Super Committee

Senate Republicans Toss DeMint Under The Bus On Tax Increases

Brian Beutler | November 16, 2011, 11:23AM

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC)

Something you don't see very often in the Capitol: a Wednesday morning press conference with dozens of House and Senate members of both parties - including Republicans - acknowledging that they'd support a big deficit reduction proposal that includes higher tax revenue.

But wait, aren't several of those Republicans the same ones who recently signed a letter, written by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), asking that the Super Committee recommend "no net tax increase"?

Indeed they are. And asked to address the inconsistency, one of those signatories basically said they don't feel bound to DeMint's demands.

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Super Committee

Dems, GOP Play Super Committee Hot Potato As Talks Stall Over Taxes

Brian Beutler | November 10, 2011, 6:03AM

Members of the deficit Super Committee are still meeting, still talking, but for all intents and purposes, negotiations have stalled. The underlying difficulty remains the GOP's unwillingness to agree to raise significant new tax revenue, enough to match Democrats' willingness to cut spending on popular programs like Medicare and Social Security. But with days ticking down quickly until the panel's November 23 deadline, each party is claiming that the ball is in the other's court.

One of the most recent offers, the details of which were leaked to the press earlier this week, came from Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA). It's been characterized by Republicans as a plan that would raise $300 billion in new revenue, Republicans say, by limiting certain tax preferences. But it also would require reducing, and making permanent, Bush-era tax rates for high income earners -- a requirement Democrats oppose. Additionally, the overall revenue figure may be the product of a controversial "dynamic" model, which assumes that the tax changes will lead to economic growth.

Democrats have applauded Republicans for finally acknowledging that higher net tax revenues need to be part of the committee's overall mix. But they've also rejected the offer as not serious, and wildly dismissive of Dem demands that the panel reduce deficits nearly as much by rolling back spending on safety net programs as by requiring wealthier Americans to pay higher taxes.

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Barack Obama

Conservatives Hope To Repeal Obamacare Using A Tactic They Once Decried

Brian Beutler | October 5, 2011, 12:14PM

Jim DeMint

Though the official GOP push to repeal the health care law has slowed since Republicans took power in January, the right flank of the House and Senate haven't quieted down at all. And on Wednesday, several of them gathered outside the Capitol with the anti-reform group "Repeal It Now" in front of a stack of boxes which they claim contained 1,600,000 signed petitions demanding the entire law be repealed.

But though the members are pursuing complete -- not partial -- repeal of the law as soon as possible, they acknowledged they may have to wait until next Congress to make any headway. That's when they might have enough power to use some of the same procedural tools Democrats used to pass the bill.

"Turnabout's fair play," said Rep. Steve King (R-IA).

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Warren Buffett

On Capitol Hill, Rise Of The Warren Buffett Birthers (VIDEO)

Evan McMorris-Santoro | September 22, 2011, 1:38PM

Warren Buffett and President Barack Obama

Republicans on Capitol Hill have found a new hidden document conspiracy to push to now that President Obama's long-form birth certificate is a matter of public record. Warren Buffett, they demand, show us the tax return!

The Hill reports big names in Congress are starting to say Buffett "needs to reveal his finances if his views on tax rates are going to serve as the basis for Obama administration policy."

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Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney Swears He's Jim DeMint's Kind Of Guy

Evan McMorris-Santoro | September 5, 2011, 7:26PM

GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney (MA)

It was quite a performance. But was it enough?

Mitt Romney ended his tour through Tea Party country on Monday with a late-scheduled slot at Sen. Jim DeMint's (R-SC) Palmetto Freedom Forum. DeMint backed Romney's run for the White House in 2008, but has not extended him much love this time around.

As he did at a New Hampshire tea party rally over the weekend, Romney laid out his case that the haters on the right are wrong and, truly, the former governor of Massachusetts is just the man the angry wing of the GOP is looking for.

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Jim DeMint

Jim DeMint: I'm Probably Not Going To Obama's Job Speech

Evan McMorris-Santoro | September 5, 2011, 2:29PM

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC)

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) -- who's going to spend much of Labor Day listening to Republican after Republican explain how they're going to fix America -- tells ABC News he's probably not going to show up for President Obama's jobs speech before a joint session of Congress Thursday.

