Given that Prince George's County residents had largely said their goodbyes to Jack B. Johnson, whose eight years as county executive end in three weeks, news of his arrest on criminal charges might have been shrugged off as yesterday's news.
But then out spilled the allegations in Johnson's arrest - almost $80,000 in cash collected from wife Leslie Johnson's bra, an $100,000 check flushed down the toilet of his Mitchellville home as FBI agents stood outside.
For many residents, the events Friday made the end of his term painful. Supporters had seen his survival through years of swirling rumors of corruption as a symbol of the county's scrappy quest for respect.
Even some detractors of Johnson (D) seemed deflated by the news and wondered: If he had to go down, did it have to be like this?
"People are taking this very personally," said Angelo Vaughn, 53, as he worked on the engine of his red Jeep Cherokee with two cousins in Hyattsville on Sunday. "My wife is taking this very personally, and she never met Jack Johnson. How could a person in such a vaunted position, weeks before the end of his term, get caught?"
"People are saying this is so embarrassing," he said.
Authorities say Johnson's arrest is part of a four-year federal investigation of allegations that developers have paid bribes in exchange for official favors from Prince George's officials.
Johnson and his wife, who was elected to the County Council in November, have been charged with destroying evidence and tampering with witnesses. U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein said Friday that more arrests and charges are likely, which has many developers and elected leaders worried about the scope of the investigation.
At a news conference after he was released from custody, Johnson said he is innocent and will be vindicated when the facts of the case come out.
All weekend, in front yards, in church parking lots, on street corners and in diners, Prince George's residents were talking more privately than publicly about Johnson's plight. Many spoke in hushed tones, and some asked not to be quoted.
"The people are hurt," Seat Pleasant Mayor Eugene W. Grant said. "They are also angry. They are angry at the investigators and the timing. They're angry at the people who put themselves in this position. We were the shining example of black intellect and black wealth in the country. We are the place where people in the country looked to. Now, the national reputation is based upon disgrace, ineffective leadership and corruption."
Louise Reeder, 71, lived in the county for more than 10 years before moving to the District but returns on Sundays to attend Kent Baptist Church in Hyattsville.
"My concern is what will be the impact of this for our children who need role models so bad. I have spent years teaching young people the importance of being honest, trustworthy and being good citizens."
Eugene Williams, 68, English teacher at Annapolis Road Academy in Bladensburg
"I am saddened; I am shocked; I am dismayed. We need to be in prayer for our county executive, our first lady and for the citizens of Prince George's County. At this point the situation is so fluid, it is hard, even inappropriate, to predict the ultimate outcome of what is going on."
The Rev. Jonathan Weaver, pastor of Greater Mount Nebo AME Church in Bowie and head of Collective Banking Group, an organization of 200 churches focused on bringing development to Prince George's
"This is a sad day for Prince George's County, and for County Executive Johnson and his family. Now more than ever, it's important that all of us who have worked together to move the county forward renew our efforts and continue on our path of progress, even in difficult times."
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley
"He's a good man. He's the same as my son. I thought that they were having a party."
Helen Berger, who lives doors away from the Johnsons and watched as events unfolded Friday
The Supreme Court refused Friday to stop enforcement of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy while a lower court hears a challenge to the Pentagon's ban on gays and lesbians serving openly.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit is preparing to hear legal arguments in a case brought by the Log Cabin Republicans. The gay rights group is challenging "don't ask, don't tell," and in September a federal district judge found the policy to be unconstitutional and blocked the Pentagon from enforcing the ban.
The appeals court is not likely to set a hearing on the issue until mid-March, and its ruling could come anytime after that. But the Justice Department persuaded the 9th Circuit to lift the judge's stay, prompting the Log Cabin Republicans to appeal to the Supreme Court.
The high court's order Friday came with no explanation and no noted dissent. It provides no clue to how the justices ultimately would rule on the merits of the case, because the only question presented was whether to lift the stay.
Even so, it was notable for one thing: Justice Elena Kagan's decision to recuse herself from the case. Her decision was not explained, but it likely has to do with her service as President Obama's solicitor general and her role in decisions about setting the administration's strategy in response to the suit.
Whenever a justice is recused, that raises the possibility of a 4 to 4 tie. But in this case, it also robs those who oppose "don't ask, don't tell" of a justice likely to be sympathetic. While dean of Harvard Law School, Kagan was an outspoken critic of the policy, though she told conservative critics during her confirmation hearings - both as solicitor general and for the Supreme Court - that she could separate her personal opinion from her legal analysis.
The potential for a tie also increases the importance of the circuit court's opinion. A tie means that the lower court's decision stands but without setting a national precedent.
The American Civil Liberties Union launched a separate legal effort Wednesday against the Pentagon's policy on gays in the military. The group is suing to change the military's rules on the amount of separation pay given to service members discharged for being gay.
As Republican celebrations of their midterm victories give way to plans to take back the White House in 2012, party leaders are asking themselves this question: Did the GOP succeed in last week's elections because of its charismatic but controversial chairman or in spite of him?
"My hope is that folks still believe I still have something to contribute," Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steeletold reporters last week.
Steele's tenure has been marred by a string of gaffes and a record of lavish spending. Even so, he claims credit for the party's electoral successes as he lays the foundation for a run for another term as chairman. Since the election, though, many of the GOP's most prominent voices have showered little or no praise on Steele.
A flurry of public calls from leading Republicans this week for new leadership at the RNC and moves by party insiders to build a coalition aimed at disposing of Steele could be the opening volleys of a nasty political fight. In one corner: the GOP's top-ranking African American. In the other: a Republican establishment apparently determined to remove him from office.
The decision makers in this fight are the 168 RNC members whose votes at the party's winter meeting in January will determine Steele's fate. His aides say he has as many as 60 of the 85 votes needed to win. However, a sizable bloc of committee members - who are mostly state committeemen and local party leaders - have settled against Steele, while many others are undecided, according to Steele supporters and detractors.
Steele and other potential challengers are expected to officially declare by Thanksgiving whether they are in or out of the race.
"Maybe Michael Steele can roll the dice and ... capture a victory, and maybe not," said Katon Dawson, a top party operative from South Carolina who lost to Steele in the chairman's race last year. "I'm sure he is trying to accumulate the number of votes that he needs to get there, but in this climate that will be very difficult. These races are brutal. They are mean. They are tough."
