I am Sam Adams

Each of the top presidential candidates already has at least one super PAC raising unlimited funds to support his or her campaign. Now some members of Congress are getting in on the action, too.

Several new super PACs have sprung up in recent months with the explicit aim of helping a particular lawmaker, including Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) and Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Calif.). There are also super PACs that have formed to oppose the reelections of Sens. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) and Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.).

Read full article >>

Amid the festive sparkle of 37 Christmas trees and a 400-pound gingerbread White House, Michelle Obama honored military families as she unveiled her 2011 holiday decor.

The “Shine, Give, Share” theme was reflected in the East Room’s shimmering quartz ornaments and the silver pine cones in the Entrance Hall. The stately 1767 portrait of Ben Franklin in the Green Room looked curiously out at the recycled aluminum trees adorning antique tables. The first lady added some glitter to the Wednesday afternoon event as well, wearing a black knit dress with a sparkly white collar.

Read full article >>

SCRANTON, Pa. — Pushing the latest provision of his jobs bill in this hardscrabble, blue-collar town, President Obama stepped up his campaign Wednesday to politically damage his Republican rivals by suggesting that their core values do not square with those of ordinary Americans.

Obama called on a crowd of 1,000 cheering supporters to pressure Congress to support an extension of a payroll tax cut that is set to expire at year’s end, costing working families $1,000 next year. The Senate, which has supported only one of Obama’s jobs bill measures this fall, could vote on that proposal as early as Friday.

Read full article >>

Republican congressional leaders stressed a willingness Wednesday to extend a Social Security payroll tax cut due to expire Dec. 31, setting up a year-end clash with Democrats over how to pay for a provision at the heart of President Obama's jobs program. 

Jon M. Huntsman Jr. has become everybody’s shoulda-woulda-coulda candidate. As in, he should-be-doing better, would-be-doing better if the GOP were a different party, and could be the one to beat President Obama.

Huntsman’s favorite-candidate status among Beltway pundits, and liberals, has led to questions about whether he would consider mounting a third party bid if he failed to win the GOP nod (which at this point, let’s face it, looks pretty likely). But every time he’s asked about a possible independent bid, Huntmsan says no.

Read full article >>

As Frankie Yankovic told us, the Pennsylvania Polka “started in Scranton” but goes “on and on until the dawn.” And Pennsylvanians had better get ready for lots of turns with dance partner Barack Obama.

President Obama warned Wednesday that any objections to his payroll tax cut extension would be a "massive blow to the economy," even as Republicans said they would negotiate a longer "holiday" as long as reducing funds to the Social Security Fund is paid for someplace else. 

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has begun a historic visit to the long-isolated Southeast Asian nation of Burma, where she will push for access to suspected nuclear sites and meet with famed pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi.

A cross-party parliamentary group is urging the Tanzanian government to prosecute those guilty of corruption or bribery over the sale of a BAE Systems air traffic control package.

The Obama campaign says it is working on an expanded electoral map in 2012, preparing for battle in so many places that it can afford to lose some of the big, traditional states he won four years ago. Pennsylvania is not one of those states.

As is clear from President Obama’s Wednesday visit to Scranton, some battlegrounds are more equal than others.

Read full article >>