Democratic Party

As signals of a weakening economy grow louder, the Bush administration and congressional Democrats are considering new measures, including a fresh round of tax cuts, designed to stave off recession. But while both sides of Washington's policy debate appear to favor some kind of tax-cut package to spur economic growth, there is little sign that they are near agreement on what kind of cuts should go to whom.

On the way to her win in New Hampshire, Hillary Rodham Clinton and her husband criticized Barack Obama for spouting "poetry" and "fairy tales." The day after, Obama said he was ready to use sharp words to counter attacks. "I come from Chicago politics. We're accustomed to rough-and-tumble," the Illinois senator said Wednesday in one of many television interviews. "We have to make sure that we take it to them just like they take it to us."

Presidential hopeful John Edwards, speaking in a sunny brick courtyard Wednesday at the college he once attended, basked in the sweet air and the attention from nearly a thousand people at a noon rally at Clemson University. "Man, I can tell I'm back in the South," he said before he was interrupted by cheers. "And it feels good." Just how long that feeling will last is uncertain. South Carolina's Democratic primary will be held Jan. 26.

. -- Hillary Rodham Clinton's victory in the New Hampshire primary was born of two disparate forces -- a sympathetic turn by voters, particularly women, who tired of seeing her attacked and a muscular political organization focused on concerns about the economy.

It was such a girlie question, Marianne Pernold Young wasn't sure she should ask it. There she was, within touching distance of a very smart Hillary Rodham Clinton at a little New Hampshire coffee shop where a handful of other very smart women had spent an hour asking very smart questions about immigration and national security -- and the only thing she could think to ask, the only thing she really wanted to know: How do you do it?

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson will reportedly drop out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination today, ending a campaign that failed to excite voters in Iowa and New Hampshire. A former congressman, secretary of Energy and U.N. ambassador, Richardson presented himself as an experienced problem-solver with impeccable international credentials. He finished fourth in both early contests.

The two leading Democratic presidential contenders revved up their campaigns Thursday, rallying supporters in upcoming battleground states and touting big-name endorsements. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) won what was easily the day's top prize -- the backing of Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry, the party's 2004 nominee. Kerry announced his support during a surprise appearance with Obama in South Carolina, where Democrats cast primary ballots Jan. 26. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.

Presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton threw some subtle and not-too-subtle jabs at her main Democratic rival during a campaign swing through Nevada on Saturday while courting Latino voters and pledging to help financially troubled homeowners in a state that will host the first major political bout in the West. Clinton bristled when an undecided voter asked whether she had grown too cozy with Washington lobbyists to offer true healthcare reform, and she mocked Sen.

Presidential hopeful Barack Obama won the endorsement Saturday of Sen. Ben Nelson, a moderate Democrat in largely Republican Nebraska who said he believes Obama has ability to bridge the partisan divide and to carry Democratic candidates across the country to victory in 2008. Nelson, pledging support for his Illinois colleague, said Obama has "the greatest potential to ending the bitterness and poisonous atmosphere in Washington." He said that Obama's victory speech after winning Iowa's Jan.

Tensions mounted between the two leading Democratic candidates for president Sunday, as Hillary Rodham Clinton launched an aggressive attack on Barack Obama, suggesting his much-vaunted opposition to the Iraq war was all talk and little action. Clinton also tried to control the damage caused by her recent remark that seemed to demean the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s role in the civil rights movement, and she accused Obama's campaign of fueling the racially charged controversy.