The list of reasons Steele is criticized is long: Detractors say the RNC has misspent millions of dollars and failed to properly report its debt; they also point to numerous controversies that have rocked the committee under Steele, including an incident this year in which $2,000 in RNC money was spent at a bondage-themed strip club in California.
(Steele has also drawn fire for his propensity for gaffes, including his suggestion over the summer that the war in Afghanistan might not be winnable.)
Steele has been making his own case for a second term in a round of interviews focused on the GOP's big wins. He acknowledged that there may have been some bumps in the beginning but said he spent the party's money wisely and "reaped the benefits of those investments by winning elections."
"Everybody has a learning curve, and clearly, I had mine," Steele told reporters. "Going from coming in and being in a position publicly to look at the party, look at politics and look at the trend lines in the country and analyze them is one thing, but then being chairman of the party and having to maybe not express so vocally your views on some of these issues is another. You learn that."
Republicans' consolidation of power in state capitols is likely to expand the number of states that employ a far more limited, free-market-oriented approach to implementing the nation's new health-care law than the robust regulatory model favored by its supporters.
Although the law is a federal statute, it leaves states to administer many of its most important provisions and grants them considerable leeway.
It is up to states to run markets, known as "exchanges," through which individuals and small businesses will be able to buy health insurance plans, often with federal subsidies, beginning in 2014. States will also oversee a mostly federally funded expansion of Medicaid to cover a far larger share of the poor.
Many incoming Republican governors made their antipathy to the law a plank of their campaigns. Tennessee Gov.-elect Bill Haslam denounced it as "an intolerable expansion of federal power." Wyoming Gov.-elect Matt Mead promised to join 21 states contesting its constitutionality in federal courts. And Maine, one of the first states to set up a task force to implement the law, will now be led by Paul LePage, a tea party favorite who vowed to work against the legislation and predicted that voters would soon see headlines about him telling President Obama to "go to hell."
Such state leaders cannot block implementation of the law: If they are unwilling or deemed unready to run an exchange by 2014, the legislation empowers the federal government to step in with its own version. But the law does grant states a fair amount of discretion.
The result, analysts say, is that two models are likely to appear: Democratic governors and legislatures will probably emphasize vigorous regulation and government oversight, while Republican state leaders will probably put greater stock in privatization and other free-market approaches.
"The character of what emerges in each state will in large measure be driven by the philosophy of its governor," said Michael Leavitt, a former governor of Utah who served as secretary of health and human services under President George W. Bush and whom many conservative state leaders are now consulting.
Indeed, for all the fanfare attending the GOP's retaking of the House in last week's midterm elections, the party's victories at the state level are likely to have far more immediate practical consequences for the health-care law. With a net gain of at least eight gubernatorial seats and even more state legislatures, Republicans now control both branches of government in at least 20 states, compared with nine before the elections. And although chances are slim that House Republicans can use their new power to derail the legislation as long as Obama remains in office, governors and state lawmakers can influence its shape.
For example, although the law sets baseline standards such as essential benefits that insurers must offer if they wish to sell plans on the exchanges, states can add any mandates. A state could require insurers to prove that their policies are achieving certain outcomes - high child immunization rates, for instance. Or it could allow virtually all comers into its exchange in hopes that doing so would keep costs lower.
States will also have to decide whether they will run the exchanges or outsource their oversight to a private entity.
Similarly, although the law requires states to review "unreasonable" premium increases, it will largely be up to each state to determine what that review process entails. States could require insurers to offer detailed justification and seek preauthorization for any rate increases. Or they could ignore all but the most substantial rate increases, and even then, simply require that insurers file reports detailing their reasons for the rise.
State approaches to insurance regulation differ substantially, and the range was evident in the variations among recent state applications for federal grant money that the law provides to help them develop their new rate review processes. Five states - Alaska, Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota and Wyoming - did not even request funding.
States will also be in a position to exert pressure on the federal government when it comes to the law's requirement that insurers spend 80 to 85 percent of the premiums they collect to pay medical claims or otherwise improve their customers' health. If a state thinks the requirement would cause too many insurers to drop out of its market, it can ask the Department of Health and Human Services for a waiver. Iowa and Maine have already done so, and other states are likely to follow.
HHS has the final say. It could prove awkward, however, for Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to turn down insurers backed by state governments.
Regardless of what regulations state governments choose to set, their willingness to commit the staff and resources needed to carry them out could also vary considerably.
"Having rules on paper and enforcing rules are not synonymous," said Alan Weil, executive director of the National Academy for State Health Policy, a nonpartisan group that has been monitoring and facilitating state implementation efforts.
Governors also face crucial policy choices when it comes to Medicaid's expansion. Do they control Medicaid costs that are already straining many state budgets by cutting the programs' reimbursement rates for hospitals and doctors? Or do they shift more categories of enrollees into managed-care programs that supporters praise as innovative and critics say risk denying needed care?
Some supporters of the law worry that Republican state leaders could sabotage it by doing just enough to stave off federal intervention, but not enough to enable the legislation's benefits to take root.
"The worst-case scenario is that a state does the bare minimum and sets up an exchange in form only that's destined to fail," said Ethan Rome, executive director of the advocacy group Health Care for America Now.
But many analysts maintain that for all their likely public posturing against the law, Republican governors and state lawmakers will have a strong incentive to work with the Obama administration behind the scenes to make sure it functions smoothly.
"I have yet to meet a governor who has said, 'I'm going to intentionally do a bad job at this to make another level of government look bad,' " Weil said. "They're accountable to the people, and the voters are too smart to let someone get away with that."
For instance, even during his campaign, Sam Brownback, the governor-elect of Kansas, modified his contention that the law is "an abomination" that "we will fight all the way," with the assurance that "we will do what the state is required to do." And even many states whose governors staunchly opposed the legislation have taken early steps such as obtaining federal grants to look into planning the exchanges.
"There's certainly been more preparation by some states compared to others," said Weil, whose organization keeps a database of state activities on implementation. "But the gap is really narrow."
President Obama said a Republican proposal to preserve the full array of Bush administration tax cuts for two more years presents a "basis for conversation" that could lead to a compromise as lawmakers prepare to meet next week for a high-stakes showdown over taxes.
