Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said Friday that Republicans attempting to oust him for a more conservative candidate are doing so at their own risk.

"I figure my primary opponent, probably -- when he announced this week -- made Nancy Pelosi's day," Walden told conservative radio host Mike Huckabee.

According to the Oregonian, the Club for Growth targeted Walden this year after he rebuked President Barack Obama's plan to scale back Social Security's cost-of-living increases -- a proposal that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and other Republicans backed.

Walden now faces a primary challenge in the 2014 election from Klamath County Commissioner Dennis Linthicum. The Club For Growth is withholding judgment on Linthicum so far.

"We're watching the race," spokesman Barney Keller told The Huffington Post recently.

Walden argued that the challenge does more to help Democrats than Republicans.

"The focus needs to be to stop Barack Obama from reinstalling Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House," Walden told Huckabee. "We'll have our differences of opinion on different things as Republicans -- we all know that. But for heavens sake, those are tiny -- tiny -- compared with what will happen if Nancy Pelosi comes back."

WASHINGTON -- A MoveOn.org petition penned by anti-nuclear activist Harvey Wasserman is asking the United Nations to intervene at the crippled Fukushima nuclear facility in Japan.

A 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Japan on Friday, prompting a fresh round of tsunami warnings at the nuclear site, which was ravaged in 2011 after an earthquake and tsunami caused flooding that led to a partial meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, leaving behind millions of gallons of radioactive water.

"At Fukushima Unit 4, the impending removal of hugely radioactive spent fuel rods from a pool 100 feet in the air presents unparalleled scientific and engineering challenges," the petition reads. "With the potential for 15,000 times more fallout than was released at Hiroshima, we ask the world community, through the United Nations, to take control of this uniquely perilous task."

More than 100,000 people had signed the petition as of Friday afternoon. It's slated for delivery to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and President Barack Obama in early November.

Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole, one of the key Republican negotiators on a possible budget deal, said Friday that he would support raising revenue and more of his colleagues need to be open to the idea.

"I think both sides would like to deal with the sequester. And we're willing to put more revenue on the table to do that, and we would like to do it with entitlement savings," Cole said on Bloomberg TV's "Political Capital with Al Hunt," adding the GOP was more focused on "pro-growth revenue" as opposed to tax increases.

Cole acknowledged that many of his colleagues have declared any new revenue off the table, but pointed out that in order to get to a deal, both sides would have to give a little.

"Yeah, there are some that feel that way. But, you know, the reality is, you're going to have to have a deal here," he said, when asked about the many Republicans who disagree with his position. "And a deal means everybody gives something up. Now, again, we're much more into what I'd call pro-growth revenue."

Cole is part of the 29-member negotiating committee tasked with reconciling the vastly different Senate and House budgets as part of last week's deal to end the government shutdown and raise the debt limit. The legislation set a deadline of Dec. 13 for conferees to reach an agreement on a long-term framework for tax and spending policies.

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) sought to manage expectations Thursday, focusing the discussion more narrowly on replacing sequestration, the automated budget cuts that took effect in March.

Ryan flatly ruled out tax revenue increases as part of talks, pointing to the tax hike enacted by Congress in January's fiscal-cliff deal. "If people see this conference as an excuse to raise taxes, I don't think it's going to be successful," the former GOP vice presidential nominee told Reuters.

Ryan emphasized the need for Democrats to give in on entitlement reforms -- including changes to Medicare and Social Security -- as a "smarter" way to turn off sequestration. If Democrats didn't agree, Ryan said the fallback position for Republicans would be to maintain the across-the-board spending cuts.

Cole was more keen to replace the sequester, particularly the defense cuts. But he conceded Republicans were unlikely to break if Democrats lay out a condition that they raise tax rates.

"If we're pushed, if it's -- you've got to raise tax rates or something, then, you know, it's pretty easy for Republicans to hold that lower number," Cole said. "They demonstrated from January to March, when the president tried to break them on sequester, that they weren't going to break."

Two leading Democrats on the budget panel, Senate Budget Committee Chair Patty Murray (Wash.) and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), have said their party won't consider entitlement reform or cuts to domestic programs if Republicans refuse to raise revenues by closing tax loopholes.