"If he sent a written proposal over first, I would go hear him explain it," DeMint said. but frankly right now I'm so frustrated I don't think I'm going to go."

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Jim DeMint

Candidates Head To SC To Sit At Jim DeMint's Right Hand

Evan McMorris-Santoro | September 5, 2011, 10:38AM

Jim DeMint

Updated: September 5, 2011, 3:48PM

If you're a Republican running for president, there are few endorsements you want more than that of tea party hero Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC). And today, contenders for next year's nomination are in South Carolina to kiss DeMint's ring.

DeMint is hosting a candidate forum on Monday afternoon bringing Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul and Herman Cain to the Palmetto State. The event is a big one for the 2012 candidates, as DeMint holds sway nationally over one of the most activist branches of the GOP (he's among the tea party's favorite politicians) as well as with Republicans back home (South Carolina votes early in the primary season, and loves to say it "picks Presidents.")

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Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney's Schedule Now Has Room For Jim DeMint

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 30, 2011, 6:13PM

GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney (MA)

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) -- the one-time Mitt Romney presidential booster cum Romney presidential critic -- will soon stand near Romney once again.

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South Carolina primary

Romney Turns Down DeMint Labor Day Forum

Eric Kleefeld | August 24, 2011, 12:02PM

GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney (R-MA)

Mitt Romney will not be attending a Labor Day candidate forum in South Carolina -- hosted by the very conservative Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), who had previously endorsed Romney back in the 2008 cycle.

As CNN reports, Romney spokesman Ryan Williams has cited scheduling conflicts, saying the candidate will be spending the day in New Hampshire.

Five candidates thus far have accepted invitations: Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul, Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich. Invitations were also extended to Sarah Palin and Rudy Giuliani, though they are not actually in the race. Romney is thus the only active candidate to turn down the event.

Romney has become the target of many conservative attacks, mainly over his Massachusetts health care reform -- which later became the basic blueprint for President Obama's national health care reform. DeMint, of course, has reversed his own position on his past praise for Massachusetts health care reform, back when he endorsed Romney in the 2008 cycle.

Default

Who's Really Responsible For U.S. Debt Downgrade

Brian Beutler | August 17, 2011, 10:00AM

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

This article was updated at 10:00am Eastern on August 17, 2011 to include additional names pointed out by TPM readers.

Now that Standard & Poors has confirmed that the chorus of default doubters in the GOP was part of what spooked them into downgrading the U.S. credit rating, Republicans will do all they can to pretend that they never questioned the risk of missing payment obligations, or allowing borrowing authority to lapse. But they sure did! Here's a long, partial timeline of influential Republicans either vouchsafing default, or downplaying the consequences of passing the August 2 deadline without raising the debt limit.

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Health Care

DeMint: Obama Administration The 'Most Anti-American' In My Lifetime

Brian Beutler | August 11, 2011, 11:25AM

Jim DeMint

Conservative power-broker Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) ran through his litany of complaints about President Obama on Janet Meffered's Christian conservative radio show Wednesday, and concluded that of all the anti-American administrations in his lifetime, Obama's is the most anti-American.

"We saw within a few days that this President was going to be heavy-handed, he was going to implement his agenda and pay back his political allies, and it just went on from there to ObamaCare and then to Dodd-Frank," DeMint said.

It has been the most anti-business and I consider anti-American administration in my lifetime. Things that are just so anathema to the principles of freedom, and everything he has come up with centralizes more power in Washington, creates more socialist-style, collectivist policies. This president is doing something that's so far out of the realm of anything Republicans ever did wrong, it's hard to even imagine.

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Debt ceiling

Tea Party Rally Against Boehner Plan Draws Big Crowd Next To Nobody

Benjy Sarlin | July 27, 2011, 3:40PM

Tea Party Rally In Washington DC

During the health care debate, Tea Party groups mobilized thousands of members to rally against the bill right on lawmakers' doorsteps in Washington, DC. Now the movement is again at a crossroads as Republicans struggle over how far they're willing to push Democrats on spending cuts before raising the debt ceiling.

You wouldn't know it, however, from their rally on Wednesday.

Despite featuring Tea Party icons Sens. Jim DeMint (R-SC), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Rand Paul (R-KY), among others, a gathering outside the Senate organized by the Tea Party Express to urge Republicans to stand firm against a compromise bill drew only a handful of attendees.

