WASHINGTON -- Winning California's state lottery with the first ticket he bought put Kevin McCarthy, then 20, on a path to becoming, in January, the third-ranking Republican leader of a House majority pledged to make government less bountiful. With the $5,000 he won in 1985, McCarthy opened a sandwich shop in a nook in a small mall in Bakersfield, and hung a sign calling attention to it. When a government vehicle arrived, he thought city hall might have come "to give me the key to the city" as thanks for generating some jobs and sales tax revenues. But Bakersfield's bureaucracy wanted to complain about his sign, which somehow fell short of sign orthodoxy.

Before Republican senators vote down the strategic arms reduction treaty negotiated by the Obama administration, they should think long and hard about the consequences.

No country has better airport security than Israel -- and no country needs it more, since Israel is the most hated target of Islamic extremist terrorists. Yet, somehow, Israeli airport security people don't have to strip passengers naked electronically or have strangers feeling Israeli travelers' private parts.

Sen. Bill Nelson's populist proposal to pump earmark money into homebuyer tax credits is getting a "no sale" from Republicans.

Veteran Republican political operative Fred Karger took a large step toward announcing a presidential campaign on Tuesday, unveiling a television commercial and hiring staff in Iowa for a possible longshot bid at the White House. If he runs, Karger will be the first openly gay candidate for a major partys nomination in American history.

While Thanksgiving conjures up images of Plymouth Rock and the Pilgrims sharing turkey and corn with Native Americans, Florida had its own role in Americas earliest thanksgiving celebrations.

The way election calendars work, politicos in Florida are already thinking 2012 and 2016. For a set of entirely different reasons, so are Florida transportation advocates.

The unemployment statistics for Florida released last week revealed a slight increase in jobs but no movement in the overall unemployment rate -- a trend that is likely to continue if state economists predictions are correct.

Florida's nurse practitioners say they could save the state $1 billion and create new jobs if they were allowed to practice as they do elsewhere.

Is the Florida Attorney General's Office of one mind when it comes to illegal aliens?