Washington (CNN) - Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minnesota, was one of several members of Congress who reported receiving obscene and threatening letters after voting for the health care reform bill passed by Democrats on Sunday.
Rep. Betty McCollum is a Democrat from Minnesota who voted for the health care bill.
But her spokeswoman told CNN that inside one letter received Thursday was a condom, removed from its original packaging.
McCollum's spokeswoman Maria Reppas said Thursday that the congresswoman's district office in St. Paul received the condom in an envelope dated March 23, along with an anonymous typed letter reading: "Betty McCollum you've been dry f***** by the liberal party."
The condom had been removed from its original packaging and placed in a plastic bag, according to McCollum's district director. McCollum's office said the U.S. Capitol Police and local law enforcement are investigating the package along with another one received Thursday.
Her office also reported receiving part of a shredded American flag doused in gasoline and a typed letter addressed to McCollum, Rep. Keith Ellison, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Sen. Al Franken - all Democrats from Minnesota.
"Each of you receives part of a shredded American flag," the letter read. "It represents Obama and your liberal filth. Open the bag, it's covered in the stench you've brought to our government ... Because of you, we are now a country of dirt, shame, corruption and slime."
Washington (CNN) – Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele released a statement late Thursday condemning acts of violence and threats against members of Congress who voted for health care reform.
Steele said that if angry voters channel their frustration, Democrats who "have abused their power and disenfranchised the American people" will suffer at the ballot box in November.
Read Steele's full statement after the jump:
Washington (CNN) – Sen. John McCain called for a more civilized political discourse on Thursday after members of Congress who voted for health care reform reported incidents of harassment and threats of violence.
"There is a lot of anger and passion out there," McCain said on CNN's "John King USA." "Let's change that into a spirited and healthy respectful campaign season between Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives. Let's really go at it, but let's do it with respect, that's the key to it."
McCain noted that he has held thousands of town hall meetings during his long political career. "The only thing I ask people to do is be respectful," he said.
The Arizona Senator wasn't so optimistic about the future of bipartisanship among legislators in Washington. The prospects for immigration reform or financial regulatory reform appear dim, he said, because Democrats have failed to reach across the aisle since President Obama took office.
"The problem is, in all due respect to bipartisanship, there has been none," he told King. "They have taken their 60 votes, when they had 60, and their majority in the House and they rammed thing through. Any semblance of bipartisanship was not used by the majority. I understand that, but that's not change in Washington, that's change for the worse."
(CNN) – He may have not have received a public thank you from President Barack Obama after the health care bill was signed into law earlier this week, but White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told CNN he earned his own private high-five from the president.
In his first interview since Obama enacted the health care bill into law, Obama's top-aide told CNN's Wolf Blitzer he wasn't bothered his boss didn't include his name among the many who were thanked for the passage of the legislation during the high-profile signing ceremony Monday.
"I didn't do this so I would get thanked at the signing or anything else. Let me say this, if that's the question," Emanuel said. "You should know the night that it passed, or the day it passed, he and I - he came by, gave me a high five.
Washington (CNN) - Karl Rove predicted Thursday that the political outlook for Republicans looks sunny, but bleak for Democrats heading into the midterm elections. This shouldn't be a surprise coming from President George W. Bush's top political advisor.
In an interview with CNN Chief National Correspondent John King, Rove discussed the 2010 elections including the possibility that Republicans will retake the House.
"I think, you know, before health care passed, I was saying 23 to 30," Rove said in the interview on John King, USA about the number of seats he expected the GOP to win. "I think the number's going to be slightly higher now.
He added, "But it could conceivably be a Republican majority in the House."
As for Senate Democrats, Rove believes they should also worry.
(CNN) - Georgia's governor will pursue a lawsuit against the new federal health care bill, even if the state's attorney general refuses to do so, the governor's spokesman said Thursday.
Gov. Sonny Perdue, a Republican, opposes the health care bill because it will add 700,000 Georgians to the Medicaid program and require people to buy health insurance or face a penalty, said Bert Brantley, Perdue's director of communications.
The state's attorney general, Thurbert Baker, a Democrat, had advised Perdue against filing a lawsuit.
TOPICS: 2012 presidential election
Washington (CNN) - Support for the health care reform bill has increased as a result of Sunday's approval the legislation by the House, according to three national polls conducted after the vote.
Two of the surveys, by CBS News and Quinnipiac University, asked virtually the same question about health care both before and after Sunday's vote, and in both polls support for the legislation rose by four to five percentage points.
USA Today/Gallup, the third poll conducted after the vote, did not ask the same question as they did before action by the House, but their results are generally consistent with the indication in the other polls that support for the health care bill has gone up.
(CNN) - Meg Whitman has a slight lead over Jerry Brown in this year's battle for California governor, according to a new survey.
A Public Policy Institute of California poll released Thursday indicates that Whitman leads Brown 44 to 39 percent in a hypothetical general election matchup, with 17 percent of Californians likely to vote in November's election undecided.
Whitman's 5-point advantage is just outside of the survey's sampling error. Brown held a 5-point lead in PPI's last poll, conducted in January.
From CNN Politics
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