Related Content: Senate

Pelosi aims for Dems to retake House, eyes old speaker post

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Standing before a room of donors at a breakfast fundraiser for Rep. Betty Sutton, one of her party's vulnerable incumbents, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi defined the stakes of the 2012 election this way: "Everything is at stake. Civilization as we know it today," she said, catching herself with a laugh. "That's all. So, no pressure."

Thompson locked in a three-way fight for Wisconsin’s GOP Senate nomination

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FOND du LAC, Wis. — A month ago, many people in this state presumed that Tommy G. Thompson — still a household name here after serving an unprecedented four terms as governor — had a lock on the Republican nomination for the Senate.

Ted Cruz's victory in Texas makes him a national GOP star

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WASHINGTON – Attorney Ted Cruz has never served in elected office and is little known outside of Texas, but overnight he has become the newest conservative political star after he handily defeated Lt. Gov David Dewhurst in Tuesday's Senate Republican runoff election.

Maine Candidate: Don't Assume Party Affiliation

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Angus King is running for the Senate on a campaign pledge to tell voters how he will vote right after they elect him in November. The independent candidate, a popular former governor, is the front-runner in the open race for the seat held by retiring GOP Sen. Olympia Snowe. He is running a campaign on a platform of changing Congress and resisting partisanship, which is complicated by the fact that senators must align with a party to receive committee assignments and determine control of the chamber.

Dimon's Big Day on Capitol Hill

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Major Garrett, National Journal White House correspondent, and CNBC's John Harwood report on the politics behind today's Senate hearing and provide a preview of questions likely to be asked of key witness Jamie Dimon.

Boehner: No Debt Ceiling Increase Without Cuts

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House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, will not allow an increase in the debt ceiling to move through the House unless the amount of the increase includes an equal or greater amount of spending cuts. His pledge once again sets Congress on a collision course with Senate Democrats and the White House over what was once a routine vote to raise the federal debt ceiling, which allows the U.S. government to continue to pay its bills without the risk of default.

PBS NewsHour: Assessing the Indiana Senate Race After Lugar's Loss

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Indiana voters sent Richard Lugar to the U.S. Senate six times, but not again this year. He lost Tuesday to Tea Party-backed state Treasurer Richard Mourdock. Gwen Ifill, Greg Fettig of Hoosiers for a Conservative Senate and political analyst Brian Howey discuss why Lugar lost and preview the race to fill his seat in the Senate.

Sen. Richard Lugar Defeated in Indiana's GOP Primary

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Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana lost his re-election bid in the state's Republican primary Tuesday, ending the 36-year career of a GOP elder statesman and handing the Tea Party movement its biggest upset victory so far in the 2012 elections. Lugar was ousted by state Treasurer Richard Mourdock, whose campaign against Lugar was backed by conservative groups including the Tea Party Express, the anti-tax Club for Growth, the National Rifle Association and the Tea Party-aligned Freedom Works, and by former Republican Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

PBS NewsHour: Indiana Sen. Lugar Targeted for Defeat by His Own Party

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The Senate's most senior Republican, Richard Lugar is under pressure from within his own party to retire or be denied another term. At 80 years old, even Lugar seems slightly baffled about his political detractors. Gwen Ifill reports on the veteran senator's coming primary challenge on May 8.

Target Lugar: Mayhem in Indiana

Gwen's Take

Updated: 4/13/12 10:40pm

INDIANAPOLIS -- On the morning after the season's only Indiana Senate primary debate, state Treasurer Richard Mourdock arose early and headed for a Rotary Club in suburban Noblesville. There were fewer than 20 people there, which meant there was plenty of sausage, egg and waffle casserole to go around.

The club's president announced he was stepping down as the town's top Rotarian. Then he turned to Mourdock, who is attempting to unseat 80-year-old incumbent Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and winked. "The time comes for everybody to retire," he said.