With the conversion today of Arlen Spector and the imminent confirmation of of Al Franken, the Demcorats are poised to take 60 seats in the United States senate.

The verdict is in on Independent Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut. He will keep his chairmanship but lose his position on another panel.

The Rules and Bylaws Committee of the Democratic Party will consider two challenges concerning the seating of delegations from Florida and Michigan. The streaming video of the meeting is starting at 9:30 AM.

Last night was a big night for Hillary Clinton. She won Ohio, Texas, and Rhode Island. It started out good for Obama, with Vermont extending his winning streak to twelve in a row. Where there was a good chance that Clinton would would be thinking seriously about dropping out yesterday, there is apparently no chance of that now. But breaking Obama's winning streak is not winning in itself and Clinton still trails in the delegate count.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice flies to Colombia Thursday with 10 House Democrats in an effort to boost congressional support for a free-trade agreement with that country. The Bush administration faces an uphill battle to win election-year approval for the Colombia trade deal. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

President Bush says he is optimistic about reaching agreement with opposition legislators on an economic stimulus package. VOA White House Correspondent Scott Stearns reports, the U.S. central bank has cut the key interest rate in an effort to boost the troubled U.S. economy and stop a global sell-off of stocks.

The Australian Democrats say granting BAE Systems Australia an exemption from racial discrimination laws sets South Australia back 20 years.

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — The Democratic presidential candidates square off in South Carolina tonight in a high-stakes debate leading up to Saturday's primary and just two weeks before 22 states hold primaries and caucuses on Feb. 5.

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have called a truce after being stung by a nasty dispute over race and politics that may have damaged their presidential campaigns and their party.

Paddy Power, Ireland's largest bookmaker, is today claiming that the Democratic Nomination race for the U.S. presidential election is well and truly over and are already paying out on Barack Obama to be the successful Democratic nominee.

Here is my best educated guess of how things will pan out at the end of the night in anticipation of Iowa Caucus Results. This is just order of finish, not percentages. On that end, I think we’ll see some pretty tight numbers between 3rd through 5th place on the Republican side and among the top three on the Democratic side.

The gulf between how Democrats and Republicans interpret political events has become a central feature of American politics over the last fifty years.