But a senior House Republican on Sunday flatly rejected the option most favored by the White House: decoupling the Bush tax cuts that benefit the wealthy from the cuts that benefit the vast majority of Americans by extending each set of provisions for a different period of time.
"No, I am not for decoupling the rates," Rep. Eric Cantor (Va.), the No. 2 Republican in the House, said on "Fox News Sunday." He echoed the GOP argument that such a move virtually would guarantee the eventual expiration of tax breaks in the upper brackets, where some of the most successful small businesses pay taxes.
"I am not for raising taxes in a recession, especially when it comes to the job creators that we need so desperately to start creating jobs again," Cantor said. "I am not for sending any signal to small businesses in this country that they're going to have their tax rates go up."
The comments highlighted the shifting political landscape in the wake of Republican gains in last week's midterm elections. Obama, who has argued that the nation cannot afford to keep the tax cuts for millionaires, has been adopting a conciliatory tone in recent days in hopes of reaching a deal with resurgent Republicans to prevent all the cuts from expiring on schedule - an outcome that would sharply increase IRS withholding in January for virtually every American taxpayer, including the middle-class families Obama has sworn to protect.
"My number one priority coming into this is making sure that middle-class families don't see their tax rates go up January 1st," Obama said in an interview with CBS's "60 Minutes" that aired Sunday.
Asked on the show about a proposal by House Republican leader John A. Boehner (Ohio) to cut spending back to 2008 levels and extend all the Bush tax cuts - even those that benefit the wealthy - for two years, Obama said: "I think that when we start getting specific like that, there's a basis for a conversation. . . . We can look at what the budget projections are. We can think about what the economy needs right now, given that it's still weak. And, hopefully, we can agree on a set of facts that leads to a compromise."
Republicans, meanwhile, have been less accommodating, with some suggesting that they could simply hold off until January, when they will control the House and hold a stronger hand in the Senate. That would set the stage for a more powerful push to permanently extend all the cuts - the preferred GOP alternative.
"They might blame GOP obstructionism. But, you know, people are going to start missing a lot of money in their weekly paychecks in January. And there's only going to be one person in the White House," said a Republican House aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe party thinking.
Permanently extending the full spectrum of Bush tax cuts would add nearly $4 trillion to deficits over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Obama's proposal to extend the cuts only on income of less than $250,000 a year would add more than $3 trillion to future deficits.
Eager to find a compromise short of full extension, administration officials began focusing more than a week ago on the concept of decoupling. Under the ideal scenario, House Democratic aides said, the middle-class cuts would be permanently extended, while the upper-income cuts would expire after just one or two years.
Senate Democrats also are considering tinkering with Obama's income threshold, with some pushing a plan to keep the tax cuts for families who earn up to $500,000 or even $1 million a year.
Congressional Republicans have been slow to embrace specific ideas but say they are keeping an open mind.
"I do sense some flexibility on the president's part, and we're happy to talk to him about it," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Sunday on "Face the Nation."
Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), who is in line to chair the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said in an interview: "I think we need to be open to having these conversations and see where they lead. It's very important to address this before the end of the year."
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski is on the cusp of vindication after waging a high stakes - and long shot - write-in campaign to keep her job.
Initial returns show write-in ballots holding a 13,439-vote edge over GOP nominee Joe Miller, and though it's not clear how many of those are for her or will be counted as valid, she's confident enough in her winning to tell supporters that they'd "made history." The write-in count starts Wednesday in Juneau.
Murkowski needed broad-based support - from fellow Republicans, Democrats, independents - to be successful in what was a three-way race (Democrat Scott McAdams has conceded). And while a win would return her to Washington, to the colleagues and party leaders who turned their backs on her after her humiliating primary loss to the Sarah Palin-backed Miller, it also raises questions about how she would legislate.
"I think so much about representation is trusting me to do what I think is the right thing," she said.
Expectations are high.
Many conservatives see the support she won from labor, Alaska Native groups and Democrats as an indication she will be less likely to push for less federal spending, an overhaul of federal contracting that gives Native corporations preferential treatment and an anti-abortion agenda.
And some, like independent Bethany Marcum, feel marginalized because Murkowski labeled Miller an extremist - and Marcum shares many of Miller's limited-government views.
"I don't think I'll be heard," Marcum, 44, said.
Bob Poe, a nonpartisan who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for governor this year, hopes the last few months have been a wake-up call for Murkowski and that she'll reclaim her mantle as a moderate.
Murkowski, who shifted right after President Barack Obama took office and as her star within the GOP rose, maintains she will approach issues as they come to her. Though she plans to caucus with Republicans, she said she won't be beholden to any special interests or party - an initial sign of that perhaps coming in her decision not to try to reclaim her leadership post within the GOP conference. She voluntarily resigned it in deciding to make her outsider run.
She said she plans to listen to Alaskans "and hopefully you will recognize that I'm using intellect and judgment (and) while we may disagree on the final vote you will at least acknowledge that I gave due consideration."
During the hotly contested campaign, Miller and tea party-minded surrogates like Palin sought to paint Murkowski as an out-of-touch liberal, a Republican in name only. McAdams, meanwhile, called her dangerously conservative, willing to put party over policy and apt to veer farther right if elected, out of fear of losing another primary.
Just when President Obama thought he had all the problems he could handle, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi might have handed him another.
Pelosi stunned many Democrats on Friday with the announcement that she will run for leader of the new Democratic minority in the House. If her colleagues and the smart money in Washington thought she would retreat and resign after the Democrats' 60-seat loss Tuesday, Pelosi reminded them that she didn't become the first female speaker in history through timidity.
The question is whether she has significantly complicated life for Obama as he prepares to deal with the Republican majority in the House and Senate Republicans led by someone who spent the week hurling thunderbolts at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. From outside reports, the White House was conflicted about whether it wanted her to stay or go, torn between loyalty to the speaker for all she did during the past two years and its own political needs in the wake of Tuesday's loss.
Pelosi would be a symbol of resistance and liberal opposition to the Republicans. If Obama wants a House leader who will help draw bright lines of distinction with the new House majority, Pelosi could be exactly the right person to lead House Democrats. If he wants more room to maneuver, to make deals with Republicans as well as confront them, she might not be at all what he wants.
