The Problem Was the Wife  —  The problem was the wife.  Aides to Newt Gingrich have resigned from his presidential campaign in protest of what they felt was a takeover by Callista Gingrich, the candidate's wife since 2000.  —  The euphemism offered by departing staffers was they disagreed with Gingrich's “strategy” for the campaign.

God Caught Backing Multiple GOP Candidates for President  —  Photo: Cain:Steve Pope/Getty; Santorum: Jeff Fusco/Getty Images; Bachmann: Darren McCollester/Getty Images; sky: iStockphoto  —  After a thorough investigation, Daily Intel has discovered that God is separately backing …

Rocky start for DNC chairwoman  —  Democrats knew they were getting an outspoken partisan when Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz took over the reins of the Democratic National Committee a month ago.  —  But they might not have known just how outspoken.  —  In the four weeks since she succeeded Tim Kaine …

House Dems to call for expiration of Bush tax rates in debt-limit deal  —  A group of House Democrats is calling for any deal to raise the debt ceiling to bring about the end of the Bush tax rates for the wealthy.  —  The lawmakers, led by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), also say that …

Weiner can't afford to quit the DC day job  —  Even if scandal-stained Rep. Anthony Weiner didn't want to stay in office, he needs to stay in office.  —  Unlike many of his peers in the House, Weiner doesn't have a business or even a law degree to fall back on.

Rule by Rentiers  —  The latest economic data have dashed any hope of a quick end to America's job drought, which has already gone on so long that the average unemployed American has been out of work for almost 40 weeks.  Yet there is no political will to do anything about the situation.

Speculation on presidential run spurs national interest in Palin emails  —  FRIDAY: More than 24,000 pages will be available in Juneau.  —  JUNEAU — The state of Alaska will release thousands of Sarah Palin's emails from her first two years as governor today, a disclosure that has taken …

Stewardship?  Or ideology?  —  The Republicans swept November's midterm election by making it highly ideological, a referendum on two years of hyper-liberalism — of arrogant, overreaching, intrusive government drowning in debt and running deficits of $1.5 trillion annually.  It's not complicated.

Two separate and reliable source in Texas tell me serious preparations are being made for Governor Rick Perry, 61, to seek the Republican nomination for president.  —  Dave Carney and Rob Johnson — the former top Perry aides who on Thursday left Newt Gingrich's campaign …

Do more on jobs, Dems tell Obama  —  Senior Senate Democrats are growing frustrated by what they see as President Obama's passivity on the economy, and are beginning to discuss a large infrastructure package funded by tax increases.  —  Some Democrats, such as Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin …

Companies Spend on Equipment, Not Workers  —  Companies that are looking for a good deal aren't seeing one in new workers.  —  Workers are getting more expensive while equipment is getting cheaper, and the combination is encouraging companies to spend on machines rather than people.

The Lone Star Jobs Surge  —  The Texas model added 37% of all net U.S. jobs since the recovery began.  —  Richard Fisher, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, dropped by our offices this week and relayed a remarkable fact: Some 37% of all net new American jobs since the recovery began were created in Texas.

Evidence That Weiner Was Talking Dirty to Underage Girls?  Part 3  —  Early this morning I posted Evidence That Weiner Was Talking Dirty to Underage Girls?  Part 2.  In that post, I provided evidence that Weiner had discussions with an underage girl ("Ethel") regarding fighting for his country in a cape and tights.

Mark Foley: Resigning Might Help Weiner Get His Life Back on Track  —  Mark Foley, the disgraced former congressman, knew exactly what he had to do when news broke that he traded sexually explicit emails with teenage boys who had been congressional pages: resign.

Pawlenty's Fuzzy Budget Math  —  On Monday, presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty gave a major speech on economic policy in which he laid out his plan to get America's fiscal house back in order.  The proposal, which includes huge cuts in personal income-tax rates and ambitious spending restraints …

Germany Says Bean Sprouts Likely E.Coli Source  —  BERLIN — After days of confusion, German authorities said Friday that they had finally narrowed down the most likely cause of one of the world's worst recorded E. coli infections to contaminated, home-grown bean-sprouts.

Beshear leads Williams in Ky. governor's race by 21 points after ad blitz, cn|  2 poll shows  —  After airing ads for the last three weeks, Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear posted a 21-point lead over the Republican challenger David Williams, according to the latest cn|  2 Poll.

Feinstein measure would give feds power to block increased health insurance rates  —  Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is offering legislation to give officials the power to block health insurance rate increases.  —  Feinstein's proposal would change last year's healthcare law to give …

Ruling Favors a 10-Inch Citizen of France  —  PARIS — France was punished on Thursday for not taking proper care of its hamsters.  —  The Court of Justice in Luxembourg, the European Union's highest court, ruled Thursday that France had failed to protect the Great Hamster of Alsace …

Leonard B. Stern, Creator of Mad Libs, Dies at 88  —  Leonard B. Stern, an Emmy-winning writer, producer and director for television whose frantic search for an adjective one day led him and a colleague to create Mad Libs, the game that asks players to fill in blanks with designated parts …