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Articles by Seth McLaughlin

Bills in the Senate is still as a statue in the Capitol Rotunda, but Republicans hope to get things moving if they win control of the chamber in the midterm elections. Polls suggest they have a solid chance. (Associated Press)

GOP: GOP homing in on Senate, ready to push policies

Having beaten back all of the tea party challengers so far this year, Senate Republicans have assembled a field of candidates well-poised to hold their own seats and make a run at the at least six Democrat-held seats needed to flip control of the chamber and start calling the shots in the upper chamber.

June 29, 2014
** FILE ** Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) held at the Gaylord Hotel, National Harbor, Md., Friday, March 7, 2014. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

Huckabee endorses Sen. Lamar Alexander’s re-election bid

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Friday endorsed Sen. Lamar Alexander's re-election bid in a new campaign ad, saying he is ready to step into the ring and fight against anyone who challenges the veteran lawmaker's conservative credentials.

June 27, 2014

Rep. James Lankford: ‘National tea party’ is oxymoron

Rep. James Lankford said Wednesday that his victory in the Oklahoma Senate primary race should serve as a clear reminder that local tea party activists are not going to take their marching orders from the national groups that claim the mantle of the grassroots movement.

June 25, 2014
Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC's "Morning Joe"

Joe Scarborough: GOP establishment’s goal is to knock Harry Reid from power

Former Florida Rep. Joe Scarborough touted Sen. Thad Cochran's win in the Mississippi primary race Wednesday as more proof that the GOP establishment is doing everything it can this primary season to avoid any surprises in the November election that could hurt its chances of knocking Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid from power.

June 25, 2014
U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., addresses supporters and volunteers at his runoff election victory party Tuesday, June 24, 2014, at the Mississippi Children's Museum in Jackson, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) ** FILE **

Cochran wins Mississippi primary runoff

Sen. Thad Cochran turned back a hard challenge from tea-party-backed state Sen. Chris McDaniel in the Mississippi Senate runoff race Tuesday, handing the party establishment arguably its biggest win of the 2014 primary season and boosting Republican hopes of flipping control of the Senate in the November election.

June 24, 2014
Rick Perry

Perry unfazed by the rise of fellow Texan Cruz

Texas Gov. Rick Perry downplayed the idea Thursday that the window may have closed on his chances of winning the GOP presidential nomination because of the rise of another Lone Star Republican: Sen. Ted Cruz.

June 19, 2014
FILE - In this May 3, 2014, file photo, Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker speaks in Milwaukee. Newly released documents show prosecutors are alleging Walker was at the center of a nationwide "criminal scheme" to illegally coordinate with outside conservative groups. The documents were filed as part of an ongoing lawsuit challenging the probe by the conservative group Wisconsin Club for Growth. The documents were ordered publicly released Thursday, June 19, 2014, by a federal appeals court judge after prosecutors and the Wisconsin Club for Growth did not object. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps, File)

Scott Walker part of criminal scheme: prosecutors

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said Thursday he was the victim of a partisan legal assault after prosecutors released court documents saying that the Republican governor was involved in a "criminal scheme" in which he illegally coordinated fundraising with outside conservative groups in the run-up to his 2012 recall election.

June 19, 2014
FILE - In this Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013 file photo, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki meets with Iran's former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in Tehran, Iran. Iraqi security forces battled insurgents targeting the country's main oil refinery and claimed to regain partial control of a city near the Syrian border Wednesday, trying to blunt a weeklong offensive by militants who diplomats fear may have abducted some 100 foreign workers. Al-Maliki, meanwhile, struck an optimistic tone after soldiers abandoned their posts in the wake of the initial offensive, promising his nation would teach the attackers a "lesson." "We have now started our counteroffensive, regaining the initiative and striking back," al-Maliki said. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

U.S. lawmakers growing weary of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki

There is a growing sentiment in Washington that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is part of the problem, not the solution, when it comes to unifying the Middle Eastern nation and leading its response to the Islamic militants threatening to spin Iraq into chaos.

June 19, 2014