A decorated Gulf War veteran was holding a narrow lead over Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the Alaska Republican Senate primary, as ballots continued to be counted Wednesday in what could shape up to be a stunning political upset.

Polls taken before primary day had shown Murkowski, a two-term senator from an Alaska political dynasty, leading handily against the first-time candidate. But challenger Joe Miller insisted all along that the state's polling was unreliable -- as of Wednesday morning, Miller held a 2,000-vote lead.

With 98 percent of precincts reporting, he had 51 percent and Murkowski had 49 percent. The number of uncounted absentee ballots, though, exceeded the number of votes separating the candidates...

In a primary day upset, political newcomer Rick Scott narrowly defeated state Attorney General Bill McCollum for the Republican nomination in the Florida gubernatorial race.

Recent polls had suggested McCollum was pulling ahead in the contest. The attorney general was making a name for himself on the national stage and had the backing of heavyweight Republicans like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush who are looking to keep the governor's office in GOP hands as incumbent Charlie Crist heads out on an independent bid for U.S. Senate.

But low turnout on Tuesday, among other factors, gave outsized importance to Scott's efforts to pull in support through early voting and absentee ballots. With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Scott led McCollum 46 percent to 43 percent...

Sen. John McCain fended off Republican challenger J.D. Hayworth in the Arizona Senate primary Tuesday, virtually assuring he'll keep his seat in November despite signs earlier in the year that an anti-Washington wave could wipe out one of Capitol Hill's most influential leaders.

Hayworth at one point in the campaign seemed poised to leverage Tea Party support and give McCain a run for his political life. Outsider challenges had already led to the primary defeats for Republican Utah Sen. Bob Bennett and Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, and McCain was potentially vulnerable nearly two years after losing the 2008 presidential election to Barack Obama.

But Hayworth struggled to build his anti-establishment credentials and seriously erode McCain's popularity in the polls. Though Hayworth slammed McCain for voting for the Wall Street bailout and allegedly being soft on illegal immigration, McCain worked hard to show he was tough on border security...

A group opposed to ending the ban on openly gay troops in the military has released a national survey that challenges earlier independent polls asserting that a wide percentage of Americans favor repealing the ban.

The Military Culture Coalition hopes the survey by a Republican pollster will help persuade moderate to conservative Democrats to oppose President Obama's campaign promise to lift the ban as final votes in Congress loom.

The question is, is the poll too late? The House as well as the Senate Armed Services Committee have passed repeal legislation. That leaves the full Senate vote, a House-Senate conference bill, and then Mr. Obama's signature to end the 1993 law that states that open homosexuality is a threat to combat readiness...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The pro-abortion political group Emily's List started a new national campaign today designed to attack pro-life former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin and the slew of pro-life women candidates she is supporting across the country in this year's congressional elections.

The group's president, Stephanie Schriock detailed the "Sarah Doesn't Speak for Me" campaign during a press conference at the National Press Club today.

The campaign will focus on a web site chronicling statements from Palin and pro-life women candidates like Senate nominees Carly Fiorina, Sharron Angle and others that the pro-abortion groups condemns...

The GOP blueprint for winning control of the House is rapidly coming into focus, with the National Republican Congressional Committee readying a $22 million TV ad blitz aimed at a handful of powerful, long-serving incumbents and several dozen of the most junior members of the Democratic majority.

POLITICO has learned that the Republican campaign arm will invest in 40 districts around the nation in its first wave of television commercial reservations — a target list that ranges from powerful veterans such as Budget Committee Chairman Rep. John Spratt (D-S.C.) and Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Texas), an Appropriations Committee cardinal, to endangered freshmen legislators including Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), Rep. Betsy Markey (D-Colo.), and Rep.

A grand jury on Friday indicted U.S. Senate candidate Alvin Greene on two charges, including a a felony charge of showing pornography to a South Carolina college student.

Greene was indicted for disseminating, procuring or promoting obscenity, a felony and a misdemeanor charge of communicating obscene materials to a person without consent.

Greene told FoxNews.com that "my lawyer's dealing with it" before hanging up. When reached again by phone and asked who his lawyer is, Greene said, "It doesn't matter"...

(CNSNews.com) – With less than three months until the November midterm election, 72 percent of Americans have an unfavorable view of Congress, with 45 percent having a “very unfavorable” view, according to a recent Rasmussen poll.

The national telephone survey of 1,000 adults found that just 23 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of members of Congress, with 72 percent of respondents having an unfavorable view of legislators, according to the poll findings released last week.

Only five percent had a “very favorable” impression of Congress, and almost half, 45 percent, had a “very unfavorable” view, the highest in the very unfavorable category...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new analysis from the Gallup polling organization provides more good news for pro-life advocates heading into the 2010 elections. Its review of presidential approval ratings just before midterm congressional elections finds presidents like Barack Obama with lower ratings see their party lose seats.

If that is any indication of the potential November results this year, the pro-life movement can expect to see a slew of pro-abortion members of the House and Senate lose their seats.

"Presidents who retain majority job approval from Americans at the time of midterm elections are much less likely to see their party suffer heavy seat losses than are those with sub-50% approval ratings," Gallup finds in its analysis today. "Since 1946, when presidents are above 50% approval, their party loses an average of 14 seats in the U.S. House in the midterm elections, compared with an average loss of 36 seats when presidents are below that mark"...

While Washington is obsessing over what the results of Missouri’s anti-health care reform ballot initiative mean for President Barack Obama, the state’s political insiders are debating whether it’s Democratic Senate nominee Robin Carnahan who needs to be worried.

A staggering 71 percent of Show-Me state primary voters cast ballots Tuesday opposing the new federal health care law — a symbolic yet resounding message that places Carnahan on the opposite side of a supermajority of the electorate.

The overwhelming vote in favor of Proposition C, a measure crafted to reject a portion of the law that requires most people to carry health insurance by 2014 or pay a fine, is the first tangible demonstration of how unpopular the president’s signature achievement remains in the Midwestern state...