Political Scene

SENATE

Republican warns of GOP death

One of the GOP’s most conservative senators and a “tea party” favorite, Jim DeMint of South Carolina, says the Republican Party will be “dead” if it fails to live up to its principles again.

Mr. DeMint has been critical of Republicans who he contends have not lived up to conservative values of limited government. He has long argued that when Republicans controlled Congress during the Bush administration, they spent and borrowed too much.

Amid predictions that the GOP will regain control of the House, Mr. DeMint says that if GOP lawmakers don’t do what they say they’ll do, if they are in the majority, in his words, “the Republican Party’s dead.”

Mr. DeMint made his comments in an interview aired Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

MISSOURI

Democrats wage ’military campaigns’

JEFFERSON CITY | - Some longtime Democratic incumbents are waging pro-military campaigns to defend their seats in Congress.

Missouri Rep. Ike Skelton could be considered the general of the pro-military campaign. The House Armed Services Committee chairman features testimonials from the parents of deployed troops in his TV ads. And his campaign fliers declare him “A Soldier’s Congressman.”

It might seem an odd tactic at a time when most candidates are focused on issues such as the weak economy.

But for embattled Democrats in conservative districts, the military theme is a way to keep the political battle on their home turf - and away from the broader approval or disapproval of President Obama and the Democrat-led Congress.

NEW YORK

Cuomo launches bipartisan campaign

ALBANY | Democrat Andrew Cuomo is launching a bipartisan drive for his campaign for governor as the party continues to attack Republican Carl Paladino, suggesting Mr. Cuomo’s opponent is crazy.

Mr. Cuomo’s Manhattan event on Sunday will announce new bipartisan chairmen, presumably including Republicans and independents. The campaign calls it a “big tent” of New York leaders backing reform of Albany.

Meanwhile, the state Democratic Committee that Mr. Cuomo directs released a statement calling one of Mr. Paladino’s recent campaign ads demeaning and inappropriate.

The ad puts Mr. Cuomo’s face on a man in a shower trying to clean “Special Interests” and other dirt away.

There was no immediate comment from Mr. Paladino.

SENATE

Murkowski defends write-in bid

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska says her write-in effort to re-enter the race to retain her seat in the Senate isn’t undermining the Republican Party.

Speaking in an interview Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Mrs. Murkowski said she received countless phone calls, e-mails and faxes urging her to stay in the contest.

In mounting the write-in bid, she says she’s “listening to my constituents” and is “going to give them a choice.”

Mrs. Murkowski says that suggestions by the GOP’s nominee, Joe Miller, to do away with Medicare, Social Security and the Education Department are too radical for most Alaskans.

She acknowledges, however, that a write-in campaign is going to be tough.

HAWAII

Abercrombie wins Democratic race

HONOLULU | Hawaii Democrats have chosen former U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie in their bid to take back the governor’s office after eight years of Republican control.

Mr. Abercrombie defeated longtime political rival ex-Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann in a bitterly contested campaign that focused on character and leadership experience.

Mr. Abercrombie will face Republican nominee Lt. Gov. James “Duke” Aiona in the November campaign to succeed GOP Gov. Linda Lingle in President Obama’s birth state.

Ms. Lingle could not run again because of term limits.

Mr. Abercrombie likely will have to appeal to the state’s moderate Democrats, who backed Mr. Hannemann, while Mr. Aiona will have to demonstrate he can win in what is still a strongly Democratic state.

WHITE HOUSE

Black lawmakers must rally voters

President Obama is coming out fighting against his Republican foes with strong words in a political speech to black lawmakers.

He’s telling members of the Congressional Black Caucus to go back home and rally people to support Democrats in the November election. He’s likening the task at hand to the grass-roots efforts that helped drive the civil rights movement.

Mr. Obama doesn’t use the word “Republican” in his remarks Saturday night. Instead he’s talking about “the other side” and “a crowd that wants to do what’s right politically, instead of what’s right - period.”

He also says the recession came down with “a particular vengeance” on black communities.

STATE DEPARTMENT

Clinton: Chelsea’s wedding wonderful

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says preparing for her daughter’s wedding was the most wonderful, difficult and stressful task she’s taken on in the last few months.

In an interview for broadcast Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Mrs. Clinton said that being the mother of the bride and planning a wedding is always stressful.

But, she says, “Doing it long distance, jet-lagged, on planes, in the midst of diplomatic negotiations, made it a little more so.”

Chelsea Clinton, the only child of former President Bill Clinton and Mrs. Clinton, wed her longtime boyfriend earlier this summer before an exclusive high society gathering at an elegant estate in upstate New York.

WHITE HOUSE

Obamas attend Episcopal services

President Obama and his family attended an hourlong service Sunday morning at a church just across the street from the White House.

Accompanied by his wife, Michelle, and their daughters, Malia and Sasha, Mr. Obama strolled across Lafayette Square to attend St. John’s Church. Sasha held her father’s hand as they crossed the park.

Mr. Obama has attended the pale yellow Episcopal church three times previously, as well as other churches in the nation’s capital.

A pew nine rows back from the altar at St. John’s carries a small brass plaque designating it as “The President’s Pew.” Church history claims that every president since the nation’s fourth chief executive, James Madison, has visited.