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Eight laptop computers were stolen from lawyers representing former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Washington (CNN) - Eight laptop computers were stolen Friday morning from the offices of attorneys representing former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the Chicago Police Department confirmed to CNN.

It is unclear if any of the laptops contained information regarding Blagojevich's federal corruption trial.

The U.S. attorney's office in Chicago had no comment on the case. The FBI is not involved in the investigation, according to FBI spokesman Ross Rice.

Chicago Police spokesman Veejay Zala said he was unable to comment in detail about the case, because it is still being investigated.

Washington (CNN) – In the midst of a heated debate on health care legislation, Rep. John Shadegg, R-Arizona, brought the cute, bald 7-month-old daughter of his Chief of Staff to the floor and gently bounced her in his arms as he expressed his opposition to the Democratic health care reform bill.

Shadegg used Maddie to illustrate how he said the Democrats’ proposal would pass debt on to her generation.

“Maddie believes in patient choice health care,” Shadegg said. “She asked to come here today to say she doesn’t want the government to take over health care, she wants to be able to keep her plan.”

Shadegg continued as the small child began playing with the foam microphone cover: “You see, Maddie knows that if this bill passes her mom’s health care goes away and won’t be around in five years. As a matter of fact, the bill says, if the bill passes, then no more health care for her mom because it has to change.

“Maddie wants patient choice. Maddie doesn’t want her mom’s premiums to go. She doesn’t want her mom’s taxes to go up by $730 billion dollars, do you Maddie? That’s too much money.”

Shadegg then did what few if any lawmakers have done before on the floor of the house: He quoted an infant. “She believes in choices, but most of all, Maddie says, ‘Don’t tax me to pay for health care that you guys want. If you want health care, pay for it yourselves. Because it’s not fair to pass your health care bill on to me and my grandchildren.’”

When Shadegg’s time ran out and California Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman reclaimed control of the microphone, he said of Maddie, “That was a remarkable child,” and of Shadegg, “and a great ventriloquist.”

Michael Steele admonished Democratic critics Wednesday on CNN.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele on Wednesday sharply criticized a statement made by prominent Democrats - including Former President Jimmy Carter - that members of his party hold negative views of President Obama solely because he is black.

Steele accused Carter of being "dead wrong" and said he thinks the former Democratic president "was out of line."

"I think that he takes this to a point - to a level that is not reflective of what's been transpiring" in the current health care debate, Steele said. "When you go down this road and you start to just willy-nilly - as I believe President Carter has - throwing race out there, you diminish real instances of racism that needs to be addressed."

Carter on Tuesday said that he believes an inclination toward racism still exists in parts of the country and that it has "bubbled up to surface because of the belief by many white people not just in the south but around the country that African Americans are not qualified to lead this great country."

Carter made similar comments Wednesday night at a Town Hall in Atlanta, where he said that carrying signs equating Obama with Adolf Hitler and or urging that the president be buried with the late Sen. Ted Kennedy “are beyond the bounds” of how presidents have been treated in the past.

“And I think people who are guilty of that kind of personal attack against Obama have been influenced to a major degree by a belief that he should not be president because he happens to be African American,” Carter said. “ ... And my hope is, and my expectation is, that in the future both Democratic leaders and Republican leaders will take the initiative in condemning that kind of uprecendented attack on the president of the United States.”

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The Progressive Change Campaign Committee will target Sen. Max Baucus in a new ad.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The leader of a massive push for the inclusion of a public option in health care reform legislation told CNN Wednesday that the group will begin running an ad in Montana in the coming weeks targeting the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Max Baucus.

The spots, likely backed by a six-figure buy, will pressure the Montana senator to support the public option, and highlight his campaign contributions from the insurance industry.

Baucus does not support a public option, and on Wednesday said that he would be introducing legislation without the provision in his committee, and moving forward with or without Republican support for the health care bill.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee has already released spots targeting Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson and Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, who have both been considered possible swing votes on a final bill.

The group, which staged a protest of former Obama volunteers outside the White House earlier this week, has drawn attention for its online petition pushing President Obama to stand firmly behind a public option.

