Twelve Democrats and one independent on a key Senate committee rallied Thursday behind a $611 billion health care reform bill that includes a government-run insurance plan, seeking to put up a united front as Republicans and some moderate Democrats continue …

 President Barack Obama told top congressional Democrats Thursday that he was putting his political capital behind health care reform and reminded them that it was crucial for both chambers to pass legislation this month, according to three sources familiar with …

Forget about the quandary South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford faces as a result of his personal indiscretions.

Steep budget shortfalls, rising unemployment rates and intraparty squabbles are currently making life extremely unpleasant for scores of the nation’s governors, …

Three major hospital associations are nearing a deal with the White House and Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) to provide more than $150 billion in savings to pay for a health care overhaul, three sources close to the process …

Less than a week before Senator-elect Al Franken (D-Minn.) is set to be sworn into office, a new national poll shows that 44 percent of voters have an unfavorable view of the former comedian and liberal radio host. …

The Obama administration wades into potentially hostile territory Thursday, when Education Secretary Arne Duncan addresses the country’s largest teachers union on merit pay, a thorny issue for the powerful unions.

Last year, a day after he scooped up …

For $25,000 to $250,000, The Washington Post is offering lobbyists and association executives off the record, non-confrontational access to "those powerful few" — Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and the paper’s own reporters and editors.

The astonishing …

Aspen, Colorado seems so far away from the hustle and bustle of Washington that it can be easy to think, "Heck, I can do almost anything out here" … which is basically what a handful of politicos did Wednesday night …

Although the Republican party has seen better days, the new national chairman of the College Republicans, Zach Howell, says that he and his fellow youngsters aren’t dispirited.

"We’re optimistic," Howell tells the POLITICO podcast. "Ultimately, our policies are …

The sex scandals that have tarnished Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) and Gov. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) don’t appear to have much in common. Yet there is one thread that binds them together: Both Ensign and Sanford were members of the famed …