Boston.com -- Top political stories

Senator: Delay health care to focus on Afghan war

Richard Lardner, Associated Press Writer — 2009-11-29T14:41:30Z

Postpone the health care overhaul until next year so Congress can concentrate on how to pay for President Barack Obama's expected plans for expanding military operations in Afghanistan, a leading Republican senator said Sunday.

Senate hopefuls vary in travel experience

Matt Viser, Globe Staff — 2009-11-29T09:12:09Z

Stephen Pagliuca speaks Dutch. Alan Khazei boasts of seeing South Africa with President Clinton. And US Representative Michael E. Capuano has traveled the globe, albeit often on the taxpayer dime, meeting with presidents, prime ministers, and American troops.

Senate report: Bin Laden was 'within our grasp'

Calvin Woodward, Associated Press Writer — 2009-11-29T08:22:02Z

Osama bin Laden was unquestionably within reach of U.S. troops in the mountains of Tora Bora when American military leaders made the crucial and costly decision not to pursue the terrorist leader with massive force, a Senate report says.

Release of secret reports delayed

Bryan Bender, Globe Staff — 2009-11-29T05:25:09Z

WASHINGTON - President Obama will maintain a lid of secrecy on millions of pages of military and intelligence documents that were scheduled to be declassified by the end of the year, according to administration officials.

Dukakis to endorse Capuano in Senate race

Eric Moskowitz, Globe Staff — 2009-11-29T01:29:33Z

Making his first endorsement in a statewide Democratic primary since leaving the governor’s office, Michael S. Dukakis will declare his support for Michael E. Capuano in the US Senate race at an event today with Capuano in Brookline.

The race that snores

Charles P. Pierce — 2009-11-28T19:34:01Z

Could the campaign to fill our Senate seat be less exciting?

Caution ahead

Charles P. Pierce — 2009-11-28T19:29:59Z

A tip for the governor: Hunker down.

Tax break on profits again in jeopardy

Michael Kranish, Globe Staff — 2009-11-27T03:50:11Z

An effort in Congress to eliminate a generous tax break for hedge fund managers, private-equity specialists, and venture capitalists, which could be taken up next week in the House Ways and Means Committee, is being met with resistance by opponents who say the move would weaken the economy.

N.E. governors’ races give GOP a chance to build on gains

Sasha Issenberg, Globe Correspondent — 2009-11-25T06:03:59Z

Invigorated by state house victories earlier this month in Virginia and New Jersey, Republicans are turning their attention to governorships in New England, where they believe the retirement of four incumbents and a competitive race in Massachusetts has created wide-open opportunities.

Senators voice optimism on public option

Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff — 2009-11-23T06:31:25Z

WASHINGTON - Buoyed by their weekend victory on a vote beginning the health care debate, several Senate Democrats expressed optimism yesterday they could find a way to keep a government-run insurance plan in the sweeping bill.

Health overhaul narrowly advances

Lisa Wangsness and Susan Milligan, Globe Staff — 2009-11-22T06:07:27Z

The Senate narrowly overcame the first of two critical hurdles to passing sweeping health care legislation last night, mustering the minimum of 60 votes required to begin debate on the bill and opening a volatile floor fight likely to last weeks.

Catholic Church pushes, and some push back

Susan Milligan, Globe Staff — 2009-11-21T05:12:12Z

Representative Louise Slaughter has a consistent record advocating abortion rights. So the New York Democrat was stunned recently to receive, for the first time, a letter from a Catholic diocese in western New York, demanding that she explain her vote this month against a health care amendment prohibiting insurance companies from paying for abortions.

Latinos, blacks take harder hit amid recession

Joseph Williams, Globe Staff — 2009-11-21T05:11:44Z

Latinos and African-Americans in Massachusetts and across the country are facing high unemployment rates that could spiral to levels not seen in decades as the jobless economic recovery drags on, analysts and urban community advocates say.

Attack ads to spice up Senate primary

Alex Beam, Globe Columnist — 2009-11-20T05:00:00Z

People say that the Democratic primary race for Ted Kennedy's seat is boring, and they are right. There's not a doughnut's worth of difference among the pretenders. Each claims to be a super-liberal, eager to empty out the US Treasury to placate whatever interest group they happen to find themselves in front of.

Push to curb credit-card rates fades

Michael Kranish, Globe Staff — 2009-11-19T05:09:48Z

Efforts in Congress to cap credit-card interest rates are faltering because of opposition from Democrats and a lack of specific support from the White House, despite growing consumer outrage over a rush by banks to impose rates as high as 30 percent.

Obama domestic agenda largely a one-party effort

Susan Milligan, Globe Staff — 2009-11-17T06:14:25Z

Despite early pleas for bipartisanship, President Obama is forging ahead with his domestic agenda with a largely single-party strategy, unable to corral more than a handful of Republicans on a wide range of major legislation before Congress.

Adding insult to infamy

Bryan Bender, Globe Staff — 2009-11-14T05:43:26Z

On Veterans Day, Christine Devlin stood in the cold in Westwood for the unveiling of a new memorial to local soldiers lost overseas, including her son Michael, one of the 241 servicemen killed in the bombing of the US Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983.

Love the poor

Tiziana C. Dearing — 2008-12-29T05:00:00Z

What issue should Barack Obama make a top priority? In a Boston.com essay series leading up the presidential inauguration on Jan. 20, local figures and readers weigh in. In the first essay, Tiziana C. Dearing, president of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Boston, expresses hope that Obama will work to ease the scourge of poverty.