A couple of widely debunked conspiracy theories are getting mainstream attention in two of the country's gubernatorial races.

Republican Debra Medina, a candidate for governor in Texas, has said she has questions about whether the U.S. government was involved in the Sept. 11 attacks -- echoing the members of the so-called 9/11 "Truther" movement, which rejects the accepted fact that Al Qaeda terrorists acted alone.

RICHMOND, Va. -- Democratic former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder is urging President Barack Obama to fire Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine, another former Virginia governor.

Wilder wrote of Kaine, in a column for the Politico news Web site, that "the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee is the wrong job for him."

In an interview with The Associated Press, Wilder cited Republican victories in last month's Senate election in Massachusetts and in gubernatorial races last fall in New Jersey and Virginia.

Illinois primary voters awoke this morning to electoral confusion in President Obama's home state, facing Democratic and Republican gubernatorial races still too close to call.

On the Democratic side, Gov. Pat Quinn declared himself a winner over Comptroller Dan Hynes, but Hynes, who reportedly trailed by fewer than 6,000 votes in the ferociously fought contest, would not concede defeat. There was no more security on the GOP side, as state Sens. Bill Brady of Bloomington and Kirk Dillard of Hinsdale were locked in a tight fight with 99 percent of the unofficial vote counted. Each had 20 percent of the vote as they headed to a Republican unity breakfast.

"Two Illinois Democrats were virtually tied early Wednesday in the race to decide who will defend the governor's office from a Republican Party eager to exploit political disarray in President Obama's home state come November," the AP says. "In the nation's first primary, voters selected the candidates who will fight for Obama's former Senate seat, but the governor's races were exceptionally tight on both sides. Though Gov. Pat Quinn declared victory in the Democratic race, challenger Dan Hynes vowed to fight until every vote was counted."

Emboldened by Scott Brown's stunning win in Massachusetts, Republicans are convinced this is their year to climb out of the political abyss and capture congressional seats and governor's offices held by Democrats across the country.

The anti-establishment anger that propelled Brown to victory in Tuesday's special senatorial election is the clearest sign yet of a political climate that endangers Democrats who control Washington, but it is not the only indicator. The GOP swept gubernatorial races in November in Virginia and New Jersey, two states Barack Obama won in 2008.

WASHINGTON - Corporations and unions can unleash millions of dollars on campaign ads to help defeat or elect candidates, under a sweeping Supreme Court decision Thursday that rolls back decades-old limits on political spending.

The 5-4 ruling - which dismissed the idea that corporate wealth could distort the political debate and rejected corporate restrictions as "censorship" - immediately reshapes the campaign battlefield 10 months before November's high-stakes congressional elections. It also threatens state and local campaign-finance laws across the nation.

It may be only a matter of time before President Obama's invitations start to get lost in the mail.

In the most recent gubernatorial and Senate races, the president -- the man who swept to office on a raft of support from red and blue states alike -- has gone 0 for 3. He put his prestige on the line with campaign visits to Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts, only to see his party lose each race.

The biggest political issue in the country today is the Democrats' health-care reform proposal, which will need 60 votes to overcome a Senate filibuster.

That crucial 6oth vote was up for grabs in Tuesday's special election in Massachusetts, a reliably liberal and Democratic state.

The Democratic candidate promised she'd vote for the health bill, which the Republican vowed to vote against.

There was a strong, unexpected surge in support for the Republican candidate in the final weeks of the campaign.

WASHINGTON - Independent voters who helped Republicans win two gubernatorial races last year have turned Massachusetts' special Senate election into a wildly unpredictable race and could be a deciding factor at the polls today, political analysts say.

Polls show that independent voters flocking to Republican Scott Brown have erased the wide lead enjoyed earlier in the campaign by Democrat Martha Coakley. The shift is similar to those that took place before GOP wins in the 2009 Virginia and New Jersey races for governor.

(AP )With 2009's Election Day just two weeks away, two state gubernatorial races are going down to the wire. Three new polls were released on the races today, showing a clear frontrunner in the upcoming Virginia election and a neck-and-neck race in New Jersey.

One poll, conducted by Clarus Research Group, shows that Virginians favor Republican candidate Bob McDonnell over his Democratic opponent, Creigh Deeds, by an eight point margin. McDonnell, who holds 49 percent of voters in the poll to Deeds' 41 percent, is up from 42 points in September (when he led Deeds by five points).