Rev. Jeremiah Wright speaks in Jackson, Miss., in this March 25 file photo. GOP consultants made headlines this week after urging a super PAC working to defeat President Obama to prepare an ad campaign highlighting Obama's ties to his former pastor. (Rogelio V. Solis/AP/File)

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Mitt Romney repudiates idea of using Jeremiah Wright against Obama

5:15 pm ET -

Mitt Romney spoke out Thursday after The New York Times reported on a plan to use the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's 'black liberation theology' – and his role as Obama's former pastor – to go after the president.

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Mitt Romney repudiates idea of using Jeremiah Wright against Obama

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Will Californians trust Jerry Brown enough to vote for his tax increase?

After outlining drastic cuts Monday, Gov. Jerry Brown pleaded with California voters to approve a temporary sales-tax increase. Some experts, but not all, think he can get it through.
JP Morgan losses send Wall Street back to Capitol Hill (+video)

Congressional critics plan hearings to probe how America's largest bank posted $2 billion in trading losses – and whether new financial regulations, still being implemented, go far enough to rein in Wall Street abuses
Jerry Brown proposes billions in cuts. Are Californians getting his message?

With California's budget shortfall soaring, Gov. Jerry Brown (D) proposes broad, painful cuts for state workers and programs. Without new taxes, he warns voters, the cuts will be even worse.
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With graduation speeches, Obama, Romney target 'must win' audiences

Obama, whose campaign is targeting women voters this election year, zeroed in on Barnard – a top women's college. Romney spoke two days ago at Liberty University, full of evangelicals.
GOP campaign chiefs: Republicans will gain House seats in November

Republican campaign chiefs predict that the GOP will pick up House seats in the November election despite hefty opposition, and that Mitt Romney will help the party to do so.
Top 9 reasons Congress is broken

Congress's approval rating is barely at 10 percent, and the venerable institution is filled with such rancor that moderates such as Sen. Olympia Snowe (R) of Maine are fleeing the place. From people who've previously served on the Hill comes this assessment of the top nine problems Congress faces today.
Appalled by sequester cuts, House begins efforts to avoid them

The House on Thursday passed a measure that would spare the Pentagon from looming cuts by making deeper cuts to social programs. But Congress isn't expected to get serious about altering the debt deal's $109 billion sequester until after the November election.
House races won't hang on Obama gay marriage move, says a top Democrat

Obama’s new stance in favor of gay marriage is unlikely to have a big impact on Democrats’ fight to take control of the House, says Rep. Steve Israel, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Why Obama endorsed gay marriage now (+video)

Comments on Sunday by Vice President Biden backing gay marriage and a North Carolina vote on Tuesday opposing it pushed President Obama to clarify his own stand on gay marriage well before the Democratic National Convention.
Obama backs gay marriage: What difference will that make? (+video)

President Obama was already doing virtually all he could to advance gay rights politically. But by openly supporting gay marriage, he could be a potent force to broaden cultural acceptance.
Obama supports gay marriage: Historic switch carries risks (+video)

Obama supports gay marriage in an interview with ABC News, ending a period in which he said his views were 'evolving.' The move was instantly hailed and denounced by the opposing sides on the issue.
Richard Lugar 'took brunt' of voter anger, says GOP campaign chief

Voter anger led to the defeat of Sen. Richard Lugar (R) of Indiana in a GOP primary, says Rep. Pete Sessions, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. He sees tea party activism as 'good for our party.'
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Rick Santorum tells Jay Leno why Romney endorsement was 'buried' (+video)

Rick Santorum told 'Tonight Show' host Jay Leno, 'This was a letter to my supporters – who were for me.' Not Mitt Romney. The socially liberal Leno also pressed Mr. Santorum on cultural issues.
Transportation bill, not yet passed, already blasted by critics

House and Senate negotiators are considering how to mesh two very different transportation bills, but experts and lobbyists say neither bill addresses the fundamental problems.
Bake sale ban in Massachusetts sparks outcries over 'food police'

A cookie crackdown? A brownie ban? The time-honored bake sale falls under a new Massachusetts law that limits students' access to junk food before and after school. Aim is to fight obesity, but critics decry a nanny state of 'food police.'
Austerity votes in Europe show that GOP is wrong, top Democrat says

Austerity agendas in France and Greece resulted in voter rebellions this week. It's a sign that the GOP's austerity program for the US is mistaken, says Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen.
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A possible blessing for Dick Lugar in fight to retain US Senate seat

A primary vote Tuesday in Indiana will determine if Sen. Dick Lugar (R) will get the GOP nod to run again for his seat. It helps Lugar that Rick Santorum, who would have drawn a lot of conservative voters to the polls, is out of the presidential race, analysts note.
What Rick Santorum's lukewarm endorsement of Mitt Romney means (+video)

Nearly a month after exiting the presidential race, Rick Santorum endorsed Mitt Romney in the 13th paragraph of an e-mail sent to supporters late Monday. That's not exactly a show of enthusiasm for the Republican standard-bearer.
Price of debt-ceiling deal: GOP plan goes 'for the jugular,' Dems say

No one in Congress likes the 'sequester' – the more than $900 billion in automatic cuts written into last year's debt deal – but Democrats say that's better than the new GOP plan to avoid it.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan endorses gay marriage. Is Obama cornered? (+video)

Now, both Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary Duncan have spoken up for gay marriage, but Obama is holding back. That could be a political calculation, but gay activists are frustrated.
Joe Biden stirs the pot on same-sex marriage (+video)

Vice President Joe Biden says he's 'absolutely comfortable' with same-sex marriage. That seems to put him out front of President Obama on a hot-button issue that is sure to come up in the presidential election.
Liz Cheney: Are we ready for another political dynasty?

Liz Cheney – daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney – may be positioning herself to run for Congress from Wyoming, the state her father represented. Is America ready for another political dynasty?
Student loans: Do Republicans really think program is socialist?

President Obama said Friday that Republicans in Congress are calling federal student loans socialism. Republicans reject the charge. But the issue is highlighting political differences.
Sen. Dick Lugar trails GOP rival in poll. A surge of tea party power?

Ahead of Tuesday's GOP primary in Indiana, incumbent Sen. Dick Lugar lags challenger Richard Mourdock by 10 points, a new poll shows. A Lugar defeat would be a convincing demonstration of tea party power in 2012 election cycle.
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On National Day of Prayer, plenty of politics

National Day of Prayer activities may have more political undertones than usual this year, as religious groups take aim at what they see as President Obama's attacks on religious freedom. 
Obama's ex-girlfriend: what her diaries reveal

As a recent college grad in New York, Barack Obama fell in love with a young white woman named Genevieve Cook. Passages from her diary appear in a new biography of the president.
Occupy movement seeks new recruits. In New York, it found some. (+video)

A new generation of activists skips school, flocks to Wall Street to join May Day Occupy protests. On their minds? student loans, reining in corporations, and being part of something that could matter.