Crisis Flummoxes White House  —  President Mubarak's Refusal to Step Down Signals a Loss of Western Influence; Sense of ‘Disbelief’ After Speech  —  WASHINGTON—The defiant tone taken by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak—and widespread confusion about the meaning of his speech …

Mubarak Reportedly Leaves Cairo  —  CAIRO —The Egyptian military appeared to assert its leadership Friday amid growing indications that President Hosni Mubarak was yielding all power.  A Western official said that Mr. Mubarak had left the capital, though that could not be independently confirmed.

Paul Supporters Hijack Cheney-Rumsfeld Reunion (Video)  —  ***LIVE UPDATES FROM CPAC ON TPM's CPAC 2011 WIRE***  —  Dick Cheney just popped up here at CPAC to introduce his old pal and Bush administration colleague Donald Rumsfeld.  Fans of Ron Paul turned what should have been a friendly moment …

After hard week, GOP has ‘group hug’  —  House Republicans emerged from an emergency meeting about the budget Thursday night sounding unified around a newfangled stop-gap spending measure that would achieve cuts of $100 billion.  —  Freshmen, once again, were the driving force that sent …

Abraham Lincoln, Inflationist  —  There was a time when Republicans used to refer to themselves, proudly, as “the party of Lincoln.”  But you don't hear that line much these days.  Why?  —  The main answer, presumably, lies in the G.O.P.'s decision, long ago, to seek votes from Southerners angered by the end of legal segregation.

EXCLUSIVE: US Chamber's Lobbyists Solicited Hackers To Sabotage Unions, Smear Chamber's Political Opponents  —  ThinkProgress has learned that a law firm representing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the big business trade association representing ExxonMobil, AIG, and other major international corporations …

Koch Brothers plan to spend $88 million this cycle on TV, micro-targeting, grassroots - Team Huntsman hiring for ‘12 — Gibbs’ last stand — Alex Conant is 31 - Sarah Palin is 47  —  BULLETIN — Bloomberg: “Hundreds of protesters demanding the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak …

Oprah wants ‘respect’ for Obama  —  Oprah Winfrey (left) and Barack Obama attend a campaign event in Dec. 2007.  AP Photo  —  Oprah called on President Obama's critics on Friday to “show some level of respect.”  —  “I feel that everybody has a learning curve, and I feel that the reason …

Romney: “Believe in America”  —  First on The Page: '12 aspirant at CPAC morning speech to focus on (surprise!) the issue Americans most care about — jobs.  —  Watch it live around 10:30am ET here.  —  And look for “Believe in America” bumper stickers, lapel stickers and signs at the conference.

Multiculturalism has failed, says French president  —  PARIS (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared Thursday that multiculturalism had failed, joining a growing number of world leaders or ex-leaders who have condemned it.  —  “My answer is clearly yes, it is a failure,” …

De Pasquale's Dozen: Andrew Breitbart  —  I have endeavored in this column to pull back the curtain a bit on the pop culture sensibilities of some of the most serious political players of our day—to show that even kings and kingmakers, amid long afternoons with important Economist articles …

Tea Party Express Names Snowe as Its Next Moderate Republican Target  —  The Tea Party Express, which raised and spent millions of dollars to knock off moderate Republicans in Alaska, Colorado and Delaware in the 2010 election cycle, is now going after Olympia Snowe in Maine.