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Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Livonia) has spent the last several days searching Iowa for support for a potential bid for the GOP nomination for president. The Des Moines Register reports the Congressman from Michigan is eyeing the race — and the potential challengers — carefully

Restaurant owner Jason Bailey said Thursday he supports Denver’s paid sick days initiative and he blasted the Colorado and National Restaurant Associations for fighting the ballot measure. He termed the opposition of the restaurant groups “more of the same,” saying those groups represent large corporations like McDonald’s, more than they do people like him. Bailey owns Parsley, a small mostly vegetarian, mostly organic sandwich, salad, soup and smoothie restaurant at 11th and Cherokee in Denver.

Following recent layoffs of 13 firefighters in Lancaster, Ohio, despite the local union’s concessions, the town’s mayor, Republican David S. Smith, says the

A recently released report (PDF) by Protecting Ohio’s Protectors found that since 2008, Ohio public employees have made contract concessions on the state and

Rep. Allen West, R-Fort Lauderdale, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel Tuesday that sexuality is a “behavior” that can be changed, something he’s “seen people do.” # The South Florida Republican said “that everyone has the same basic rights, and no one is telling people in the gay community that they don’t have the same basic rights that any American has.” Asked if gays and lesbians should change their behavior, West said no: “I like chocolate chip ice cream and I will continue to like chocolate chip ice cream

Coal mining in Colorado is conducted about as quietly as any form of major extractive energy production can be. One might even say it’s somewhat of an underground industry. But there’s a robust Colorado coal-mining industry – one that operates largely off the radar in far-flung locations like the North Fork of the Gunnison River and between Hayden and Oak Creek in Routt County

Following news that Public Policy Polling could only find one Iowan supporting former Obama administration ambassador and Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman , the potential 2012 candidate has announced his strategy offers only a wink and a nod to the Hawkeye State. During a weekend stop in New Hampshire, according to the Associated Press , Huntsman, 51, noted that he’s “not competing in Iowa for a reason.” That reason, he said is because “I don’t believe in subsidies that prop up corn, soybeans and ethanol.” “I probably won’t be spending a lot of time in Iowa,” Huntsman added

The 180 website header (Pic via 180movie.com) The group behind a controversial movie comparing abortion in America to the Holocaust has set its sights on getting the movie into high schools. According to a press release from the creators of 180 : A free DVD of the award-winning viral movie “180″ may be coming to a high school near you. The creator of www.180movie.com , Ray Comfort, said “180 received over a million views in 22 days, because it’s ‘shocking.’ … Late last month, between 180,000 and 200,000 copies of the 33-minute DVD were given out at 100 of America’s top universities, and now the Jewish author and TV co-host is turning his attention to high schools.

Comedian Stephen Colbert, who long ago mixed reality and comedy with the formation of his own Super PAC, has offered back-hand support of a Federal Elections Commission request by American Crossroads to feature federal candidates in ads developed and marketed by the PAC. Third-party organizations such as PACs, under FEC rules, are not allowed to coordinate or work directly with candidate campaigns except under very limited circumstances.

Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has prepared a rough draft of energy and climate legislation, but environmentalists will likely be disappointed by the final product.

The list of business and industry organizations that oppose federally mandated E-Verify, the federal electronic employee verification program, continues to grow. # In a conference call hosted on Tuesday by the National Immigration Forum , the Associated Industries of Florida along with the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Georgia’s Fruit and Vegetable Association agreed that mandatory E-Verify as defined in Rep

The McCain campaign today brought out the big guns to set the record straight about Sen. John McCain’s ties to Charles Keating, a central figure in the

The city of Highland Park has already had an Emergency Manager for the entire city who was found by a court to have improperly used public funds, but now the public schools in that city might get their own manager.

Crossroads GPS, a conservative policy and advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C., is building on its TV ads criticizing U.S. Rep

Michele Bachmann’s campaign and CBS News clashed over the weekend when her campaign was accidentally included on an email chain with CBS News’ John Dickerson explaining that Bachmann would not get as much attention during and after Saturday’s presidential debate. According to CNN, Bachmann’s campaign manager Keith Nahigian walked through the spin room and called Dickerson a “piece of shit.” Prior to Saturday night’s foreign policy debate in South Carolina hosted by CBS and National Journal, Bachmann spokesperson Alice Stewart was accidentally copied on an email about a post debate webshow hosted by CBS. The email said that Bachmann would not receive the same amount of attention that the frontrunners would due to her low polling numbers.

Former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink is set to announce the details of her new foundation today. Sink, Florida’s previous chief financial officer and a longtime banker, has said that her foundation will focus on economic development. In a recent interview , Sink said that the Florida Next Foundation will be a “non-profit, non-partisan policy foundation doing some research, gathering best ideas from around the world and input from everyday Floridians about how we rebuild our economy by supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs.” The Foundation’s initial headquarters will be in Tampa’s Museum of Art, where Sink is slated to give a press conference sometime today

President Obama announced this morning that the federal government would cut its emissions by 28 percent in 2020. It’s a small step compared to the nationwide

In the battle over Senate Bill 5, proponents have pointed to various studies that claim to show a large disparity in pay between public sector workers and their

A case involving CIA black sites, Boeing and torture victims sets up the first real-world example of the Obama administration’s take on national security.

In a call with reporters this morning, Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag conceded that cap-and-trade climate legislation would not be

According to a recently released report by the U.S. Census Bureau, Florida received the third least amount of aid per capita from the federal government in 2010. Nevada and Virginia were the only other states to be granted less money than Florida

Opponents of oil shale development in western Colorado, Wyoming and Utah participated in a “fly-in” to Washington, D.C. this week to push for increased federal oversight of the still-unproven form of energy that would consume huge amounts of water and conventional power. The group was made up of sportsmen, energy experts, farmers and former politicians.

Michael Rajner, legislative director of the Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus , tells The Florida Independent in a written statement that Sen.