Trump Will ‘Probably’ Run as Independent If He Doesn't Win GOP Nomination  —  Donald Trump will “probably” run as an independent candidate for U.S. President in 2012 if he does not receive the Republican party's nomination, he told the Wall Street Journal in a video interview on Monday.

Barack Obama faces problem on left, not right  —  I don't think Barack Obama will have a hard time defeating his Republican opponent in 2012, barring a financial meltdown or a major foreign crisis.  It's a Democratic opponent he should worry about.  —  Obama continues to anger progressives …

Trump courts black backlash  —  Donald Trump's strategy of spurring interest in his presidential campaign by flirting with discredited theories about President Barack Obama's birthplace is stirring a growing backlash among prominent African-Americans, who are protective of the first black president and …

President Open to Deal on Debt Cap  —  White House officials have opened the door to a deal with Republicans that would allow the U.S. to increase its ability to borrow, potentially easing worries in financial markets that the country might default on its debt.

Obama to draw sharp contrast with GOP over deficit  —  In a speech Wednesday, the president is expected to call for higher taxes on wealthier Americans, as opposed to Republican plans to slash Medicare and Medicaid.  —  Reporting from Washington —  President Obama will call for shrinking …

Budget deal details: Cuts that aren't quite cuts  —  $38B in savings agreed to by GOP and Democrats averted a government shutdown, but new details indicate some accounting sleight-of-hand  —  Details of the $38 billion worth of spending cuts factoring in last Friday's 11th-hour budget …

Obama prevents budget cuts to favorite programs  —  WASHINGTON - A close look at the government shutdown-dodging agreement to cut federal spending by $38 billion reveals that lawmakers significantly eased the fiscal pain by pruning money left over from previous years, using accounting sleight …

Who's the Extremist Now?  —  The president would have shut down government over Planned Parenthood funding.  —  The senior senator from New York was on to something when he complained about ideology getting in the way of spending cuts.  Just not in the way he would have us believe.

Civil War still divides Americans  —  Washington (CNN) - It has been 150 years since the Civil War began with the first shots at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, and in some respects views of the Confederacy and the role that slavery played in the events of 1861 still divide the public, according to a new national poll.