The petition had drawn 80,000 signatures as of Wednesday morning, including those of 400 former Obama campaign staffers, 25,000 former Obama volunteers and 45,000 Obama campaign donors, according to Adam Green, PCCC's co-founder. The organization has seen its membership grow by almost 15 percent in the past week, he said, to over 160,000.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) – The chairman of the Republican Party of Florida on Tuesday issued a statement to "condemn President Obama's use of taxpayer dollars to indoctrinate America's children to his socialist agenda."

Jim Greer also accused President Obama of "using our children as tools to spread liberal propaganda."

The state party chair issued the statement in response to a White House announcement that Obama would appear in a nationally broadcast address to primary school students around the country. The White House has said the president would be urging students to “(take) responsibility for their success in school.”

"As the father of four children, I am absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama's socialist ideology," Greer said.

The Department of Education has released documents that list suggested questions for students to consider during the speech, and activities that teachers can use to guide discussion afterward. Activities listed include creating posters outlining their personal and academic goals, and “(writing) letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president.”

The RNC continued its push to reach out to senior citizens on Tuesday with a new television ad.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The Republican National Committee is intensifying its push to reach seniors skeptical of President Obama's health care proposal, releasing a new television ad Tuesday that targets the powerful voter bloc.

In the one-minute ad, RNC Chairman Michael Steele outlines the RNC's new "Seniors' Bill of Rights" - six policies the party says will serve as "protections" for senior citizens.

"When you disagree with Washington, how come they act like it's your problem?" Steele says. "That's what the Democrats have done with health care. They say you're the problem."

"How about a different way? A focus on things we can all agree on? I'm Michael Steele, Chairman of the Republican Party. Join us in supporting a new Seniors' Bill of Rights."

The GOP's plan repeats recent Republican calls for zero cuts to Medicare, a rule barring health care rationing based on age, and a measure that would prevent the government from playing any role in end-of-life care.

The White House has said any cuts to Medicare would target government waste, and would not affect the level of care for seniors, and independent fact-checking organizations have said claims that the proposed plan includes any provision for rationing are inaccurate.

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was sharply criticized in a Las Vegas newspaper editorial on Sunday.

(CNN) - A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Monday responded to a scathing column published in Sunday's Las Vegas Review-Journal that recounted an unfriendly encounter between Reid and the paper's advertising director, in which the Nevada senator told the executive: "I hope you go out of business."

"Clearly he wasn't serious," Reid spokesman Jon Summers told CNN in an e-mailed statement. "Once again, the editors at the Review-Journal got it wrong."

A follow-up phone call to Reid's office seeking more details on the encounter was not immediately returned.

Review-Journal Publisher Sherman Frederick detailed the incident, which occurred on August 26 at a Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce luncheon.

"As [Director of Advertising] Bob [Brown] shook hands with our senior U.S. Senator in what should have been nothing but a gracious business setting," Frederick wrote, "Reid said: 'I hope you go out of business.'"

In the op-ed, Frederick shot back that his paper can "damn sure outlast" Reid.

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President Obama has spent much of his vacation on the golf course.

(CNN) – With the first week of his vacation marred by the death of his party's most revered senator, President Obama on Monday began his final week of vacation with a return to the golf course.

Obama teed off three times last week in Martha's Vineyard.

The president is teeing off this afternoon with U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, White House Press Assistant Ben Finkenbinder and White House Aide Marvin Nicholson at Army-Navy Country Club in Arlington, Virginia.

Finkenbinder and Nicholson both hit the links with Obama last week as well.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Bipartisan support may have faded further from reality Saturday when the ranking member of the Senate Health Committee condemned Democratic health care proposals which he said would “make our nation’s finances sicker.”

In the GOP’s weekly radio and Internet address, Sen. Michael Enzi, R-Wyoming, said that a comprehensive health care reform bill should decrease costs and be deficit-neutral. He said that the Democratic bills put forth “fail to meet these standards.”

Democrats have proposed some cuts to Medicare which would be used to cover uninsured Americans. Enzi accused Democrats of “raid[ing] Medicare” and said “savings from Medicare should only be used to strengthen Medicare.”

