"This is another exhilarating opportunity," Richard Lugar told reporters as the six-term Republican senator hunted votes Monday afternoon at the Wesley Manor retirement community in Frankfort, Ind.

Lugar does not dispute poll number that show him trailing in Tuesday's Republican primary to state treasurer Richard Mourdock.

For many Hoosiers, Lugar has been their senator for most, if not all, of their lives. But Lugar faces the very real possibility of defeat. 

Later Monday afternoon, Mourdock held a brief campaign stop at a church in West Lafayette.

"Mr. Lugar is my opponent," said  Mourdock, "not my enemy."

Mourdock is confident victory is within his campaign's grasp.

"I think people are going to be surprised how many counties we win," he said.

The late-breaking front-runner also described a primary effort in which 3,000 volunteers will spend primary day camped at 1,300 key Republican precincts, trying to pick up last-minute votes as people enter those polling places.

"The winds of change are blowing," said Mourdock.

UPDATE 2:00pm ET:  Senate Sergeant at Arms Terrance Gainer has just sent an updated e-mail to all Senate offices confirming that three total congressional offices have received threatening mails containing a powdery substance that has initially tested negative for containing a bio-agent and more letters could be on the way.  

But the Gainer warning, obtained by Fox, makes clear, "The author of these letters has indicated that additional letters containing a powdery substance will be arriving at more Senate offices and that some of these letters may contain an actual harmful material. Although all letters received thus far have proved harmless, it is essential that we treat every piece of suspicious mail as if it may, in fact, be harmful." 

A Senate state office and a House district office received the threatening letters Tuesday, and Gainer says an additional Senate state office received a letter Wednesday.  The Sergeant at Arms does not indicate which office received the correspondence, but Gainer repeats the earlier call for members to be on the lookout for a particular Portland, Oregon address previously reported by Fox. 

Gainer says his staff is "working closely with federal and local law enforcement in this ongoing investigation."

Congressional security officials, police, and staff often work with outside law enforcement. Recently, a joint investigation thwarted a would-be suicide bomber who was intent on attacking the U.S. Capitol.  (read more)

The House and the Senate came to an agreement on a long-debated piece of legislation to renew the payroll tax cut late Wednesday.

While many may laud this as a rare piece of bi-partisanship in a notoriously divided Congress, lawmakers may not be able to vote on the bill as soon as they may have liked. 

A Republican-backed reform in the House known as the "72-hour rule" may prevent lawmakers from voting on the bill by Friday. 

There has been no official word from lawmakers that they want the bill to be voted on by Friday, but some made it clear earlier in the week that was the goal.

However, the official agreement has not yet been released online as of early Thursday. This is where the "three-day" rule may cause problems for lawmakers. 

There is much confusion about how the so-called "72-hour rule," or the "three-day rule," works in the House of Representatives when it comes to considering legislation, but here is some basic history. 

In the fall of 2010, Republicans unveiled their "Pledge to America." In a section titled "Our Plan to Restore Trust," the GOP propounded a series of operational reforms in the House of Representatives.

"We recognize that if we are truly committed to addressing the American people's highest priorities, the House of Representatives must operate differently – differently from the way the Democrats do now and differently from the way Republicans did in the past. Change begins at home," they said.  (read more)

Sens. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., led an unsuccessful, 40-59, bipartisan effort to try to permanently ban congressionally directed spending known as earmarks.

Eight Republicans from the Appropriations Committee joined all of the panel’s Democrats to oppose the measure. The conservative Club for Growth said they consider this a "key vote."

STAND-OUT VOTES:

Yes:

Bill Nelson, D-Fla. 

Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.

Mark Udall, D-Colo.

Mark Warner, D-Va.

Kay Hagan, D-N.C. 

Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Senate Republican leader, Appropriations Committee member

No:

Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., Appropriations Committee member

Roy Blunt, R-Mo., Appropriations Committee member

Thad Cochran, R-Mo., Appropriations Committee member

Susan Collins, R-Maine, Appropriations Committee member

John Hoeven, R-N.D., Appropriations Committee member

Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, Appropriations Committee member

James Inhofe, R-Okla. (read more)

Legal opinions abound about whether President Obama is on solid constitutional ground in making recess appointments while Congress is on what's called an intrasession recess. 

Right now, senators are taking a hiatus in this second session of the 112th Congress. But is it a recess? The jury is out on that question. 

Republicans certainly think there is no recess, with the chamber using "pro forma" sessions to technically stave off any official break. And Democrats, though praising the president's move Wednesday, have employed this "pro forma" strategy in the past to block recess appointments by President George W. Bush.

So the issue of what constitutes a recess is back in the spotlight. 

The Senate has, indeed, conducted business during this intrasession recess (meaning - during the 2nd session).  

Senators recently extended the payroll tax holiday and appointed conferees to a payroll tax-related conference. 

