Tea Partiers Are Fairly Mainstream in Their Demographics  —  Skew right politically, but have typical profile by age, education, and employment  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Tea Party supporters skew right politically; but demographically, they are generally representative of the public at large.

EXCLUSIVE: Michael Steele: Obama and I Have Slimmer Margins of Error Because of Race  —  Embattled Republican Leader Breaks His Silence, Says He Won't Resign  —  Embattled Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said he won't resign despite calls for him to step down amid reports …

Street Fight  —  Obama can get everything he wants on financial reform—if only he gets tough.  —  Last week, Alabama Republican Richard Shelby, the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, floated a compromise on the consumer financial protection agency that's currently stalled in the Senate.

Jobless rate may rise as many are drawn back to labor force  —  The increase in jobs highlighted in the nation's most recent unemployment report carried the sound of economic promise, but Obama administration officials said Sunday that the public shouldn't expect any dramatic improvement in the jobless rate …

Spring forecast: Incivility with a chance of rage  —  MANCHESTER, N.H. - If the experience of this state's two Democratic House members is any indication, the raw emotion and mistrust emanating from last summer's congressional town halls never really went away.

The Media Equation: Sarah Palin's Lucrative Career in Mainstream Media  —  When Sarah Palin made her debut as the host of “Real American Stories” on Fox News on Thursday night, she described several triumphs of regular people over insurmountable odds, but she missed an obvious one: her own.

Fake story meant to ensnare bloggers catches NYT instead  —  And these clowns wonder why they are circling the drain?  This lawyer pulled the fake story stunt to entrap us - political bloggers - because “fact checking is not” our “strong suit,” so he claimed.  We ignored the story, and the NYT ran with it.

Karzai's defiant stance concerns U.S., other Afghans  —  KABUL — President Obama's visit to Kabul last week, intended in part to forge a closer working relationship with President Hamid Karzai, has helped produce the opposite: an angry Afghan leader now attacking the West for what he perceives …

Court Challenge: Replacing Stevens  —  Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens's latest public musings about retirement highlight the challenge President Barack Obama faces in choosing a successor for the leader of the court's liberal minority.  —  Whomever Mr. Obama chooses …

Earthquakes rattle Pacific Coast  —  (CNN) — A string of earthquakes and aftershocks rattled the Pacific Coast of the United States and Mexico on Sunday, including a magnitude 7.2 quake that could be felt across Baja California, Arizona and Southern California, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

RED ALERT: U.S. Consulate Attacked In Pakistan  —  Three explosions, two rocket attacks and subsequent gunfire have been reported in the near vicinity of the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar, Pakistan, on April 5.  The attack occurred early afternoon local time when the consulate would have been full of both American and local employees.

Meg Whitman's deep pockets put her ahead of Jerry Brown  —  Former EBay chief's record-breaking $39-million gift to her own campaign helps put her 3 points ahead of the attorney general in governor's race, poll finds.  Boxer still leads in Senate contest.  —  Republican Meg Whitman's …

Taking On Obama in 2012: Challenges for Romney, Pawlenty  —  President Barack Obama waves goodbye after delivering a speech at the Portland Expo Center in Maine on April 1, 2010  —  The conventional presidential-campaign wisdom: … Because all these pieces of wisdom are completely false …

Unserious About Iran  —  Obama is acting as if he believes a nuclear Tehran is inevitable.  —  'Our aim is not incremental sanctions, but sanctions that will bite.  " Thus did Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seek to reassure the crowd at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee …

Small Bras and the Value-Added Tax  —  Taxing consumption sounds easy.  Wait until government starts to carve out the political exceptions.  —  So we are to have a European-style value-added tax (VAT).  That's the emerging consensus in Washington as people come to recognize the reality …