“These bills would expand comparative effectiveness research that would be used to limit or deny care based on age or disability of patients,” Enzi said.

Enzi also said that his colleagues in the Senate have put forth amendments that would “protect Americans by prohibiting the rationing of their health care.” He continued, “The Democrats showed their true intent by voting every amendment down.”

After making clear Republicans’ dismay with Democratic proposals, Enzi urged President Obama and Democrats in Congress to “reject the go-it-alone path that they are currently on.”

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said he has been subject to racial profiling.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday that he has been the victim of racial profiling but believes Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. could have been more patient with the police officer who arrested him.

At the same time, Powell also faulted the Cambridge (Massachusetts) Police Department for escalating the situation beyond a reasonable level.

"I think Skip [Gates], perhaps in this instance, might have waited a while, come outside, talked to the officer and that might have been the end of it," Powell said in an interview with CNN's Larry King. "I think he should have reflected on whether or not this was the time to make that big a deal.

"I think in this case the situation was made much more difficult on the part of the Cambridge Police Department," Powell said. "Once they felt they had to bring Dr. Gates out of the house and to handcuff him, I would've thought at that point, some adult supervision would have stepped in and said 'OK look, it is his house. Let's not take this any further, take the handcuffs off, good night Dr. Gates.'"

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President Obama thanked the 2008 WNBA champions for being role models for his daughters.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Obama hosted the 2008 WNBA Champion Detroit Shock at the White House Monday and thanked the team for helping to pave the way for female athletes like his daughters.

"[My daughters] look at the TV and they see me watching SportsCenter and they see young women who look like them on the screen," Obama said. "[…] And it makes my daughters look at themselves differently; to see that they can be champions, too."

Obama highlighted the team's community service efforts in the Detroit community where they have given free tickets to underprivileged kids, mentored abused women and children, donated school supplies to foster kids and restored a tattered library.

The 2008 title was the Shock's third in six years. They were also WNBA champions in 2003 and 2006.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Just hours before President Obama is set to promote his health care plan in a primetime address, the White House released a list of 13 health care industry CEOs and lobbyists who have visited the White House since the president took office.

The Obama administration had previously refused to release the names citing "presidential communications privilege."

The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington had announced Wednesday that it would file a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the administration seeking the names of the visitors.

The full list of health care industry visitors is after the jump:

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Jackson Browne reached a settlement Tuesday with Sen. John McCain, the Republican National Committee and the Ohio Republican Party.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Singer and songwriter Jackson Browne reached a settlement Tuesday that ends an 11 month long legal battle against Sen. John McCain, the Republican National Committee and the Ohio Republican Party.

Browne filed suit after a Web video the Ohio GOP produced in favor of the party's presidential candidate featured Browne's 1977 hit "Running on Empty."

McCain's campaign had to end its use of a string of songs over the course of the presidential race following complaints by the musical artists - a list that included the Foo Fighters, John Mellencamp, Boston and Heart.

The terms of the settlement with Browne call for McCain, the RNC and the ORP to issue a public statement of apology, and a pledge that in future campaigns they will seek the permission of music artists prior to playing their songs. The financial terms of the settlement are being kept confidential.

"We apologize that a portion of the Jackson Browne song 'Runing On Empty' was used without permission," the joint McCain, RNC, ORP statement said. "The ORP, RNC and Senator McCain pledge in future election campaigns to respect and uphold the rights of artists and to obtain permissions and/or licenses for copyrighted works where appropriate."

Sen. Barbara Mikulski broke her ankle Sunday night as she left her church in Baltimore.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Maryland, broke her ankle in three places Sunday night when she fell down some steps as she left her church in Baltimore.

Mikulski is awaiting surgery Monday at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore.

"I am receiving excellent care for my broken ankle," the four-term senator said in a statement. "This is the kind of care I want for all my constituents."

The Maryland senator is a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which voted last week to approve a plan to overhaul the nation's health care system.

