Post Politics: Master Archives
RNC chairman calls for official to step down over anti-Muslim, anti-gay posts
"For the good of the party we believe Dave Agema should step down." So said Republican National Committee chair Reince Preibus and Michigan Republican Party chair Bobby Schostak in a comment to Detroit Free Press reporters Friday, joining three other GOP representatives from Michigan -- Candice Miller, Fred Upton and Justin Amash -- and many other prominent Michigan politicians calling on the state's current RNC rep and former state representative to resign.
A new low: Just 46 percent say their member of Congress deserves reelection
A record low number of Americans say their own member of Congress deserves reelection, according to a new poll.
The Gallup poll shows just 46 percent of people say they think their representative deserves to return to Congress after the 2014 election. That's the lowest of any poll since 1992.
The poll also shows a new low in the percentage of Americans who say that most members of Congress deserve reelection. That number is now 17 percent.
Jesse Ryan Loskarn, former Lamar Alexander aide, dead in suicide
Updated 1:34 p.m.
Jesse Ryan Loskarn, a former aide to Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) who faced charges of possessing and distributing child pornography, hanged himself and died Thursday in a Maryland home, his family and police officials said Friday.
Loskarn was found dead around noon Thursday in the basement of his parents' house in Sykesville, Md., according to the Carroll County Sheriff's Department. Loskarn died after hanging himself, according to Bruce Goldfarb, a spokesman with Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Maryland.
RNC moves to shrink 2016 primary calendar
The Republican National Committee on Friday voted to significantly compress its presidential nominating calendar and to move its nominating convention earlier in the summer of 2016.
The full committee voted at its annual winter meeting to approve a new rules package that would allow the four regular early states -- Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina -- to hold their nominating contests in February 2016 and penalize other states that might try to move their contests earlier than March 1.
Priebus: GOP needs to be party of fairness, not equalizing outcomes
Republican National Committee Reince Priebus said in a speech Friday that Republicans need to re-focus on being the party of fairness -- and contrasting that position with what he said was the Democrats' unfairness.
"When the federal government tries to equalize outcomes, we're all going to end up equally worse off," Priebus said in remarks at the RNC winter meeting in Washington. "But when we make sure people have equal opportunities in education, in the job market, in health care we're all going to be better off. That’s the right approach. And that’s what’s fair."
Boehner appearing on Leno: GOP is to blame for shutdown
After rebuffing years of requests to appear on the "Tonight Show," House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) finally showed up Thursday night to spend a few minutes on Jay Leno's couch before the talk show host steps down next month.
The exchange began as what appeared to be a carefully choreographed exchange that allowed Boehner to talk about his personal life and deliver a few one-liners. It later segued into topics on which the speaker's opinions are well known.
Rand Paul to deliver alternate response to State of the Union
On Tuesday, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (R) will deliver his own response to President Obama’s State of the Union address, in yet another example of the presidential hopeful’s desire to build a national profile.
Last year, Paul gave a similar response to the president’s speech. He spoke from the National Press Club and focused on the agenda of the Tea Party Express, which sponsored the speech.
Holder chides Gates for timing of memoir
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said Thursday that he “thinks the world” of former colleague Robert Gates, who has spent the past few weeks peddling and receiving heat for the recently-published memoir about his years at the helm of the Pentagon.
But publishing the book, "Duty," while President Obama remains in office was poor form, Holder says.
Obama lauds mayors for getting things done, not waiting on Washington
President Obama spoke to a group of about 250 mayors from across the country at the White House Thursday, lauding them for getting things done rather than waiting for the Washington to act.
"Every day, mayors are proving that they don't have to wait for the gridlock to clear in Washington to make things happen," he said.
Republicans to tighten rules on primary calendar
The Republican National Committee is likely to greatly compress its presidential nominating process under rules passed by a key party committee Thursday, in hopes of uniting behind a stronger nominee headed into the 2016 presidential election.
The new rules will allow four states — Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada — to hold nominating contests in February 2016, a month later than those contests were held in 2012. Every other state would be allowed to hold nominating contests between March 1 and late May.
Any state that moves ahead of the allowed window would suffer penalties, including a reduced delegation to the national convention and a loss of other perks.
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