Every political coalition needs a catchy name. The 1840s had the Know-Nothings, the 1980s had the Boll Weevils, and now there are the Blue Dogs, a group of 52 fiscally conservative Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives whose staunch resistance to the White House's health-care legislation efforts might delay a vote well past President Obama's August deadline. When the Democrats lost Congress in 1994, some Representatives blamed the defeat on a party they felt had ...

As President Obama pushes forward with his agenda, he may find that a homecoming king's likeability is just as integral as the power and authority inherent to the Oval Office. "I just don't think you can be effective without being liked," said Bruce Newman, a professor of marketing at DePaul University and editor of the Journal of Political Marketing. Newman describes Obama's leadership as a "two-pronged support system of both being popular but yet having the respect." "I don't think ...

TIME senior writer Karen Tumulty sat down with President Barack Obama on Tuesday afternoon to talk about his work both in public and behind the scenes to push a health-care-reform measure through Congress. Here's the full transcript. TIME: I thought I'd talk to you a little bit about just sort of the whole degree to which this is really a test of leadership, health care is, as much as anything. And last year at the news conference, ...

Hipsters are the friends who sneer when you cop to liking Coldplay. They're the people who wear t-shirts silkscreened with quotes from movies you've never heard of and are the only ones in America who still think Pabst Blue Ribbon is a good beer. They sport cowboy hats and berets and think Kanye West stole their sunglasses. Everything about them is exactingly constructed to give off the vibe that they just don't care. Annoying, yes, but harmless, right Not ...

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday that he has been the victim of racial profiling but believes Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. could have been more patient with the police officer who arrested him. At the same time, Powell also faulted the Cambridge (Massachusetts) Police Department for escalating the situation beyond a reasonable level. "I think Skip [Gates], perhaps in this instance, might have waited a while, come outside, talked to the officer and ...

A challenge that President Obama made to his Cabinet in April resulted in cost-cutting measures that more than doubled the original $100 million target, his administration said Monday. At his first Cabinet meeting, Obama asked Cabinet members to find $100 million in savings in 90 days. The deadline passed last week with no announcement, and the White House responded to reporters that information was being compiled. The Office of Management and Budget announced the results Monday, saying Cabinet members identified ...

Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin gave her final speech as Alaska's governor Sunday before stepping down from her post, telling a Fairbanks crowd that she is resigning "to chart a new course to advance the state." "Now people who know me, they know how much I love this state ... I feel it is my duty to avoid the unproductive, typical, politics-as-usual, lame-duck session in one's last year in office," Palin said, just moments before Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell ...

Authorities will investigate an Illinois cemetery after a bone found on the ground there was determined to be human, a sheriff's spokesman said Saturday. Supporters displayed signs, including "Palin 2012" and "Palin, you're as great as Alaska." The few dissenters in the crowd said they wanted to come down and see what the hoopla was about. Palin and Lt. Gov Sean Parnell, who will replace her, passed out burgers and hot dogs at the food line. Media and the crowd ...

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was met with a fairly warm reception at a picnic in Anchorage on Saturday, a day before she steps down as the state's governor. Supporters displayed signs, including "Palin 2012" and "Palin, you're as great as Alaska." The few dissenters in the crowd said they wanted to come down and see what the hoopla was about. Palin and Lt. Gov Sean Parnell, who will replace her, passed out burgers and hot dogs at the food line. ...

Richard Lee greets students, shopkeepers and tourists as he rolls his wheelchair down Broadway at the speed of a brisk jog, hailing them with, "Hi. How ya doin'?" In this nine-block district of Oakland, California, called Oaksterdam, Lee is a celebrity. Oaksterdam is Lee's brainchild, a small pocket of urban renewal built on a thriving trade in medical marijuana. The district's name comes from a marriage of Oakland and Amsterdam, a city in the Netherlands renowned for its easy attitude ...