Reporters, many of whom came to interview presidential candidate Herman Cain, appeared to easily outnumber protesters. And despite being the most prominent attendee, Cain ended up not addressing the crowd and instead watching from the sidelines.

The dismal showing comes as Tea Party groups and other conservative organizations are waging an aggressive campaign against a plan by Republican leaders to raise the debt ceiling with a two-tiered set of cuts and no promise of a balanced budget amendment.

While the proposal by Speaker Boehner looked to be in serious jeopardy on Tuesday, especially after the CBO found it reduced the deficit less than its backers hoped, the bill appears to be gaining some momentum Wednesday as rank and file members push back against the hardline insurgents.

John Boehner

CIVIL WAR: GOP Coalition Splinters Into Open Conflict Over Debt Ceiling

Benjy Sarlin & Evan McMorris-Santoro | July 27, 2011, 6:00AM

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Speaker Boehner

The Republican leadership's efforts to avert a debt ceiling crisis with a two-tiered set of cuts is turning into the most divisive wedge issue the party has confronted since President Obama took over in 2009.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) may have thought his face-saving plan, which he hoped to bring to the floor Wednesday, offered a path to victory. However, since treading upon it he's been beset from all sides. It's not just that the President is threatening to veto the bill, should it ever make it past the Senate; it's that Boehner's fellow conservatives are sniping at him with (not so) friendly fire. Now the vote he'd hoped to bring triumphantly to the floor Wednesday looks delayed until at least Thursday, and even then the outcome is uncertain.

That's because the GOP is teetering on the brink of a debt-based civil war. More traditional Republicans and big business types are desperate to avoid a recovery-crushing default. But their Tea Party colleagues are leading a rebellion of epic - perhaps even galactic - proportions. Cue the John Williams music and find out who stands where in this stand-off between the Establishment's storm-troopers and the Rebel Alliance.

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Debt Ceiling

Jim DeMint: Boehner Plan Doesn't Have The Votes

Benjy Sarlin | July 26, 2011, 3:07PM

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC)

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), one of the leading hardliners on the right in the debt ceiling fight, is predicting Speaker Boehner (R-OH) will not be able to pass his new plan for a two-tier deficit reduction package without help from Democrats.

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Ron Johnson

Ron Johnson Paralyzes Senate Over Budget Fight

Benjy Sarlin | June 28, 2011, 4:49PM

Ad from candidate for U.S. Senate Ron Johnson (R-WI), "57"

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) ground the Senate to a halt on Tuesday, threatening to block "business as usual" until Democrats submit a budget.

Johnson began his broadside by objecting to a quorum call, blocking the Senate from proceeding with a vote. Quorum calls, like many basic Senate procedures, are approved by unanimous consent and Johnson threatened in a floor speech to wreak havoc on these uncontroversial motions.

"Business as usual is bankrupting America," he said in a floor speech. "It must stop."

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Tea Party

Can The Tea Party Survive A Debt Ceiling Deal?

Benjy Sarlin | June 27, 2011, 5:45AM

Imagine the following: President Obama and Speaker John Boehner emerge next week after a series of tense, closed-door meetings to announce a historic deal that cuts the deficit by $4 trillion over the next decade -- more than anyone thought possible. Additional goodies are thrown in that Republicans have been clamoring for as well: an enforceable cap on spending and a vote (symbolic, of course) on a balanced budget amendment. The breakthrough? Republicans agreed to raise $1 trillion in new revenue, mostly through closing various tax loopholes and credits but also by allowing the absolute highest end of the Bush tax cuts -- those affecting millionaires only -- to expire next year.

But that's not good enough for the Tea Party movement, whose leaders say the GOP sold them out. Activists cry bloody murder. Primaries are threatened. Michele Bachmann stages a sit-in. A week of protests are quickly organized outside the Capitol.

But then a funny thing happens...nothing. A large number of Freshman Republicans vote against the bill in protest, but it passes with near unanimous Democratic support. There's considerable grumbling in the press until the next week, when Obama proposes something conservatives hate, perhaps a new executive order slowing deportations, and the base rallies to stop him. Polls show conservative Republicans as unified as ever as another round of dismal economic news puts the White House within reach, and soon everyone is too focused on 2012 to care about the last fight. In such a scenario, can the Tea Party remain a credible force?

