Charles Babington Posts

The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, fended off a tea party challenger on Tuesday to set up an expensive November contest against Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes. Also picking Senate nominees Tuesday were voters in Oregon, Georgia and Arkansas. Oregon Republicans were choosing a challenger to first-term Sen. Jeff Merkley, who only recently emerged as a GOP target. Georgia had a crowded GOP race that is headed to a July runoff.

Millionaires and billionaires are increasing their influence in federal elections, leaving political parties to play more limited roles, and raising questions about who sets the agenda in campaigns. In a handful of key Senate races, the biggest and loudest players so far are well-funded groups that don't answer to any candidate or political party. That can make it hard for voters to know who is responsible for hard-hitting TV ads and other "messaging."

Senators prepared for a potentially rancorous day Tuesday — even by recent standards of partisan unpleasantness — as Democratic leaders threatened to change filibuster rules to stop Republicans from blocking White House nominees for top executive jobs. Several Senate votes were scheduled to test whether Republicans will allow simple-majority confirmations of a handful of long-stalled nominations.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Monday that Republicans must confirm at least seven presidential appointees they've been blocking if they want to avoid a controversial change in Senate rules as early as this week.

At first glance, it seems Republicans are verging on a blunder. With about 90 percent of Americans favoring universal background checks for gun buyers, GOP lawmakers' strong resistance might appear foolhardy.

But these Republicans are making a calculated and probably safe choice, for several reasons. Their districts' all-important GOP primaries are dominated by hard-right activists. The gun lobby is far more organized and fierce than any opposing groups. And Americans' voting habits often reward those who refuse to compromise.

In case the public weren't frustrated enough over Congress' failure to resolve the "fiscal cliff," consider this: lawmakers probably could enact a compromise quickly and easily if Republican leaders let Democrats provide most of the votes.