Both Murray and Van Hollen participated in a conference call Friday with President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), to discuss the pending negotiations. White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters the call was made to reiterate their focus on the middle class and job creation, and that a similar call was not made to Republicans, according to a pool report.

Despite their differences, Cole was optimistic both sides can get to a deal.

"I think so. I think so. I really do," he said, when asked if the odds were greater than 50 percent. "Look, I think the worst thing to do would be another long-term continuing resolution. I mean, that's just a bad way to govern."

While Americans largely disapprove of how President Barack Obama is handling health care, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll, they have even more negative opinions of how Republicans in Congress are handling the issue.

According to the new poll, Americans disapprove of Obama's handling of health care by a 56 percent to 39 percent margin. The survey also finds that 47 percent want to see the Affordable Care Act, Obama's signature health care law, repealed, while 25 percent want to see it expanded and 15 percent think it should be kept the same.

But few view Republicans in Congress as saviors -- by a 63 percent to 27 percent margin, most disapprove of their handling of the issue. Congressional Democrats fared slightly better, though a majority still viewed them negatively, with 34 percent approving and 53 percent disapproving of their handling of health care.

And if forced to choose, more Americans trust Obama to handle health care than Republicans in Congress, 42 percent to 33 percent. Twenty-five percent said they weren't sure.

The poll also found a deep partisan divide, with eighty-five percent of Republicans saying that they wanted the Affordable Care Act repealed, and 70 percent of Democrats saying they wanted it either kept the same or expanded. Fifty-seven percent of independents said it should be repealed.

Not surprisingly, the vast majority of Democrats (77 percent) said they trust Obama most to handle health care, while the vast majority of Republicans (76 percent) said that they trust Republicans in Congress. Independents were divided, with 35 percent saying they trusted Republicans more, 30 percent saying they trusted Democrats more, and 35 percent saying they weren't sure.

Many recent polls have shown a slight uptick in support for Obama's health care law since the beginning of the month, when its implementation began and Republicans shut down the government in an attempt to defund it. But the HuffPost/YouGov poll suggests the law is becoming less popular once again, as the federal website that enables people to sign up for insurance experiences technical difficulties. While a YouGov/Economist poll taken during the shutdown found that 41 percent said that the health care law should be repealed, 47 percent said so in the newest poll. A HuffPost/YouGov poll conducted in late September before the shutdown found that 43 percent wanted to repeal the law.

The HuffPost/YouGov poll was conducted Oct. 22-23 among 1,000 U.S. adults using a sample selected from YouGov's opt-in online panel to match the demographics and other characteristics of the adult U.S. population. Factors considered include age, race, gender, education, employment, income, marital status, number of children, voter registration, time and location of Internet access, interest in politics, religion and church attendance.

The Huffington Post has teamed up with YouGov to conduct daily opinion polls. You can learn more about this project and take part in YouGov's nationally representative opinion polling.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has threatened to block the nomination of Janet Yellen to chair the Federal Reserve, CNBC reported Friday.

Citing a source close to Paul, CNBC wrote that the Kentucky Republican "is insisting on a vote on his Fed transparency bill, and has informed Senate leadership of his intentions."

The bill in question, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2011, would eliminate current audit restrictions placed on the Government Accountability Office and require the Fed to undergo a complete audit by a specific deadline. Similar legislation was championed in the House by Paul's father, former GOP presidential candidate and Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

The senator hinted at his plans in a video message Thursday for his father's political group, Campaign for Liberty.

"There's no time to waste. Right now, the U.S. Senate is preparing to debate and confirm the new Obama nominee to chair the Federal Reserve," Paul says in a voiceover. "I say not so fast. I say vote no on a new Fed chairman without a vote on my Audit the Fed bill."

"This will be the fight of our lives," he adds. "I will need every one of you to work with me every step of the way."

Watch the video below:

Paul, who mounted a 13-hour talking filibuster against John Brennan's nomination for CIA director earlier this year, also penned a recent op-ed for Time titled "Why I Plan to Grill Yellen."

"It is also important to focus on the fact that the Federal Reserve is structurally flawed. The institution needs to be reformed to prevent Yellen, or any other future nominee, from using the enormous power of the Fed to aid and abet the allies of big government," Paul wrote. "I intend on using the Senate’s constitutional power of consent to nominations as a means to educate the American people on the structural flaws and policies of the Fed that are bankrupting our nation."

