Poll Finds Tea Party Backers Wealthier and More Educated  —  Tea party supporters are wealthier and more well-educated than the general public, tend to be Republican, white, male, and married, and their strong opposition to the Obama administration is more rooted in political ideology …

Obama Speech Signals a U.S. Shift on Middle East  —  WASHINGTON — It was just a phrase at the end of President Obama's news conference on Tuesday, but it was a stark reminder of a far-reaching shift in how the United States views the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and how aggressively it might push for a peace agreement.

Obama dares GOP to fight Wall St. bill  —  For weeks, the White House strategy on financial regulatory reform remained an open question: Would President Barack Obama water down his bill just to get something passed — the way he did on health care?  —  A Palinesque “Hell no!” …

Rubio Tops Crist By 23 Points In Florida GOP Senate Race, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Crist As Independent Has Slight Edge In 3-Way Race  —  Marco Rubio has opened up an elephant-sized 56 - 33 percent lead over Gov. Charlie Crist in Florida's U.S. Senate Republican primary …

The Great Tea-Bait  —  Heath Shuler did not hear the “N-word” on March 20.  —  It may be the most celebrated missing recording since Watergate: the nonexistent or unaccounted-for video of the tea-party protesters at the Capitol who three black congressmen claim yelled racial slurs at them on March 20, the eve of ObamaCare's enactment.

Mitt Romney-Sarah Palin in 2012?  You betcha!  —  Conservative superstar Sarah Palin opened the door yesterday to joining forces with Mitt Romney for a 2012 White House run - a hot ticket that has some Republicans licking their chops at the prospect of unseating President Obama.

How Tweet It Is!:  Library Acquires Entire Twitter Archive  —  Have you ever sent out a “tweet” on the popular Twitter social media service?  Congratulations: Your 140 characters or less will now be housed in the Library of Congress.  —  That's right.  Every public tweet, ever …

General Election 2010: Conservatives lead in 100 key seats, Telegraph poll shows  —  The Conservatives are on course for a convincing election victory after a new poll for The Daily Telegraph showed the party is leading Labour by 12 points in crucial marginal constituencies.

Sen. Lincoln forges ahead on financial derivatives reform  —  An influential senator is advocating new regulations that would force the nation's largest banks to stop trading nearly all kinds of exotic financial instruments known as financial derivatives — a move that would dramatically …

Early Bumps in Blumenthal's Senate Run in Connecticut  —  HARTFORD — Richard Blumenthal's campaign for the Senate was supposed to be a glide.  Nothing and no one could stop him.  —  As the Connecticut attorney general, Mr. Blumenthal, a Democrat, had been sticking up for consumers …

Fed Shouldn't Reveal Crisis Loans, Banks Vow to Tell High Court  —  The biggest U.S. commercial banks will take their fight against disclosure of Federal Reserve lending in 2008 to the Supreme Court if necessary, the top lawyer for an industry-owned group said.

UNDERFUNDED TEACHER PENSION PLANS:  —  It's Worse Than You Think  —  Josh Barro, Walter B. Wriston Fellow, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research  —  Stuart Buck, Distinguished Doctoral Fellow, Department of Education Reform, University of Arkansas  —  Executive Summary

Larry King Files for Divorce #8  —  TMZ has learned Larry King just filed for divorce from his wife Shawn Southwick — the 8th time King's pulled the plug on a marriage.  —  In the divorce papers, filed moments ago in L.A. County Superior Court, Larry blames the split on “irreconcilable differences.”

Sink the Murtha  —  The Navy can do better than honoring this hack  —  The late Rep. John Murtha, Pennsylvania Democrat, has achieved his highest undeserved honor.  Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has decided to name the Navy's newest San Antonio Class amphibious transport-dock LPD 26 the USS John P. Murtha.

Volcanic ash disrupts N European flights  —  Cloud of smoke and ash coming from volcano in Iceland on 14 April  —  Airline passengers are facing massive disruption across the UK after an ash cloud from a volcanic eruption in Iceland grounded planes.  —  The Air Traffic Control Service …

Elena Kagan's Stints in Court May Hint at a Style On It  —  WASHINGTON — Two weeks ago, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, a leading contender for appointment to the Supreme Court, presented her sixth argument there.  She bantered easily with the justices, and she seemed to have a special rapport …

TALK BUSINESS POLL: U.S. SENATE RACE - DEMOCRATS  —  The race for the U.S. Senate is on.  —  Our latest Talk Business Poll of 1,167 statewide voters shows that incumbent Sen. Blanche Lincoln leads challenger Bill Halter 38% to 31% in the Democratic primary.

Vatican ‘clarifies’ abuse claim  —  The Vatican has sought to “clarify” remarks made by a senior cardinal, who linked homosexuality with paedophilia in the abuse scandal facing the Church.  —  A spokesman provided “data” to support the claim, but also said Church leaders were not trying …

Senate fight ahead for START  —  Of all President Barack Obama's nuclear arms reduction initiatives — including his world without nuclear weapons and a test ban treaty — negotiating and ratifying an updated Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia was seen as the easiest step.