New York moves to become 6th state to legalize gay marriage
UPDATE: NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed state's marriage equality bill. Same-sex couples will now be able to marry within 30 days.
Albany, New York (CNN) - New York legislators cleared the last major hurdle to legalize same-sex marriage on Friday with a 33-to-29 vote, sending the bill to the governor's desk for his expected approval.
A vote on the measure, which the state Assembly passed June 15, has been stalled in the Senate. But it turned a corner Friday, according to Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, after lawmakers agreed on an amendment to protect religious groups from litigation that had been pushed by Republicans.
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Obama’s economic record target of new ad campaign
(CNN) – An independent Republican advocacy group announced a $5 million ad buy Friday aimed at influencing Congress as it debates action on issues including deficit reduction and the economy.
Crossroads GPS, an arm of American Crossroads, will launch a national TV ad detailing “the Obama Administration’s failure to improve the economy with its $830 billion stimulus legislation and other policies,” the group said.
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Santorum picks up South Carolina support
Washington (CNN) - Former South Carolina Rep. Gresham Barrett will endorse Rick Santorum for president this weekend, CNN has learned.
Barrett, who served four terms in the House and ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2010, will serve as Santorum's campaign chairman in the key early primary state as well as his "National Energy Policy Chairman."
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Pelosi invokes patriotism in tax cut debate
Washington (CNN) – House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said Friday that history has shown that tax cuts produce deficits, not jobs, and questioned the patriotism of those at the receiving end of generous corporate tax breaks.
"All this talk about tax cuts. The – in the Bush years the Republicans said that tax cuts will produce jobs. They didn't. They produced a deficit," Pelosi told CNN Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley.
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BLITZER'S BLOG: When is a tax increase not a tax increase?
Washington (CNN) – I guess we shouldn’t be too surprised that Vice President Joe Biden’s efforts to work out a deficit reduction deal with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl collapsed over the issue of raising taxes on the wealthy.
Republicans are firmly opposed to raising taxes on anyone. Democrats want to see those families making more than $250,000 a year pay more income tax.
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GOP candidates talk abortion
(CNN) - In a presidential race thus far centered on the economy, nearly half of the 2012 GOP field took a break Friday to turn the election's spotlight on abortion.
Five candidates appeared–in person or via Skype–at the National Right to Life convention in Jacksonville, Fla., where they tapped into a social conservative base that's largely been sidelined since the tea party movement shifted the GOP's focus to fiscal issues.
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Jon Huntsman is for life, liberty and the pursuit of really great street food
(CNN) - Now that former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman has officially entered the GOP presidential field he's making a play for a small but passionate group of voters: street food fanatics.
"Street food is so fresh, and it's so good and it's so cheap," he says.
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DeMint blasts president on Strategic Petroleum Reserve
(CNN) - Sen. Jim DeMint slammed President Barack Obama's order Thursday to withdraw 30 million barrels of oil from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The president's decision, while applauded by Democrats, drew criticism from top Republicans who said the reserve should be used for emergencies only–not price reduction.
"He's trying to be the wizard behind the curtain in 'The Wizard of Oz.' He's trying to control our economy from Washington. That's not how it works," the South Carolina Republican said in an interview with CNN's Candy Crowley, chief political correspondent and anchor of "State of the Union."
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Obama criticized by key voting block for skipping Latino conference
Washington (CNN) - It is one of the most influential voting blocks and key to the 2012 presidential election, but President Obama's popularity continues to decline among Hispanic and Latino voters and now the president is facing criticism for once again skipping a major Latino convention.
The annual conference of NALEO, The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, is being held this weekend in San Antonio, Texas. For the third year in a row, the president declined to speak at the conference. The White House says it's simply a scheduling issue and the president cannot make it to every conference he would like to attend.
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GOP slams Obama in Keystone state
(CNN)-Republicans staked claim to the state of Pennsylvania Friday as President Obama made his ninth visit to the battleground state since he announced his re-election campaign in early April.
The President spent Thursday night in Pittsburgh and made remarks at a robotics facility Friday morning. The state should be friendly territory for the President, since he won Pennsylvania during the 2008 election, but Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus used a Friday conference call with reporters to suggest otherwise.
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