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Debt Ceiling

DeMint: Republicans Who Vote To Raise The Debt Limit Will Be 'Gone'

Brian Beutler | June 24, 2011, 11:33AM

Jim DeMint

Underscoring the challenge Republican leaders in Congress will face when they have to round up votes to increase the debt limit -- and they will have to increase the debt limit -- the most influential conservative in their party is telling his colleagues, 'if you vote for it, you'll lose.'

"Based on what I can see around the country, not only are those individuals gone, but I would suspect the Republican Party would be set back many years," Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) told ABC when asked about the looming vote.

DeMint is whipping Republicans to support a highly controversial Constitutional amendment requiring the government to maintain a balanced budget, and making tax increases functionally impossible as the price of voting to raise the debt limit. If not?

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Balanced Budget Amendment

Huntsman Supports Radical Balanced Budget Amendment

Brian Beutler | June 20, 2011, 1:31PM

Jon Huntsman

In a private conference call with a handful of university students across the country, GOP Presidential hopeful -- and President Obama's former Ambassador to China -- Jon Huntsman argued in support of one of the most far-reaching, controversial elements of the conservative political agenda.

As first reported in a broader piece by the Huffington Post, Huntsman argued in favor of a constitutional amendment requiring the federal government to maintain a balanced budget -- an innocuous-sounding, but radical plan pushed by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) and numerous other congressional conservatives.

"We're going to have to fight for a balanced budget amendment," Huntsman said. "Every governor in this country has a balanced budget amendment. It keeps everybody honest. It's the best safeguard imaginable."

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Jim DeMint

DeMint Attempts To Kill Economic Development Program He Once Supported

Brian Beutler | June 8, 2011, 3:30PM

Jim DeMint

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) is fighting Democratic efforts to direct more federal money to local development projects by pushing to eliminate a jobs program that he's praised and benefited from in the past.

Created under the Johnson administration, the Economic Development Administration, an agency in the Commerce Department, uses its small budget to help fund local initiatives around the country. Democrats to increase its operating budget to $500 million a year.

That's driven DeMint to the warpath. On Wednesday, he called EDA a "wasteful stimulus slush fund that must end," and yesterday introduced separate legislation that would eliminate it altogether. But his antipathy to the program is relatively newfound.

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Jim DeMint

Tea Partying Sen. Jim DeMint Weighing Presidential Run

Benjy Sarlin | June 1, 2011, 10:15AM

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC)

Add another potential late entrant to the GOP primary field: Senate Tea Party leader Jim DeMint.The South Carolina lawmaker told The Hill this week that he is discussing a presidential run with his family and praying on a final decision.

"It's humbling and out of respect, my wife and I have talked about it," DeMint said. "Out of respect for the people who have asked us to think about this, that's what we're going to do. I don't want to imply that I'm changing in mind, but I want to consider what all these folks are doing."

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Labor

South Carolina Emerges As Next Labor Flashpoint In Boeing Dispute

Benjy Sarlin | May 9, 2011, 9:56AM

An ugly spat between a huge corporation, organized labor, the White House, and a Tea Party governor whose union-busting rhetoric would make Chris Christie blush, is becoming the next national flashpoint in this year's ongoing war on unions.

The dispute centers around a planned Boeing airplane production line for its 787 Dreamliner in South Carolina using nonunion labor. The National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint earlier this month looking to halt operation of the new plant after members of the International Association of Machinists at Boeing's Washington state production line claimed the decision to expand outside the state was retaliation for previous strikes. The NLRB is demanding that Boeing open a second production line in labor-friendly Washington state.

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Mitt Romney

DeMint Tries To Spin Away His Past Support For RomneyCare (VIDEO)

Brian Beutler | May 6, 2011, 11:41AM

Former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC)

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) takes Dave Weigel for a spin in South Carolina. In 2007 DeMint endorsed Mitt Romney for President -- indeed, served as his campaign co-chair -- but reportedly won't do so again unless Romney disavows his Massachusetts universal health care law, which served as a model for ObamaCare. Reflecting on his past support, DeMint now suggests he was duped.

"I got involved with him before that," DeMint said, "and the concept that was presented to me was the idea of moving people from government plans to private plans. That's what the goal was. That's how my conversations went, and that's how it was presented. But the way it ended up.... I cannot accept all the mandates, all the government exchanges. And it hasn't worked."