Memories are short in Washington, which is why there was such widespread expectation that Pelosi would resign. Former Republican speaker Newt Gingrich stepped down days after his party's embarrassing performance in the 1998 midterms (though the party did not lose its majority). Former Republican speaker J. Dennis Hastert decided not to seek a leadership position after his party lost the majority four years ago and later quit Congress entirely.
For Pelosi, who might have looked further back in the history books, the role model could be Sam Rayburn, the legendary Democratic speaker from Texas. Rayburn's party lost its majority in the 1946 midterms but he stayed on, running successfully for minority leader - although he never liked the term.
Rayburn's persistence was rewarded when Harry S. Truman's 1948 campaign against the "do-nothing" 80th Congress not only resulted in the president's unexpected victory but the election of a Democratic majority in the House to boot.
Pelosi might not believe House Democrats will return to the majority that quickly, but she sounds determined to defend what has happened on her watch.
If Rayburn was one of the strongest speakers in history, Pelosi is the strongest of modern times. Fighting the kind of prejudice that all women in politics face, she emerged as a shrewd, savvy and, above all, tough-minded speaker. Under her leadership, the House passed historic legislation and accumulated a record of significant productivity. Without her political skills, Obama would not be able to count health care as one of his achievements.
The other side of the story is that Pelosi became as polarizing a figure as there was in Washington - much more than Obama. The health-care law has divided the country and come to symbolize Democratic overreach. She pushed House Democrats to pass the cap-and-trade energy bill, and many paid the price.
By Election Day, her image was upside down, with 29 percent viewing her favorably and 58 percent unfavorably. Only among liberal Democrats did her image hold up during the four years she has been speaker. Among all other groups - Republicans, independents, moderate and conservative Democrats - her numbers declined.
Republicans made Pelosi their favorite target in campaign commercials this fall, and Democrats who used her did so to make the point that they would keep their distance and independence if the voters rewarded them with another term. Most of them lost anyway.
MUMBAI - Days after reaping the political consequences of a poor economy, President Obama intends to announce a series of reforms Saturday to increase trade between the United States and India, his first stop on a 10-day Asian tour focused largely on promoting economic growth at home.
In an address to several hundred American and Indian chief executives in this seaside commercial hub, Obama will announce changes in the export-control system that guides trade between the two countries, administration officials said. Those include removing several Indian space and defense companies from the so-called entities list, which identifies firms that make products with dual civilian and military purposes and makes it more difficult for them to trade with the United States.
Obama will also tell the U.S.-India Business Council that he will support India's membership to four international alliances responsible for regulating trade in nuclear, chemical and biological materials, including the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Indian leaders have aspired to membership, but U.S. non-proliferation groups immediately criticized the move for weakening the world's ability to monitor nuclear trade.
Obama touched down just before 1 p.m. local time in a country whose leaders and people have high hopes for his visit. His three-day stay follows months of perceived drift in a relationship that administration officials say is central to Obama's ambitions in Asia.
The high U.S. unemployment rate played a central role in midterm elections that went sharply against Obama's party, and he intends to speak more directly throughout his Asian trip about how his foreign policy goals relate to U.S. economic interests.
Administration officials say he will take part in announcing a set of business deals, some of them in the works for months, after a meeting with American chief executives at the business forum. The agreements - including sales of military transport aircraft, diesel engines, jet engines and other U.S. manufacturing products -- total $10 billion and support 54,000 jobs in the United States, according to administration officials.
"A president's visit is an action-forcing event," said Michael Froman, deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs. "It helps concentrate the minds of decision makers."
Although the primary focus of his visit here is improving economic relations, Obama's first stop represented a show of solidarity with the Indian people.
He made his way -- first by helicopter, then motorcade -- to the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel, a focal point of the November 2008 terrorist attacks by a group of men from Pakistan. Gunmen killed more than 170 people, including Americans, over a days-long siege.
Obama and first lady Michelle Obama each placed a white rose on a memorial to the victims. The president then signed the hotel guest book before telling the roughly 50 people gathered - family members of those killed, survivors and hotel employees present for the Nov. 26 attacks -- what "an extraordinary honor it is to be here in India."
"To those who ask if this is designed to send a message, my answer is simply: Absolutely," Obama said of his first stop. "In our determination to give our people a future of security and prosperity, the United States and India stand united."
Obama did not mention the role of Pakistan, an essential if unpredictable U.S. ally in the Afghanistan war. Indian authorities have accused Pakistan's intelligence service of training the gunmen, an allegation that Pakistan's government has denied.
WASHINGTON -- Delaware's defeated Republican Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell says she believes the outcome of her race would have been different if Republicans had united after her upset primary win.
O'Donnell said Wednesday on ABC's "Good Morning America" that the "lesson to be learned is to unite." She said there was too much infighting after she beat establishment favorite Rep. Mike Castle in the GOP primary.
O'Donnell says that she doesn't take Tuesday's loss to Democrat Chris Coons personally. Coons won the Senate seat with 57 percent to O'Donnell's 40 percent.
O'Donnell said Republicans in states such as Kentucky united after primaries. Kentucky's tea party-backed Republican Rand Paul won his U.S. Senate race Tuesday after upsetting the GOP establishment candidate in the primaries.
PARIS — As Republicans prepare to assert new authority in the U.S. Congress following the midterm elections Tuesday, the United States’ allies overseas are concerned that the political upheaval in Washington may pose fresh challenges to the global economy.
Despite pledges to curb government spending and the huge U.S. budget deficit, Republicans are expected to address anxiety over unemployment and flagging growth by pushing hardest for an extension of the income tax cuts for everyone, including the rich that were passed during the presidency of George W. Bush — a move that would add to the deficit and, by extension, further weaken the U.S. dollar.
“The rest of the world, including Asia, is looking at the United States and seeing no real effective policy measures in bringing the economy back on track,” said Bart Van Ark, the chief economist at the Conference Board, which measures U.S. economic indicators. “That is making the U.S. lose its legitimacy in the global economic community as a leader in terms of providing solutions.”
Maintaining taxes at their current relatively low rates could help lift consumer spending in the United States, while a cheaper dollar would make U.S. exports more competitive. But analysts said those fixes would be only temporary and would be unlikely to reverse the waning of America’s economic might at a time when emerging markets have eclipsed industrial nations as the major drivers of the global economy.
