Congressional hearing on ‘politicization of grants’ and Catholic Church scheduled for Thursday

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will hold a hearing on Thursday titled, “HHS and the Catholic Church: Examining the Politicization of Grants,” More…

HHS decision to mandate contraception coverage renews action on ‘conscience-protection’ bills

The day after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services upheld the Institute of Medicine’s recommendation to include contraception in its list of preventive health services for women under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) introduced legislation intended to to allow health care More…

Republican tea party casualty Jane Norton trying again for U.S. Senate seat

Is it really time to line up for Colorado’s next senate race? Senator Mark Udall will be up for re-election in 2014, assuming he runs again. Friday, U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte, R-NH, sent out a fundraising letter on behalf of herself and Colorado’s own Jane Norton.

Ayotte, the former More…

Tea Party pressure puts Republicans in awkward position on earmark vote

With a fight brewing between Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Tea Party ringleader Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) over the practice of requesting earmarks in the Senate, most Republican Senators have been desperately hoping to avoid picking sides. But Tea Party groups, which are eagerly monitoring a closed-door Republican More…

Elderly voters the biggest push behind the GOP wave

The election post-mortems keep rolling in. Politico’s Byron Tau’s report on the remarkable shift in voting patterns among America’s oldest voters goes a long way to explain why last week’s contest became such a rout for Republicans. Voters over 65, he writes, favored Republicans by a 21-point margin after More…

Today’s Primaries a Final Test for Tea Party Candidates

Today’s the last primary day of this election cycle, and the narrative turns out to be a familiar one: will tea party candidates trump their GOP establishment rivals today, and if so, will it better the chances of Democrats winning in November?

New ‘Independent Expenditure Committees’ Disclose Little to FEC

In a detailed piece for BNA Money & Politics Report, Kenneth Doyle details new developments following the Federal Election Commission’s ruling in July that two political organizations could collect unlimited contributions while registering as a political action committee (PAC).

Palin Adds Another Mama Grizzly to Her Den

Sarah Palin, not to be deterred by the mixed reception New Hampshire voters gave her endorsement of GOP senate candidate Kelly Ayotte, is back on the campaign trail — digitally speaking, at least.

The Joy of Recruitment

[UPDATE: I originally misidentified Fiorinia's abortion stance. She's pro-life.]

Josh Kraushaar notices that Republicans have gotten the U.S. Senate candidates they wanted in New Hampshire and Illinois, where they “lacked a deep bench of viable recruits — and their political hopes were largely dependent on one specific candidate running.” More…