When then-Secretary of War John C. Calhoun ran for the presidency back in 1824, his supporters hoped for a political alliance between his native South Carolina and Pennsylvania to prevail against the Virginia-New York axis that dominated presidential elections at the start of the 19th century. While Calhoun had to settle for the vice presidency, now, almost 200 years later, one Republican presidential hopeful is looking to recreate the old alliance.

Florida school districts are flooded with applications for new charter schools, motivated by several new laws that make it easier to start traditional and virtual charters.

Nearly 100 more new charter school applications have been filed for the 2012-13 school year than were filed at the same time last year --a 38 percent increase, according to statistics from the Department of Education.

Jobs, jobs, jobs -- from every corner of the country politicians say we must create more jobs in America.

MADISON, Wis. -- The residues of liberalism's Wisconsin Woodstock -- 1960s radicalism redux: operatic lamentations, theatrical demonstrations and electoral futilities -- are words of plaintive defiance painted on sidewalks around the state Capitol.

Florida Public Service commissioners zeroed in on three candidates Tuesday for the regulatory bodys vacant executive director position.

After receiving more than 100 applications at the beginning of the summer, the five commissioners narrowed their search to 15 candidates in previous meetings. The candidates were interviewed on the phone and in person -- 10 of them were in PSC offices Monday. Tuesday, commissioners voted on their top choices for a longer, in-depth interview.

A poll unveiled Tuesday from Public Policy Polling (PPP), a firm with connections to prominent Democrats, found Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, who has been in the race for less than two weeks, leading the Republican pack in Iowa, home of the first caucus.

Perry topped the poll with 22 percent, followed by former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts with 19 percent. U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, who won the Iowa straw poll in Ames earlier in the month, placed third with 18 percent followed by U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who placed second in Ames, with 16 percent.

Democrats in high dudgeon over Bush administration "secrets" and Gov. Rick Scott's missing e-mails got a dose of their own medicine when a federal judge ruled that visitor records at the Obama White House are subject to public disclosure.

The Secret Service, which maintains the visitor logs, argued that the records are exempt from Freedom of Information Act requests. But U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell sided with the watchdog group Judicial Watch, which had sued for records from the first eight months of Obama's presidency.