Senate Democrats feel pressure to 'do something' on the long-stalled energy bill. The Gulf oil spill has widened the partisan divide. The White House will hold a bipartisan meeting Wednesday.

Vampire tales have been told for centuries, and this summer Hollywood is launching 'True Blood' and 'The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.' Why does the iconic figure never seem to fall out of favor?

The California budget deficit stands a $19.1 billion, even after two years of steep cuts. Democrats oppose Governor Schwarzenegger's proposed cuts but can't agree on a solution.

AP - President Barack Obama rebuked his Afghanistan war commander for "poor judgment" Tuesday and considered whether to fire him in the most extraordinary airing of military-civilian tensions since Harry Truman stripped Gen. Douglas MacArthur of his command a half-century ago.

AP - A federal judge struck down the Obama administration's six-month ban on deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico as rash and heavy-handed Tuesday, saying the government simply assumed that because one rig exploded, the others pose an imminent danger, too.

AP - In a break from the state's racist legacy, South Carolina Republicans overwhelmingly chose Nikki Haley, an Indian-American woman, to run for governor and easily nominated Tim Scott, in line to become the former Confederate stronghold's first black GOP congressman in more than a century.