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WASHINGTON – Congress seems increasingly reluctant to let taxes go up, even on wealthier Americans.

Worried about the fragile economy and their own upcoming elections, a growing number of Democrats are joining the rock-solid Republican opposition to President Barack Obama’s plans to let some of the Bush administration’s tax cuts expire.

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WASHINGTON — Union leaders said Wednesday they will mobilize millions of members in 26 states with a message about “economic patriotism” as they try to help Democrats hold onto their majority in the House and Senate.

The nation’s largest labor federation plans to spend more than $50 million leading up to the November elections, targeting 70 House races and 18 Senate races with television ads, phone banks and leaflets.

In a response to the anti-establishment anger of Tea Party activists, AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka called on voters to think about “economic patriots” and “corporate traitors.”

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ANCHORAGE — Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski was booted from office in the Republican primary Tuesday by a little-known conservative lawyer backed by former governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, in arguably America’s biggest political upset of the year.

Joe Miller, backed by Palin and the ultraconservative Tea Party Express movement, became the latest newcomer to the national political stage to take down an incumbent in 2010 amid deep dissatisfaction with the Washington establishment.

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YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — An elections board in Ohio says a former congressman who served time in federal prison has enough valid signatures to run again for a U.S. House seat.

Director Tom McCabe says the Mahoning County board on Monday approved more than 30 disputed signatures to allow Jim Traficant (TRAF’-eh-kehnt) to make the November ballot in northeast Ohio’s 17th district.

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WILMINGTON, Del. – John Carney of Delaware is a rarity in a campaign season of foreboding for Democrats, a practicing politician with a strong chance of winning a Republican-held seat in Congress.

Not that Carney is interested in attaching any national significance to his race. “I’ll support (President Barack Obama) when I think he’s right and I won’t when I think he proposes something that isn’t in the best interests of Delaware,” he says.

But with House Republicans on offense in dozens of races in all regions of the country, victories by Carney and a few others challenging for GOP-held seats — most prominently in Louisiana, Hawaii and Illinois — could amount to a last line of defense for Democrats in their struggle to maintain a majority.

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CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Popular Gov. Joe Manchin won the Democratic nomination Saturday and will face GOP primary winner and wealthy businessman John Raese in the race to fill the Senate seat vacated by the late Robert C. Byrd.

Raese defeated a crowded field of Republicans and becomes part of the GOP quest to dismantle the Democratic Senate majority as high unemployment and the slow economic recovery take a toll on their political prospects this fall.

In Louisiana, scandal-tainted Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter easily beat two little-known challengers and will meet Democratic Rep. Charlie Melancon, who won his party’s primary, in November.

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(CNN) — Primary voters are set to head to the polls this weekend, this time in Louisiana and West Virginia.

In Louisiana, GOP Sen. David Vitter is expected to easily overcome a primary challenge Saturday in his first appearance on the ballot since a 2007 prostitution scandal.

In West Virginia, voters are choosing the Democratic and Republican nominees for a November special election to replace the late Sen. Robert Byrd, a Democrat.

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Washington (CNN) — Weighed down by a president with a sub-500 approval rating, Democratic Congressional Campaign Chairman Chris Van Hollen will lay out the party’s plan of attack for November elections at a Friday news conference.

The Maryland congressman, facing a resurgent Republican Party, “will discuss why he believes Democrats deserve to win the off-year elections and how they plan to do it, the legislative agenda as passed so far including health care, financial rescue, Wall Street reform, student loans, Afghanistan action, and Iraq withdrawal,” according to a statement released by the campaign.

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ATLANTA — More than 13 million students and 1 million educators will share $3.4 billion from the second round of the federal “Race to the Top” grant competition, the U.S. Education Department said Tuesday.

The department chose nine states — Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Rhode Island — and the District of Columbia for the grants. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said 25,000 schools will get money to raise student learning and close the achievement gap.

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Washington (CNN) — Just five days before the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s devastating assault on the Gulf coast, millions of dollars are heading to public and private projects for Louisianans still trying to recover, two top Obama administration officials said at a news conference Tuesday.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano and Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate detailed how, courtesy of the federal disaster recovery fund established under the Stafford Act, seven projects in Louisiana will receive more than $26.8 million to contribute to the rebuilding process.