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Labor

Top Union Presses Senators To Ditch Union-Busting Push By House GOP

Brian Beutler | April 20, 2011, 12:43PM

A powerful union is lobbying Democratic and Republican congressional negotiators to make sure they don't curtail worker rights when they finalize new FAA legislation.

A conference committee composed of a bipartisan group of senators and congressmen will soon sort out differences between two different versions of the bill. But the House bill contains a provision that would make it much more difficult for airline and rail workers to form unions. More on that provision here -- it would reinstate old rules that count abstentions as "no" votes in union elections, thus stacking the deck against pro-union workers.

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Lindsey Graham

Showdown Over Port vs. Pork Averted: Graham and Reid Reach Deal

Susan Crabtree | April 14, 2011, 7:34PM

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

Another shutdown showdown averted -- this time the shutdown of the Senate over the paltry sum of $50,000.

Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have reached an accommodation to provide $50,000 for a study on deepening the Port of Charleston, and now Graham is standing down and is no longer threatening to "tie the Senate in knots" and block Obama's nominations from winning Senate approval.

"Now, it's not often that I'm a cheerleader for pieces of legislation that are suggested
and moved forward by Republicans, but I was on this one," Reid told Graham in a remarks on the Senate floor Thursday evening.

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Jim DeMint

Senator Tea Party In Bind Over Port vs. Pork

Susan Crabtree | April 14, 2011, 5:14PM

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC)

Update: Sen. Jim DeMint's (R-SC) spokesman accuses Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) of being a johnny-come-lately to securing funds for the Port of Charleston. He says "era of earmarks is over" and earmarks are backlogged at Army Corps of Engineers, exacerbating the problem with the port funding. Instead of trying to directing the Army Corp to fund the study, he wants to create a commission to ensure projects are funded on their merits. More developments, including DeMint spokesman's full statement.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), or Senator Tea Party as he's sometimes known, has found himself between a bit of a rock and a hard place over spending for a job-dependent project in his district and his role as the leading anti-earmark crusader in the upper chamber.

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), a prominent House Democrat, on Thursday issued a scathing indictment of DeMint, his GOP South Carolina colleague, for effectively killing jobs in the state by refusing to back money for a study on deepening the Port of Charleston.

But others, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who is threatening to "tie the Senate in knots" over the funds, have said DeMint supports federal funds for the port and is privately helping to secure them.

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Lindsey Graham

Graham's $50K For Port Was Originally An Earmark DeMint Killed

Susan Crabtree | April 13, 2011, 12:42PM

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is waging a one-man war with the White House over $50,000 for a project in his home state that was nixed in the budget deal, but he really has his rock-ribbed conservative, Tea Party-loyalist South Carolina colleague Sen. Jim DeMint to blame for losing the money for a study on deepening the Port of Charleston.

Graham publicly blasted the Obama administration Tuesday for failing to include the funding for the study in its budget request laid out in February and threatened to block all of the President's nominations in the Senate because it was left out of the budget deal.

Graham on Tuesday took pains to say he is not requesting an earmark, but there have been several attempts to earmark money for the port study. DeMint effectively killed every one and refused to join a letter to the White House with the rest of the South Carolina delegation requesting the funds.

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Government Shutdown

Conservatives To Defect On Stopgap Funding Measure -- But It's Still Likely To Pass

Brian Beutler | March 15, 2011, 9:23AM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

House Republicans will face noticeable defections from the right flank of their party when they vote Tuesday to fund the government for three more weeks -- a stopgap measure meant to buy time while leaders of both parties work out a longer-term solution.

But the mini-revolt won't throw the government into turmoil. The last "continuing resolution" passed the House two weeks ago with almost 340 votes, including over 100 Democrats, and barring major, unexpected defections from both parties, should pass again handily.

"I think in the end the Speaker will work out their differences," said Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) -- a freshman, and former House member, who Monday night told reporters he is inclined to support the spending measure. "He is very used to how the House ran under previous Republican speakers, of walking on the floor 20 votes short and picking them up on the floor."

If anything, today's situation is significantly less dire than that. "Everything is a lot less dramatic than it looks," Kirk said.