President Barack Obama formally nominated Yellen on Oct. 9. Though a confirmation hearing has not been set, the Fed vice chairwoman is scheduled to meet with members of the Senate Banking Committee in the coming weeks. At least one Republican who voted against her nomination to join the Fed board in 2010, Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, predicted Yellen will be confirmed.

Yellen would become the first woman to lead the agency when outgoing Chairman Ben Bernanke's term expires on Jan. 31.

UPDATE: 12:20 p.m. -- Paul spokesman Brian Darling confirmed later Friday that Paul will request a vote on his Fed transparency bill as part of Yellen's nomination process.

"As part of Senate consideration of the Janet Yellen nomination to be Chair of the Federal Reserve, I will request a vote on my bipartisan Federal Reserve Transparency Act, S. 209," Paul said, per Darling. "The American people deserve transparency from the federal reserve and the federal government as a whole."

Yet, if Paul does place a hold on Yellen's nomination, there would need to be a 60-vote threshold for cloture, or to move forward with the nomination proceedings. But on major recent nominations there hasn't ever been unanimous consent when everyone agrees to move forward -- they've all been subject to a 60-vote requirement -- meaning Paul's threat may not be as strong as indicated by his statements.

UPDATE: 2:50 p.m. -- White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday afternoon that formal paperwork for Yellen's nomination was submitted to Capitol Hill Thursday.

"As the president said when he nominated her earlier this month, she is exceptionally well qualified for this role," Earnest said, according to a White House pool report. "We look forward to the Senate confirming her swiftly."

CORRECTION: The original article incorrectly stated that Sen. Bob Corker represents Texas. Corker is from Tennessee.

As the government shutdown dragged on, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) was one of the senators who attempted to work across the aisle to find a solution out of the impasse. And the recognition that something needed to be done, Murkowski said in a recent interview, came out of personal interactions with affected workers.

"I have listened very carefully to the impact this shutdown has had on the people I work for," Murkowski said during an interview with the Juneau Empire on Wednesday. "The ripple effect of this has enormous consequences."

From the Juneau Empire's report:

After all, she walks to work every day in Washington, D.C., so she spoke with security guards daily who's [sic] expenses hadn't stopped when their paychecks did, and she lives next door to a couple who both work for the federal government and were facing the same challenges.

Every night when she came home, Murkowski said the couple would check to see if the senator was smiling -- to see if, maybe, there was an end in sight.

"We were all losing -- the country was losing," Murkowski, R-Alaska, said during an interview at the Empire's office on Wednesday. "This was very personal from where I was sitting."

On Wednesday, the senator met with Alaskans affected by the shutdown, such as those with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Forest Service. She went to lunch at local Juneau restaurant Seong's Sushi and Chinese knowing that it, too, had suffered.

Murkowski mentioned the restaurant's struggles along with other anecdotes on the Senate floor while fighting for a solution to reopen the government. She also criticized the Interior Department's Fish and Wildlife Service for cutting off hunters' access to public lands, and explained to lawmakers that the shutdown wasn't a game.

"This is moose season. This is hunting season. This is when Alaskans are filling up their freezer for a long winter. In so many of our communities there is no Costco; there is no Safeway; there is no grocery store," said Murkowski earlier this month, according to the Hill. "Our hunting areas are the grocery store."

Although the shutdown is over, Murkowski knows that it could have hurt Alaskans still further had it dragged on. She told the Juneau Empire that she's going to make it a priority to prevent shutdowns from occurring in the future.

"Is there a way we can say, 'That's not an option on the table,'" Murkowski said, "because I don't think that was a responsible way to proceed."

Read Murkowski's full interview with the Empire.

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday lamented the damage done to America's image abroad during the government shutdown fight, saying at one point that the country's financial uncertainty had become a subject of jokes within diplomatic circles.

"They are all sizing us up, every day they are taking our measure," Kerry said of foreign governments. "And what we do in Washington matters deeply to them and that is why a self-inflicted wound like a shutdown we just endured can never happen again.

"As President Obama said, the shutdown encouraged our enemies, emboldened our competitors and it depressed our friends who look to us for steady leadership," he continued. "I will tell you that apart from the jokes at some of the summits that I went to about whether because we weren't being paid, whether one country or another could buy our meals, there were real consequences."

