Democrats, Midterm Elections | featured news

The battle for the House was pretty even in 2012, with Democrats winning slightly more of the popular vote but Republicans holding a strong 33-seat majority thanks to a map that favors their party. And it will be very difficult for Democrats to win back the majority in 2014, because the president's party has rarely gained House seats in a midterm election.

Major Democratic strategists, still reeling from a barrage of midterm spending by conservative groups, are planning a similarly well-funded campaign by liberal organizations aimed at reelecting President Obama in 2012.

House Democrats elected Nancy Pelosi to remain as their leader Wednesday despite massive party losses in this month's congressional elections that prompted some lawmakers to call for new leadership.

Last week's election was bad for Democrats. The next one could be worse. Senate Democrats running in 2012 will be trying to hold their jobs in states where Republicans just scored major congressional and gubernatorial victories - Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, New Mexico and Virginia.

MSNBC has suspended prime-time host Keith Olbermann indefinitely without pay for contributing to the campaigns of three Democratic candidates this election season.

The Republican wave crashing across the nation stopped at the California border on Tuesday, as Jerry Brown won the governorship and U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer claimed a victory that would send her back to Washington for a fourth term.

Riding a wave of voter discontent, Republicans picked up six Senate seats Tuesday but fell short in their bid to wrest control of the upper house from Democrats and oust Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, CNN projected, based on its analysis of exit poll data.

The president calls stations in L.A., Las Vegas and Chicago and tells listeners, 'I need folks to vote today.' Even with voting already under way, President Obama furiously worked the phones calling urban-format radio stations Tuesday, hoping to stave off a Republican tide at the polls.

In a year when the public sentiment is squarely against them, Democrats are hoping that well-funded, sophisticated voter turnout efforts will help them win.

Florida's three-way Senate race grew testier Friday as the last-place Democratic candidate denied claims that former President Bill Clinton had advised him to drop out, saying the idea came instead from his independent rival, Gov. Charlie Crist...