A weaker dollar might also dampen a recovery in European countries that have adopted harsh austerity measures under pressure from financial markets to rein in their excessive debts.
After the administration of President Barack Obama pushed through costly changes to health care and to the financial system, voters signaled that they want U.S. government spending curtailed. Representative John A. Boehner, a Republican from Ohio and most likely the next speaker of the House, reiterated a pledge Tuesday to reduce the size of government, create jobs and change the way that Congress does business.
But that is no easy task: Voters also want to keep expensive entitlements and are hoping Republicans can reverse cuts to the Medicare program and extend the expiring Bush tax cuts so that taxes do not rise in a weakened economy at the end of the year.
But those moves, if enacted into law, would make it harder, not easier, to keep commitments to curb the national debt and the budget deficit. Yet they probably would not create as many jobs as would equally costly spending on big initiatives like infrastructure projects, analysts said.
From the perspective of those outside the United States, “Republican claims to fiscal probity are a little difficult to buy into,” said Simon Tilford, the chief economist at the Center for European Reform in London. “What they’re advocating would probably increase the deficit rather than effect the dramatic reduction which they claim they want to bring about.”
There is also the risk that Congress, which will be divided next year between Republican control of the House and a fragile Democratic majority in the Senate, will dissolve into gridlock. That would leave the task of supporting a U.S. economic recovery almost entirely to the Federal Reserve.
Without a healthier U.S. economy, the shift in the economic balance of power toward emerging market nations is expected to continue. Even if U.S. growth were to remain at current levels, analysts said, faster-growing markets like China, Brazil and India are now the primary drivers of the global economy, a trend underscored in a report by the International Monetary Fund last month.
It is unclear just how much the lame-duck Congress still controlled by Democrats can push through before the new Republican-led House takes over. But the pressure is now on the Obama administration to cut a deal on taxes before the end of the year, even though there is no consensus on where to cut spending, analysts said.
Moreover, if the current income tax rates are extended for the wealthy as well as for middle class taxpayers for the next few years, the action could add an estimated one to two percentage points to the deficit as a share of overall economic activity, according to Klaus Deutsch, a senior economist with Deutsche Bank Research in Berlin.
“So the need to adopt a more comprehensive fiscal adjustment package within the next two to three years becomes even more important,” he said.
If Washington ends up adding to the deficit rather than reducing it, one result could be a further weakening of the U.S. dollar against the euro, the pound and other floating currencies. The dollar has slumped more than 15 percent against the euro alone since June on concerns about the U.S. fiscal situation and on expectations that the Federal Reserve will announce new efforts Wednesday to pump more money into the weakened economy by buying Treasury securities, a process known as quantitative easing.
In times of full employment, a bigger deficit can be offset by tighter monetary policy and higher interest rates, said C. Fred Bergsten, director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. “But now with rates at zero and the Fed about to embark on a quantitative expansion, that will mean a bigger deficit and a weaker dollar, and that’s the set of issues that would set off the biggest alarm overseas — especially among the Europeans.”
In the European Union — the world’s largest economic bloc — there is concern that a weaker dollar would make it harder to pursue an export-led recovery at a time when countries like Britain, Greece and Ireland have embraced austerity in an effort to straighten out their finances.
Even if the dollar continues to weaken, helping U.S. exporters, most political and economic experts expect lawmakers from both parties to keep up pressure on China to strengthen its currency. That would make it even harder for the Obama administration to support a more cooperative approach toward bringing the Chinese currency more into line with that country’s strong economic fundamentals.
U.S. manufacturers have long complained that China is keeping the renminbi artificially weak, making it harder for U.S. exports to compete in the global marketplace.
The currency issue is part of a larger skirmish over trade, said Kenneth S. Rogoff, a Harvard University economist and a former I.M.F. chief economist.
“If the Chinese were to give a little, that would buy a lot of time on trade policy,” he said. “Asians especially are extremely nervous about seeing the U.S. slap a tariff on Chinese imports or some such aggressive approach, not only because Republicans are taking the House, but because the economy is very weak.”
Until the dust settles, however, “unpredictability is the word of the day,” Mr. Rogoff added. “We have a powerful and volatile new force,” he added. The “rest of world will be worried about that.”
AUSTIN, Texas -- Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, accused of illegally funneling corporate money into Texas legislative races eight years ago, is expected to spend this Election Day in court.
Testimony was expected to resume Tuesday with George Ceverha, the ex-treasurer of DeLay's Texas-based political action committee, returning to the stand to face questions from defense attorneys.
Ceverha testified Monday on the internal workings of DeLay's PAC.
DeLay is charged with money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He has denied any wrongdoing. If convicted, Delay could face up to life in prison.
Prosecutors allege DeLay and two associates - Jim Ellis and John Colyandro - illegally channeled $190,000 in corporate money, which had been collected by a group DeLay started, through the Washington-based Republican National Committee. Under Texas law, corporate money cannot be directly used for political campaigns.
The money helped Republicans in 2002 take control of the Texas House. That majority allowed Republicans to push through a congressional redistricting plan engineered by DeLay that sent more Texas Republicans to Congress in 2004 and strengthened DeLay's political stature, prosecutors said.
Two individuals who work as political watchdogs testified Monday that they filed complaints with the Travis County District Attorney's Office seeking an investigation into DeLay's PAC for allegedly using corporate money for political candidates.
DeLay's attorneys say Texas candidates got no corporate money and that the work DeLay did to elect candidates was merely good politics.
They have said the charges are politically motivated by former Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, who brought the original case but has since retired. Earle is a Democrat. Prosecutors deny the charges are politically motivated.
His defense team also worried about the trial being held in Austin - the most Democratic city in one of the most Republican states - and its timing, with testimony beginning a day before Tuesday's contentious midterm elections. DeLay has been pressing for a trial since he was indicted five years ago, but the case was slowed by appeals of pretrial rulings.
DeLay was once one of the most polarizing but powerful Republicans in Congress, earning the nickname "the Hammer" for his heavy-handed style.
But the criminal charges in Texas, as well as a separate federal investigation of his ties to disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, ended his 22-year political career representing suburban Houston. The Justice Department has since ended its federal investigation into DeLay's ties to Abramoff without filing any charges against DeLay.
