Bob McDonnell reached out to women Tuesday as polls suggest female voters -- a constituency that once appeared to be tilting away from the Republican gubernatorial candidate -- are now split between the Republican and Democratic tickets.
McDonnell held a campaign rally in Vienna with Sheila Johnson, the multimillionaire BET co-founder and longtime Democratic supporter, appealing directly to potential crossover voters in Northern Virginia.
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Even harder will be merging House, Senate versions
Now that a Senate panel has won passage of a moderate health care reform bill, the real challenge lies with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who must weave it together with much more liberal legislation in a way that can win the support of at least 60 lawmakers.
Given the divergent components of each bill, it promises to be a daunting if not impossible task.
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What does a hate crimes bill have to do with money for U.S. troops fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq?
Nothing, except that the National Defense Authorization Act, which will win final passage in Congress and be sent to the president's desk this week, also contains the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which Democrats placed inside the defense measure over Republican objections.
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As he navigates a range of politically unappealing options for health care reform and the Afghan war, President Obama is finding the two to be linked
The liberals in his own party are dismayed by Obama's apparent retreat on a public, government-run insurance program for health care, and his contemplated embrace of a ramped-up war plan for Afghanistan.
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Congress faces two politically unpalatable options on health care: Higher fines for working-class Americans who don't buy insurance or increases in spending and taxes after insurance providers predicted huge increases in premiums under the main Democratic plan.
A report from America's Health Insurance Plans saying the cost of health coverage would be nearly 20 percent higher under a Senate Finance Committee plan -- $1,500 per year for an individual and $4,000 for a family -- has shaken things up in advance of a key vote scheduled for Tuesday.
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President Bush left a confused situation. A mission undertaken with reasonable clarity had become vague and muddled. Many feared that the mission was creeping away from its initially limited aims to a full-up attempt at nation building in a collapsed state. His Democratic successor recognized the importance of the mission, but his priorities lay on domestic affairs. He did not want the conflict, however important or symbolic it might be, to overwhelm his ambitious program of reforms for the economy and health care.
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Democratic candidates for Virginia's House are subtly distancing themselves from Creigh Deeds' struggling bid for governor as the top of their ticket faces mounting troubles.
While not denouncing Deeds or supporting his Republican opponent, Bob McDonnell, down-ballot Democrats are downplaying the importance of the marquee race's outcome and emphasizing themselves as self-contained candidates.
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OSLO – President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in a stunning decision designed to encourage his initiatives to reduce nuclear arms, ease tensions with the Muslim world and stress diplomacy and cooperation rather than unilateralism.
Many observers were shocked by the unexpected choice so early in the Obama presidency, which began less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline and has yet to yield concrete achievements in peacemaking.
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As the White House mulls a smaller, second round of economic stimulus, a key concern for Democrats is how best to help hard-hit political swing states with mounting unemployment.
With a range of foreign and domestic issues pressing on President Obama, one still trumps them all: the economy. Without significant job creation, Democrats could see significant political setbacks come the 2010 midterm elections and beyond.
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A Senate plan to expand health insurance coverage to an additional 29 million people would not come cheap, with taxpayers, businesses and the elderly poised to foot most of the bill.
The legislation by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., which is scheduled for a committee vote Tuesday, would cost $829 billion over the next 10 years. Yet in spite of that staggering price tag, it would slash the federal deficit by $81 billion, according to an analysis by the independent Congressional Budget Office.
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