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 …

Sarah Palin emails set for release  —  The state of Alaska will release 24,199 pages of Sarah Palin's government e-mails on Friday, nearly three years after the initial public records requests were made.  —  At 9 a.m. Alaska time (1 p.m. Eastern), 17 media organizations and individuals …

Pawlenty benefits from turbulence in Republican presidential field  —  A successful economic speech, one rival's campaign implosion and another's decision to skip an influential Iowa straw poll have given Tim Pawlenty a very good week.  —  His campaign hopes to keep the momentum going …

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.

Tracy Morgan's Homophobic Remarks In Anti-Gay Stand Up Set UPDATE: Morgan Apologizes … Tracey Morgan , Tracy Morgan , Tracy Morgan Homophobic , Tracy Morgan Homophobic Standup Set , Tracy Morgan Kill His Son If He Were Gay , Tracy Morgan Stand Up Comedy , Tracy Morgan Anti-Gay …

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.

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 …

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.

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.

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 …

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 …

EXCLUSIVE: Obama extends protections to gay couples under Medicaid  —  Secretary of Health & Human Services Kathleen Sebelius (Blade file photo by Michael Key)  —  The Obama administration is set on Friday to issue policy guidance to states expanding their ability to offer same-sex couples …

Justices Say Fleeing Police by Car Is a Violent Felony  —  WASHINGTON — Fleeing from the police in a car is a violent felony that can subject criminals to mandatory 15-year prison terms, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday in a 6-to-3 decision.  —  The decision was the court's fourth encounter since 2007 …

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.

Brash Style Alienates Weiner From Peers  —  Even as top Democrats intensified pressure on him to resign, Representative Anthony D. Weiner of New York tried to power through the day on Thursday and suggest things were getting back to normal.  —  “I'm going to go back to my community office …

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.

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 …

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 …