Gingrich Jumps In: First 2012 GOP Nominee  —  Sources: Former House Speaker Will form 2012 Exploratory Comm.  —  The 2012 presidential campaign is about to get its first big-name Republican.  —  ABC News has learned that Newt Gingrich will make the leap this week.

Huckabee: Obama Grew Up “In Kenya”  —  During a radio appearance yesterday, Mike Huckabee repeatedly falsely claimed that President Obama grew up in Kenya.  After questioning Obama's purported secrecy about the birth certificate, radio host Steve Malzberg asked Huckabee if “we deserve to know more about this man.”

Darrell Issa fires press secretary Kurt Bardella in NYT e-mail flap  —  The House Oversight and Government Reform committee is firing spokesman Kurt Bardella for sharing correspondence with reporters with a New York Times journalist.  —  The move comes a day after POLITICO reported that Bardella …

Billions in Bloat Uncovered in Beltway  —  The U.S. government has 15 different agencies overseeing food-safety laws, more than 20 separate programs to help the homeless and 80 programs for economic development.  —  These are a few of the findings in a massive study of overlapping …

How Rumsfeld misleads and ducks responsibility in his new book  —  Few people know the ins and outs of the Bush Administration as well as the Washington Post's Bob Woodward, who is flat-out disgusted with the evasions and elisions in Donald Rumsfeld's new book.  Here he explains why:  —  By Bob Woodward

Dodd said last year he would not lobby  —  Former Sen. Chris Dodd (D) on Monday took the type of job he said last year he would not accept.  —  Dodd accepted the chairmanship of the Motion Picture Association of America — Hollywood's top lobbyist — on Monday.

Eric Holder: Black Panther case focus demeans ‘my people’  —  Attorney General Eric Holder finally got fed up Tuesday with claims that the Justice Department went easy in a voting rights case against members of the New Black Panther Party because they are African American.

Rep. Holt beats Watson the super-computer at ‘Jeopardy!’  —  There are a lot of smart people on Capitol Hill.  But none of them can claim quite the same brainy bragging rights as Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.).  —  On Monday, Holt beat IBM's super-computer, known as Watson, at a round of “Jeopardy! …

Exclusive: AWOL Democrats Experiencing ‘Dissension in the Ranks’  —  Fox Nation has learned exclusively from a highly placed source within Wisconsin state politics that the fourteen AWOL Democrats are experiencing “dissension in the ranks.”  State Sen. Julie Lassa (D) is pregnant and “extremely unhappy” about being on the run.

ANSWER THIS: ANDREW SULLIVAN  —  Andrew Sullivan has achieved the hat trick of Washington journalism: author, editor, blogger.  And he's adding another item to his long and diverse résumé, announcing this week that he's leaving The Atlantic and taking his blog to the new Daily Beast/Newsweek venture in April.

The New Normal  —  We're going to be doing a lot of deficit cutting over the next several years.  The country's future greatness will be shaped by whether we cut wisely or stupidly.  So we should probably come up with a few sensible principles to guide us as we cut.

A Union Education  —  What Wisconsin reveals about public workers and political power.  —  The raucous Wisconsin debate over collective bargaining may be ugly at times, but it has been worth it for the splendid public education.  For the first time in decades, Americans have been asked …

African Americans respond to Obama's shift on DOMA  —  When same-sex marriage was upended in California by popular vote in 2008, gay rights activists pointed to one factor: religious African Americans who came out in record numbers for President Obama but who also largely voted against the marriage proposal, according to exit polls.

Wisconsin closely divided, but against Walker  —  There are two conclusions we can make from our poll on the Wisconsin conflict: the state is very closely divided, but it leans slightly to the union side of things rather than Scott Walker's on pretty much every question we asked.

Breaking News: Sarah Palin Denounces Obama's DOMA decision (to NOM)  —  In response to a question from me, Sarah Palin offered this exclusive response to President Obama's DOMA decision: … Please cite www.nationformarriage.org as the source for this statement from Sarah.

Rev. Peter J. Gomes, Minister in Memorial Church, Dies at Age 68  —  Reverend Peter J. Gomes, who oversaw Memorial Church for the past three and a half decades, died Monday evening after suffering a brain aneurysm and heart attack.  He was 68.  —  His death was announced in an e-mail …

A peek under the hood of the NYT/CBS poll  —  Allahpundit did a great job last night of dissecting the latest NYT/CBS poll based on its results from CBS' reporting.  The survey found that a large majority of their respondents support keeping current collective bargaining rights in the public sector …

In boost for GOP plan, Fed chief says cuts won't derail recovery  —  Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says a plan from House Republicans to cut $61 billion in spending this year would not harm economic growth.  —  The GOP's proposed spending cuts, passed as part of a continuing resolution …

Speaker Boehner to Brody File: Preparing For “one giant fight over the future for our country.”  —  Speaker John Boehner tells The Brody File that when it comes to issue over the budget and raising the debt ceiling he is preparing for “one giant fight over the future for our country.”

Ohio Set to Vote on Ending Public Union Rights  —  COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Senate is expected on Thursday to consider a revised version of a bill to end collective bargaining for public-sector workers, and union members gathering outside the Statehouse here Tuesday morning said they were bracing for the worst.

Assange Complains of Jewish Smear Campaign  —  LONDON — The WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, suggested in comments published on Tuesday that British journalists, including the editor of The Guardian newspaper, were engaged in a Jewish-led conspiracy to smear his organization.

Southern Decadence protest leader booked with masturbating at Metairie park  —  The Rev. Grant Storms, the Christian fundamentalist known for his bullhorn protests of the Southern Decadence festival in the French Quarter, was arrested on a charge of masturbating at a Metairie park Friday afternoon.

Huck: Matthews melting like Sheen  —  Mike Huckabee lashed out at Chris Matthews Tuesday, comparing the MSNBC commentator to Charlie Sheen.  —  “I really do worry about Chris,” Huckabee said during an appearance on the The Dennis Prager Show.  “I think he's not quite Charlie Sheen, but he's getting close.”

Frank Rich Joins New York Magazine  —  Frank Rich is joining New York Magazine, beginning in June.  Rich will be an essayist for the magazine, writing monthly on politics and culture, and will serve as an editor-at-large, editing a special monthly section anchored by his essay.

Sen. Boxer on PBS cuts: ‘Republicans have a vendetta against Elmo’  —  Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said Tuesday that House Republicans want to strip government funding of PBS because they have a “vendetta against Elmo.”  —  Boxer made the comments during a floor speech where she made the case …

Yemeni president says US and Israel behind unrest  —  SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemen's embattled U.S.-backed president accused Washington on Tuesday of instigating protests against his regime, as hundreds of thousands marched in cities across Yemen in the largest rallies yet seeking the longtime ruler's ouster.

Mahoney: Officers aren't the “palace guard”  —  Frustrated by a lack of explanation for the clamping down of access to the Capitol building, Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney said his deputies yesterday were pulled from a duty to keep people from entering the Capitol.