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(CNN) – Sen. John McCain's daughter, Meghan McCain, wants to make one thing clear, "I am not the one running for Senate." McCain’s comments about Delaware Republican Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell as a "nut job" while appearing on ABC's "This Week" program Sunday, immediately received harsh criticism and backlash. A response that day from the O'Donnell campaign mocked McCain for having "vast experience in politics and running for office." McCain is now firing back. The 25 year-old, whose departure from conservative orthodoxy on some issues is no secret and has put her at odds with some in the GOP base,...

California GOP Senate nominee Carly Fiorina is skipping a chance to appear with Sarah Palin at a major Republican National Committee fundraiser so she can campaign with Sen. John McCain instead. Fiorina has not yet announced the Saturday campaign appearances with McCain, but a campaign source tells POLITICO that she will be spending her time on the stump with the 2008 GOP presidential nominee rather than his running mate, the former Alaska governor. POLITICO reported last week that both Fiorina and GOP gubernatorial Meg Whitman would be skipping the RNC fundraiser in Anaheim, citing scheduling conflicts. The RNC is heavily...

(CNN) - The National Republican Senatorial Committee blasted out an email to reporters Wednesday afternoon with the headline that Sen. John McCain has offered $1 million to the organization. The promise comes as the party committee is looking to pick up at least 10 seats in order to take back a majority in the Senate. NRSC Chairman Sen. John Cornyn praised McCain, saying, "It's very encouraging to see Sen. McCain step up and do this. Republicans have historically not done this like Democrats have, and that has been a real competitive advantage that they have had." (snip) McCain's resources are...

(snip) Visibly sad, Snowe called Castle "an outstanding public servant who was committed to the common good of his state and country." The longer Snowe talked about the state of the GOP and the Tea Party movement, the more riled up she got. "Understand, there are a lot of issues that, for example, in the Tea Party that they raise that are legitimate issues. Did we abandon our basic principles of fiscal responsibility? Absolutely. I was arguing those points during the Bush administration," Snowe said emphatically, "I made those very arguments." "Congress isn't working right and it's not working well,...

Has John McCain "sold his soul" to win re-election? It's a question that briefly flustered the self-ascribed maverick and 2008 presidential nominee when asked Sunday morning by Chris Wallace of Fox News - but it's also an accusation McCain, who defended having changed his position on several issues, is not alone in having to answer. (snip) McCain, along with South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham, called Sunday for a new "Contract with America," Newt Gingrich's political blueprint that helped give Congress back to the GOP in 1994. But both senators - who once made their marks in Congress by seeking middle...

PHOENIX (AP) — John McCain's daughter says in a new book released Tuesday that Sarah Palin brought drama, stress and uncertainty to her father's failed bid for the presidency in 2008, but she doesn't blame the vice presidential nominee for losing the race. (snip) In her book, released by Hyperion, Meghan McCain shows an itch to adopt her father's persona as a "maverick" delivering "straight talk."She calls religious conservatives the "intolerant far right," evoking her father's famous remark a decade ago that GOP religious leaders were "agents of intolerance." The elder McCain has since backed off from those statements. (snip)...

WASHINGTON (AP)—Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina is getting a boost in her fundraising efforts from a couple of GOP lawmakers—Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Scott Brown of Massachusetts. McCain held a fundraiser for Fiorina on Monday, but campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul declined to provide any details about the location or the amount raised. Meanwhile, The Sacramento Bee reported that Brown will appear with Fiorina for a fundraiser Thursday in Newport Beach.

(snip) In an interview Wednesday, Norton said she is not sure yet what to do about illegal immigrants currently in the country. But she is intrigued by an idea that would allow illegal immigrants to turn themselves in to police, undergo a background check and pay a fine. Instead of a jail sentence, they could do community service. Norton is not endorsing the idea, she said, but "I would absolutely entertain it. The person would have a criminal record. It would be a record that they broke the law," she said. (snip)

The slayings of 10 aid workers in Afghanistan by the Taliban are a stark reminder of what could happen without American involvement there, U.S. Sen. John McCain said. McCain stumped Sunday at Mesa State College for Grand Junction native Jane Norton, urging about 150 people to get out the vote in the Republican primary election. Norton faces Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck in the GOP primary for the U.S. Senate, and the winner will face the victor in the Democratic Party primary pitting Sen. Michael Bennet against former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff. (snip) McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential...