Mikulski spokeswoman Rachel MacKnight said the senator is working from her BlackBerry as she awaits treatment and her doctors will advise her on when she can return to the Senate floor.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – President Obama may have been a winner as he threw out the ceremonial first pitch of this year's MLB All Star Game in St. Louis on Tuesday, but members of the White House staff fell short on the softball diamond Wednesday night in Washington, losing a heart-breaker to the Democratic National Committee. The final score of the slugfest: 18-17.

Obama for America Deputy Director Jeremy Bird celebrated his 31st birthday by hitting a three-run home run and making a game-saving diving catch as the DNC staved off a late-game White House rally to win the battle in extra innings.

OFA Special Projects Director Mark Beatty pitched a complete game for the DNC team despite walking with a limp after a sliding into home plate on a bang-bang play. "Not since (60s-70s era New York Knick star) Willis Reed has there been anything as inspirational as Beatty's performance," said DNC spokesman Hari Sevugan.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton hit a home run for his squad, but Sevugan dismissed the hit as a fluke. "I think any neutral observer would score it a four-base error," he said.

"We're going to try for a rematch in August where we will not lose," a White House aide said.

Earlier: GOP scores a victory over Democrats on the softball diamond

Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz bats during a charity softball game Tuesday night.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Florida, fractured her right leg and sprained her ankle as she slid into second base during the seventh inning of a charity softball event Tuesday night in Washington.

Spokesman Jonathan Beeton said the congresswoman was using crutches to make it to the House floor Wednesday to vote. The lawmaker was sporting a soft cast, which Beeton said would be replaced by a harder, more secure cast later Wednesday.

The Florida Democrat was participating in the first-ever Congressional Women's Softball Game. The event raised $41,000 to assist young breast cancer survivors.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor was in the hot seat on the second day of her Senate confirmation hearings. The judge faced harsh criticism from Republicans and received praise from Democrats. In today's installment of CNN=Politics Daily, watch a complete recap of today's nearly seven hours of testimony.

Click here to subscribe to CNN=Politics Daily.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The Democratic National Committee released a new Web video Thursday criticizing Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Arizona, for saying in a statement Monday that he wants to "cancel the rest of the stimulus spending."

The video accused the three-term Republican senator of being "just another member of the 'Party of No.'" It features a number of projects in Arizona funded by President Obama's $787 billion stimulus package.

Earlier in the day, the Republican National Committee released its own Web video blasting Obama for the stimulus package.

Full script after the jump

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WASHINGTON (CNN) - Angry at Rep. Peter King's sharp criticism of Michael Jackson, a fan of the late pop icon is trying to raise money to defeat the nine-term Republican from New York in 2010.

"This guy was a pervert, he was a child molester, he was a pedophile," King said about Jackson in a video posted on YouTube.

As of 6:40 p.m. ET, 13 donors had contributed $305 through the online fundraising Web site ActBlue. The unnamed organizer of the effort said the donations would be forwarded to the Democratic nominee for the seat.

"Peter King ought to let Jackson rest in peace, and focus on the needs of his constituents," the organizer wrote on the Web site. "As we mourn the loss of an American legend, political grandstanding is not what we need right now!"

Sen.-elect Al Franken will be the featured speaker at Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin’s annual steak fry fundraiser this September.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Minnesota Sen.-elect Al Franken will be the featured speaker at Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin's annual steak fry this September. Franken spokeswoman Jess McIntosh confirmed that the senator-elect would be speaking at the event and said that Franken had signed on to do so prior to this week's certification of his election. "Al was thrilled to be invited and [is] eager to attend," she said.

The event, one of the Iowa Democratic Party's largest fundraisers, has long been considered one of the biggest events in Democratic politics. In 2007, it featured virtually every Democratic presidential contender – Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd and Bill Richardson.

The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that Franken had defeated incumbent senator Norm Coleman in the state's November Senate race. With the ruling, Franken became the Democratic caucuses' 60th vote in the senate. However, the former comedian dismissed the notion that he would be an automatic 60th vote.

"The way I see it, I'm not going to Washington to be the 60th Democratic senator," Franken said during a press conference held shortly after the court's ruling. "I'm going to Washington to be the second senator from the state of Minnesota and that's how I am going to do this job."

The steak fry will be held on September 13.