National Election Wire

First lady to high school grads: Live your dreams

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — First lady Michelle Obama has some advice for some Tennessee high school graduates: Strike your own path in college and life and work to overcome inevitable failures with determination and grit.

Obama takes Cabinet secretaries out to play golf

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has taken two Cabinet secretaries out for a round of golf - in the rain.

Tea party hero Cuccinelli is Va. GOP gov nominee

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia's activist conservative attorney general has won the Republican Party's gubernatorial nomination by acclamation.

A look at why the Benghazi issue keeps coming back

WASHINGTON — The night of smoke, chaos, gunfire and grenades that killed four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, is well-documented. Eight months later, it is the decisions made back in Washington that remain murky and in perpetual dispute.

IRS probe ignored most influential groups

WASHINGTON — There's an irony in the Internal Revenue Service's crackdown on conservative groups.

Obama talks jobs, says politics misplace focus

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is calling attention to his economic proposals and efforts to expand the middle class.

Dems' Senate campaigns marked by internal battles

ATLANTA — Republicans aren't the only ones roiled by internal jostling and recruiting hiccups ahead of next year's midterm elections.

Obama agenda marches on despite controversies

WASHINGTON — Despite Democratic fears, predictions of the demise of President Barack Obama's agenda appear exaggerated after a week of cascading controversies, political triage by the administration and party leaders in Congress and lack of evidence to date of wrongdoing close to the Oval Office.

Colorado sheriffs sue over new gun restrictions

DENVER — Colorado sheriffs upset with gun restrictions adopted in the aftermath of last year's mass shootings filed a federal lawsuit Friday, challenging the regulations as unconstitutional.

Treasury says U.S. can pay its bills for months, delaying debt ceiling fight

WASHINGTON — Any confrontation over the nation’s debt ceiling is now unlikely until after Labor Day.