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in 2008. The seven-term House Republican also voted for the $700 billion financial industry rescue that same year.
• He has since criticized both efforts by President George W. Bush to combat that year's near economic collapse. Yet his votes -- plus his support for Bush's 2003 debt-financed expansion of Medicare to provide prescription drug coverage -- rankle conservatives to this day and underscore the challenge of adhering to small-government principles when voters' bread-and-butter interests are at stake.
• More recently, this campaign season has seen some of the House's most conservative members split over a sweeping farm bill, disaster aid to drought-battered farmers and legislation to finance transportation projects and keep student loan interest rates from ballooning. Such divisions have dampened the expectations of tea party leaders, with some now saying it will take several elections before they win the Washington clout they need.
• "No one is going to agree with us 100 percent of the time," Jenny Beth Martin, a national coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots, said of members of Congress. "And we do understand they do have to look at what's best for their district and their constituents."
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US doping agency erases Armstrong's 7 Tour de France titles, bans him for life from cycling
• His seven Tour de France titles stripped away and his legacy in tatters, Lance Armstrong is heading back outdoors and into the public eye.
• A day after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency punished Armstrong with a lifetime ban from professional cycling and erased 14 years of his career after concluding he used performance-enhancing druugs, Armstrong is scheduled to ride in a mountain bike race in Aspen, Colo., on Saturday and follow it up by running a marathon there Sunday.
• And he has no plans to slow down any time soon, despite the whirlwind of controversy swirling around him.
• Armstrong spokesman Mark Higgins said Armstrong also still plans to attend the World Cancer Congress in Montreal where's he scheduled to deliver a keynote address to thousands in attendance.
• "He's getting out there," Higgins said.
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