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Eight million people have signed up for health care through new insurance exchanges and the proportion of younger applicants has increased, President Barack Obama said Thursday. The enrollments exceeded expectations and offered new hope to Democrats who are defending the law ahead of the midterm elections. An impromptu appearance in the White House briefing room offered the president an opportunity to trumpet the new figures, which beat initial projections by 1 million. With an eye toward November, Obama castigated Republicans…

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With enrollments higher than expected, and costs lower, some Democrats say it’s time to stop hiding from the president’s health care overhaul, even in this year’s toughest Senate elections. Republicans practically dare Democrats to embrace “Obamacare,” the GOP’s favorite target in most congressional campaigns. Yet pro-Democratic activists in Alaska are doing just that, and a number of strategists elsewhere hope it will spread. President Barack Obama recently announced that first-year sign-ups for subsidized private health insurance topped 7 million, exceeding…

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 Donors gave more than $10 million in March to the committee tasked with electing House Democrats and helped it amass a $40 million fund to fight skepticism that Republicans can be ousted from their majority in November. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised $10.3 million in March, putting it atop the fundraising contest among party-directed campaign committees. That sum also outpaced most three-month fundraising tallies released thus far from super PACs, which can accept unlimited donations. Donations to House Democrats’…

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Often mentioned as a possible 2016 presidential candidate, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio is heading onto the home turf of two other future potential White House contenders, Ted Cruz and Rick Perry. The tea party darling from Florida is giving an address in Austin on Tuesday sponsored by various University of Texas organizations. Rubio is a grass-roots favorite and Cuban-American — just like his fellow first-term Senate colleague Cruz. Hailing from Houston, Cruz became a leading national tea party voice when…

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As millions of Americans race to meet Tuesday’s tax deadline, their chances of getting audited are lower than they have been in years. Budget cuts and new responsibilities are straining the Internal Revenue Service’s ability to police tax returns. This year, the IRS will have fewer agents auditing returns than at any time since at least the 1980s. Taxpayer services are suffering, too, with millions of phone calls to the IRS going unanswered. “We keep going after the people who…

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America’s annual tax reckoning is here once again and for many who have yet to file their federal tax return, that means a mad dash to beat Uncle Sam’s deadline. The Internal Revenue Service already has received nearly 100 million tax returns, but anticipates getting about 35 million more by the midnight Tuesday deadline. Many other taxpayers, however, are opting for plan B and asking for more time to file. The IRS expects roughly 12 million taxpayers will make such…

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Delivering an opening salvo in his campaign to return to office, former Gov. Charlie Crist heaped blistering criticism Monday on his successor, a preview of the attack Gov. Rick Scott faces from his likely opponent. Addressing a crowd of hundreds at the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches, Crist gave a relentless indictment of nearly every aspect of Scott’s leadership, portraying him as an opponent to education and the environment and a man out of touch with average Floridians. “Gov.…

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