Political Parties

Congressional Democrats' bid to overhaul the nation's healthcare system got off to a rocky start Tuesday when Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) introduced his long-awaited plan -- only to face furious criticism from even moderate Republicans.

Republicans' unflinching opposition Tuesday to Judge Sonia Sotomayor drew a partisan line in the sand, signaling that any future Obama nominees to the Supreme Court are unlikely to win significant GOP support even if they have solid legal credentials and moderate records.

Yukari Sato sat in her quiet campaign office and stared at the one-eyed doll that was supposed to bring her luck. The roly-poly talisman, known as a daruma doll, traditionally comes with blank eyes. While making a wish, the doll's owner fills in the left eye. The right eye is drawn when the wish is granted. That didn't happen last week for Sato, who experienced a crushing defeat in her bid for a second term in parliament with the Liberal Democratic Party. "I'm hoping to fill in the other eye four years from now," Sato said.

A day after President Obama went to Capitol Hill to renew his call for a sweeping healthcare overhaul, Democrats on Thursday rallied behind him, giving important momentum to the push for legislation this year. Especially important for the White House was the reaction of several conservative Democrats, who will be crucial to passing a bill that can clear the House and Senate. They cheered the president's pledge to ensure that an overhaul would not add to the government's debt. "If the details live up to the quality of the speech, then it's a good plan," said Tennessee Rep. Jim Cooper, a conservative Democrat who has been critical of the healthcare bill developed by House leaders.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says that anyone using harsh rhetoric to raise fears about the healthcare overhaul should apologize and get on with writing policy but that there's no reason to single out a Florida Democrat who said Republicans want sick Americans to "die quickly." "If anybody's going to apologize, everybody should apologize," she said when asked Thursday about Rep. Alan Grayson's comments on the House floor this week. Pelosi's response reflects what Democratic aides have said privately since Grayson's remarks sparked an uproar: that Republicans have routinely said with impunity that Democrats want to "pull the plug on Grandma" or create "death panels" to decide who deserves care and who doesn't -- even though no such provisions are in any version of the healthcare legislation.

Israel's top court overruled a parliamentary panel that had barred two Arab parties from next month's election. The Central Elections Committee had disqualified the Balad and United Arab List-Taal parties after hearing arguments that they identified with the Jewish state's enemies and campaigned against Zionism. Arab lawmakers appealed to the High Court of Justice.

Haiti's electoral council has barred members of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's popular political party from running in upcoming Senate elections, prompting statements of concern from the United States and Canada. All of the Fanmi Lavalas Party's candidates were rejected for the April 19 elections, in most cases because their documents lacked Aristide's signature, council president Frantz G. Verret said. Aristide has been in exile in South Africa since 2004. The U.S. Embassy called on all involved to "keep the doors open to dialogue and debate."

Aiming to spice up its election campaign, India's ruling Congress party has bought the rights to "Jai Ho," the Oscar-winning song from "Slumdog Millionaire." The world's largest democracy will hold a general election between April 16 and May 13 in a mammoth logistical exercise in which 714 million people will cast their votes. Congress leaders said the song, whose title is Hindi for "Let There Be Victory," will be played during rallies in rural towns, villages and cities. India's opposition parties described the move as a gimmick.

Early results showed the Golkar party of former dictator Suharto ahead in Indonesia's parliamentary elections, and its chairman says the party is confident of victory not only in the legislative polls but also in the presidential election in July. The official tally from Monday's legislative elections put Golkar in the lead with 23.97% of the vote, ahead of President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party in Struggle, with 16.94%. The results account for only about 3% of votes cast.

It's political convention season. But as Ronald Brownstein, national political correspondent for The Times, writes in the current issue of Fast Company magazine, "The men and women creating the new economy won't be watching." Many leaders of the high-tech industry have given up on the two major political parties, if not politics altogether, writes Brownstein. They regard both parties as hopelessly out of touch with the high-tech economy.