GOP senators fight over failure  —  Long-simmering tensions within the Republican Party spilled into public view Wednesday as the pragmatic and conservative wings of the GOP blamed each other in blunt terms for the party's failure to capture the Senate.  —  With tea party-backed candidates …

Just 32% of Tea Party candidates win  —  A Don't Tred On Me flag flies above protesters at a rally in April in Macon, MO.  —  From NBC's Alexandra Moe  —  For all the talk of the Tea Party's strength - and there will certainly be a significant number of their candidates in Congress …

What the Fed did and why: supporting the recovery and sustaining price stability  —  Two years have passed since the worst financial crisis since the 1930s dealt a body blow to the world economy.  Working with policymakers at home and abroad, the Federal Reserve responded with strong …

Democrats Outrun by a 2-Year G.O.P. Comeback Plan  —  The PowerPoint slides presented to House Republicans in January 2009 seemed incongruously optimistic at a time when the very word “hope” belonged to the newly ascendant Democrats and their incoming president, Barack Obama.

Exclusive: Speaker Nancy Pelosi Says She Has ‘No Regrets’  —  Pelosi Tells Diane Sawyer She Hasn't Thought About Her Future Yet  —  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said today she has “no regrets” one day after a Republican landslide stripped her of the power that defined her historic tenure as the first female Speaker of the House.

You think '10 was tough?  Check out '12  —  For the first time in two cycles, Democrats will have more seats up for grabs than the Republicans, and the party could see its shrunken majority erased altogether.  —  Several of the senators up for reelection came in on the 2006 Democratic wave …

Washington, Alaska races not over  —  One of the lingering, unresolved Senate races was taken off the board late Wednesday afternoon, when Sen. Michael Bennet was declared the winner in his agonizingly close Colorado matchup with tea party Republican Ken Buck.

The sad tale of the Democrats who hated the unemployed  —  Last summer, we met the Democrats who hated the unemployed — the 16 House votes from the majority party against an emergency extension of unemployment benefits.  They were:  —  John Adler, D-N.J.  —  Brian Baird, D-Wash.

Ouster of Iowa Judges Sends Signal to Bench  —  DES MOINES — An unprecedented vote to remove three Iowa Supreme Court justices who were part of the unanimous decision that legalized same-sex marriage in the state was celebrated by conservatives as a popular rebuke of judicial overreach …

YouTube Withdraws Cleric's Videos  —  LONDON — Under pressure from American and British officials, YouTube on Wednesday removed from its site some of the hundreds of videos featuring calls to jihad by Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born, Yemen-based cleric who has played an increasingly public role …

In new memoir, Bush makes clear he approved use of waterboarding  —  Human rights experts have long pressed the administration of former president George W. Bush for details of who bore ultimate responsibility for approving the simulated drownings of CIA detainees, a practice …

Obama Doesn't Get It  —  President Obama came close, but he still just cannot admit that his radical policies and their effects on the economy are the cause of his devastating political rebuke.  For most of his press conference, an oddly depressed Obama voted present, as he all but said that the problems …

Outside Groups on the Right Flexed Muscles  —  On the way to winning back the majority in the House on Tuesday, Republican challenger after Republican challenger overcame significant fund-raising gaps to beat their opponents, bolstered by a deluge of spending by independent groups.

A recoil against liberalism  —  Unwilling to delay until tomorrow mistakes that could be made immediately, Democrats used 2010 to begin losing 2012.  Trying to preemptively drain the election of its dangerous (to Democrats) meaning, all autumn Democrats described the electorate as suffering a brain cramp …

You know who was a big loser in this election?  George Soros.  —  While Democrats went out of their way to portray the Koch brothers as evil billionaires puppeteering this election, I'd venture they feel pretty good about the outcome.  However, after last night I'd venture that that George Soros is one unhappy Hungarian.

Social Security's $32.2 Billion Mistake  —  In the midst of electoral chaos yesterday, I did not get around to noting a striking screw-up at the Social Security Administration — you know, the folks with which we're supposed to entrust our retirements.  I'll get to that in a minute, but first …

Democrats find common ground: It's the White House's fault  —  The bodies aren't even cold yet in the House, but the Democratic Party has already opened up a bitter debate over who's to blame.  —  The party's bloodied moderates Wednesday released two years of pent-up anger at a party leadership …