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Showing no sign of backing down from his U.S. Senate candidacy, Todd Akin released a television ad in which he apologizes for his remarks about "legitimate rape" seldom causing pregnancy and asks for forgiveness.

Senior Republicans scrambled to distance themselves on Monday from Missouri U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin's comments about rape, which put an unwelcome focus on divisive social issues a week before the party holds its election-year convention.

House Republicans are reserving more than $18 million in ad time as they look to protect their majority... As with House Democrats, who announced $32 million in ad reservations earlier this year, the NRCC could shift its spending or increase it. But the ad reservations offer an early idea of where Republicans think they will play offense and defense.

Allegations that Ms. Warren claimed American Indian heritage to advance her career, and a reluctance to address those claims, have been a distraction.

Republican Rep. Bob Turner, facing elimination of his New York City congressional district, says he'll seek the Senate seat held by Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand. Turner's announcement Tuesday came just three days before New York Republicans will choose among Senate candidates. There are already three other Republicans seeking the nomination.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) announced Wednesday morning that she will run for her fourth term in 2012. “I’m looking forward to coming back and bringing a strong, powerful voice to Washington, D.C.,” Bachmann told the Associated Press. The former presidential candidate’s future plans had been in some doubt. Redistricting could make her 6th district seat more competitive, and she spent much of the year in Iowa proclaiming herself “an Iowa girl” — not so helpful for winning an election in Minnesota.

Ex-wrestling executive Linda McMahon plans to jump into the political ring again and will formally launch her second bid for the U.S. Senate ...

Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard law professor and former Obama administration official, announced Wednesday morning via Web video that she will challenge Republican Sen. Scott Brown for his seat in Massachusetts. Warren began her first day of campaigning at a subway stop in South Boston — an area filled with the kind of conservative Democrats that Warren, a 62-year-old Oklahoma native,must win over.

Consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren is jumping into the Massachusetts race against Republican Sen. Scott Brown....

A week after launching a listening tour of Massachusetts, former White House official Elizabeth Warren has filed an exploratory committee with the Federal Election Commission as she prepares to challenge Sen. Scott Brown in 2012.