32 PM ET (CNN) - A Democratic senator who faces a potentially tough re-election battle in a political swing state wants the Senate to approve a non-binding resolution urging the U.S. Supreme Court to decide quickly if the new health care law is constitutional. Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, who voted for the law when it was approved last year, announced his proposal Wednesday as the Senate debated a Republican resolution to repeal the health care law, which gets mixed reviews in...

The late U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s son, Ted Jr., is among the names being floated as potential candidates for Connecticut U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman’s seat in 2012. Kennedy, the middle child of the late senator and his former wife, Joan, has been mentioned as a possible candidate for Lieberman’s seat, which the 23-year senator is giving up when his term ends next year. One Kennedy family friend called the 49-year-old attorney, who lives in Connecticut, a “great candidate.” “No one knew Lieberman would be getting out. I think Teddy would be the odds-on favorite were he to enter the...

Topeka — State Sen. Chris Steineger of Kansas City, Kan., on Friday left the Democratic Party to join Republicans, saying his fiscal beliefs were more in line with the GOP and that he could better serve his district by teaming up with the majority party. "Most people tell me they want me to do what is best for the community, not a political party. By joining the Republican majority in the State Capitol, I am better able to deliver value and service to the people of Wyandotte County. Our voice in Topeka is stronger by being in the majority," said...

Ohio Republican Sen. George Voinovich is planning to oppose legislation that extends any of the Bush-era tax cuts, becoming the first senator to state his opposition to any extension even as the White House and congressional leaders are expected to reach a deal on the issue this week.

BOSTON - The billboard-sized photo of Vicki Kennedy beside one of the major highways entering Boston is impossible to overlook. The question is, what message is it sending? Is it merely touting, as the sign reads, the attendance of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's widow at a mayoral event on immigrants and diversity? Or is it part of a low-wattage effort to maintain Vicki Kennedy's profile for a possible 2012 campaign against the man who succeeded her husband, Republican Sen. Scott Brown? That's the hope of the roughly 1,700 members of a Facebook group "Vicki Kennedy for Senator of Massachusetts in...

Battle-weary Bay State Democrats are getting squeezed by U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry this Christmas, as the nation’s richest senator puts the arm on cash-strapped party donors to fill his campaign war chest — even though he’s not up for re-election for another four years. “I think people feel very tapped-out,” said Phil Johnston, former Massachusetts Democratic Party chairman, who is helping to organize Kerry’s Dec. 13 gala. Johnston, who said he is seeing steady ticket sales, still expects a full house. “It’s a measure of John Kerry’s strength among Democrats that this event should be hugely successful,” he said....

Maybe it was late and a rough night for the Democratic Party that caused this strange line of questioning and it was just the best way MSNBC “Hardball” host Chris Matthews could deal with it. On MSNBC’s Election Night coverage in the midst of a Republican takeover of the U.S. House of Representatives and with several U.S. Senate races still pending, Matthews deviated from the subject matter

Director David Zucker writes and produces the hilarious but sad tale of Barbara Boxers disrespect of our Military. In the wonderful style of his great movies Airplane, Naked Gun, Naked Gun 2.5, Scary Movie 3, Scary Movie 4, An American Carol, David hits to the core of Senator Boxers famous hearing.

As the Tea Party Express steams towards California, we are about to launch a major effort to defeat one of America's worst U.S. Senators, liberal Barbara Boxer.It's essential if we are going to take our country back that we rid Congress of failed, corrupt politicians like Barbara Boxer.  So we must defeat her.Our one big challenge is this:  California is one of the most expensive state's in the nation to campaign in.  TV ads and radio ads are expensive, and mail pieces to voters are exorbitant in their price when you consider how many millions of voters there are in...

The must-pass spending bill pending in the Senate includes a little-noticed provision that would pay the family of the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd for the salary he would have commanded in the next fiscal year. The Senate handbook says that upon the death of a senator who had been serving in office, “in the next appropriations bill, an item will be inserted for a gratuity to be paid to the widow(er) or other next- of-kin, in the amount of one-year’s compensation.” As a result, the bill calls for “equal shares” of the late senator’s $193,400 salary to be split...

Former state House Speaker Marco Rubio wins Republican nomination for Senate in Florida.

Ted Stevens died Monday the way Alaskans die, in a plane crash in the wilds of the state he devoted his life to. At 86, he was the last giant of statehood and a major architect of the Alaska that emerged from its territorial history. A U.S. senator for 40 years until his defeat in 2008, Stevens and four others were apparently killed Monday afternoon when a deHavilland Otter, owned by Alaska telecommunications company GCI, slammed into a hill north of Dillingham in bad weather. The group, which included several former Stevens aides and a GCI executive with her daughter,...

