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.

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 …

GOP split over terms of new ‘Contract’  —  Republicans are salivating over the prospect of winning back the House in November, and they're planning to produce a new “Contract With America” in the hopes of sealing the deal.  —  The catch: They don't agree yet on what should be in it.

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.

Sail Away from Taxes; Take a Free Ride with Carnahan  —  IMMEDIATE RELEASE  —  Press Contact: Theresa Petry, (314) 807-7077  —  Rep. Carnahan avoids taxes and fails yet again to register his yacht  —  (ST. LOUIS, MO.) April 14, 2010 - As Americans prepare to file and pay their taxes …

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 …

A Message from ‘Henry’  —  We're high earners not yet rich, and now the government wants us to pay more?  —  I'm in the 32% federal and 10% state income tax brackets.  I pay a 1.2% property tax on very expensive California real estate.  I am subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax.

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.

Volcanic Ash Shuts Down Air Traffic in North Europe  —  LONDON — Civil aviation authorities closed air space and shut down airports in Britain, France, Scandinavia and other parts of Europe on Thursday as a high-altitude cloud of ash drifted south and east from an erupting volcano in Iceland.

Obama opens up on Rudd relationship  —  United States president Barack Obama says he and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd share several personality traits - one of which is humility.  —  The US president made the comments to the 7.30 Report's Kerry O'Brien during an interview which will be aired on ABC1 tonight.

Taxpayers foot State Department's stiff liquor bill  —  Months after President Obama urged federal agencies last year to cut wasteful spending, the U.S. Department of State paid $3,814 to fill an order of Jack Daniel's whiskey for gratuities at one of its many overseas embassies.  —  The booze buy wasn't unusual.

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.

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 …

The K.S.M. Files  —  Watching Attorney General Eric Holder struggle on Wednesday to answer senators' questions about the detention and trial of terrorism suspects made us nostalgic for the old days — back in 2009 — when the United States was making progress toward cleaning …

Europe's VAT Lessons  —  Rates start low and increase, while income tax rates stay high.  —  As Americans rush to complete their annual tax returns today, there is still some consolation in knowing that it could be worse: Like Europeans, we could pay both income taxes and a value-added tax, or VAT.

Eric Holder's Guantanamo Bay morass  —  Eric Holder is a Guantanamo Bay prisoner.  —  He's not imprisoned at Gitmo, but he's imprisoned by Gitmo.  The Justice Department he leads, and to some extent the whole Obama administration, has been detained — tortured, even — by the star-crossed attempt to close the military prison.