KENILWORTH, Ill., July 20 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk said Monday he's a candidate for the Republican nomination for Illinois' U.S. Senate seat that had been held by President Barack Obama.

WASHINGTON, July 20 (UPI) -- U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she's rethinking a surcharge on the wealthy to pay for healthcare to include only families making $1 million or more.

BILOXI, Miss., July 18 (UPI) -- More than half the governors in the United States were somewhere else Saturday when the National Governors Association meeting got under way in Biloxi, Miss.

WASHINGTON, July 18 (UPI) -- Republican hopefuls in three key U.S. Senate contests posted strong fundraising totals for the second quarter of this year, federal records show.

JACKSON, Miss., July 17 (UPI) -- Leisha Pickering alleges in a lawsuit her husband, former U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering, had an affair that destroyed their marriage and his political career.

WASHINGTON, July 16 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate has confirmed former astronaut Charles Frank Bolden Jr. as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's 12th leader.

LAS VEGAS, July 15 (UPI) -- Campaign staff for U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid say the Nevada Democrat expects to raise $25 million for his re-election bid in 2010.

UPI Almanac for Monday, July 13, 2009.

WASHINGTON, July 12 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate should investigate whether the CIA withheld information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress, a key senator says.