Laurie Kellman

WASHINGTON -- A Southern Republican is raising questions about whether President Barack Obama is capably leading the government.

WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney said Wednesday he's "prepared to fight all the way" to become the Republican presidential nominee after a strong showing on the biggest night of the GOP presidential primary season. But Rick Santorum demonstrated enough political muscle on Super Tuesday to ensure that there's more convulsion ahead as Republicans struggle to settle on a candidate to take on President Barack Obama.

WASHINGTON -- Brrrring.

A GOP congressman's phone rings, and it's Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah at the other end of the line.

"Hey, I'm calling about Mitt Romney," Chaffetz says, recalling his typical spiel to fellow Republicans.

"Where are you on this?

"Have you seen any of the debates?

"Can I send you some clips?"

Two months before Republicans begin choosing a nominee to challenge President Barack Obama, Chaffetz and a select few members of Congress are quietly but constantly coaxing colleagues to pick sides in a Capitol Hill endorsement war.

WASHINGTON — Congress may be in the doghouse with the American public, but the broader government — especially the military — gets high marks for keeping the nation safe and secure, a new poll suggests.

WASHINGTON -- The hearing was for verbally flogging oil company CEOs, and no senator bothered to pretend it was about making gasoline prices more affordable or helping the economy recover. Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch set the tone Thursday when he opened with a portrait of a dog sitting on a pony.

Sen. Charles Schumer countered with a reference to a unicorn. Sen. Pat Roberts suggested a rhinoceros. It was a fitting opening for a show where the oil executives served as props for politicians needing to show voters that they, too, are angry about $4 a gallon gasoline.

"This is not going to change the price at the gas pump," Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus admitted as he gaveled the proceedings to a close.

WASHINGTON -- This is the story of a "lame duck" Congress that wasn't.

Shaken by a historic election in which angry voters canceled Democratic control of the House, lawmakers of both parties and President Barack Obama tried something new: They consulted each other. They cooperated. And finally, they compromised.

From tax cuts to a nuclear arms treaty and the repeal of the ban on openly serving gay soldiers, Congress and the Obama White House closed up their respective shops and headed out for the holidays with an uncommonly full bag of accomplishments.