A conservative media watchdog says the Democrats' recent unleashing of attack ads is a sign of the party's desperation to discredit their GOP opponents as a way to try and stave off defeat.

The New York Times recently reported that Democratic candidates across the country have opened a fierce offensive of negative advertisements against Republicans, using lawsuits, tax filings, reports from the Better Business Bureau, and even divorce proceedings to try to discredit their opponents and hold on to their majority. The article also says Democratic operatives have dug deep into business and personal histories of Republican candidates in an effort to plant doubts about them and avoid having their races become a national referendum on Barack Obama and the Democratic Party...

Leaving taxpayers hanging and next year's spending bills undone, Congress is rushing to return to the campaign trail, pausing just long enough to agree on a stopgap bill to keep the government from shutting down after Thursday.

After an 18-month burst of legislating that included overhauling the nation's health care system, rewriting rules for Wall Street and repeated efforts to boost the economy, lawmakers punted on the final thorny questions of whether to allow the Bush tax cuts to expire and how to cut spending in the next fiscal year.

Republicans and Democrats blamed each other for deadlocking, and about the only thing they settled on was the need to flee Washington, where they've battled relentlessly for months...

The Democrats' agenda of jobs and tax cuts has begun to lose support within the party's own ranks, even as House and Senate members rush to finish their pre-election business and return home to seek votes for November's midterms.

A last-ditch jobs bill backed by Senate Democrats, designed to punish companies that shift jobs overseas, collapsed in the face of a bipartisan filibuster Tuesday, even as nearly four dozen House Democrats signed a letter breaking with party leaders and urging that at least some of the George W. Bush-era tax cuts for higher-income taxpayers be extended past the end of this year.

The moves mark a rocky ending as Congress puts off much of its agenda and seeks to adjourn this week with plans to return after the elections in order to pass spending bills, address the tax cuts and possibly tackle immigration, as well as the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy of gays in the military, and climate-change legislation...

When President Obama arrives in Wisconsin for a campus rally on Tuesday, he'll be visiting a state where his party and his policies are in big trouble with voters.

Democrats are hoping to build a firewall with cash infusions and special attention from the president around a group of incumbent senators to preserve a majority in the upper chamber.

But the latest round of Fox News battleground state polls suggests Democrats have their work cut out for them, especially in Wisconsin where incumbent Sen. Russ Feingold is trailing his Republican challenger badly...

A Florida judge has rejected a lawsuit that could have led to up to $7.5 million in refunds for thousands of contributors to the Senate campaign of Republican-turned-independent Gov. Charlie Crist.

Circuit Judge Jack Schoonover in Naples refused Thursday to certify a lawsuit brought by two GOP donors as a class action covering at least 2,000 similar contributors, the Associated Press reported. The decision means donors will have to sue individually for refunds.

The two Crist contributors claimed he broke a contract when he bolted the GOP in April to run for the Senate without party affiliation...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Leading Democrats insist the 2010 election campaign can be salvaged even though polling data in races across the nation suggests a pro-life landslide will occur in November. On Tuesday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer claimed pro-abortion Democratic candidates were experiencing a “resurgence."

At a press briefing, Hoyer touted a new Gallup poll giving Democrats a one percentage point advantage when Americans are asked which party they plan to support in November.

But that poll differs from others from polling firms like PPP and Rasmussen that show a Republican advantage and specific House and Senate polls showing pro-abortion Democrats may lose control of either chamber of Congress...

Albany, N.Y. (AP) - A poll released Wednesday finds long-shot tea party Republican Carl Paladino is closing in on front-running Democrat Andrew Cuomo in the race for New York governor.

Cuomo was expected to get a boost later in the day with the endorsement of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a person familiar with the announcement told The Associated Press. The person insisted on anonymity because the announcement had not been made...

Christine O'Donnell, the Republican whose surprise victory in Delaware's U.S. Senate primary last week put the fear of the "tea party" into the Republican establishment, says she would not vote with her party's leadership as a senator if it meant putting politics over principles.

"I would have to read any bill before making a decision, but if it contained earmarks, I definitely would not vote for it," Miss O'Donnell told The Washington Times on Sunday.

Asked whether she would refuse to go along with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, if he wanted a yes vote on a spending bill or any other legislation that violated conservative ideals, she said, "That's a hypothetical. I would have to look at the bill first, but I will always vote my principles"...

Influential Republicans pledged Wednesday to support Christine O'Donnell's general election campaign after party leaders initially turned their backs on the Tea Party candidate following her upset win in the Delaware Senate primary.

O'Donnell's rise from obscurity to victory over longtime Rep. Mike Castle had sent Republican honchos in Delaware and Washington into a state of political shock. Aides for the top fundraising arm for Senate Republicans said Tuesday she would not be getting help from them -- a reaction that raised concern the party would torpedo its chances at a congressional takeover out of spite...

It's tea time in America. Conservative Christine O'Donnell pulled off a stunning upset over nine-term Rep. Mike Castle in the Republican Senate primary in Delaware Tuesday, propelled by tea party activists into a November showdown with Democrat Chris Coons.

After a primary season shaped by economic pain and exasperated voters, the grass-roots, anti-establishment movement can claim wins in at least seven GOP Senate races, a handful of Republican gubernatorial contests and dozens of House primary campaigns, and it influenced many others.

In the fight for New Hampshire's Republican Senate nomination, a second insurgent trailed in vote counting that was still going on Wednesday. After lagging in early returns, former Attorney General Kelly Ayotte moved ahead of Ovide Lamontagne with a lead of roughly 1,000 votes, with results tallied from 85 percent of precincts. Ayotte was backed by establishment Republicans and Alaska Gov.