The biggest Republican-leaning money machines are spending dramatically less to help the party ahead of the 2014 congressional elections, a year after big-dollar conservative groups poured millions into unsuccessful campaigns against President Barack Obama and Democratic candidates, and the GOP failed to retake the White House or the Senate.

A clear divide over PPACA separates the emerging field of potential GOP candidates for the 2016 presidential race, previewing the battles ahead as they try to rebuild their party and seize the White House.

Republican governors in swing-voting states are grudgingly bowing to the reality that "Obamacare" is the law of the land and almost certainly here to stay.

Iowa's Tom Harkin, chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, will continue to push his own vision for a nationalized U.S. retirement system through 2014.

Republicans and Democrats in state capitals across the country are talking ambitiously about what they'll do next year with the unchecked power they amassed in the fall elections. In more states than not, one party now has full control of government.

For years, Republicans have adhered fiercely to their bedrock conservative principles, resisting Democratic calls for tax hikes, comprehensive immigration reform and gun control. Now, seven weeks after an electoral drubbing, some party leaders and rank-and-file alike are signaling a willingness to bend on all three issues.

Blindsided by a new law weakening union rights in Michigan, organized labor is preparing to target Republican governors in politically important states up for re-election in 2014 part of a renewed offensive against perceived anti-union policies.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney claimed Friday that President Barack Obama has failed to fulfill his promises in part because he does not understand what it takes to ignite a more robust economic recovery.