James Plummer

HAMMOND, La. – On the eve of the state's primary, Texas Rep. Ron Paul drew an enthusiastic crowd of 1500 people to a rural Louisiana college town on Friday evening for a speech that harshly attacked the federal government. (more)

NEW ORLEANS --- Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich returned to his graduate alma mater Tulane University Friday looking to scare up votes in advance of Saturday's Republican Presidential primary in Louisiana. (more)

NEW ORLEANS --- Just days before Louisiana state's Saturday primary, former Sen. Rick Santorum swung through the New Orleans area on Wednesday, attacking both President Barack Obama and presumptive Republican front-runner Mitt Romney at every stop along the way. (more)

NEW ORLEANS - The “Occupy Wall Street” movement came to the Big Easy on Thursday, but its expression of varied and often clashing political messages quickly turned difficult.  (more)

BATON ROUGE, La. – As almost 1,300 people Friday streamed into the student union at Louisiana State University to hear Congressman Ron Paul speak, a handful of socialist activists stood outside with an anti-Ron Paul banner proclaiming, “Education and living wages are Human Rights!” (more)

Later this week, the House Judiciary Committee is expected to mark up legislation (HR 2164, the so-called “Legal Workforce Act”) to make the “E-Verify” program mandatory for all employers. The legislation would require employers to submit potential hires’ names, Social Security numbers and other data to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for authorization before the employees may start work. The E-Verify program is championed as a way to keep non-authorized illegal immigrants from working in the United States. Some corporations are voluntarily using an E-Verify pilot program, and several states have passed laws mandating its use for public employees and contractors. (more)

NEW ORLEANS- Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul walked away from the Republican Leadership Conference Saturday with another straw poll victory. Paul received 612 of 1542 votes cast, just under 40 percent. (more)

Day two of the 2011 Republican Leadership Conference marked the arrival of fresh blood in the form of younger (and older) supporters of Texas Rep. Ron Paul, in town to support their candidate by voting in the conference's presidential straw poll. (more)

NEW ORLEANS – Republican presidential candidates, former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, spoke Thursday, day one of the three-day Republican Leadership Convention. (more)

The White House's “National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling” finished its first set of hearings Tuesday with its chairmen indicating they would encourage the administration to rethink its moratorium on offshore drilling. Testimony and public comments from locals slammed not only the moratorium, but also federal obstructionism on key engineering projects and the use of one chemical oil dispersant. (more)

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled late Thursday afternoon against the Obama administration in the ongoing legal battle over a moratorium on drilling for oil in offshore waters. The quick ruling came as a surprise, since Judge W. Eugene Davis had told the overflowing courtroom at the conclusion of the hearing that the decision would be handed down early next week. (more)

NEW ORLEANS - Rep. Ron Paul's supporters were in the grand ballroom early Saturday, lightly heckling Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour during his speech for omitting the libertarian congressman from his list of Republican leaders. Barbour quickly added Paul's name. (more)