Remember how Republican Scott P. Brown's victory in January's Senate race in Massachusetts was supposed to represent a mortal blow to health-care reform? "Probably back to the drawing board," Sen.

Missouri Democrats are bracing for a tough election season in 2010. But they are hopeful that an anti-Washington frustration is aimed more at individual politicians than the party in charge of the nation's Capitol.

Using the reconciliation process to pass health care would be "catastrophic," Sen.

Regulators on Friday shuttered banks in Florida, Illinois, Maryland and Utah, boosting to 26 the number of bank failures in the U.S. so far this year following the 140 brought down in 2009 by mounting loan defaults and the recession.

Some New York lawmakers are calling for an end to a federal ban on blood donations by gay men.

Virginia's attorney general has advised the state's public colleges that they don't have the authority to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation, saying only the General Assembly has that power.

In a culture awash in conspiracy theories and raw anger at government, they are lone wolves who find a sense of community for their hate a ' yet act alone.

Before Gov. Rick Perry can parlay his victory in the statea TMs GOP gubernatorial primary into something bigger, such as a spot on the 2012 Republican presidential ticket, perhaps, he'll have to win a record-setting, third full four-year term.

Facing a tough political environment, President Barack Obama on Saturday turned up the heat for the health care overhaul that has been his top priority for a year yet has not been passed by Congress.

In this April 22, 2009 file photo, visitors look around an exhibit in the new visitor center at Thomas Jefferson's home Monticello in Charlottesville, Va.

President Barack Obama plans to focus attention on immigration next week by meeting at the White House with two senators crafting a bill on the issue.

New York officials who did not want Khalid Shaikh Mohammed tried in the city. Republicans want a military trial.

By MARGARET CARLSONWASHINGTON -- You be the judge: Which was a worse example of Congress at work this week?Was it Sen.

Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown is making his first campaign trip as senator. His visit to Arizona Friday will be a first test of his popularity among Republican activists after he broke with the GOP leadership to side with Democrats in supporting a jobs bill.

U.S. Sen. David Vitter has called for federal officials to do a more thorough review of the deaths of several people who lived in homes that contained smelly, possibly toxic Chinese drywall.

In this Feb. 22, 2010 file photo, U.S. Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., speaks during a news conference in Quincy, Mass.

ALBANY - New York is one of 16 finalists to get part of the $4.35 billion pot of Race to the Top funding, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced today.

The time has come to change a policy that imposes a lifetime ban on donating blood for any man who has had gay sex since 1977, 18 senators said Thursday.

By Sara Miller Llana Published Thu, Mar 4 2010 8:52 am REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, center, and Brazil's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim shake hands during a meeting in Brasilia on Thursday.

In this Feb. 4, 2010 file photo, Chicago pawnbroker Scott Lee Cohen, then the Democratic nominee for Illinois lieutenant governor, and his ex-wife, Debbie Cohen York, are interviewed on WTTW-TV in Chicago.