AP - A high-stakes political fund-raising trial began Monday as Democrats argued that the treasurer of a committee formed by House Republican Leader Tom DeLay broke the law by using corporate money to get GOP legislative candidates elected.

AP - Hoping a compromise might end Utah's rebellion against President Bush's education centerpiece, Gov. Jon Huntsman asked lawmakers Tuesday to wait before voting on a bill giving priority to state education goals over the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Democrats offered a flurry of amendments to a controversial bankruptcy bill on Wednesday, delaying a vote on the legislation with proposals that ranged from easing the bill's impact on select groups to forcing new requirements on credit card companies.

AP - Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern is expected to be at the White House to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with President Bush, but Northern Ireland politicians aren't invited.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush said on Friday he planned to nominate Christopher Hill to be Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, the administration's pointman on North Korea.

AP - Mayor James Hahn, locked in a neck-and-neck battle for re-election, kept up the verbal attacks on his chief political rivals Saturday as the Los Angeles mayoral campaign entered its final weekend.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Energy Committee chairman on Sunday defended Republican plans to allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge through a provision in a pending budget bill, although critics say the strategy is underhanded.

AP - Sinn Fein chief Gerry Adams and other Northern Ireland political leaders will not be invited to a St. Patrick's Day luncheon with congressional leaders, another sign that the United States is unhappy over the stalled peace process.

AP - A growing number of registered voters believe Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton should run for president in 2008, according to a poll released Tuesday.

AP - The Associated Press and seven journalism organizations are joining forces to promote policies aimed at ensuring government is accessible, accountable and open.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration, in a major shift, on Friday will adopt a European proposal to offer Iran economic incentives to abandon its nuclear ambitions, U.S. and European officials said on Thursday.

AP - The state Senate's Democratic caucus, led by the chamber's black members, walked out of the Legislature Friday after an emotional vote on voting rights.

AP - Iowa and New Hampshire, combined, have 4.2 million people — just 1.5 percent of the U.S. population. Yet Democratic presidential candidates spend months and millions of dollars each presidential cycle in those two states before the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, the first events in the party's nomination process.

AP - For about half a dozen members of Congress who have had kids serving in Iraq, the war is far more than a matter of public policy. They debate it and often defend it — with eyes on public opinion, like almost any elected official. But they also live the war through those most dear to them.

AP - Senators sharply questioned Homeland Security officials Monday on how to ensure foreign visitors leave the United States when their visas expire — unlike some of the Sept. 11 hijackers.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday sought to block the Bush administration from using $658 million it requested in an emergency war spending bill to build an embassy in Baghdad, a move that could delay construction.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. senators said on Wednesday that they want to boost long-term highway and transit funding despite a White House veto threat to hold the line at $284 billion.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - William Myers on Thursday became the first of seven judicial nominees blocked by Democrats and renominated by President Bush to win the approval of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

AP - President Bush, struggling in his bid to create private accounts within Social Security, brought his mom on the road Friday in hopes 79-year-old Barbara Bush could bolster his case among the politically potent white-haired set.

AP - President Bush is changing his schedule to return to the White House on Sunday to be in place to sign emergency legislation that would shift the case of a brain-damaged Florida woman to federal courts, the White House said Saturday.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pressed China Monday to persuade North Korea to return to nuclear disarmament talks after warning that Washington would not wait forever for a resumption.

AP - The federal law President Bush signed to prolong Terri Schiavo's life in Florida appears to conflict with a Texas law he signed as governor, attorneys familiar with the legislation said Monday.

AP - Sen. John McCain said Tuesday the conclusions of a commission investigating intelligence failures on weapons of mass destruction should not lead to new questions about whether the Iraq war was justified.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Paul Wolfowitz's nomination for World Bank president has aroused fewer public grumbles than expected in part because of European jostling for top jobs at other global agencies, diplomatic sources said on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former President Jimmy Carter will lead a bipartisan commission to examine problems with the U.S. election system, American University's Center for Democracy and Election Management said on Thursday.

AP - President Bush on Friday expressed condolences to the leader of the Minnesota Indian reservation where 10 people died Monday in the second-worst school shooting in U.S. history.

AP - President Bush's proposal to change Social Security by creating retirement investment accounts for younger workers would shatter the New Deal-era program and burden future generations with debt, a Michigan congressman said Saturday.

AP - House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who has helped lead a congressional effort to keep Terri Schiavo alive, joined members of his own family nearly 17 years ago in allowing doctors not to take extraordinary measures to extend his father's life, a newspaper reported Sunday.

PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) - Pushing payroll taxes up enough to keep the Social Security system healthy would be an imprudent move that would damage the U.S. economy in the long run, Treasury Secretary John Snow said on Monday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials voiced cautious support for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday, saying they did not know where an inquiry into the U.N. oil-for-food program may lead or whether Annan would survive it.

AP - Two liberal groups are running TV ads demanding that Tom DeLay resign as House majority leader and urging fellow congressmen to mobilize against the Texas representative, who is under investigation for alleged ethics violations.