McClatchy Election News

Most modern U.S. presidents have played golf, but it's touchy, since many people view it as an expensive, elite sport. President Barack Obama plays golf a lot, but he won't let the news media see him do it.

The 37-year-old Earnest, who grew up in Kansas City, Mo., is the principal deputy White House press secretary. Before Earnest even sets foot inside the White House gates and enters the West Wing, it’s his job to know what’s been said over the past 12 hours, who said it and what the fallout has been.

Even for a president who has lost some of his luster, donor-rich California remains a generous state. President Barack Obama and his supporters raised some $59 million in large donations from the Golden State through April, just $3 million less than Obama and then-rival Hillary Rodham Clinton raised, combined, from Californians by this time in 2008.

The federal reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act has fallen victim to political bickering, with the House of Representatives and the Senate refusing even to consider the versions passed by each other.

A bill that would ban minors in California from getting sexual orientation change therapy and require adults to provide written consent is running into trouble at the Capitol.

Florida’s top Congressional Democrats broke with President Barack Obama on Tuesday over his administration’s decision to issue Fidel Castro’s niece a visa to attend a conference this week in San Francisco.

Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan apologized Wednesday before a Senate panel for the prostitution scandal that’s embarrassed his agency, but he said he didn’t believe that it had arisen from an agency culture of misbehavior.

John Edwards might be the one with the most to win or lose with the jury deliberating his fate, but the U.S. Department of Justice has a lot riding on his case, too.

Congress isn’t just stuck in partisan and ideological gridlock: It’s broken. Once again this month, and probably throughout this year, lawmakers are mired in stalemates over what used to be routine solutions to commonplace issues.

President Barack Obama dominated the world stage over the weekend, but U.S. voters aren’t focused much on that.

Only seven months after critical news stories about unpaid taxes on a private airplane, U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill was late paying property taxes on her Washington, D.C., condominium. Records show that the Missouri Democrat missed the fall 2011 deadline by about three weeks. McCaskill paid $197 in penalties and interest on top of the $1,514 in taxes owed for half the year.

President Barack Obama will announce an alliance Friday with nearly 50 companies to boost productivity among small farmers in Africa with the goal of lifting 50 million people out of poverty.

A decision by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to make an exemption and issue a visa to Mariela Castro, the daughter of Cuban ruler Raul Castro, has drawn irate criticisms from Cuban-American lawmakers and activists.

For decades, lawmakers helped home-state manufacturers lower the cost of imported materials by crafting tiny bills that reduced or eliminated tariffs on products that range from massive factory equipment to vats of industrial-strength chemicals.

President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande agreed Friday that Europe must deploy "strong growth" measures along with austerity as it grapples with how to pull out of its economic morass.

Phil Bailey, the S.C. Senate Democratic Caucus political director, was reprimanded and told to take down his Twitter feed after calling Gov. Nikki Haley a "Sikh Jesus" in tweets, a Senate leader said.

President Barack Obama will host the NATO alliance Sunday in Chicago to talk of long-term commitments to Afghanistan, tempered by the fact that the countries are tired of the war, their budgets are strained and they see a need to resist what one analyst called “a rush to the exits.”

The State Department said Tuesday that documents to allow Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng to come to the U.S. had been completed, and Chen himself talked to lawmakers on Capitol Hill from his hospital room to describe the brutal treatment of his relatives by Chinese authorities.

Perhaps the biggest name featured at the Texas Republican Party's convention next month -- former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum -- will give a speech that is off-limits to the media and the public.

Capping a rare show of congressional bipartisanship, and several years of work, President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed into law a bill that frees up 150 acres for purchase by the city of Tracy in California’s San Joaquin Valley.

Unfazed by a White House veto threat, the House of Representatives on Wednesday approved anti-domestic violence legislation that opponents charge doesn’t sufficiently protect gay, lesbian, transgender people, Native Americans and immigrants.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has signed into law a bill that will allow pharmacists to refuse to provide drugs they believe might cause an abortion.

Members of Congress might wait years before accomplishing something of lasting value, if they’re even lucky enough to do that.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood warned California lawmakers Thursday not to wait until fall for a vote on high-speed rail, urging its approval in a budget vote next month.

The colorful, normally cheerful Facebook page called “Visit North Carolina” filled up so quickly with profane posts Wednesday that its moderator had to plead for a more civil tone.

After hours of sharp, partisan debate Thursday that’s likely to be echoed around the nation this election year, the Republican-dominated House of Representatives approved, with no Democratic support, a federal budget plan that would slash popular domestic programs while sparing defense.