Senators' Bill Excludes Abortion Funding From New ObamaCare Law Washington, DC -- With the health care plan President Barack Obama signed into law having no protections against taxpayer funding of abortions, and with a dustup weeks ago that saw three instances of abortion funding exposed, a coalition of senators have introduced a bill to ensure no ObamaCare funds go towards abortion. http://LifeNews.com/nat6612.html

In the Wall Street Journal Democrat Senator James Webb attacks both the basis for "diversity" racial preferences and its negative impact, indicating it's time to end these programs. He's proven himself a political opportunist. Talking a conservative game to his constituents but voting lockstep with his party's far left agenda. So, it is clear that he sees himself in some political trouble and recognizes this issue resonates with many voters in his state.

An embattled state senator owes the federal government about $250,000 in past-due income taxes, the Duluth News Tribune reported Friday. Sen. Satveer Chaudhary, DFL-Fridley, was stripped of his party's endorsement late last month because he inserted last-minute language into a major fish and game bill to improve walleye fishing on a northeastern Minnesota lake where he owns a cabin. That provision was one reason Gov. Tim Pawlenty vetoed the bill. On Friday, the newspaper reported that tax records show Chaudhary and his wife, Denise, failed to pay $100,000 in income taxes in 2007 and $151,000 in 2008.

Presidents and leaders of Congress on Friday paid tribute to Sen. Robert C. Byrd, whom they said revered the U.S. Constitution, cherished the U.S. Senate, but most of all, loved his home state of West Virginia.

As reported here, Huntington Indiana has the ability to open a closed fire station and bring back to work 6 laid off fire fighters. The fire fighters were laid off last year because of a major budget shortfall for the city. This closed the east end fire station, the only fire station between downtown Huntington and the town of Roanoke. Near the closed fire station are factories, a natural gas bulk plant and a petroleum bulk plant. This closed fire station was the closest line of security for these businesses.

MILWAUKEE - Arizona Senator Jon Kyl has confirmed, Arizona is, in fact, on the border with Mexico. Kyl sent Milwaukee County Supervisor Peggy West a letter in which he says, "You will be interested to learn that Arizona does indeed share a border with Mexico. I have enclosed a map for your convenience." Kyl goes on to urge West to, "actually read the Arizona law before forming an opinion about it."

PECKVILLE - Teams of FBI and Internal Revenue Service agents raided the Archbald home and Peckville office of retiring state Senate Democratic Leader Robert J. Mellow on Friday in an apparent widening of an ongoing public corruption investigation. The nature of the investigation is unknown, but Mellow's spokeswoman denied he has done anything wrong and said he is cooperating with the investigation. FBI agents arrived simultaneously at 9 a.m. and executed search warrants at Mellow's Main Street office and his home in the Hills of Archbald housing development, where five unmarked vehicles ringed the senator's corner property, which he recently...

The criminal case against oil giant BP has essentially been proven and investigators should be determining how harshly it will be penalized, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said Tuesday. Whitehouse (D-R.I.) — a former U.S. Attorney who successfully prosecuted the North Cape oil spill in 1997 — said that BP "absolutely" broke the law for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. "It's pretty much agreed they did that. It's only a misdemeanor statute, but it provides for at least the avenue of criminal prosecution and that leads to potential criminal fines, potential criminal restitution to individual parties who...

I Was Right! Senator Mark Warner(D-VA) Is A Coward! 84rules May 28, 2010

WASHINGTON – The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee warned Monday that he would seek to slow Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's path to confirmation unless senators get full access to her files as a Clinton administration aide. "We're heading to what could be a train wreck," Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama said. "I don't believe that this committee can go forward with an adequate hearing" without all records from Kagan's tenure as a White House counsel and then domestic policy adviser to President Bill Clinton. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the Judiciary Committee chairman, last week set hearings to...

Sen. Barbara Boxer, the pro-abortion, pro-same-sex marriage liberal firebrand first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992, now finds herself in a tough reelection battle in November 2010, a recently published Field Poll reveals. The Field Poll, published March 18, shows Boxer trailing Republican challenger Tom Campbell 44% to 43%, with 13% undecided. Boxer holds a narrow 45% to 44% over Republican Carly Fiorina, and a 45% to 41% lead over Chuck Devore, also a Republican. As a consequence of the poll numbers, political observers are now calling the race a dead heat. (... read more at link)

San Francisco, CA -- According to the non-partisan Field Poll, 57 year old Tom Campbell has a six point lead in his effort to defeat California Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer. Campbell has 28 percent of the vote as compared to 22 percent for former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. Assemblyman Chuck DeVore has but nine percent support. At the same time 40 percent of the Republicans polled have yet to make a decision on who they will vote for November 8. On the flip-side Boxer may in for the race of her life according to the poll which shows both Campbell...