Indiana's House Democratic Leader told the Associated Press Wednesday that Democrats are prepared to take a final vote on a measure that would make Indiana the first right-to-work state in the traditionally union-heavy Rust Belt. "We did better than anybody ever expected," said House Minority Leader Patrick Bauer, adding that outnumbered Democrats fought the best they could in the divisive labor battle that would make Indiana the 23rd right-to-work state. Read More

With a week left to halt Mitt Romney from sweeping to a third straight victory, his GOP rivals are struggling in South Carolina for a theme, momentum and most crucially, one strong challenger to consolidate conservatives' misgivings about the front-runner. The dynamics that lifted Romney to wins in Iowa and New Hampshire seem to be working for him here, even though South Carolina is often described as too evangelical and culturally southern for his background. Read More

Republican rivals for the presidential nomination have a chance to knock front-runner Mitt Romney, who has a commanding lead in New Hampshire polls, off his perch in back-to-back weekend debates that could help define the contest. In a race largely driven by 13 previous sparring matches, Romney has emerged mostly unscathed by the six or seven opponents who have flanked his debate position on center stage.  Read More

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Mitt Romney eked out a minuscule 8-vote victory over Rick Santorum in Iowa's Republican presidential caucuses, the state party chairman said early Wednesday, bringing down the curtain on an improbable first act in the campaign to pick a challenger to President Barack Obama in the fall. Appearing hours after the caucuses had ended, Matt Strawn said Romney had 30,015 votes, to 30,007 for Santorum, whose late surge carried him to a near win. Even before his victory was Read More