Democrats

(Newser) - Barack Obama was surprised last week when a buddy from back in the days when he was called Barry got in touch. Keith Kakugawa, recently released from prison for his third drug conviction and living in a car, called the senator's cell phone to ask for help.

(Newser) - Presidential contender John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth announced today that the breast cancer she battled after the last election cycle has recurred and advanced to Stage IV. The cancer has spread to her bones, a lung, and possibly other organs, her oncologist explained,  and is now inoperable. The...

(Newser) - Democrats haven't managed to score with a single one of the bills drafted in their giddy first 100 hours, but playing hardball with hearings has proved more fruitful. In cranking up the congressional oversight machinery, write Richard Simon and Noam Levey, they've dominated headlines and applied pressure to the administration.

(Newser) - Smoking, trans fat and auto emissions are only the beginning: A group of California legislators is agitating for measures regulating everything from having your pet neutered to changing your light bulbs. They're called "nanny laws," and poli-sci types say they're a product of prosperity. It's "post materialist,...