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Debt Ceiling

Republicans Escalate Debt Ceiling Fight

Brian Beutler | March 14, 2011, 9:29AM

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell

Senate Republican leaders in recent days have escalated a showdown that has been lurking in the background of the more immediate fight over funding the federal government through September. While the funding issue remains unresolved, Congress will soon have to turn its attention to the need to raise the national debt limit, or the country will default in just a few weeks.

"There are 53 Democrats and 47 Republicans. My prediction is not a single one of the 47 Republicans will vote to raise the debt ceiling unless it includes with it some credible effort to do something about our debt," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Fox News Sunday. "I think to get any of the 47 Republicans, you've got to do something credible -that the markets believe is credible, that the American people believe is credible, that foreign countries believe is credible -- in addition to raising the debt ceiling."

One of McConnell's top lieutenant's, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), was more direct about this. On Twitter, he wrote "[d]ebt ceiling vote is ultimate leverage to get fiscal reform."

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112th Congress

Senate Passes Two-Week Funding Bill, Avoids Shutdown

Benjy Sarlin | March 2, 2011, 12:35PM

Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y.

With a looming March 4 deadline before the government runs out of funding, the Senate voted 91-9 to approve a House measure providing funding for two weeks while making $4 billion in cuts with bipartisan backing.

The move averts a shutdown, but the gulf between the two parties remains wide as Republicans are calling for $61 billion in cuts that Democratic leaders and the White House claim would costs hundreds of thousands of jobs. Democrats say they support scaling back spending, but only if the reductions don't damage the fledgling recovery or essential services.

"At some point we're going to have to come to some finality and not just kick the can down the road two weeks at a time," Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) told reporters after the vote.

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Progressives

New Report Ranks 'Most Liberal', 'Most Conservative' Members of Congress

Evan McMorris-Santoro | February 25, 2011, 9:40AM

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)

Democratic Senators Sherrod Brown (OH), Barbara Mikulski (MD) and Harry Reid (NV) were among "the most liberal" Senators last year, according to new rankings by National Journal. Republican Sens. John McCain (AZ), Jim DeMint (SC) and John Thune (SD) were among the most conservative.

National Journal is out with its annual congressional voting record rankings, which track the voting patterns of the 535 members of the House and Senate. The takeaway? Congress in 2010 was the most polarized it has been in close to 30 years. Parties in Congress are increasingly working in "virtual lockstep," which the magazine's political guru, Ron Brownstein described as the "decline of individualism in Congress" and the rise of a "a more top-down, parliamentary-style institution."

But there are still members on both sides who represent the outer edge of the party's ideological leanings. Here are National Journal's top conservative and liberal leaders in each chamber.

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Jim DeMint

Jim DeMint: President Barack Obama Is Not The Nation's Leader

Ryan J. Reilly | February 17, 2011, 3:10PM

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC)

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) doesn't think President Barack Obama should be considered the leader of the United States of America.

During a speech covering the national debt, earmarks, the 2012 Presidential election and the repeal of the health care law on Thursday, DeMint told members of the D.C. chapter of the conservative Federalist Society, "This whole idea that the President is the leader of our country is a mistake."

DeMint added, "Leadership starts in the homes in the communities, in businesses, in churches. I've lived in a community and I know where the leaders are and it's not in Washington. And this pretense that he's our nation's leader... I'm not just talking about Obama I'm talking about any President."

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Olympia Snowe

Meet Olympia Snowe's New Hard Rocking Tea Party Challenger

Benjy Sarlin | February 11, 2011, 12:02PM

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME)

Maine moderate Olympia Snowe, whose Senate seat has long been considered vulnerable in a Republican primary, has a new Tea Party challenger: Andrew Ian Dodge.

The state coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots in Maine, Dodge told TPM he will announce his entrance into the race Friday at a press conference at CPAC. He'll be the second to jump into the GOP primary against Snowe after businessman Scott D'amboise declared his run last year.

You may not recognize Dodge's name, but if you've read news coverage of the Tea Party over the last year you've almost certainly seen him quoted. Dodge's friendly relationship with reporters and off-beat analysis has made him one of the most frequently cited activists in the movement by mainstream reporters.

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CPAC

Good News, GOProud: New CPAC Boss Will Take 'Big Tent' Approach

Ryan J. Reilly | February 9, 2011, 4:40PM

Al Cardenas and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC)

Here's some bad news for South Carolina Republican Sen. Jim DeMint and others who want to ban gay groups from the Conservative Political Action Conference -- the new chair of the group that runs CPAC plans to stay the course on inclusivity.

