John Tanner

(Newser) - Nine House Democrats say they have not ruled out switching their "no" votes to "yes" on Obama's health care overhaul, brightening the party's hopes in the face of unyielding Republican opposition. The White House has tried to smooth the way for them, showing its own openness to changes...

(Newser) - Blue Dog Coalition co-founder John Tanner will be calling it a day next year after 11 terms in Congress. The Tennessee Democrat hasn't faced serious opposition since first being elected to Congress, but was likely to meet a strong Republican challenger in 2010, Hotline notes. "Rep. Tanner wisely threw...

(Newser) - Barack Obama wrote to the Justice Department asking for the dismissal of John Tanner, the head of its voting rights division, in the wake of Tanner's assertions that voter ID laws primarily hurt old white people, because "minorities don't become elderly the way white people do. They die first....