Search results for

The partisan battles of George W. Bush's presidency are swiftly being joined in the evenly divided Senate, where the change of a single seat could change the party in control. That makes every vulnerable incumbent a marked man, and no one is more aware of it than freshman Democrat Max Cleland of Georgia. A narrow winner in 1996, Cleland is already campaigning at full speed for his re-election bid in 2002. NPR's Steve Inskeep reports.

The Senate has now spent five days debating a bill designed to reduce the flow of money into federal election campaigns. The bill would outlaw so-called "soft money" contributions, large amounts of unregulated cash that go not to candidates but to the political parties. So far, the amendments that might have crippled the bill have been turned back. And although the bill has been turned back repeatedly in the past, this spring it seems to be building momentum. NPR's Peter Overby reports.

New U.S. administrator for Iraq Paul Bremer bans up to 30,000 members of the Baath party from working for government ministries. But despite Bremer's insistence that the country's security condition is improving, Iraqis express frustration with ongoing disorder -- and they blame U.S. postwar administrators. NPR's Guy Raz reports.

Prime Minister Tony Blair wins a plea to Britain's Parliament to support a British attack on Iraq without U.N. authorization. Blair didn't need Parliament's consent to send troops into battle, but it's the biggest political gamble of his career. Opposition is strong in his own party and across Britain. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports.

Commentator Askia Muhammad addresses the recent arrest of Lynne Stewart, attorney for imprisoned Egyptian cleric Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman. The Manhattan defense attorney and three others are accused of passing messages between third parties and Abdel-Rahman, in violation of prison conditions imposed on the sheik. Muhammad, a black Muslim, says the government's actions against Stewart only feed the paranoia of many Muslims in America.

The five Democrats vying for their party's presidential nomination prepare for Wisconsin's Tuesday primary and Sunday night debate. Opinion polls show Sen. John Kerry holding the lead in voter support, as he often has in the string of primaries and caucuses held so far. Hear NPR's Steve Inskeep and NPR's Scott Horsley.

John Kerry has already begun looking beyond the primaries to a possible race against President Bush in the fall. Commentator Jay Bryant is a Republican political consultant, and he says that - if Kerry is the Democrat's choice - this could be two firsts for the 2004 campaign: the first time both parties' candidates have opted not to take Federal matching funds - and the first time it's been clear so early who the candidates will be.

In the 1950's and 1960's, South Africa's National Party developed apartheid into an increasingly repressive political philosophy. The African National Congress was forced underground. Part Two of Joe Richman and Sue Johnson's series "Mandela: An Audio History" recalls the political history of the period, culminating with the arrest, trial and conviction of Nelson Mandela.

Spain's prime minister-elect, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, says he may pull Spanish troops out of what he calls a disastrous occupation in Iraq. Zapatero's election is being seen as a public rejection of the Popular Party's support for the U.S.-led war in Iraq, which many blame for Thursday's bloody train bombings. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports.

The Senate deadlocks on a bill that would change the 1996 welfare law to require more single mothers to work additional hours to qualify for benefits. The parties disagree over Democratic amendments to raise the minimum wage and Republican insistence on funds to promote marriage. Hear NPR's Bob Edwards and Ron Haskins, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.