There are at least a half-dozen states where Republicans failed to woo their first choice into the contest, despite a Senate map heavily stacked against Democrats.
Emory Rounds III is a career civil servant. If confirmed as director of the Office of Government Ethics, he will take charge of an agency under considerable pressure.
Delay tactics forced a short-term partial government shutdown after midnight, but Congress and the president approved the two-year deal early Friday morning.
The federal government's funding lapsed after Sen. Rand Paul stalled a vote. Also, a look at recent swings in the stock market and how the fight against ISIS in Syria is getting more complicated.
Senate leaders had hoped to pass the funding bill Thursday but were forced to wait after Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., objected. His maneuver makes a temporary lapse in funding basically inevitable.