US Election General News 04/22/2012 21:41:12

Hollande victory could impact US markets this week | Fox News A strong showing by Socialist candidate Francois Hollande in the first round of France’s presidential election Sunday may rattle U.S. and global financial markets in the coming weeks. US Republicans eye health plan should court overturn reform | Reuters * Republicans pledge new health plan if Supreme Court acts* New legislation could aid party’s election year aims* Aides see step-by-step approach on health issuesBy David MorganWASHINGTON, April 22 Orrin Hatch close call in Utah: Tea party rising? – CSMonitor.com Sen. Orrin Hatch is favored to win reelection, but first he faces a primary election against tea party favorite Dan Liljenquist. Can Hatch avoid the fate of former Utah Sen. Bob Bennett, ousted in 2010 by the tea party? David Axelrod: ‘Reign Of Terror’ Has Taken Hold Of Republicans In Congress By Bill Trott WASHINGTON, April 22 (Reuters) – Republicans in the U.S. Congress are under a “reign of terror” imposed by the party’s conservative wing that also has pushed presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney to the right, President Barack Obama’s senior campaign strategist said on Sunday. David Axelrod, in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” program, cited the Obama administration’s plans for immigration reform as an example of Republican intransigence in Congress. The political process in Washington should not be “monolithic opposition to everything the chief executive wants to do as a political strategy,” Axelrod said, adding that an “implacable group of Republicans” had blocked any possibility of immigration reform. “I think there are a lot of Republicans in Congress who want to cooperate … but they’re in the thralls of this reign of terror from the far right that has dragged the party to the right,” he said. “Governor Romney and the party have gone way off to the right,” he added. On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Axelrod said that if Obama is re-elected, some Republicans would be more willing to work with him. Axelrod said Romney, the former Massachusetts governor in line to be the Republican challenger to Obama’s re-election in the Nov. 6 election, has nothing new to offer voters. “People don’t know Mitt Romney very well,” he said on CNN. “They see a businessman. Alberts: Obama, Romney struggle to capture blue-collar support With all the talk lately in the U.S. about Mitt Romney’s problems with American women —

US Election General News 04/22/2012 21:41:12