Speaking at the Center for American Progress' 10th anniversary policy conference, Kerry prompted groans from the audience when he mentioned that diplomats had offered to cover his meals.

The rest of his comments were less lighthearted and more critical of the damage Congress had done to U.S. foreign policy. He noted that the shutdown had hampered or delayed aid to Israel, the scientific research being done by government-employed Nobel laureates and the execution of trade agreements.

"The shutdown didn't just shutter the WWII memorial, as unfortunate as that was," he said of the most politicized consequence of the government funding impasse. "It stunted our ability to promote the principles and values that our veterans sacrificed for."

Despite having just come back from what he called a "marathon session" of diplomacy in the Middle East, Kerry devoted most of his speech to domestic politics, rather than foreign affairs. The choice seemed strategic. The government needs to come up with a new funding bill by Jan. 15, 2014. And Kerry was already making the argument that Congress couldn't fumble the ball a second time.

"While this chapter is temporarily over, we have got another date looming," Kerry said. "And the experience has to serve as a stern warning to all. It should force us to consider in the weeks and months ahead, what the world would look like if America is less present and less credible. Make no mistake that the greatest danger to America doesn't come from a rising rival. It comes from the damage that we are capable of doing by our own dysfunction."

Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-Texas) recent joke comparing those running the Obamacare website to Nigerian email scammers has drawn criticism from Houston's Nigerian community, according to local ABC affiliate KTRK.

"Have you all noticed, you know the Nigerian email scammers?" Cruz asked the crowd at a Houston rally on Monday, KTRK Houston reported. "They've been a lot less active lately, because they've all been hired to run the Obamacare websites."

Cruz's spokesperson told KTRK the senator was just making a joke based on a common email scam and meant no offense. But the Nigerian community wasn't laughing.

The Rev. Felix Awotula, pastor at Redeemed Christian Church of God, told KTRK that he received phone calls about the comment throughout the day.

"I'm not too sure of the motive behind that. But anyway, the statement has been made, and it has a devastating effect in the mind of Nigerians because we don't want to identify the country with anything negative," Awotula said to KTRK. "I'm not saying all Nigerians are perfect."

Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) criticized Cruz's comment.

“Jokes about Nigerian scammers, you know, I wonder how much off the cuff that really was, and how calculated it was to appeal to Sen. Cruz’s base, many of whom believe that the president is from Africa,” Cartwright said on MSNBC's "The Ed Show" Tuesday.

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, the Republican nominee for governor, donated thousands to anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers in a four-year period, according to a report by Mother Jones.

Cuccinelli’s tax return summary shows that he gave money to multiple crisis pregnancy centers. These types of centers have been criticized for using graphic scare tactics, like videos of beheaded fetuses, and false medical information, including inaccurate claims about abortions increasing a woman’s chance of breast cancer, to dissuade women seeking abortions.

Mother Jones reported that employees at another center backed by Cuccinelli falsely claimed in a New York Times story that legal-abortion advocate Margaret Sanger was a Nazi sympathizer.

Cuccinelli’s tax returns indicate that from 2008 to 2012, the Republican donated more than $4,000 to two crisis pregnancy centers and an affiliated group. A substantial portion of those donations, more than $1,300, went to AAA Women for Choice, which a Washington Post story reported used misleading tactics to draw women seeking abortions into the crisis center.

Cuccinelli has been vocal in the past about his views on abortion.

“Really, given that God does judge nations, it's amazing that abortion has run as far and foully as it has, without what I would consider to be a greater imposition of judgment on this country," Cuccinelli said during a speech at the 2012 Christian Life Summit.

Views of President Barack Obama's health care law have risen slightly since August, despite the widespread technical problems associated with the launch of its online health care exchanges, according to a Gallup poll released Wednesday.

The poll finds that 45 percent of Americans generally approve of the Affordable Care Act, up from from 41 percent two months ago. Disapproval of the law, currently at 50 percent, remains roughly the same, with most of the newfound approval coming from those who were formerly undecided.

The rise in opinion was by far greatest among Democrats, 83 percent of whom now approve of the law, up 12 points since August. Support among independents rose by 4 points, to 39 percent, while support among Republicans remained steady at 11 percent.

Those aged 18 to 29 were the mostly likely to approve, with support falling among older age groups, particularly for those 65 and older.