Ellis and Colyandro, who face lesser charges, will be tried later. A previous charge alleging they and DeLay had engaged in a conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws was dismissed.
DeLay has been mostly out of public view since resigning from Congress, except for an appearance on ABC's hit television show "Dancing With the Stars." He now runs a consulting firm based in the Houston suburb of Sugar Land.
The lively if disjointed tea party movement faces its biggest test yet as a lasting American political force in Tuesday's midterm elections. With as many as a dozen high-profile House and Senate races featuring tea-party-backed candidates still too close to call, it's completely unclear how that test will turn out.
The tea party movement, which has captured the nation's attention with its dramatic, sometimes angry displays of conservative, anti-government fervor, proved its ability to sway Republican primaries over a series of stunning upsets this year, from Utah and Nevada to Alaska and Delaware.
But at least two uncertainties remain. First is the finding, in an extensive Washington Post canvass conducted last month, that local tea party groups are less organized and politically active than previously thought - and that much of the grassroots organization that swayed primaries was coordinated and financed by large national groups led by Republican insiders, including FreedomWorks, Tea Party Express and Americans for Prosperity.
Second is the question of how, and whether, such a disjointed army can make a difference in a general election. Polls show that more Americans than not are turned off by the tea party, with many viewing the movement as extreme.
U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said voters have "grave reservations" about tea party candidates, many of whom were recruited by former Alaska governor and tea party favorite Sarah Palin.
"That's causing great concern to voters from moderate swing districts, because those voters aren't looking for right wing ideologues. They're looking for centrist problem solvers," Van Hollen said.
Not surprisingly, local tea party organizers, in addition to well-monied, national conservative leaders, took a different view, unanimously agreeing that the tea party deserves credit for what is widely expected to be an increase in the number of conservatives elected to Congress.
To prove the point, they are planning raucous victory parties across the country, with festivities planned in Charlestown, W. Va., Bucks County, Pa., Las Vegas and even that most despised of cities - Washington. It doesn't matter, they say, that some of those parties are likely to have a backdrop of a political race in which the tea party candidate will fall short.
"You're going to have a conservative Republican majority in the House -- nobody doubts that," said Richard K. Armey, the former House majority leader who is now chairman of FreedomWorks, the Washington-based conservative organizer that has supplied local tea party activists with resources. "That means that it's been a transformation, a restoration and a rehabilitation of the Republican Party. And with that, they beat the Democrats."
In the Senate, Armey continued: "One way or another, the Republican caucus in the Senate is going to be a conservative caucus. Everybody in the Senate who is a Republican is saying, 'How can I make peace with this movement and this commitment to grassroots conservative Republicans?'"
But it remains to be seen how much larger that caucus will be.
Joe Miller of Alaska, for instance, shocked the nation with his primary victory over incumbent Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski. But Miller's fortunes have fallen considerably in recent weeks with revelations that his security guard handcuffed a reporter and that he admitted to lying about misconduct while working as a government lawyer in Fairbanks. Now Murkowski, who is mounting a write-in campaign, and Democrat Scott McAdams are considered the leading contenders for the seat.
Christine O'Donnell of Delaware is widely measured in public polls to have blown Republican chances to pick up the Senate seat of Vice President Joe Biden. O'Donnell, who defeated moderate U.S. Rep. Mike Castle in that state's GOP primary, has come under fire for denying the view that the First Amendment's establishment clause should be interpreted to mandate a separation of church and state.
Other Senate races remain tighter, including Sharron Angle's effort to unseat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) in Nevada and Republican Ken Buck's race against incumbent Democrat Michael Bennet in Colorado.
If enough of these seats remain in Democratic hands, that party will seize the chance to call election night a rebuke of tea party conservatism. But if enough of them don't, then the tea party movement will undoubtedly claim a mandate to control the agenda in Washington come January - not to mention the presidential nominating process in 2012.
"The American people are about to speak loud and clear," said Mark Meckler of Sacramento, a founding member of Tea Party Patriots and one of the first truly grassroots organizers to hold tea party rallies and connect with like-minded conservatives on Facebook and Twitter.
Meckler said it's crucial that the American people see a takeover of the House by Republicans as a victory for the tea party's conservative principles -- and not for the Republican Party.
"All the polling still shows that the Republicans are terribly unpopular," Meckler said, "so people are not suddenly in love with the Republican Party. People are in love with liberty. This is not a victory for Republicans. It's a victory for the country, for we the people, taking back our country."
Candidates and their supporters launched their last round of ads, door knocks, calls and pleas over the weekend, as Republicans made their final push to take over Congress and Democrats did all they could to try to hang on to it.
The Democratical National Committee announced Sunday that it would send $3 million to state parties around the country, largely to try to sway a number of too-close-to-call Senate races that could determine the balance of power in that chamber.
Much of that money was aimed at defending Democratic turf, including $100,000 that went to Massachusetts, where Republicans are trying to gain two House seats and the governor's mansion in Tuesday's midterm elections.
But in a sign of how volatile races remain in the final hours, Democrats also started airing ads over the weekend in Alaska. Party leaders there think Scott McAdams could win the Senate race over GOP nominee Joe Miller and incumbent Lisa Murkowski, who is running a write-in campaign after losing in the GOP primary.
Organizing for America, the Democratic grass-roots group formed after the 2008 campaign to keep Barack Obama supporters active in politics, said it planned to make more than 10 million contacts on the phone or in person with voters in the week before the election.
Republican Party efforts were bolstered by groups affiliated with the conservative tea party movement, whose supporters from across the country called into states with tight races to try to rally votes.
For Democrats, turnout isn't just important: It could be the only way to save themselves from a rout. Experts say the Democratic turnout operation cannot just match what the GOP does; it will probably have to exceed it. Many Republicans, angry about Obama and Democrats in Congress, are fired up to vote, regardless of whether they are called and encouraged to do so by GOP volunteers.
Many Democrats, meanwhile, lack the enthusiasm of the 2008 elections, according to polls.
"The question is whether [Republican] motivation is going to win the day or the Democratic mobilization," said Michael McDonald, a government professor at George Mason University who studies voting patterns.