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2012 Presidential Primaries

PPP Poll: Huckabee In Front For 2012 SC Primary--Unless DeMint Jumps In

Jon Terbush | February 1, 2011, 1:31PM

Former Gov of Arkansas Mike Huckabee and Sen Jim DeMint (R-SC)

If Mike Huckabee decides to seek the Republican Party's presidential nomination, a new PPP poll shows that he'd be poised to claim the key primary state of South Carolina--that is, unless the state's conservative Senator Jim DeMint enters the race as well.

When PPP polled the state with a slate of potential candidates that didn't include DeMint, Huckabee came out on top with 26% of the vote, followed by Mitt Romney at 20%, Sarah Palin at 18%, and Newt Gingrich at 13%.Yet when DeMint was added to the mix, Huckabee's support fell to 20%, dropping him to second place behind DeMint, who garnered 24% of the vote.

Adding DeMint did not shake up the order of the other candidates, with each moving one slot down to accommodate the new front runner. In that scenario, Romney's support dipped to 17%, with Palin (12%) and Gingrich (10%) losing some supporters to DeMint as well.

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Pres '12

Jim DeMint Headed To Iowa

Eric Kleefeld | January 27, 2011, 10:50AM

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC)

Despite his public denials flatly saying he's not running for president, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) nevertheless seems to be making a lot of the right moves to do so -- particularly an upcoming trip to Iowa. Or instead, could he just be trying to keep the actual candidates on their toes?

The Iowa Republican web site reports:

Sen. DeMint is scheduled to travel to the home of the First-In-The-Nation caucus on Saturday, March 26th.

DeMint will be in Iowa to keynote an event for Congressman Steve King. The event, which is being billed as a "conference," will not be held in the 5th Congressional District, which King represents, but rather it will be held in Des Moines.

Steve King, of course, is the staunch conservative Congressman who has, among other things, accused President Obama of having "demonstrated that he has a default mechanism in him that breaks down the side of race -- on the side that favors the black person." Interestingly, King is also a close ally of Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), who has also been popping into the Hawkeye State.

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Mitch McConnell

Senate Republicans Escalate Health Care Repeal Efforts

Brian Beutler | January 26, 2011, 1:56PM

Jim DeMint

There are now multiple fronts to Republican health care repeal efforts in the Senate.

The first began quietly Tuesday night, when Minority Leader Mitch McConnell used a procedural prerogative to bypass the committee process and usher the House-passed repeal bill on to the Senate calendar.

Wednesday morning, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), spearheaded a separate effort by introducing a separate repeal bill of his own, along with 34 cosponsors.

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CPAC

Jim DeMint Joins Conservative Boycott Of CPAC

Jillian Rayfield | January 21, 2011, 3:07PM

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC)

Sen. Jim DeMint will also not be attending the CPAC conference this year, Ben Smith of Politico reports.

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Jim DeMint

DeMint Calls For 'Big Showdown' On Debt Ceiling (VIDEO)

Eric Lach | January 3, 2011, 11:47AM

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC)

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) tells Human Events the next big fight in Congress will be over spending, and called for a 'big showdown' over raising the country's debt ceiling.

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2012 elections

DeMint: Palin Has Done More For GOP Than Anyone Since Reagan

Jon Terbush | December 29, 2010, 5:30PM

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) had some kind words for another champion of the far right in a recent interview with Politico.

In assessing the potential field of candidates for the Republican party's 2012 presidential nomination, DeMint said that Sarah Palin has, "done more for the Republican Party than anyone since Ronald Reagan."

However, despite the high praise for the half-term Alaska Governor turned conservative commentator, DeMint said he has yet to decide which candidate he'll endorse to represent the party in 2012. DeMint, who endorsed Mitt Romney in 2008, also said that he has never actually spoken to Palin, though she "left me a nice message."

Prospective GOP presidential candidates are already jockeying for support from influential politicians ahead of the primary elections. DeMint in particular is seen as a potentially crucial supporter due to his sway with the Tea Party. His 2010 reelection campaign received $7,500 from Palin, $5,000 from Romney, $8,000 from Sen. John Thune (R-SD), $3,000 from Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, and $1,000 former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), even though DeMint faced no serious challenge from the hapless Alvin Greene.

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