Ron Elving

NPR has the latest on the attacks in Paris that have left up to 60 people dead. We revisit the Charlie Hebdo attack in January and the similarities to today's events.

The fourth debate among the leading Republican candidates for president filled the historic Milwaukee Theatre with cheers, laughter and occasional boos, but it probably did not alter the dynamics among the eight featured contestants.

No one seemed to stumble or scintillate so notably as to change the pecking order with ...

The first presidential debate broadcast lasted one hour, and was broadcast without commercial interruption. Dewey and Stassen debated whether the Communist Party in the U.S. should be outlawed.

Whatever else Jeb Bush's campaign for president might need right now, it doesn't need a renewal of the controversies about his father's and brother's years in the White House.

Yet the release of a new biography of the elder President Bush by journalist and author Jon Meacham has reopened some ...

In excerpts from an upcoming biography of George H.W. Bush, the former president offers criticism of key members of his son's administration who were key architects of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Sanders concedes that he trails Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, but also notes that some polls show him doing better than Clinton in matchups against the Republicans.

Nebraska's Ben Sasse was elected to the U.S. Senate a year ago this week, one of a dozen Republicans who first won seats that day as their party captured its first majority in the storied chamber in eight years.

And like many of the 5,000 men and women who preceded ...

The Republican presidential race entered a new phase Wednesday night as the outsider candidates, who dominated the first two debates, were upstaged by several of their office-holding rivals — and by a budding controversy over the conduct of the third debate itself.

Ben Carson, Donald Trump and Carly Fiorina were ...

When John Boehner announced his resignation last month, he said he wanted to "clean the barn" before he left. What he is accomplishing this week should put him in the Barn Cleaning Hall of Fame.

If the votes go as planned — always a question mark in the current House ...

On Wednesday, GOP presidential candidates will debate on CNBC and a new House Speaker will be elected. Congress also needs to raise the debt ceiling so the federal government can pay its bills.

Joe Biden summoned the attention of the nation at noon Wednesday in the Rose Garden of the White House, where he shared his thoughts and feelings about running for president.

"Unfortunately," the vice president said, "I believe we're out of time — the time necessary to mount a winning campaign ...

Updated 10:40 a.m. EST

Paul Ryan made it all but official Tuesday night.

He told his fellow Republicans he had returned from a 10-day recess visit home to Wisconsin with a new attitude toward being speaker of the House.

After weeks of being ostensibly uninterested and even hostile to the ...

The House is back for its first business day after a 10-day break, and the first item of business is a big one: finding a leader.

Speaker John Boehner has said he is resigning at month's end. The Republican conference met to choose a successor, but Boehner ended the session ...

Though it holds immense power, the House speakership seems like the worst job in Washington these days. Current Speaker John Boehner wants to leave, but after House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy suddenly dropped out of the contest, it could be anybody's race. Rep. Paul Ryan doesn't want to ...

This fall, we have seen a sitting House speaker announce his resignation because he no longer feels confident he can control his own party on the floor of the chamber.

We have also seen the House's No. 2 official, the majority leader, withdraw his own candidacy to succeed the speaker ...

Both of the leading Democrats probably helped themselves in their party's first debate of the 2016 presidential campaign, held in Las Vegas and carried by CNN. But Hillary Clinton, the candidate with the most to lose, may have come away having gained the most.

The longtime front-runner has been beset ...

Hats off to Bernie and Ben!

The ultimate outsiders have acquired the ultimate insider's credential: enormous war chests of political money.

In the third quarter of this year, Sen. Bernard Sanders, the Vermont independent running for president as a Democrat, raised $26 million. Ben Carson, the retired brain surgeon seeking ...

No, seriously. Bear with us a moment while we explain.

Donald Trump, the ultimate outsider, should be the new leader of the Republicans in the House when John Boehner steps down on Oct. 30. Trump should be elevated to the lofty perch of speaker and lead the conservative cause in ...

You may never have offered to swear something "on a stack of Bibles," but you probably recognize that folksy phrase as a variation on saying, "Honest to God."

And when you hear: "Raise your right hand, do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth...," you may very ...

Why are we making such a monumental fuss over the visit of Pope Francis to America?

So he is the first pope ever to speak to Congress, and he will also visit the White House, New York City and Philadelphia. While millions are excited to the point of frenzy, millions ...