Beyond the bad economy and apparent unpopularity of Democrats in Congress, Democrats face one other major challenge: People who vote in midterm elections are more likely to be white and are generally older than the electorate in presidential elections. This is a particular concern for the Democrats in the Obama era, as the party's victories in 2008 were aided by strong turnout among blacks, Latinos and voters under age 30.
Early voting is key
Democrats are confident that their efforts will get Obama supporters to the polls on Tuesday, and they cite the results of early voting in states such as Nevada, which have shown voter turnout for Democrats equal or higher than that of the GOP. Early voting efforts and absentee ballots could be a major factor, as an estimated 40 percent of voters will vote before Tuesday.
Democrats are relying on their Washington-led party operations, along with labor unions, who have long aided Democrats. The AFL-CIO is planning to send more than 10 million pieces of mail to voters this week and to knock on the doors of 4 million voters.
ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Rangers are counting on Cliff Lee to keep the San Francisco Giants from celebrating a World Series championship deep in the heart of Texas.
After Giants rookie Madison Bumgarner delivered a Lee-like performance - against a normally potent lineup slumping at the worst possible time - Texas is in a 3-1 hole in the best-of-seven series.
"I don't think discouragement is the right word," Michael Young said after a 4-0 loss Sunday night. "Obviously, we know we're capable of more."
To extend their first World Series, the Rangers need ace left-hander Lee to make the most of his second chance in Game 5 on Monday night in a rematch against Tim Lincecum.
It might be the last start in Texas for free agent-to-be, who in the opener of this series absorbed his first loss over two dominating postseasons.
"I certainly hope he'll do better (Monday). We feel pretty good about him being out there," manager Ron Washington said. "Once again, we've got to put some runs on the board."
Texas managed only three singles in eight innings off Madison Bumgarner before Giants closer Brian Wilson pitched a perfect ninth in Game 4.
The Rangers, who lost 9-0 in Game 2 at San Francisco, are the first team to be shut out twice in a World Series since the 1966 Dodgers failed to score in the last three games while being swept by Baltimore.
Texas was scoreless at home only once during the regular season.
"There's really no reason to be deflated," Ian Kinsler said. "It's pretty simple. We win, we move on to the next game. Emotions are taken out of it. You play the game the right way and hopefully you end up scoring more runs."
Lee was 7-0 with a 1.26 ERA in eight career postseason starts going into Game 1 of the World Series, but he allowed eight hits and seven runs over 4 2-3 innings in his shortest postseason start. He had never given up more runs or hits.
"I get a chance to redeem myself against the team that actually put it to me pretty good last time," Lee said before Game 4. "I'm looking forward to it. I've been working hard - it's basically the last start of the season for me - and I want to do everything I can to help this team win the World Series."
Ted Sorensen, the admired longtime assistant to President John F. Kennedy who provided his chief with many of the words and thoughts that still resonate through American life, died Sunday at New York Presbyterian Hospital of complications from a recent stroke. He was 82.
Of those before and since who have served any American president, none has been given greater credit for their contributions to an administration or its legacy than Mr. Sorensen. No aide in recent times has had more influence on a president's message or on how it was expressed, said Princeton University historian Sean Wilentz.
Amply endowed with the qualities required for an intimate adviser at the highest levels, Mr. Sorensen was regarded as a man of ideas and ideals, keen intellect and a passion for public service.
From Mr. Sorensen - or from his close and fruitful collaboration with his president - came the words by which Kennedy called on the nation to achieve such goals as placing a man on the moon and providing civil rights to all Americans.
"Sorensen," historian Douglas Brinkley wrote two years ago, "was the administration's indispensable man."
The image of the Kennedy administration as an American Camelot, presided over by the wise, graceful and just, can be traced in considerable degree to Mr. Sorensen's alluring language, through which the administration presented itself.
A master of the craft of transforming sweeping vision into strong verbs and nouns, Mr. Sorensen also was the soul of discretion, always loyal to his president and ever ready to deflect credit from himself.
Mr. Sorensen went on to a long and productive career after Kennedy was assassinated. He served as a speechwriter to President Lyndon B. Johnson and aided in the campaigns of several prominent Democrats, including Sens. Robert F. Kennedy and Gary Hart. Mr. Sorensen made a reputation as an international lawyer and spoke out on behalf of liberal causes.
He was an early endorser of the presidential candidacy of Barack Obama, and the president issued a statement Sunday praising Mr. Sorensen for his quick wit, seriousness of purpose and determination to "keep America true to our highest ideals." Mr. Sorensen, Obama said, led an "extraordinary life" that inspired many and helped make America and the world "more equal, more just and more secure."
Although he became identified with the rhetoric with which Kennedy defined himself and his policies, the studious Mr. Sorensen, seemed satisfied to be behind the scenes, working under the title of Special Counsel and Adviser and accepting whatever reflected glory came to him.
"It isn't all that important who wrote which word or which phrase in Kennedy's inaugural," he once told an interviewer. "What's important are the themes and the principles he laid out."
Many memorable speeches during the thousand days of the administration showed Mr. Sorensen's handiwork. Recruited to join the small group that advised the president during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, which brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, he helped craft the president's correspondence with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. The meticulous wording was viewed as vital in bringing about a satisfactory resolution.
The joint rally by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert began its variety show of shtick and song, political purpose and wink-wink whimsy. The two Comedy Central fake-news anchors arrived onstage Saturday afternoon to present bits that pit Stewart's wry rationalism against Colbert's warped bravado.
As throngs headed to join in the Mall's hoopla, some were thwarted by transportation delays. Metro's trains, teeming with rallygoers, could not accommodate new passengers at stops closer to downtown. Also, many prospective rail riders arrived at stations in Maryland and Virginia only to be confronted with long lines that defied usual weekend patterns.
On a stage west of the Capitol dome, the TV personalities welcomed cross-genre musical acts that sang in harmony -- Kid Rock with Sheryl Crow, Jeff Tweedy and Mavis Staples -- or in mock discord, as when mellow folkie Yusuf Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens) had an interruptive session with metal rocker Ozzy Osbourne.
Mall visitors arrived in steady streams on foot, bike and when possible, by Metro. Many toted signs with arch witticisms such as those identifying the carrier as a member of the "Decaf Party." In keeping with the meta qualities of the Comedy Central shows, one spectator had a sign that was decidedly not purposeful in its announcement. "I am holding a sign," it read.
