Former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel’s drive to win confirmation as Defense Secretary got an added push today as a group of former Secretaries of State, Defense and National Security Advisers sent all 100 senators a letter of endorsement. “His approach...
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Photograph by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Accompanied by CIA Spokesperson Marie Harf, former Senator Chuck Hagel leaves the Capitol Hill offices of Sen. John McCain after the two Vietnam War veterans met on Jan. 22, 2013 in Washington.
Hagel Draws Bipartisan Backing from Past Secretaries of Defense, State
Photograph by Echorouk Elyaoumi/AP Photo
Men look at the wreckage of a vehicle near Ain Amenas, Algeria. Algerian bomb squads scouring a gas plant where Islamist militants took dozens of foreign workers hostage found "numerous" new bodies on Jan. 20, 2013 as they searched for explosive traps left behind by the attackers, a security official said, a day after a bloody raid ended the four-day siege of the remote desert refinery.
Terrorists Tagged Twice by State — In Case They Didn’t Get the Memo
The Abdallah Azzam Brigades, a militant organization based in Lebanon and the Arabian Peninsula, is a bad, bad group of terrorists. So bad, in fact, that the U.S. has officially declared them a terrorist organization – for the second time...
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Photograph by Alex Wong/Getty Images
A Washington, D.C. 'TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION' license plate on Vice President Joseph Biden's limousine.
Washington Statehood: ‘New Columbia’
Taxation without representation. It’s a storied complaint in American history. In Washington, D.C., it’s a license plate. For all the failures of Washingtonians to gain recognition from the Congress that operates in their own home town, a long-denied bid for...
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Photograph by Jerome Favre/Bloomberg
Lawrence "Larry" Summers, professor at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, attends a news conference at the Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong.
Summers: Can’t Look to Austerity for Growth
Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said today “we really can’t look to austerity as a source of growth.” Summers was speaking with Bloomberg’s Tom Keene on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. Summers also served as an...
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Photograph by Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Sen. Rand Paul during the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida.
Rand Paul vs. Kerry-Clinton Democrats
Sen. Rand Paul is laying down some fire lines. The Kentucky Republican and son of former Texas congressman Ron Paul, said to be considering a presidential campaign of his own, has revealed a take-no-hostages approach to his questioning of departing...
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Photograph by Henry Griffin/AP Photo
John Kerry, navy lieutenant who was wounded three times in Vietnam and who has won the silver star for heroism, speaks to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on behalf of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) on Capitol Hill on April 22, 1971.
John Kerry Reporting for State Duty
John Kerry has been in training for this for some time, his friends say. The senior senator from Massachusetts, appearing before the committee he chairs today for confirmation of his nomination as secretary of state, first appeared there as a...
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Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
The Lincoln Memorial in Washington.
Republican Re-branding Mirrored by States: ‘Lincoln Republicans’
As Republican National Committee members meet in Charlotte to plot a way toward more electoral success, state parties are copying the national party’s reinvention study. Pat Brady, chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, announced today that he’s forming his own...
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Photograph by George Frey/Bloomberg
An attendee looking at a Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. semi-automatic assault rifle for sale at the Rocky Mountain Gun Show in Sandy, Utah, on Jan. 5, 2013.
Gun Controls Approved in Polls — Difficult at Best in Congress
Most Americans hold a favorable view of the measures that President Barack Obama proposes for curbing gun violence in America, following the slaying of 20 first-grade children at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, last month. So shows the polling...
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Photograph by Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo
Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Sen. John Kerry, President Barack Obama's nominee to become secretary of state, gives a 'thumbs-up' as he arrives on Capitol Hill on Jan. 24, 2013, to testify before his confirmation hearing before the committee to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Washington Daybook: Taking the Hot Seat
One day after members of congress grilled Hillary Clinton over the attack on an American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, Sen. John Kerry faces a hearing of his own as the nominee to replace Clinton as secretary of state. The Senate Foreign...
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Photograph by Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
President Barack Obama nominates Senator John Kerry for the next secretary of state on Dec. 21, 2012.
Nominee Kerry Before Chairman Kerry’s Committee
John Kerry, President Barack Obama’s choice for Secretary of State, will appear today at a confirmation hearing before the Foreign Relations Committee, the panel the Massachusetts Democrat leads. It would be quite the sight to see chairman Kerry question nominee Kerry,...
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Contributors
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Al Hunt
is a columnist for Bloomberg View and host of the weekly show "Political Capital with Al Hunt" on Bloomberg TV. -
Mark Silva
is deputy managing editor for government news in Washington and editor of Political Capital. He has covered the White House and national politics. -
Emma Fidel
is political editor for Bloomberg.com in Washington. She previously covered financial regulation as a Bloomberg intern. -
Don Frederick
edits political and government coverage for Bloomberg News. He previously worked for more than a decade at the Los Angeles Times' Washington bureau. -
Gregory Giroux
analyzes elections, financing of congressional and presidential elections, political advertising and demographics in Bloomberg's Washington Bureau. -
Julie Bykowicz
covers the influence of money and lobbying in Washington, and covered the state legislature and city crime for the Baltimore Sun for 10 years. -
Jonathan Salant
covers campaign finance and lobbying in Washington. He was president of the National Press Club and started in Washington in 1987. -
Richard Rubin
covers federal tax policy. He worked at Congressional Quarterly and The Charlotte Observer before joining Bloomberg News in 2010. -
Stephanie Green
is a writer and photographer for Bloomberg Muse, the arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News. She has also written for The Washington Post, The Huffington Post and The Washington Times. -
Julie Hirschfeld Davis
is a senior political reporter for the Washington Bureau. She covered the 2012 campaign for Bloomberg News and previously covered the White House for the Baltimore Sun. -
Lisa Lerer
covers the White House and covered the 2012 campaign for Bloomberg News. She covered Congress, lobbying and the 2008 campaign for Politico. -
John McCormick
is a national political reporter looking forward to the 2016 presidential campaign, which will be the fifth he's covered. He's also reported for The Des Moines Register and Chicago Tribune. -
Julianna Goldman
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Television. -
Hans Nichols
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Television. -
Margaret Talev
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and covered the White House for McClatchy Newspapers. She has covered California and Florida politics. -
Cary O'Reilly
is Editor at Large at Bloomberg First Word and is Washington Daybook columnist for Bloomberg Government and Bloomberg News.
