National - links
In Final Weeks, G.O.P. Focuses on Best Bets
Senior Republican leaders have concluded that Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio, a pivotal state in this year’s fierce midterm election battles, is likely to be heading for defeat and are moving to reduce financial support for his race and divert party money to other embattled Republican senators, party officials said.
Oct 16, 2006
Topic: Citizenship, Legislation, National
Evangelicals Blame Foley, Not Republican Party
As word of Representative Mark Foley’s sexually explicit e-mail messages to former pages spread last week, Republican strategists worried — and Democrats hoped — that the sordid nature of the scandal would discourage conservative Christians from going to the polls. But in dozens of interviews here in southeastern Virginia, a conservative Christian stronghold that is a battleground in races for the House and Senate, many said the episode only reinforced their reasons to vote for their two Republican incumbents in neck-and-neck re-election fights, Representative Thelma Drake and Senator George Allen.
Oct 9, 2006
Topic: Faith, Family, Citizenship, Christian Citizenship, National
If and When: How the Democrats Would Rule the Hill
In the final weeks of this bruising campaign, the debate, in many ways, comes down to this: What would happen if the Democrats win? Republicans warn, ever more urgently, that a Democratic takeover of Congress would mean wrenching ideological change: higher taxes; big new spending; maybe even impeachment.
Oct 8, 2006
Topic: Citizenship, National
Conservatives worry scandal will hit ‘value voter’ turnout
Republican campaign strategists and conservatives fear former Rep. Mark Foley’s sex scandal will depress turnout among the party’s “value voter” base in November, further complicating Republican efforts to keep control of Congress.
Oct 4, 2006
Topic: Citizenship, Legislation, National
Online-Gambling Shares Plunge on Passage of U.S. Crackdown Law
By ERIC PFANNER, International Herald Tribune
Published: October 3, 2006
LONDON, Oct. 2 — On a Black Monday for the online-gambling industry, companies that operate Internet betting sites and payment systems lost billions of dollars in market value after the United States government moved to criminalize the processing of online wagers.
Oct 3, 2006
Topic: Family, Addictions, Gambling, Citizenship, Christian Citizenship, Legislation, National, Issues
Online Gaming in Crisis Over U.S. Ban
Online gambling firms faced their biggest-ever crisis on Monday after U.S. Congress passed legislation to end Internet gaming there, threatening jobs and wiping 3.5 billion pounds ($6.5 billion) off company values.
Oct 2, 2006
Topic: Family, Addictions, Gambling, Citizenship, Legislation, National
Senate Passes Bill on Building Border Fence
The Senate on Friday approved the building of 700 miles of fence along the nation’s southwestern border, fulfilling a demand by conservative Republicans to take steps to slow the flow of illegal immigrants before exploring broader changes to immigration law.
Oct 2, 2006
Topic: Citizenship, Legislation, National
Roberts Court May Be Defined in Second Term
If Year 1 was the transition for the new Roberts court, Year 2 is likely to be the test. During the first term under the leadership of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., the justices were able to find common ground with some regularity by agreeing not to decide much.
Oct 2, 2006
Topic: Citizenship, Christian Citizenship, National
‘Fertility gap’ helps explain political divide
By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY
September 27, 2006
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, a Catholic mother of five from San Francisco, has fewer children in her district than any other member of Congress: 87,727.
Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, a Mormon father of eight, represents the most children: 278,398.
These two extremes reflect a stark demographic divide between the congressional districts controlled by the major political parties.
Republican House members overwhelmingly come from districts that have high percentages of married people and lots of children, according to a USA TODAY analysis of 2005 Census Bureau data released last month.
Sep 28, 2006
Topic: Family, Marriage, Parenting, Citizenship, Christian Citizenship, National, Social Issues
Danforth Warns of Christian Right but Says Tide Will Turn
The potency of the Christian right in the Republican Party is limited, former senator John C. Danforth of Missouri is telling audiences this month. A lifelong Republican moderate disturbed by his party’s direction, he contends that the political center has a future.
Sep 28, 2006
Topic: Faith, Citizenship, National, Social Issues