Gay marriage is poised to play a pivotal role in American politics this year with President Barack Obama becoming the first sitting president to endorse same-sex marriage.

A vote Wednesday in the House of Representatives to pour billions into a little-known federal bank illustrates the divide among tea party-backed lawmakers torn between upholding anti-government principles and helping American companies compete in foreign markets.

OK, political groupies, travel back through time to the campaigns of yesteryear. You can even wallpaper your bedroom with (long dead) politicians touting their virtues — and sometimes sliming their opponents.

The tax code is becoming the new weapon in the war against abortion with Kansas pioneering the way. The Kansas House passed a bill Monday that would further restrict abortion by rewriting state tax law. "Nobody on the state level has gone through their tax code in this manner," said Elizabeth Nash, a state issues manager for the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks reproductive health issues.

After three months of trying to persuade the Air Force not to transfer eight C-130 Hercules aircraft from Fort Worth to Great Falls, Mont., a House subcommittee appears ready to try to stop the move with legislation.

The most conservative congressional delegation in America? Take a bow, Kansas. It isn't even close.

A final poll of likely North Carolina voters conducted over the weekend continues to give a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and civil unions an easy margin of victory in Tuesday’s election while the Democratic contest for governor is tightening.

A bill that would allow pharmacists to bow out of providing drugs they believe might cause an abortion cleared the Kansas state legislature Wednesday.

A House panel cleared Gov. Nikki Haley Wednesday of claims she illegally lobbied and broke other ethics laws while a state representative.

After deciding this year would be his last in the Missouri General Assembly, Zach Wyatt says he wanted to do something truly meaningful. He just didn’t know what. But when news broke last month about a bill pushed by his fellow Republicans that would restrict discussion of sexual orientation in public schools — dubbed the "don't say gay" bill — Wyatt finally knew what he had to do.

Calling North Carolina "ground zero" in the presidential campaign, Republican national chairman Reince Priebus said Tuesday that his party's grass-roots effort will beat Democrats "across the board" in the state.

If a panel of S.C. House members decides to open a formal probe into whether Gov. Nikki Haley illegally lobbied while a state representative, its investigation will be open to the public.

The Obama administration on Tuesday granted the Treasury Department authority to blacklist foreign nationals and companies that help Iran and Syria evade U.S. and international sanctions.

The statewide task force to review Florida’s Stand Your Ground law will begin its work Tuesday, but a state senator who formed his own task force is recommending the law be rewritten to make it more difficult for defendants to claim self-defense.

Clem Munno is running for Congress. He doesn't expect to win. He has no political experience, and he's running against a rising star in his own party, Republican U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers.

President Barack Obama on Monday rejected criticism of his handling of the anniversary of Osama bin Laden’s death – and questioned whether his Republican presidential challenger would have made the same decision to take out the al Qaida leader.

Who's really waging the so-called "war on women"?

Barack Obama, Democrats and feminists accuse Republicans of firing the first shots and aiming to keep women down. Mitt Romney, Republicans and conservative women's groups blame Democrats for starting the fight for political gain.

In today's obsessively high-tech society, in which Facebook and Twitter dominate and there's an app for almost anything, many politicians are focusing on some decidedly low-tech basics to get their campaign messages across: distributing door hangers, campaign mailers and yard signs, buying billboards and going door-to-door in key neighborhoods.

Nearly 100 people crowded on the Capitol steps Thursday to protest what they called “legislative hate.” The group, many members or allies of the LGBT community, waved rainbow flags and had strong words for legislators looking to pass SB 142, also called the Kansas Preservation of Religious Freedom Act.

Rates on popular student loans would be barred from doubling as scheduled on July 1 under Republican-authored legislation that the House of Representatives passed Friday – but the change would be funded by slashing money from a fund for disease prevention and public health.

Congressional lawmakers from both political parties agree, and so does the White House: It’s important to renew the Violence Against Women Act, an 18-year-old law that pours resources into efforts to help victims of domestic violence. But there are sharp disagreements about exactly what the new law should include, arguments that illustrate how election-year politics has colored consideration of a law that usually gets enthusiastic bipartisan support.

Gasoline was selling for $3.33 a gallon, Jerry Brown was attorney general, and California was bracing for a budget crisis when the state's hourly minimum wage rose to $8 in early 2008.

In his first stop on a two-day college tour, President Barack Obama tried to reassure the seniors venturing into a fragile job market that the American dream is still realistic.