Mubarak Leaves Cairo as Crowds Surge  —  CAIRO — President Hosni Mubarak left the Egyptian capital for his resort home in Sharm el-Sheik, amid indications that a transfer of power was under way, Western officials said Friday.  State television said Mr. Mubarak would issue a statement later.

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 …

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 …

Cornyn running for No. 2 spot in GOP leadership  —  Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) will run to become the next Senate GOP whip, a senior Cornyn aide said Friday.  —  Cornyn, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, has begun reaching out to colleagues to gauge support …

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 …

Paul Ryan's Limited Imagination  —  Everyone knows that Ron Paul has some crank notions about monetary economics, but Paul Ryan's own crankitude on this score is badly underrated.  Will Wilkinson, for example, flags this alarming quote from Ryan's participation in a recent committee hearing with Ben Bernanke:

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 …

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 …

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 …

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,” …

Susan Rice kicks off U.N. series  —  Susan Rice, President Barack Obama's ambassador to the United Nations, will argue in a major address Friday evening that the U.S. should “strengthen” — not “starve” — the world body.  —  The address is the first in a series of speeches …

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.