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DES MOINES — Texas Gov. Rick Perry swung through Des Moines on the caucus campaign trail last week, bringing a touch of Texas swagger to the Iowa Credit Union Convention while again railing against federal regulations

So says Shaun Donovan, head of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In an interview with The Washington Post, Donovan says the focus of the real

When Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Ron Paul (R-Texas) took first and second, respectively, at Saturday’s Ames Straw Poll, they weren’t the only victors; Iowa’s tea party movement, and particularly social and religious conservatives within the movement, mobilized to bring their voices on issues to the forefront. But pundits find it unlikely similar voices will crop up throughout the nation, the tea party movement’s boost may be short-lived, and mobilization in one contest does not represent a new divide in the Republican between fiscal moderates and social conservatives

The combative head of an anti-environmentalist Washington, D.C. nonprofit with Colorado roots vowed on Thursday to appeal last week’s Montana Supreme Court ruling upholding the state’s nearly 100-year-old ban on corporate campaign spending.

TWI’s David Weigel sat down with Politico’s Ben Smith yesterday for a wide-ranging Bloggingheads.tv diavlog that covered President Obama and Afghanistan, the

As Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) girds for the March 4 Ohio and Texas primaries -- races that could mark her last stand in the battle for the

Mitt Romney is announcing his long-coming official 2012 presidential bid on a New Hampshire farm today.

Among the myriad criticisms that opponents of the Democrats’ health reform bills have leveled at the legislation, perhaps none resonates as strongly as the

Senator Michael Bennet today signed on as a co-sponsor of a bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.

House Republicans have no intention of bringing the DISCLOSE Act to the floor once they take control in January, so the best chance of passage is now. But the hurdles are high.

If it doesn’t make any sense to you to spare defense programs from the spending freeze, pay attention to next Tuesday. At 8:30 a.m., Undersecretary of Defense

Former Speaker of the U.S. House Newt Gingrich has officially thrown his hat into the presidential ring. Gingrich, a Georgia resident, made the announcement Wednesday afternoon.

Gov. Rick Scott (left) with Florida Senate President-Designate Don Gaetz, R-Destin (Pic via flgov.com) The South Florida Sun Sentinel reports today that an immigration enforcement bill is one of several items Gov. Rick Scott has on his “controversial legislative agenda.” The Sentinel adds that during the 2011 legislative session, “Scott and the House wanted to require companies to use the federal E-Verify program to check employees’ immigration status and require cops to check the legal status of anyone being investigated for a crime.” Scott recently said at RedState Gathering 2011, an event for conservative politicians and organizations, that he “tried to get an bill passed last year.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Adam Hasner appeared on a Sarasota conservative talk show today, echoing previous comments on the dangers of Sharia in the Sunshine State by saying there is a “civilizational jihad” underway across the country and in Florida. Audio after the jump

Eugene Volokh points out an interesting feature on the website of the Public Advocate for the City of New York: a list of major corporations’ stands on using

The original Deepwater Horizon fire (Pic by Deepwater Horizon Response, via Flickr) A new report issued by The National Academy of Engineering , a government-created nonprofit, concludes that the lack of regulation and ineffective safety management practices that led to BP’s catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico have not been fully remedied — leaving communities in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana potentially vulnerable to another oil spill. The blowout and explosion of BP’s Macondo well killed 11 workers and led to the largest oil spill in U.S

In the heated race for Colorado Republican Party chair last month, GOP legal counsel Ryan Call won in an unexpectedly lopsided first-round vote. High-profile party figures like Attorney General John Suthers and state Senator Shawn Mitchell said they endorsed Call because he was the kind of down-the-middle conservative the party needed to attract moderate and independent voters. On Wednesday, Call hosted his first major Party function.