Will a major midterm election year sway President Barack Obama on the Keystone XL pipeline? If 11 Senate Democrats have their way, the president will approve the project in the next couple of months. There is no need to go back and re-read that. The latest pressure to move forward with Keystone is not coming from Republicans, but Democrats -- 6 of whom are facing re-election in 2014.

Over the past decade, the Asia-Pacific region has maintained a steady economic growth rate superior to that of North American and European growth rates. This stable growth has resulted in the ascent of a newly affluent middle class across Asia.

Rarely is there an issue as contentious as taxation. Thick walls of partisan gridlock form around taxes like very few other issues. Reform is supposed to be a kind word and describe a way to make taxes simpler for people to understand, but the tax code actually sees changes on a regular annual basis or so. The problem is these changes haven't made things simpler for taxpayers.

True reform -- like a comprehensive restructuring of the tax code from the bottom up -- is the ideal goal, but realistically there are strong forces to maintain the status quo.

President Obama signed an executive order on Tuesday designed to address the male/female pay gap among federal contractors. On a related note, Senate Democrats pushed to open a debate on the Paycheck Fairness Act, but were blocked by the GOP.

The conventional wisdom is that unlimited contributions by wealthy donors will benefit Republicans more than Democrats because, well, rich people tend to be Republicans, and really rich people tend to be really Republican. There are exceptions, of course. Democratic billionaires like George Soros have had plenty of influence on recent elections. And then there are Hollywood and Silicon Valley.

It is an election year and the president isn't very popular right now. Just like some Republicans did in the 2006 elections with George W. Bush, some democrats are shying away from being seen with President Obama or even having it reported in the press that they were in the same city as the president. In Texas of all places, one would certainly not judge Wendy Davis if her schedule "coincidentally" happened to be full when President Obama made a trip to the Lone Star State.

On Monday the Senate passed a bill that would restore federal funding for unemployment insurance (UI) for 2.8 million long-term unemployed Americans. The bill is in the U.S. House, but Speaker John Boehner has already threatened to not bring it to a vote.

Independent voters in Florida continue to grow in number and make up a notable percentage of the voting population, according to recent voter registration data. Since June 2013, the number of voters registered as not affiliated with any party -- major or minor -- increased by over 60,000 voters -- 60,419 to be precise. This is a 2 percent increase going into the midterm election year.

In a new Ted Talk, Harvard professor turned corruption fighter, Lawrence Lessig, makes the case for calling a mayday for our country.

In response to the Obama administration's drone policy, a bipartisan team has introduced legislation to compel annual reports regarding their use.