O'Donnell picks up another big endorsement
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/09/07/art.odonnell.file1.odonnell.jpg caption="Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell picked up the endorsement of Sen. Jim DeMint on Friday."](CNN) - Add another prominent Republican to the list of conservatives and conservative organizations who have endorsed Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell.
South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint announced Friday night his endorsement of the Tea Party-endorsed candidate. His backing follows similar announcements in recent days from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Tea Party Express and the National Rifle Association.
"I’m proud to endorse Christine O’Donnell for U.S. Senate in Delaware," DeMint wrote Friday on his Twitter page. "She will stand strong for the principles of freedom."
Henry in the House: Nervous energy at an Obama news conference
Editor's Note: Ed Henry has covered the White House for CNN since March 2006. In "Henry in the House," he offers an insider's view of what it's like to cover the president.
Washington (CNN) - I'm always feeling this burst of nervous energy when I walk into the spectacular East Room for a presidential news conference. There's just been so much history in that room that it's hard not to feel the excitement of this one smaller moment in the grander sweep of White House history.
Adding to the tension is that in order to get the dozens of reporters all settled into their seats, White House aides make you file into the room at least 30 minutes before President Obama arrives. So you grab your seat and then have to sit and sit and sit and wait and wait and wait - giving you lots of time to think about two things:
1) I hope he calls on me.
2) Wait, if he does call on me, what am I going to ask?
Obama Middle Class Tax Cuts – Reality Check
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/09/10/art.capitolbldg.file7.gi.jpg caption =" Democratic sources are unsure if they have the support to pass President Obama's plan to extend only the Bush tax cuts for families making $250,000 or less."]
Washington (CNN) – While President Obama and Democratic leaders have settled on a strategy to extend only the Bush tax cuts for families making $250,000 or less, senior Democratic sources concede they're not sure whether they can make that political push a legislative reality – especially before election day.
The sources admit that the immediate challenge isn't Republicans who also want to extend tax cuts for wealthier Americans, but many of their own moderate Democrats, especially those who are trying to hold onto their seats and do not want to be accused of raising taxes.
Democratic congressional leadership sources say they have not yet decided on how to address that tax cut quandary, but say it will be the most prominent order of business when House and Senate Democrats return to Washington and hold caucus meetings next Tuesday.
FULL POST
Special elections could give GOP seats in this Congress
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/07/21/art.capitolbldg4.gi.jpg caption =" Special Senate elections in several states could weaken the Democrat's majority during the final months of the 111th Congress."]
Washington (CNN) – Republicans might not have to wait until the next Congress to pick up seats on Capitol Hill.
Due to certain states' election laws, three Senators who were appointed to their seats this year will have their terms end after the November 2 midterm elections. Illinois, Delaware, and West Virginia are all holding special elections this November, and none of the appointed Senators currently holding those seats are on the ballots.
Republican wins in any of these races could weaken the Democrats' 59-seat majority in the Senate if the current session of Congress continues past Election Day or is re-convened before the new 112th session is sworn in this January.
Currently, the Senate will reconvene on Sept. 13, and is expected to remain in session at least through the month but the end of the session is contingent on legislative negotiations still underway.
Where did President Obama's ring go?
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/09/10/art.obama.ring2.jpg caption="President Obama went ring-less during his press conference Friday at the White House."]Washington (CNN) - President Obama is going ring-less.
Journalists in the East Room today for President's Obama's 8th full blown press conference noticed something different- President Obama's intricate, gold wedding band designed in Indonesia was conspicuously missing.
Gulp…Missing? Or something worse?
Ralph Reed's comeback – with a little help from his friends Newt and Karl
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/09/10/art.reed.faith.jpg caption="Ralph Reed is the head of the Faith and Freedom Coalition."]Washington (CNN) - Ralph Reed beamed in the back corner of the colonial ballroom at Washington, DC's Mayflower Hotel as Republican Congressman Lynn Westmoreland spoke. Reed clapped the loudest as Westmoreland laid out the plan for social conservatives to get involved in November's mid term elections.
"We need you in November worse than you can imagine," Westmoreland told the crowed at the Faith and Freedom Conference and Strategy Briefing.
Of course, this is also Reed's handiwork. He's the former head of the Christian Coalition and now the head of the Faith and Freedom Coalition. He organized the conference to bring high-powered conservatives to address the conference to help mobilize faith voters.
Business group praises 20 Democrats
Washington (CNN) – A national business advocacy organization singled out 20 Democrats Friday for opposing two major elements of President Obama's policy agenda: health care reform and climate change legislation.
It was a rare shout out for Democrats from a business group, which historically, as an industry, sides with Republican candidates.
"Elections are meant to drive the direction of public policy decisions that don't always break neatly along party lines," Gregory S. Casey, president and CEO of the Business-Industry Political Action Committee said in a statement.
Click here to see BIPACs statement.
GOP leaders respond to Obama's press conference
(CNN) - Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader John Boehner on Friday responded to President Obama's White House press conference.
Read their statements after the jump:
FULL POST
Obama: Recession recovery has been 'painfully slow'
(CNN) - President Barack Obama acknowledged Friday that bouncing back from the recession has been "painfully slow," but insisted that the economy continues to grow as he pushed his administration's new economic proposals at his first news conference in months.
Obama once again urged the Senate to pass his small-business jobs bill, arguing that it has been blocked by "a partisan (Republican) minority." He praised Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, for announcing that he would not help GOP leaders block the bill.
Still, he said, there is "room for discussion" on competing tax plans. "If the Republican leadership is prepared to get serious ... I would love to talk to them," he told reporters at the White House.
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