But the chamber is not in perpetual meeting. Therein lies the problem. And a tug-of-war has ensued, with the executive branch arguing it has the authority because a recess is under way, and congressional Republicans arguing that the president has overstepped his bounds because the chamber is not technically on recess.

The Constitution is really no help here either.  (read more)

Santa Claus came to town early this year -- in "secret" fashion -- spreading good tidings of great joy in one unlikely place -- the U.S. Senate.

Most gift-givers would probably give lawmakers lumps of coal at this point -- and the black gem actually did surface in Monday night's mystery gift exchange so common to many workplaces.

But senators participating in the "Secret Santa" exchange kept it mostly safe this season, sticking to their inner circle in a bipartisan manner that seemed to vanquish the partisan Scrooginess -- however fleetingly -- that has haunted the corridors of the Capitol all year.

On Dasher! On Dancer!

One by one, senators gleefully distributed their holiday gifts, most with a home state theme, some modeling their treasure as if it were a Red Rider BB Gun ("with the compass in the stock and this thing which tells time").

Sixty-one members fell under the influence of Yuletide cheer as each unmasked his and her Secret Santa, a creation of Sens. Al Franken, D-Minn., Mike Johanns, R-Neb, and a handful of their colleagues.

Best in show (after all, these are competitive people) has to go to West Virginia's Joe Manchin who gave his fellow Democrat, Chuck Schumer, a natural resource from The Mountain State paired with a little riddle attached to cloak his identity: "With the Senate in a deadlock with 8 percent approval ratings, what we deserve is a lump of coal ... We should be working in a bipartisan way." (read more)

President Obama's pick to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been blocked from a confirmation vote in the Senate with only one Republican, Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts voting in favor of moving the nomination forward.

Former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray is second nominee the administration has sent to the Senate. Both he and consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren who oversaw creation of the bureau, failed to get approval of a filibuster-proof majority needed to move forward on an up-or-down vote.

President Obama took to the White House briefing room to chastise Republicans for holding up the nomination.

"We have a Congress right now, Republicans in Congress right now, who seem to have entirely forgotten how we got into this mess," the president said referring to the financial crisis that plagues the nation. "My hope and expectation is that Republicans who blocked this nomination come to their senses."

This week the White House leaned on several Republican senators, even spotlighting bipartisan local lawmakers from their states who support the nomination, in an effort to convince the senators to give Cordray the go-ahead. Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, both said this week their no-votes aren't an indictment of Cordray, but of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau itself. (read more)

Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., plans to present an ultimatum of sorts to the Obama administration.

On Wednesday, Kirk will meet with Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough. In that meeting, he will explain that unless the administration produces a written agreement that sensitive U.S. missile defense data will not be provided to Russia, Kirk will block the appointment of the Ambassador-Designate to Russia, Michael McFaul.

"My hope is that we can just work this out where they commit not to deliver classified missile defense data to Russia," said Kirk. "And then I think he (McFaul) should go to Moscow."

The data in question is about the U.S. Navy’s Standard Missile 3, or SM-3. According to Kirk and several reports, the Obama administration was proposing to offer the Russians data on the burnout velocity (VBO) of the SM-3 missile. This is the data about the speed of the missile after it runs out of fuel.  It is very helpful information to an entity that wishes to counter the missile. (read more)

The Senate Appropriations Committee voted late Wednesday afternoon, 18-12, to permanently repeal the so-called Mexico City policy on Wednesday, a law that forbids U.S. aid from going to any country that counsels abortion.

Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), who has fought this policy, also known as the "Global Gag Rule," for years, authored the amendment, which was attached to a larger spending bill that funds the State Department and U.S. foreign operations.

"It's time to stop playing politics with women's bodies," Lautenberg admonished.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), an opponent of abortion, fought the effort, warning that it would throw the spending bill into jeopardy.

"Please understand how this issue affects the bill. It's not going to happen in the House," warned Graham, top Republican on the subcommittee responsible for the bill.

Three moderate GOP senators crossed the aisle to support Democrats: Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Illinois' Mark Kirk.

Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) broke ranks to oppose the measure.

There are two plans floating between the House and Senate this weekend, but Republican Senator Rand Paul says he won't support either one of them.

"I can't support any plan that doesn't eventually balance," said Paul of the plan offered by House Speaker John Boehner. "They are talking about seven or eight trillion dollars of new debt. And I don't think the country can withstand that," he added.

Paul, R-KY, backed the Cut, Cap & Balance Plan that stalled in the Senate last week. And now, the Freshman Senator says he is looking for more than just a short term plan.

"I care more about our country's future than I do about a deal. This town is all about deals. I want a solution to the nation's problem," he said.

Paul does think that a deal will get passed that raises the debt ceiling before the August 2nd deadline. But, Paul add if that doesn't happen " the president needs to come before the country and say that he will not default on the debt, and that he actually has a constitutional obligation to pay for it." (read more)