December 30, 2011  |   Weather-beaten farm buildings stand along Highway 6 in Marengo, Iowa. Marengo is located in one of Iowa's many "Emptying Nest" counties, where Republican presidential candidates are seeking support in next week's all-important Iowa Caucuses; photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images...

September 13, 2011  |   President Obama's nearly $450 billion jobs package is just beginning a long and potentially difficult journey through Congress, but examining the outlines of what he proposed and GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's vision, it appears they are counting on different...

August 22, 2011  |   Reniah Krause, 2, clings to her father Sgt. Joseph Krause in June at Fort Carson, Colo., after he and fellow soldiers arrived back from Afghanistan; John Moore/Getty Images The debt-busting congressional super committee has yet to hold its first...

August 17, 2011  |   University of Michigan School of Dentistry graduates take an oath to uphold high professional standards at a May graduation ceremony in Ann Arbor -- a Campus and Careers county type; Creative Commons photo courtesy flickr.com/umdent In the two weeks...

April 25, 2011  |   Following historic Republican victories in the House and in state legislatures throughout the country in 2010, Tea Party supporters saw a new chance to rein in government at the national and state levels. Much of the attention about this fight...

January 25, 2011  |   Gun legislation is back in the spotlight after the shooting in Tucson that wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed six. Long before the rampage hit the headlines, several states had been moving to broaden gun rights, arguing the way...

December 14, 2010  |   Rep. Christopher Van Hollen, D-Md.; Roll Call/Getty Images file photo Although House Democratic leaders said they would not block the compromise tax cuts bill from reaching the floor, it may reveal growing opposition from both representatives of traditional liberal...

November 8, 2010  |   "Tea Party tidal wave," "historic election," "political realignment": there have been a lot of overblown claims about the scope of this midterm election but as Nov. 2 recedes a bit, some clearer and still potentially troubling realities appear to...

October 15, 2010  |   Freshman Democrat Debbie Halvorson will have to balance the diverse needs of a sprawling district in northern Illinois if she hopes to hold off Republican opponent Adam Kinzinger in an area historically considered a swing district with Republican leanings. But...

October 1, 2010  |   One trend that is becoming clearer as the midterms approach is that Democrats are struggling to hold on in the heartland. These big-in-size, small-in-population districts throughout the Midwest, known in our Patchwork Nation project as Small Town America districts,...

August 9, 2010  |   MISSOULA, Mont. | Foreclosures make headlines. They are a big focus of the media's attention as the troubled economy continues to dominate the news. But even where banks aren't taking over properties, the collapse of the real estate market is...

July 19, 2010  |   According to conventional wisdom, it is going to be a bad year for Democrats. Historically the party of the president has lost seats in the mid-term, ugly fights over health care and the soaring deficit have owned media headlines and...

June 28, 2010  |   Whether it's the LAPD attempting to close 400 of the city's marijuana dispensaries or Montana adding nearly 20 percent more card-carrying medical marijuana users just last month, states and municipalities are struggling this summer with legislating about medical pot. Some...

June 14, 2010  |   As we get further from last week's primaries and the rush of analysis on races in Nevada, Arkansas and California, there's more to say about what's happening politically at the state level. In Montana, there was only one statewide race...