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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.

Full Story at msnbc.msn.com

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.

Full Story at CNN.com

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.

Full Story at First Read.msnbc.msn.com

*** UPDATE 3:00 pm ET *** The Senate will, in fact, be coming back for the technical fix on border security bill and to pass a resolution on former Senator Ted Stevens death. This is not the full Senate coming back. See below…

From NBC’s Ken Strickland
There is a very good chance the Senate will interrupt its recess and come back in session to AGAIN pass a border-security bill. Yes, it would pass the exact same bill it already passed Thursday night.

Full Story at CNN.com

Washington (CNN) — President Barack Obama on Thursday renewed his call for Senate Republicans to stop blocking a jobs bill intended to help small businesses.

Just before leaving for vacation, Obama told reporters at the White House that political gamesmanship instead of legitimate policy differences is stalling the bill.

He noted that the legislative process includes “times when good people differ in good faith.”

“This is not one of those times,” Obama said, adding that Republicans drafted parts of the legislation now being filibustered by Senate Republicans to prevent a vote.

Full Story at msnbc.com

WASHINGTON — The House has approved a bill to boost safety standards for offshore drilling and remove a liability cap for oil spills, but a partisan fight in the Senate will likely delay action on a response to the Gulf oil spill until Congress returns from its summer recess.

Democratic leaders hailed the House bill, approved Friday, as a comprehensive response to the devastating oil spill. They said it would increase drilling safety and crack down on polluting oil companies, such as BP.

Full Story at CNN.com

(CNN) — President Barack Obama on Wednesday challenged Senate Republicans to back a bill that would help small businesses, calling its provisions “things the Republican Party has said it supported for years.”

Speaking at a New Jersey sandwich shop, Obama said the bill would help people like the shop’s owners and other small-business operators by easing their tax burden and helping them get more credit.

“Surely, Democrats and Republicans ought to be able to agree on this bill,” Obama said.

Full Story at politicalticker.Blogs.CNN.com

Washington (CNN) – When Robert Byrd passed away last month at the age of 92, he was the oldest member of the Senate, but now, a 95 year-old veteran of West Virginia politics has filed papers to run for the seat.

Former U.S. Congressman Ken Hechler, a Democrat and former West Virginia secretary of state, submitted paperwork Wednesday to enter the special election Senate primary, the Secretary of State’s office confirmed to CNN. He’ll be challenging the state’s governor, Joe Manchin, also a Democrat, who announced Tuesday that he’s running for Byrd’s seat.

Full Story at PoliticalTicker.blogs.CNN.com

Washington (CNN) – The timing of Sen. Robert Byrd’s death is contributing to confusion about filling the remainder of his term.

Under West Virginia law, Gov. Joe Manchin has the power to appoint a successor. Since Manchin, a popular two-term governor, is a Democrat, it’s expected he will name a fellow member of his party to succeed Byrd, who was also a Democrat, thereby keeping Democrats’ caucus in the Senate at 59 seats.

Full Story at CNN.com

(CNN) — Voters in three states head to the polls Tuesday, and in one of those states history might be made:

South Carolina

South Carolina Republicans could make state Rep. Nikki Haley their first female gubernatorial nominee. She’s in a runoff against U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett.

Haley just missed out on winning the nomination outright in the June 8 primary, capturing 49 percent of the vote in a four-candidate field