Remember four months ago when she was demanding that they remove her name from an RNC fundraising invitation to donors? Some pol-watchers at the time took that as a sign that she was trying to distance herself from the Republican brand. (“Who wouldn’t want to be sort of seen as more of an outsider and that’s how she’s positioned herself.”) Fast-forward to today and suddenly she’s signing letters on their behalf. What gives? Two theories. One: She’s turned out to be such a good soldier and is so favorably disposed to Michael Steele that she’s willing to do a fundraising...

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Republican Senate candidate Jane Norton has been criticized throughout her campaign for being too cozy with Arizona Sen. John McCain. Two days before the contest ends, though, the former Colorado lieutenant governor launched a cross-state sweep promoting her association with McCain, whom she called an "American hero."McCain told reporters in suburban Denver he came to the state two weeks before his own Republican primary because he wanted to urge Republicans here to choose Norton over Weld County prosecutor Ken Buck. "We need a lot of help right now," McCain said, talking about Republicans in the Senate.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, appearing on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday with Candy Crowley, had some harsh words for his Senate colleagues and for a system that thwarts any real bipartisanship. He said it’s up to the voters to let their members of Congress know enough is enough. “The public is rightfully upset about their Congress not delivering but when we try, groups on the left and the right just yell and scream. What I want to do is make sure that we can find a way to move forward. The current status quo is unacceptable....

In a surprising move given her reputation as a political outsider, Sarah Palin is helping the Republican National Committee raise money ahead of November's elections. Palin has attached her name to a letter and survey being mailed to RNC donors soliciting contributions for the committee's Victory 2010 program, a nationwide get-out-the-vote effort. "Millions of Americans are expressing their frustration with the state of our government. I join them and seek to return our country to greatness," reads the letter, obtained by CNN Friday.

Sen. John McCain spent a ton of time in Florida running for president and Gov. Charlie Crist was a big reason for his success in the primary. But asked why Crist is leading the U.S. Senate race as an independent, McCain clammed up. "I'm not that much of an expert about what's going on in Florida aside from I lost," McCain said at a town hall in Arizona, dodging with a smile. "I've always respected Charlie Crist but it's hard for me to give an estimate about the climate in Florida. I think it's going to be a very interesting...

As Sen. John McCain assumes the GOP front-runner mantle, his long-standing, but little-noticed association with donors such as George Soros and Teresa Heinz Kerry is receiving new attention among his Republican critics. In 2001, McCain founded the Alexandria, Va.-based Reform Institute as a vehicle to receive funding from George Soros' Open Society Institute and Teresa Heinz Kerry's Tides Foundation and several other prominent non-profit organizations.

John McCain's campaign claimed the Arizona senator couldn't pick one of his former fundraisers — now headed to jail — out of a lineup. But new video unearthed by the campaign of his Republican primary challenger, former Rep. J.D. Hayworth, shows McCain standing next to convicted Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein at events during McCain's 2008 presidential campaign. The 4-minute video captures McCain at a pair of events with Rothstein, who was sentenced to 50 years in prison in June after confessing to running a $1.2 billion fraud operation. Rothstein showers McCain with praise during both events, and at one point...

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The chairman of the Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele pledges big bucks to support Carly Fiorina's senate campaign against Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer. Steele was in San Francisco Thursday morning, talking about California politics and the money it will take to win in November. Show me the money, but of course he wouldn't -- to ABC7 anyway. The question is will he show Fiorina the money? The two are scheduled to sit down together on Friday. Steele told reporters financial help for GOP candidates is coming. "We're going to be in play here, big time...

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In the midst of one of the most precipitous political crashes in the Mountain West, Sarah Palin made a mad dash into Boise on Friday, urging the election of a man who had plagiarized his campaign speech from Barack Obama, had been rebuked by the military for misusing the Marine uniform and had called the American territory of Puerto Rico a separate country. And why not? Vaughn Ward, the Republican congressional candidate from Idaho, has the dubious character trifecta of the Palin brand: bone-headed, defiant and willfully ignorant. When told that Puerto Rico was not a country, he said, “I...

Sarah Palin started off her keynote speech at at this morning's Susan B. Anthony List "Celebration of Life" breakfast in downtown Washington D.C. with a defense of her endorsement of Republican California Senate candidate Carly Fiorina. Palin justified picking Fiorina over the other Republicans in the primary race by remarking that "anyone bold enough to proclaim their pro-life stance -- or pro-NRA stance in a deep blue state" like California is "the real deal" when it comes to pro-life credentials.