The Palin Network  —  On the night of the midterm elections earlier this month, Sarah Palin stayed up until 3 in the morning.  From her hotel bedroom in Manhattan, she and her husband, Todd, followed the returns while she wrote e-mails on her iPad — congratulating winners, consoling losers …

Man Shoots TV Over Bristol Palin Dancing  —  Suspect surrendered after 15-hour standoff with Wisconsin cops … Like most Americans, Steven Cowan has been perplexed by Bristol Palin's curious ability to keep advancing in TV's “Dancing with the Stars” competition.

Nancy Pelosi survives Democratic revolt  —  Democrats elected Nancy Pelosi as their minority leader on Wednesday, but only after a brutal two days of arguing behind closed doors and a 150-43 vote that revealed a bloc of disgruntled Democrats to be firmly in the anti-Pelosi camp.

Behind delayed summit: Republican distrust of President Obama  —  The roots of the partisan standoff that led to the postponement of the bipartisan White House summit scheduled for Thursday date back to January, when President Barack Obama crashed a GOP meeting in Baltimore to deliver a humiliating rebuke of House Republicans.

Leader of TSA offers pat-downs to senators  —  The head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) offered on Wednesday to have airport screeners come to Capitol Hill to give senators a pat-down so they could fully understand the mechanics of the newly deployed, controversial technique.

One Way to Trim Deficit: Cultivate Growth  —  We look back on the late 1990s as a rare time when the federal government ran budget surpluses.  We tend to forget that those surpluses came as a surprise to almost everybody.  —  As late as 1998, the Congressional Budget Office was predicting a deficit for 1999.

Murkowski's lead more than 10,000 votes  —  Today's review of write-in ballots ended with Sen. Lisa Murkowski enjoying an apparently insurmountable 10,420-vote lead over Joe Miller.  —  Murkowski also now has collected more votes that went unchallenged by Miller ballot observers than Miller's total vote count.

Insurers Gave U.S. Chamber $86 Million Used to Oppose Obama's Health Law  —  Health insurers last year gave the U.S. Chamber of Commerce $86.2 million that was used to oppose the health-care overhaul law, according to tax records and people familiar with the donation.

Roger Ailes Lets Rip  —  In an exclusive interview with The Daily Beast, the Fox News chief says Obama thinks differently from most Americans, defends Murdoch's GOP donations, and admits Beck sometimes goes too far.  —  In the media world, as in politics, having a high-profile target can be a very good thing.

Pretty Good for Government Work  —  My mother told me to send thank-you notes promptly.  I've been remiss.  —  Let me remind you why I'm writing.  Just over two years ago, in September 2008, our country faced an economic meltdown.  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the pillars that supported …

The speaker who speaks softly  —  John Boehner doesn't yell.  —  Unlike other powerful Washington insiders, the soon-to-be-Speaker of the House doesn't berate his staff or colleagues.  The Ohio Republican has a management style that is unique, one that will be tested repeatedly in the next Congress.

Members of US Congress Get Richer Despite Sour Economy  —  Despite a long and deep recession, the collective personal wealth of congressional members increased by more than 16 percent between 2008 and 2009, according to a study released Wednesday by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Senate Republicans Vote Unanimously Against Bill To Help Guarantee Fair Pay For Women  —  Our guest blogger is Rebecca Lefton, a Researcher with Progressive Media.  —  Today, Senate Republicans voted unanimously against legislation to close the pay gap between women and men.

The Washington Independent, signing off  —  Nearly three years ago, The Washington Independent was launched as a bold experiment in online journalism.  The idea was to combine hard-nosed investigative reporting with all the web had to offer: the nimbleness of real-time coverage …

Michael Bloomberg & Joe Scarborough: The Independent Odd Couple  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? … WASHINGTON — There's no campaign yet, and there may never be, but New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and MSNBC's morning talk-show host Joe Scarborough have begun trying to figure out whether …

Fighting the Fed  —  Sarah Palin is leading conservatives' most sinister campaign to date.  —  Last week, in between leading a graduate seminar on Proust and delivering a long-scheduled lecture on mass spectrometry, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin ventured a few ticks beyond her acknowledged area …

State representatives file birth certificate bill filed for presidential candidates  —  AUSTIN — A state representative on Tuesday filed a bill that would require any candidate for president or vice president of the United States to show his or her birth certificate to the Texas secretary of state …