Democrats on the the Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, also known as the Super Committee, gave their first proposal to the committee Republicans on Wednesday. The committee is charged with reducing the nation's debt by cutting $1.2 trillion.

Congressional officials, speaking to the Associated Press said the proposed ...

President Barack Obama delivers remarks in Denver, CO., about the administration's actions on managing debts from student loan. The speech is part of a series the administration is holding on steps it is taking to strengthen the economy called "We Can't Wait."

Republican presidential contender and (sometime frontrunner), Herman Cain is out with a new ad that features his campaign chief of staff, Mark Block raving about the campaign while taking a drag on a cigarette. The bizzare ad has gone viral, and has even spawned a few parodies - notably one in which Cain "Chief of Staff, Jay Smooth' is charged with "keep Herman Cain in the news for another three, four months" so he can get a gig on cable TV.

Changes to voting laws are up to voters in Mississippi, Washington, and Maine on November 8. Big Democratic donors appear to be snubbing Super PACs so far. And John Edwards argues the criminal charges against him will cause campaign finance chaos.

Seemingly tailor-made for protesters, new statistics from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office show after-tax income grew more for the top 1 percent than it has for anyone else since 1979.

Sometimes political truth is stranger than political fiction, but the fiction is always more fun.

For that reason, It's A Free Country brings you Video Club with Brian Lehrer, in which our veteran analysts looks at the fun-house mirrors of our government's (in)action: television and the silver screen. What did the writers get right, and where did they flop? Why were the fictional characters more sympathetic, or more detestable? How did the political theater play out in real life? More often than not, it's the reality that looks funny.

A campaign finance 'mill' in Florida, where four Super PACS and 19 PACs have registered their address, Palo Alto Online breaks down the various ways the president's reelection campaign is trying to pull in some Bay Area dollars, and the Bloomberg trial brings up a sordid campaign finance debacle. Here's our look at the details that can change everything.

Rick Perry is back today in South Carolina, the state where he launched his presidential campaign just over ten weeks ago. Perry immediately spiked in the polls, but after his series of debate fumbles, it’s been Herman Cain who’s captured the momentum.

Cain led two polls of likely Republican primary voters in South Carolina last week, and Romney hasn’t led polls in the first-in-the-south primary since June, well before Perry entered the race.

But it’s more style than substance that they’re responding to. While Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 refrain helped introduce him to early primary voters, Republican voters in South Carolina praised his relatability — and anti-Romney-ness — more than any specific proposals.

Former New Hampshire Governor and White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu announced today that he would endorse Mitt Romney for the GOP presidential nomination, while business mogul Steve Forbes came out in support of Rick Perry over the weekend.