Elections - Y! News Original Content

St. Petersburg Times Editor Neil Brown has some harsh words for Jeff Greene, the billionaire real estate developer who now faults Brown's Florida paper and another Florida paper for Greene's recent Senate primary loss. "It is our firm opinion that the allegations in this lawsuit are preposterous," Brown said in a statement to The Upshot. [...] Full Story »

It's a politician's worst nightmare: Drawing a complete blank in a high-profile debate. That's what happened to Arizona GOP Gov. Jan Brewer, who lost her train of thought during her opening statement during her first televised debate with her Democratic challenger, state Attorney General Terry Goddard. Brewer was in the middle of talking up her [...] Full Story »

Eyeing a 2012 presidential run, Minnesota GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty has spent the summer traveling to key primary states such as Iowa and New Hampshire, trying to build up his name recognition. But his ambitions may have gotten him in trouble in his own backyard. A Minnesota Public Radio/Humphrey Institute poll finds that a majority [...] Full Story »

What are Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin up to? The Fox News host is headed to Alaska next week, where he's set to headline an event at Anchorage's Dena'ina Center on Sept. 11. The event went largely unnoticed until this week, when Vanity Fair offhandedly mentioned the event in a scathing profile of Palin published [...] Full Story »

Marco Rubio will get some serious help this fall in his bid to win Florida's open Senate seat: The National Republican Senatorial Committee announced this week that it plans to spend $2.5 million to boost the former state House speaker's campaign between now and November — one of the GOP's biggest investments this election year. [...] Full Story »

Two obvious vulnerabilities have long faced the candidates vying to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd in Connecticut. Republican Linda McMahon has had to struggle with her ties to World Wrestling Entertainment, the company she helped create, and WWE treatment of its performers. Democrat Richard Blumenthal, meanwhile,  has been burned by news accounts that he [...] Full Story »

Tony Blair has been out of the prime minister's office for over three years, but it'd be hard to tell from scanning the British press on Wednesday. Newspaper headlines touched on 8-year-old debates — such as the question of committing U.K. troops to the invasion of Iraq — along with Blair's impact on the Labour [...] Full Story »

Following  Sen. Lisa Murkowski's concession last night, the headlines read "Tea Party Win in Alaska." But was the tea party message really decisive in the Alaska GOP Senate upset? Joe Miller naturally went out of his way to mention the tea party in his statement last night, since he wants the enthusiastic base of small-government [...] Full Story »

The rest of the country is still struggling with high unemployment amid a sluggish-at-best economic recovery -- but the wealthiest members of Congress are in high cotton. Indeed, the top 50 wealthiest lawmakers saw their combined net worths increase last year, according to the Hill's annual analysis of financial disclosure documents. Combined, the 50 lawmakers [...] Full Story »

In an effort to push back against negative views of Islam and Muslims, grassroots Muslim groups are launching a series of initiatives to convey to non-Muslim-Americans that they are also Americans. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) released a series of advertisements today that will run on national television, clearly intended to counter some of [...] Full Story »

The gossip page of the New York Post speculates Wednesday that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is being wooed by the White House to bolster President Obama's economic team. The mayor spent five hours golfing with Obama last Friday, and a few weeks ago also had a one-on-one meeting with Vice President Joe Biden. [...] Full Story »

A week after the primary, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski conceded to challenger Joe Miller Tuesday night, becoming the seventh congressional incumbent and fourth Republican to lose a primary challenge this election year. Miller, who was endorsed by Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Express, narrowly defeated Murkowski in last week's voting. Murkowski's campaign was hopeful [...] Full Story »

President Obama faced a major dilemma heading into Tuesday's prime-time address on Iraq: How do you mark the milestone of a campaign promise fulfilled when what has happened in Iraq isn't exactly "mission accomplished"?  It was an obstacle that Obama never quite overcame in his 18-minute speech, which was remarkably disjointed for a president well [...] Full Story »

President Obama will speak to the nation from the Oval Office at 8 p.m. ET to mark the delivery of a key campaign promise he made in 2008: the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq. The speech, expected to last about 15 or 20 minutes, won't be a "victory lap," Obama said today, but [...] Full Story »

Did Sarah Palin's endorsement help Joe Miller in Alaska's GOP Senate primary? Not really, according to a new Public Policy Polling survey of GOP primary voters in the state. According to the poll, just 15 percent of those who voted for Miller say Palin's endorsement influenced their vote. Twenty-six percent said it was "somewhat important," [...] Full Story »

Two new Pennsylvania polls show Republican Pat Toomey maintaining a comfortable lead over Democrat Joe Sestak nine weeks out from Election Day. Toomey, a former congressman and onetime head of the fiscally conservative Club for Growth, holds a 10-point lead over Rep. Sestak among likely voters surveyed by Reuters-Ipsos. Toomey led 47 to 37 percent [...] Full Story »

No matter what President Obama says about his religion, the debate over whether he is secretly Muslim continues to rage within the GOP. And a new poll finds that Republicans are now taking that rumor one step further. A Newsweek survey released Monday found that a majority of Republicans believe that Obama "sympathizes with the [...] Full Story »

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange claimed last week that there's a "smear campaign" against him, after Swedish prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for rape, only to withdraw the charge within hours. Authorities quickly tossed the more serious rape allegation, but wouldn't rule out the possibility of a "molestation" charge against the 39-year-old Australian. Assange met with [...] Full Story »