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Republican David Jolly speaks during a candidate forum in Clearwater, Florida, on February 25.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

St. Petersburg, Florida (CNN) -- In the first major ballot box test of 2014, the GOP won.

Republican David Jolly edged out Democrat Alex Sink to win Tuesday's special election in Florida's 13th Congressional District. Jolly will fill out the term of his former boss, Republican Rep. Bill Young, who died in October. Young, first elected to Congress in 1970, was the longest-serving Republican in the House.

With national Republicans framing the race as a referendum on Obamacare and a massive infusion of outside ad money to try to influence the outcome, pundits have looked to the Florida race as a bellwether for November's midterm elections.

Special coverage: 2014 midterm elections

But Jolly didn't mention the health care law in his victory speech and instead said, "This race is not about defending a broken agenda in Washington or advancing a broken agenda in Washington. This race is about defending Pinellas County and serving the people right here in our own community."

Sink, the state's former chief financial officer who narrowly lost the 2010 gubernatorial election, said in a concession statement, "While tonight was not the result we were hoping for, I am proud of the race we have run and so grateful for the countless Pinellas residents, volunteers and supporters who put their faith in our campaign."

Swing district in swing state

Jolly won 48.5% of the vote, and Sink got just under 47%. Libertarian candidate Lucas Overby was a distant third, with just under 5% of the ballots cast.

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Republicans win first 2014 election showdown

Republicans in Congress want to add language to a U.S. aid plan for Ukraine that would block a proposed IRS rule curbing political activity by tax-exempt groups, Senator Bob Corker said today.

Corker, the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, said the proposed Internal Revenue Service measure was one of the unresolved issues facing lawmakers working to complete a Ukraine aid package in time for the panel to consider it tomorrow.

The other was whether to add a boost in International Monetary Fund resources that President Barack Obamas administration has requested, Corker said.

Everything else is in good shape, the Tennessee senator said. The package relative to Ukraine itself is, I think, in good shape.

Republicans are reviving a failed effort earlier this year to link language delaying the proposed IRS rule with the IMF funding increase. Both provisions eventually were dropped from legislation to fund the U.S. government through Sept. 30.

The House today approved, on a 402-7 vote, a non-binding resolution calling for sanctions against Russian officials and state-owned banks in response to what the measure calls a violation of Ukraines sovereignty.

The Senate also unanimously passed a resolution, S.Res. 378, condemning Russian aggression in Ukraine.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans say the proposed IRS rule would wrongly suppress free speech. It could limit political spending by outside groups that receive tax exemptions as non-profit social welfare organizations.

The House on Feb. 26 passed legislation, which Obama has threatened to veto, that would delay that rule for a year.

John Koskinen, the IRS commissioner, told a House subcommittee the same day that the chances of completing the rule before this Novembers election were fairly slim. He said the agency will hold a public hearing and may solicit more comments.

Here is the original post:

Republicans Seek to Block IRS Rule in Ukraine Aid Package

By Darrell Delamaide

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) The predictable branding of President Barack Obama as a new Jimmy Carter because of his cautious response to the Ukraine crisis has left Republicans with the big problem of whom to cast as Ronald Reagan riding to the rescue.

It is an article of faith in Washington that Carters perceived weakness in the Iranian hostage crisis led to his landslide 1980 defeat to Reagan.

According to Russian and U.S. officials, diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute over Ukraine stalled after Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected a U.S. proposal put forward by Secretary of State John Kerry.

Conservatives have been quick to brand Obamas equivocal response to the Russian seizure of the Crimea, coming on top of his retreat on Syrian chemical weapons, as a sign of weakness that will encourage further Russian aggression.

Republicans are keen to seize on the Ukraine crisis because a foreign-policy debate suits them better than one on economic policy, where their decades-long insistence on tax cuts for the wealthy and superfluous measures at deficit reduction have painted them into a very unpopular corner.

Wall Street Journal commentator Daniel Henninger, for instance, referred to the Carterization of Obama , citing a Reagan speech during the 1980 campaign characterizing the Carter administrationss response in Iran as one of weakness, inconsistency, vacillation and bluff.

For Henninger, the administrations hesitancy on the Crimea is just the tip of the iceberg in a week that also saw Israel intercept Syrian missiles on the way to Gaza, North Korea test ballistic missiles that could strike American bases in South Korea, Russia announce its navy would use ports in Cuba, and China increase its military budget even as the Obama administration proposed to cut the U.S. defense budget.

The New York Post chimed in with an editorial under the headline Jimmy Obama. Vladimir Putin has taken the measure of Barack Obama, the editorialist intoned. Hes found Jimmy Carter.

As sure as day follows night, it seems, there must be a Reagan to follow a Carter but which of the Republican aspirants to the presidency will it be?

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Darrell Delamaide's Political Capital: Republicans keen to run against Jimmy Carter again

Everyone knows by now that Republicans have a major demographic problem: The party is struggling to attract nonwhite voters even as that segment of the electorate keeps growing.

But a new study by the Pew Research Center on millennials defined as those between the ages of 18 and 33 suggests that Republicans will have another major demographic issue on their hands in future elections: Young people are more liberal and are more inclined to support Democrats than the generations that have come before them.

Chris Cillizza

Chris Cillizza is founder and editor of The Fix, a leading blog on state and national politics. He is the author of The Gospel According to the Fix: An Insiders Guide to a Less than Holy World of Politics and an MSNBC contributor and political analyst. He also regularly appears on NBC and NPRs The Diane Rehm Show. He joined The Post in 2005 and was named one of the top 50 journalists by Washingtonian in 2009.

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