"I find it incredibly ironic," says Jim Neimeier, who drove to Washington from Wisconsin for the event, "that I had to come to a rally sponsored by a comedian to get at the truth."
Or at least a point of view diametrically opposed to the one expressed by Glenn Beck two months ago, when he staged a religiously themed "Restoring Honor" rally -- on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech -- with Sarah Palin on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
The "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" is billed as a correction to what Stewart, Colbert and their fans consider the extremism and dishonesty that have infected the American political system, especially the self-righteousness and fear-mongering they see in the right-leaning Beck and his employer, Fox News.
But with its Capitol backdrop, exuberant crowd and clever placards, the Stewart-Colbert rally began to look like an ironic version of the political theater it sends up. At some point, do those mocking such hubris actually exhibit hubris?
"This is the most American thing I've ever done!" a young man screamed Saturday morning into a plastic megaphone, provided free by Comedy Central.
The megaphones, handed out with tea towels from the swag bags of volunteers, mixed with backpacks and folding chairs. Earnest signs read "I'm Not Afraid of Muslims, Tea Parties, Gays." Irreverent ones read "Support the Right to Arm Bears." Obama inauguration gear made it back out of the closet. On many posters reading "Hope," the visage of Stewart, not Obama, stared out.
With all the trouble it took to get to the Mall, some attendees chose a more unusual mode of transportation: a 70-foot-long, 30-foot-tall copper-colored dragon on wheels. The vehicle, favored by anti-nuclear-weapon activists from the counterculture festival Burning Man, echoed down Irving Street. Along 14th Street NW, people held signs reading "Free the Gays" or "The Sky Is Falling." Scores of people dressed in wigs and costumes, in part because the rally coincides with many Halloween celebrations. One man dressed as Abe Lincoln. Another went as a tea party activist (tea bags dangling from his hat's brim).
"It's just a lovely day to be on the Mall, to meet up with out-of-town friends," said Ruth Hupart, 24, a Hill staffer.
ALABAMA - Republican Sen. Richard Shelby cruising to a fifth term in heavily Republican state. Republican Robert Bentley favored in gubernatorial race
ALASKA - Sen. Lisa Murkowski in unpredictable write-in campaign after losing GOP primary in tea party revolt. Republican Sean Parnell favored for governor
ARIZONA - Sen. John McCain coasting to fifth term after tough GOP primary. Gov. Jan Brewer also on track toward re-election. Four House Democrats in trouble.
CALIFORNIA - Former Gov. Jerry Brown leads Republican Meg Whitman in polls. Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in close race with Carly Fiorina.
COLORADO - Sen. Michael Bennet and tea party-backed Republican Ken Buck in close race. Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper favored for governor.
CONNECTICUT - Competitive governor's race between Democrat Dan Malloy and Republican Tom Foley. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal favored over GOP candidate Linda McMahon for Senate.
DELAWARE - GOP candidate Christine O'Donnell never got traction in Senate race versus Chris Coons. Rare pickup opportunity for House Democrats.
FLORIDA - Marco Rubio coasting to Senate win for GOP. Democrat Alex Sink and Republican Rick Scott in fierce governor's race. GOP targets four House seats.
GEORGIA - Republicans favored for governor (former Rep. Nathan Deal) and especially Senate (Johnny Isakson seeking another term).
PHILADELPHIA - With the debates over, ads flooding the airwaves and an election that's shaping up as a $4 billion contest finally coming to a close, Democrats are looking to something very basic for an edge: phone calls and door knocks.
So President Obama took his get out the vote message to Temple University as he made a closing argument for his party's agenda.
His speech was short and his message simple.
"I want everybody to get out there, knock on doors, make phone calls, volunteer, talk to your friends, talk to your neighbors, go into the beauty shops, the barbershops your church," he said. "If you do that, I am confident, we aren't just going to win this election, but we are going to keep on moving this country forward."
The crowd of 1,000 - mostly young people chanting campaign slogans and wearing Obama T-shirts circa 2008 - are exactly the type of voters that Democrats will need to stave off a midterm rout. This weekend, Obama's schedule has stops in four urban areas.
Obama has visited this city, which is key to Democrats' chances of victory in statewide races, four times over the past six weeks, and first lady Michelle Obama will hold a rally here Monday.
And the Democratic National Committee has poured more than $50 million into the get-out-the-vote effort in a bid to get at least a share of the 15 million young and first-time voters from 2008.
Over recent weeks, Obama has drawn an audience of about 185,000 people with 10 rallies in different states, and party leaders said they see some momentum.
"If you look at the polling in Pennsylvania and California, after the president's visits there, Democrats either closed the gap or in some instances widened their lead," said Mitch Stewart, executive director of Organizing for America, the DNC's grass-roots branch. "These events are a real shot in the arm for our organization specifically, but also to the candidates that are running there."
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter who said that 2010 is about 2012, said that "we are going to drive turn out aggressively in this city."
"Every elected official is focused on this election," he said. "They are mobilizing all over Philly and the suburbs."
Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett in remarks Thursday suggested that his aim is to keep turnout in Philadelphia down, comments that Nutter said have galvanized the base.
The Louisville Courier-Journal reports that a female MoveOn.org supporter was attacked by backers of Kentucky GOP Senate candidate Rand Paul on Monday when she attempted to approach Paul outside his final debate with Democrat Jack Conway in Lexington.
At one point, violence broke out when Lauren Valle of MoveOn.org approached Paul and tried to give him an "employee of the month award" from Republicorp. Republicorp is a fake business MoveOn created to symbolize what it says is the merger of the GOP and business interests controlling political speech.
Television video shows Valle, of Washington, D.C., being pushed to the ground and at least one foot stepping down on her head.
In the video from Fox41.com, Valle is forced to the ground by a man as another man holding a Rand Paul sign steps forcefully on her head. Watch:
Valle reported the incident to the police, according to the Courier-Journal.
UPDATE: Rand Paul's campaign has released the following statement on the incident:
"We understand that there was an altercation outside of the debate between supporters of both sides and that is incredibly unfortunate. Violence of any kind has no place in our civil discourse and we urge supporters on all sides to be civil to one another as tensions rise heading toward this very important election. We are relieved to hear that the woman in question was not injured."
Subscribe to this Feed by Email
