Hispanic political leaders, some Republican and some not, spent the last two weeks assessing and arguing over the Republican Party's failure at the polls on November 4. A key lesson of the election, many declared, is that the Hispanic vote is increasing in strength and will be crucial for any party, be they Republican or Democrat, that desires to win the top national offices. For some Republican leaders, that is a cause for worry.  More »

The CEOs of the big three automakers flew to the nation's capital yesterday in private luxurious jets to make their case to Washington that the auto industry is running out of cash and needs $25 billion in taxpayer money to avoid bankruptcy.  More »

Congressional allies of the auto industry were rushing late yesterday to put together a bipartisan aid package for faltering Detroit car companies, but lawmakers said they may leave town today without taking action.  More »

To most observers, the elections two weeks ago sent a pretty clear signal: The nation was sick of George W. Bush, sick of his party, sick of conservatism as a governing philosophy. Don't tell that to House Republicans, though.On Capitol Hill Wednesday, the House GOP (its ranks reduced by at least 20 seats for the second campaign cycle in a row, and possibly more depending on the outcome of some disputed races) elected a slate of leaders drawn from the most ideologically conservative bloc in their ranks, the Republican Study Committee.  More »

Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart, a Cuban-American Republican from the Miami area, puts it bluntly: "We have a very, very serious problem." He is referring to the GOP's lack of support among Hispanics, which could derail the party's future presidential hopes.  More »

Some Republicans are saying the party was on a fool's errand trying to win over Latinos.  In this election, most Latinos voted for the Democratic nominee for president just as they have in every presidential election since they helped elect John F. Kennedy in 1960. There have been elections where Democrats ran away with the Latino vote (i.e., Bill Clinton), and others where they were barely able to gain a majority (i.e., John Kerry).   More »

Wall Street hit levels not seen since 2003 on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones industrial average plunging below the 8,000 mark amid a dour economic outlook from the Federal Reserve and worries over the fate of Detroit's three automakers.  More »

The seizure of a Saudi oil supertanker by Somali pirates may push Western navies to step up their actions against hijackers, military experts said.  The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is reassessing its operations in the region and may adopt a tougher stance toward the pirates. The navies of India, Russia, Britain and Germany have all battled pirate vessels in the Gulf of Aden in the last 10 days alone.  More »

To update one of the Rev. Jesse Jackson's great phrases, "The hands that picked the cotton, and the hands that picked the lettuce, just picked the new president."  According to the exit polls, if whites alone had voted, John McCain would be president-elect. That gap was erased by Barack Obama's incredible support among African-American voters, who gave him 95 percent of their votes while increasing their turnout to 13 percent of the electorate. Despite idiotic and widespread pundit commentary earlier this year that insisted Latino votes wouldn't vote for an African-American candidate, Latinos in fact gave Obama two-thirds of their votes.  More »

ran is forging ahead with its nuclear programme, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog reported on Wednesday, deepening the dilemma facing US president-elect Barack Obama over his campaign promise to engage with Tehran.  The latest report by the International Atomic Energy Agency reveals that Iran is rapidly increasing its stockpile of enriched uranium, which could be rendered into weapons-grade material should Tehran decide to develop a nuclear device.  More »

Responding to pleas for legal clarity from those on both sides of the issue, the California Supreme Court said Wednesday that it would take up the case of whether a voter-approved ban on same-sex unions was constitutional. The court, however, stopped short of suspending the ban, which California voters passed as Proposition 8 two weeks ago after an expensive and hard-fought campaign.  More »