NATIONAL
May 19, 2012 | By Mitchell Landsberg, Los Angeles Times
CINCINNATI - The Rev. Chris Beard is a theological conservative, make no mistake about it. He believes the Bible is the word of God. He believes the Holy Spirit speaks to him directly. He believes, as an article of faith, that abortion and same-sex marriage are wrong. Still, when a group of religious leaders in Ohio held two days of meetings in Cincinnati recently to talk about economic and racial justice, issues usually associated with the political left, there was Beard, a fourth-generation Pentecostal preacher with a disarming smile, a shaved head and a set of convictions that knock holes in the stereotypes about white evangelical Protestants.
NEWS
May 15, 2012 | By Maeve Reston
DES MOINES - Returning to the state that launched Barack Obama's path to the presidency, Mitt Romney went on offense Tuesday, accusing his rival of carelessly driving the country into "a financial crisis of both debt and spending that threaten what it means to be an American. " After a week in which the president's position shift on the divisive topic of gay marriage consumed the debate, Romney tried to steer the conversation back to the economy - never mentioning that Iowa's 5.2% unemployment rate is far lower than in many other states.
NEWS
May 9, 2012 | By Michael A. Memoli
The defeat of Sen. Richard G. Lugar in his bid for a seventh term in Indiana has given Democrats new hope of holding on to their narrow majority in the Senate. The result could also play out in the race for president, fueling the narrative of an Obama campaign running as much against the "tea party"-infused Republican Congress as it is against Mitt Romney. Within an hour of Richard Mourdock being declared the winner in Indiana's GOP primary, the White House released a statement from President Obama hailing Lugar's "distinguished service.
NATIONAL
May 9, 2012 | By Michael Finnegan, Los Angeles Times
After more than 35 years in the Senate, Richard G. Lugarof Indiana was ousted Tuesday by a tea party challenger in a Republican primary that showed how hard it is for a veteran lawmaker known for his ability to compromise to win reelection in the current political environment. The 80-year-old senator, a leading voice for his party on foreign policy, was pummeled for weeks by Republican rival Richard Mourdock for his breaches with conservative orthodoxy. Among them: Lugar's support of citizenship for some illegal immigrants and his votes to confirm President Obama's Supreme Court nominees, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
NEWS
May 8, 2012 | By Paul West
WASHINGTON -- A top staffer for the Republican National Committee got the party's election-year outreach to Latino voters off to a disastrous public start Monday when she told a roomful of reporters that likely GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, a hard-liner on immigration, was still formulating his position on the issue. “As a candidate, to my understanding, that he's still deciding what his position on immigration is,” said Bettina Inclàn, who became the RNC's director of Hispanic Outreach in January.
OPINION
May 6, 2012 | By Arnold Schwarzenegger
It was Richard Nixon who brought me into the Republican fold. He was running for president, and I had recently arrived in California from Austria, which I'd left because the European socialist mentality wasn't big enough for my dreams. Growing up, I was surrounded by kids whose greatest ambition was to one day collect a pension. I didn't intend to spend my whole life dreaming about floating on a government safety net. One day, when Nixon was talking on the television, my liberal friend Artie translated bits of what he was saying.