Michael N Castle

Voters in seven states and the District of Columbia cast ballots Tuesday in the final round of primaries that will shape the midterm elections and, perhaps more interestingly, could help define the political parties for the next several years. For Democrats, Tuesday's vote is much like a bank shot on a pool table as they hope that the conservative tide of the "tea party" movement helps elect candidates who will have a hard time appealing to independents, thus aiding Democrats fighting to continue their control of Congress.

Sal Russo cut his first political ad in 1969 as a 23-year-old aide to then-Gov. Ronald Reagan, dispatched to California's Salinas Valley to help a local apricot farmer win a state Assembly seat. Since then, he has been a mainstay in the state's conservative political circles, consulting for the likes of Gov. George Deukmejian and presidential hopeful Jack Kemp. In the 2008 presidential campaign, he crafted a series of pungent commercials questioning Barack Obama's patriotism in the hopes of bolstering John McCain.

The morning after a killing rampage at a suburban Colorado high school shocked the nation, official and extra-official Washington sprang to do something--anything--in response. Ten U.S. representatives and 10 senators gave speeches Wednesday in Congress lamenting the violence. The secretary of Education called the school superintendent on the scene to offer help.

When he discussed fiscal policy Wednesday night, President Bush portrayed himself as a champion of "spending discipline," renewing his pledge to cut the federal deficit in half by 2009 and vowing to send Congress a budget that "substantially reduces or eliminates more than 150 government programs."

Congressional Republicans who have been nervous about overhauling Social Security got some of what they asked for in President Bush's State of the Union address: more details of his plan to allow younger workers to invest part of their payroll taxes in personal retirement accounts.

Democrats and Republicans on Friday worked on the outlines of a compromise that would allow a scaled-back version of President Clinton's long-stalled crime bill to finally pass the House with broad bipartisan support.

Fourteen of the nation's governors and dozens of local officials met behind closed doors here Thursday to develop strategies for assisting the Clinton Administration in policy-making decisions aimed at jump-starting the economy and reducing the federal deficit. The bipartisan gathering of governors, mayors, county commissioners and business leaders, led by Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, lasted seven hours. It culminated in the drafting of a position paper forwarded to President-elect Bill Clinton.

Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri has emerged as the favorite in today's Republican vote for a new House majority leader, a contest that has been dominated by debate over the party's direction in the wake of ethics scandals. Blunt, criticized by his challengers for his close ties to some of corporate America's most influential lobbyists, appeared to have overcome fears within the GOP that those relationships could embarrass the party in this election year.

As rebellious Republican lawmakers tried on Tuesday to reach a compromise with the White House over interrogations and trials of terrorist suspects, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) sharply criticized a measure sponsored by his dissident GOP colleagues. They include Arizona Sen. John McCain, a potential rival for the party's presidential nomination. Frist contended that a bill advocated by McCain, along with Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and John W. Warner (R-Va.

There is not much presidential about a crab boat. But chugging along in the Wiso II, hauling in bushels of squirming blue crabs, George Bush kept up his hot streak Friday in managing the theatrics of presidential campaigning. For the third consecutive day, Bush pressed his case that he, and not Democrat Michael S. Dukakis, is the candidate for environmentalists. Usually, when a candidate is three days into a single subject, interest and media attention have waned.