The results align with those of other surveys taken during the shutdown, which also showed a very small increase in support for Obamacare.

As HuffPost reported on Tuesday, five out of six other new surveys asking about approval of the health care law show a slight increase in approval of the law since September. The pattern across multiple surveys suggests that the effect is small, but real. Yet, the surveys' timing -- at a vulnerable political moment for the GOP, and largely before the recent spate of stories about issues with the HealthCare.gov website -- suggest that the uptick in approval may be fleeting.

The Gallup poll surveyed 1,528 adults between Oct. 18 and Oct. 20, using live phone interviews.

Though he thinks the project has been wasteful and inefficient, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said on Monday that he did not object to a provision in the government shutdown deal that allocated billions more to dam construction in his home state of Kentucky.

Speaking at a restaurant in western Kentucky, Paul was asked about the Olmsted Locks and Dam project, which received heightened scrutiny after lawmakers tucked funding for it into their shutdown solution. The senator, who is known for being fiscally conservative, notably didn't criticize the inclusion.

“It’s one of these things where we’re damned if we do, damned if we don’t -- no pun intended,” Paul said. “Because we’ve gotten halfway into this thing, and it’s extraordinarily expensive and it’s a boondoggle, but we can’t stop, because we need the dam.”

The project, which began in 1988, focuses on creating a new lock and dam on the Ohio River between Kentucky and Illinois. Originally allotted $775 million, the venture received $2.918 billion -- a hefty boost -- under the shutdown agreement. The Senate Conservatives Fund criticized Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for the deal, calling it a "Kentucky kickback." McConnell responded, defending the Olmstead project, saying it actually saves taxpayer money.

“The Army Corps of Engineers requested the Olmsted Lock funding; both House and Senate passed an authorization for it. Every single member of the Senate had a chance to review it and none asked for it to be taken out. And the committee points out that this authorization actually saves $160 million for taxpayers and it’s pretty rare when you’re able to save money in a spending bill,” McConnell said.

If successful, the Olmstead project would alleviate river traffic delays currently hurting companies. It's one of the biggest construction projects in the United States, but it's taking so long that lawmakers like Paul -- who recognize its significance -- have called for changes.

For the first time, more than half of Americans think that marijuana usage should be made legal, according to a Gallup poll released Tuesday.

Fifty-eight percent of Americans now back legalizing marijuana. That represents an 8-point increase from the previous record of 50 percent in 2011, and a 10-point increase from November 2012, just after Colorado and Washington voted for legalization.

"With Americans' support for legalization quadrupling since 1969, and localities on the East Coast such as Portland, Maine, considering a symbolic referendum to legalize marijuana, it is clear that interest in this drug and these issues will remain elevated in the foreseeable future," wrote Art Swift, Gallup's managing editor.

Much of the new support for legalization comes among independent voters, 62 percent of whom now support it, up from just 50 percent last November. Majorities of all age groups up to age 64 also support legalization, including two-thirds of those from 18 to 29.

Other surveys have found rapidly increasing support for legalizing marijuana use. A Pew Research poll released in March found a majority supporting legalization for the first time.

The Gallup poll surveyed 1,028 Americans by phone between Oct. 3 and Oct. 6.

The aftermath of the government shutdown leaves the public angry and profoundly anti-incumbent, according to two polls released Tuesday morning, which confirm that Americans lay much of the blame for the ordeal on the GOP.

Just over 80 percent disapprove of the shutdown, a Washington Post/ABC poll finds, and wide majorities say it has damaged the United States' economy, its image abroad, and the morale of federal employees. Even more -- 87 percent -- say it's indicative of broader problems in Washington.

Other gauges of the national mood bear out that pessimism. Only 28 percent of Americans think the country is on the right track, the lowest number since 2011, and down 8 points from July. Just 23 percent are satisfied with how the political system is working.

Congressional approval is at a miserable 12 percent in the Post/ABC poll, its lowest point in 39 years. More Americans disapprove than approve of their own representative for the first time in at least 24 years. In a USA Today/Princeton Survey Research Associates poll, 47 percent of Americans say Congress would be improved if every member were voted out, while just 4 percent think it would be worse.

While the 2014 elections remain more than a year away, and much in the political landscape could change before that time, the polls present a potentially troubling picture for Republicans.

