The nation's largest labor federation plans to spend more than $50 million leading up to the November elections, targeting 70 House races and 18 Senate races with television ads, phone banks and leaflets.

Caterpillar Inc. dedicated a $140 million road grader factory Wednesday, a facility that will employ 600 people and produce the big machines for markets around the world.

Imprisoned former Illinois Gov. George Ryan is seeking to have elements of his conviction thrown out based on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that sharply curtailed an anti-fraud law employed by prosecutors nationwide to convict politicians and executives.

DOVER, OHIO: Members of Congress say they've received assurances from the IRS that Ohio war veterans won't be taxed on their new state bonuses.

Senator Lisa Murkowski dropped out of the Republican Senate primary in Alaska on Tuesday, conceding to a Tea Party-backed insurgent in a stunning upset fueled by conservative supporters.

Democrat Charlie Melancon is pressing Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter to agree to a series of five debates around Louisiana before the November election.

Republican Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown is the guest at a Bellevue fundraiser for GOP Senate challenger Dino Rossi.The event was scheduled for Tuesday evening.

A longtime curator of the Sioux Indian Museum in South Dakota has been honored for her years of service in preserving American Indian history.

The system that automatically awards disability benefits to some veterans because of concerns about Agent Orange seems contrary to efforts to control federal spending, the Republican co-chairman of President Barack Obama's deficit commission said Tuesday.

A U.S. border agent drives along a fence between Nogales, Arizona, and Mexico. More Guard troops are at the border.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Monday her Republican rival Joe Miller may be creating doubt in the minds of Alaskans about the integrity of the voting process by ratcheting up the hyperbole about possible election fraud.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln says a 20-year-old soldier from Arkansas has been killed during action in Afghanistan.

One week after helping engineer a surprise in Alaska, the Tea Party Express announced a six-figure commitment Monday to back Christine O'Donnell and her challenge to Delaware Rep.

John McCain's Democratic challenger is replacing his campaign manager. Former Tucson City Councilman Rodney Glassman's campaign announced Monday that veteran Democratic strategist Bill Romjue will manage the campaign beginning Wednesday.

It's an audacious gamble, even with anti-establishment fever running high: a former hedge fund lawyer trying to unseat a nine-term congresswoman popular in her district.

Minnesota beekeepers are holding a news conference at the State Fair on Monday to highlight the problem of "honey laundering." They say low-quality and contaminated honey from China is being dumped onto the U.S. market by being shipped through third countries to avoid import duties and food safety rules.

When the Defense of Marriage Act was signed into law in the heat of the 1996 campaign season, support for marriage equality stood at only one in every three people in Massachusetts.

The Justice Department's Public Integrity Section has a storied 34-year history of pursuing corruption in government and safeguarding the public trust.

Joe Miller, the surprise leader in Alaska's unresolved Republican Senate primary, said Sunday that the growing national debt requires a "belt tightening" that should include cutting back on federal dollars that his state receives.

Transcript of President Barack Obama's remarks at Xavier University in New Orleans on Sunday, as provided by the White House: ___ OBAMA: Hello, everybody.