Tamara Keith

The participatory journalist George Plimpton did many things. He boxed against Sugar Ray Robinson. He tried his hand as a high-wire circus performer. But he said the scariest thing he ever did was play the triangle with the New York Philharmonic.

Eric Hopkins, a percussionist with the Utah Symphony, recently ...

Past presidents have described the White House as "the crown jewel of the federal penal system" and "the great white jail." And lately, President Obama has increasingly sending signals he's feeling claustrophobic in the presidential bubble.

Each night, the president reads 10 letters sent to him by Americans. Now, he's meeting some of those writers in person. Is it simply an escape from D.C. amid low approval ratings or something more?

There's a bear roaming the streets of the nation's capital. Not an actual bear, just a president who describes his recent efforts to escape the White House bubble in ursine terms.

Amish country in Ohio is being hit hard by a measles outbreak. Most Amish aren't vaccinated, so the disease has spread quickly. But a push for vaccination has found many takers.

The Obama administration held the first-ever White House Summit on Working Families. Keeping a focus on paid leave and equal pay is seen by Democrats as a winning strategy in the midterm elections.

Ideas like paid sick, maternity leave and universal preschool will take center stage at the White House Summit on Working Families.

President Obama is sending up to 300 military advisers to Iraq to gather intelligence on the insurgency. He was adamant there will be no American combat operations on the ground in Iraq.

President Obama spoke at the White House briefing room to announce next steps in Iraq. Conditions there continue to deteriorate, along with faith in the country's prime minister.

When President Obama visited the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in Cannon Ball, North Dakota, on Friday, he marked another state off his list. As president, he has now traveled to 46 of the 50 states.

Which ones are still waiting for a visit from President Obama?

Idaho, South Carolina, South ...

Eric Cantor became the first house majority leader ever to lose a primary, losing the GOP nomination to Tea Party challenger David Brat in the Republican primary.

Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch is now a rising GOP star. The mother of two is a former TV news anchor and a cancer survivor, who left the hospital just in time to vote in her own primary.

President Obama appeared in Normandy today to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. It's his fifth trip to France since becoming president, tying it with Mexico as the country Obama has visited most frequently.

Obama isn't the only U.S. president who's made repeat visits to France. It's the ...

Five months have passed since the expiration of the emergency unemployment benefits program for the long-term unemployed. Amid congressional delays, it's unclear whether those benefits ever will be extended.

Bowe Bergdahl's release and the prisoner swap that made it possible are raising thorny foreign policy questions, which are being voiced most loudly at this point by congressional Republicans.

Gen. Eric Shinseki is stepping down as the secretary of veteran's affairs. The decision comes in the midst of growing outrage over scheduling issues in the VA health system.

President Obama announced on Tuesday a plan to leave a residual force of 9,800 service members in Afghanistan beyond 2014. By 2016, most troops will be out of the country.

Michelle Obama's fight to help kids eat more healthfully and fight obesity is about to get real. She's launching a campaign Tuesday to fight congressional efforts to delay new school food rules.

Election watchers say Republicans could take control of the Senate this fall. At the same time, many of these same analysts see problems for the Grand Old Party in the longer term.

Republican voters tend to be white, older and more affluent, and their share of the overall population is ...