"Those findings are similar to the public's views in previous years when voter dismay cost one side or the other control of the House," USA Today's Susan Page writes. "In 1994, when Democrats lost their majority, 40% said Congress would be better off if most members were replaced. In 2006, when Republicans lost control, 42% held that view."

In the Post/ABC poll, 48 percent of registered voters said they would prefer to vote for a Democratic House candidate, while 40 percent would vote for a Republican, although those numbers are unchanged from a May survey.

President Barack Obama, congressional Democrats and congressional Republicans all get negative ratings for their handling of the budget negotiations. A record high 63 percent of Americans view the Republican Party unfavorably, up 10 points since Sept. 30, the day before the shutdown. The Democratic Party's unfavorable rating also stands at a record high of 49 percent, a 7-point increase from Sept. 30.

The GOP, however, takes the bulk of blame for the shutdown In the Post/ABC poll, a 53 percent majority of Americans blame Republicans more for the shutdown, while 29 percent blame Obama more. In the USA Today/PSRA poll, which asked about the two parties, 39 percent blame Republicans more, and 19 percent primarily blame Democrats.

While Obama's ratings have declined fairly steadily since his second inauguration, his approval in this poll stands at 48 percent, with 49 percent disapproving -- essentially unchanged from his standing this summer (though other polls have found a somewhat steeper decline). Approval for his implementation of the health care law has actually increased 7 points since mid-September, with most of the improvement coming from those who formerly expressed no opinion.

"The survey highlights just how badly the GOP hard-liners and the leaders who went along with them misjudged the public mood," the Post's Dan Balz and Scott Clement write, referring to the Republican push to defund Obamacare that led to the budget impasse.

The results line up with polls taken during the shutdown, such as one that put the Republican Party's favorability at a record low, and a poll released yesterday by CNN that found a majority of Americans think it's bad for the country that Republicans control the House.

The Post/ABC poll surveyed 1,002 Americans, while the USA Today/PSRA poll surveyed 1,001 Americans. Both were conducted between Oct. 17 and Oct. 20, using live telephone interviews.

A new petition launched by a progressive group is calling on a former communications director and campaign adviser to President Barack Obama to stop her work on behalf of TransCanada, the company seeking permission to build the Keystone XL pipeline.

Created by progressive group CREDO, the petition criticizes Anita Dunn's firm, SKDKnickerbocker, for creating TV ads in support of the pipeline. The petition claims that Dunn's work for TransCanada is at odds with her role in Obama's campaign, which itself has underscored the importance of addressing climate change. "It's a betrayal of the commitments that so many of us worked so hard for, and that Dunn herself played a huge role in shaping as top strategist on the 2008 campaign and communications director in the White House," the petition reads. "We need to call out her unprincipled and hypocritical work trying to force approval of Keystone XL."

As of Monday afternoon more than 115,000 people had signed the petition.

Approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry oil from Canada to refineries on the Gulf Coast, has been a major environmental battleground for President Obama's administration. The pipeline would allow for further development of the Alberta tar sands oil, a move that activists worry could be disastrous environmental consequences.

The petition also highlights Dunn's close ties to the White House, which The New York Times chronicled in October 2012. Executives at SKDK told The New York Times that Dunn was "scrupulous about separating her political work from her corporate agenda, and that she followed White House ethics rules barring her from appealing on behalf of clients."

SKDKnickerbocker commented on the petition Tuesday in an email to The Huffington Post.

"We are proud to help with the advertising on behalf of the Keystone Pipeline, which is supported by organized labor and 17 Senate Democrats, including several that are critical to Democrats’ holding the majority," the email said. "Like many other Democrats, we see this project as a boon to the economy, a job creator and a key part of the nation’s all-of-the-above energy strategy to reduce our dependence on foreign oil in an environmentally responsible way."

The latest ad from Dunn's firm contrasts oil from the volatile Middle East region with oil that would be carried by the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada, a close ally. "The TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline could eliminate America's reliance on unstable and often unfriendly foreign energy in 10 to 20 years," the narrator says, while the camera pans across Canadian forests and shows workers building a pipeline.

The New York Times has also reported that recent ads in opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline were produced by a former Obama consultant, ad maker Jim Margolis.

This is a developing story and has been updated.