Elections Directory USA

AP - The Democratic candidate for Rhode Island governor is going after independent Lincoln Chafee (CHAY'-fee) in the first major TV attack ad in the race.

The Upshot - Democrats have tried all summer to convince voters that electing Republicans this fall would mean a return to the policies of the George W. Bush presidency. Party committees have run ads on the subject, and President Obama mentions his predecessor on the stump more often than he refers to any other current Republican officeholder. The [...]

AP - Tea party activists in Delaware are rallying around Republican U.S. Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell as she faces fierce attacks from within the GOP.

The Upshot - It's not often that you see Democrats joining forces with the tea party insurgency on the right. But that's just one of the many ways in which Delaware is well out of the national mainstream. Delaware's new, and doubtless short-lived, political alliance is forged from the greatest binding agent in all politics: a shared enemy. [...]

AP - Their control of the House in peril, Democrats are playing defense all across the country. Disgruntled voters, a sluggish economy and vanishing enthusiasm for President Barack Obama have put 75 seats or more - the vast majority held by Democrats - at risk of changing hands.

Time.com - There are still 60 days to go before Election Day but the smart money -- lots of it -- is on the GOP winning very, very big

AFP - US President Barack Obama will mark the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks at the Pentagon, and Vice President Joe Biden will be at the World Trade Center site in New York, the White House said Monday.

AP - The Democratic U.S. Senate candidate in Ohio says it will be a week-to-week decision on how much TV time he can buy, even though his fundraising is picking up.

Reuters - Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard secured a wafer thin parliamentary majority on Tuesday, ending a political impasse but hardly cheering investors worried about the fragility of her government and its plans to tax mining profits.

Reuters - Republicans in Congress showed little willingness to help President Barack Obama approve $350 billion worth of measures to boost the economy with midterm elections less than two months away.

AFP - More than a million French workers took to the streets on Tuesday to challenge President Nicolas Sarkozy's plan to raise the retirement age to 62, the centrepiece of his reform agenda.

AFP - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has the backing of Washington and US arch-foe Iran to keep his job, six months after he narrowly lost an election to ex-premier Iyad Allawi, politicians said Tuesday.

Reuters - Nigeria will hold its presidential election on January 22, with parliamentary polls a week earlier and state governorship elections a week later, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said on Tuesday.

AP - The White House says President Barack Obama will mark the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks at the Pentagon.

AP - Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank's retort was an Internet sensation. Questioned at a town hall last year about the "Nazi policy" of health care reform, Frank told the speaker who made the comment that talking to her was "like arguing with a dining room table." Fast forward to this year, the questioner, Rachel Brown, is challenging the 15-term Democrat's re-election bid.

The Upshot - Has President Obama been listening to a lot of Jimi Hendrix lately?  With just under two months to go before Election Day, Obama kicked off the fall campaign season Monday with an aggressive speech targeting Republicans. But it was an off-script moment in the speech that's attracted the most attention, as Obama accused his GOP [...]

AP - Already in distinctive company as an American president, George W. Bush seeks to join an even more select group: president and top-selling author.

AFP - New opinion polls Tuesday made painful reading for President Barack Obama's Democrats, cementing conventional wisdom that they face a pounding by Republicans in November's congressional elections.

The Upshot - How's this sound for a slate of candidates? A homeless tarot card reader, "Grandpa" the pedicab driver and a 20-year-old street performer. Those are the Green Party political hopefuls whom Republican operative Steve May has recruited to run for office in Arizona, the New York Times reports. While the state's community of tarot enthusiasts is [...]

AP - Turns out politics, for all its focus on the gloomy economy, is a recession-proof industry.