President Barack Obama may have won the day when the US Supreme Court upheld his health care reforms, but Republicans are casting the ruling as a defining event that could propel their man Mitt Romney into the White House.

President Barack Obama may have won the day when the US Supreme Court upheld his health care reforms, but Republicans are casting the ruling as a defining event that could propel their man Mitt Romney into the White House.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican candidates in the 2012 U.S. elections will have a powerful weapon they lacked four years ago -- heavy spending from groups aligned with the conservative Tea Party movement.

WASHINGTON/CHICAGO (Reuters) - With their favored candidates for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination lagging or out of the race, many U.S. Tea Party activists are shifting focus to the struggle for control of the U.S. Senate.

Reaction at Tea Party debate puts health care debate in clear terms. During the CNN/Tea Party Express debate among Republican presidential contenders last week, moderator Wolf Blitzer asked about health care, which has been a hot topic on the right wing. Many conservatives have bashed government-sponsored health plans and have said people should be responsible for their own care.Blitzer laid out a hypothetical situation: A 30-year-old man in good health and with a good job decides not to buy health insurance, but then something terrible happens and he ends up in a coma. Blitzer asked Rep. Ron Paul who should pay in that situation.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sarah Palin faces a dilemma.

(Reuters) - Eight Republican presidential hopefuls will meet on Monday in a debate co-sponsored by CNN and the fiscally conservative Tea Party movement, which helped elect dozens of Republicans to Congress in 2010.

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (Reuters) - Sarah Palin urged Tea Party members on Monday to avoid infighting and focus on removing President Barack Obama from office.

NAPA, California (Reuters) - With the Republican campaign for the White House taking shape, hundreds of Tea Party activists kicked off a national bus tour on Saturday, aiming to rally their base and new recruits to the conservative political cause.

MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - Wisconsin voters have gone through a summer of historic and bitter recall votes for state legislators -- the most in U.S. history -- at a cost of about $40 million in campaign spending.

BUFFALO, New York (Reuters) - Once predicted to be a Republican landslide, next week's special congressional election in upstate New York has turned into a tight three-way battle that has shined a spotlight on the national debate over spending and Medicare.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A prominent organization of the fiscally conservative Tea Party on Wednesday made its first endorsement in the 2012 campaign, backing Nebraska Republican Attorney General Jon Bruning for Senate.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A prominent organization of the fiscally conservative Tea Party on Wednesday made its first endorsement in the 2012 campaign, backing Nebraska Republican Attorney General Jon Bruning for Senate.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Joe Miller may have lost his bid to become Alaska's senator, but the Tea Party favorite has just won a chance to start a new career as a traveling speechmaker.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans are justifiably skeptical of members of both political parties, particularly when it comes to spending, House of Representatives Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan said on Tuesday.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - The state of Alaska certified Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski's victory over Tea Party favorite Joe Miller on Thursday, nearly three months after the incumbent won the race with an unconventional write-in campaign.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit by conservative Tea Party favorite Joe Miller that challenged his loss in Alaska's election for a Senate seat, clearing the way for state officials to certify Lisa Murkowski's historic write-in victory.

A champagne toast to historic health care victory was rare bit of bubbly in Obama's long year. Barack Obama's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year got off to a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad start.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Tea Party candidate Joe Miller on Tuesday lost his final legal bid to block the state of Alaska from certifying the reelection triumph of U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski in her historic write-in campaign.

A champagne toast to historic health care victory was rare bit of bubbly in Obama's long year. Obama Long year