Romney Support Up; Widens Advantage in 2012 Preferences  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Republicans' support for Mitt Romney as their party's 2012 presidential nominee has increased significantly to 24%, compared with 17% in late May.  As a result, Romney has widened his advantage over Sarah Palin …

RNC chair struggles to defend double standard  —  NBC's “Meet the Press” hosted a discussion between the two major party chairs — the DNC's Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the RNC's Reince Priebus — and right off the bat, host David Gregory wanted to talk at length about Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.).

Obama Seeks to Win Back Wall St. Cash  —  WASHINGTON — A few weeks before announcing his re-election campaign, President Obama convened two dozen Wall Street executives, many of them longtime donors, in the White House's Blue Room.  —  The guests were asked for their thoughts on how to speed …

F.B.I. Agents Get Leeway to Push Privacy Bounds  —  WASHINGTON — The Federal Bureau of Investigation is giving significant new powers to its roughly 14,000 agents, allowing them more leeway to search databases, go through household trash or use surveillance teams to scrutinize the lives of people who have attracted their attention.

‘A Gay Girl in Damascus’ comes clean  —  In recent days, the world has followed closely the saga of Amina Araff, the blogger who presented herself online as “A Gay Girl in Damascus” and who drew attention with her passionate writings about the Syrian government's crackdown on Arab Spring protesters.

How to avoid a lost decade  —  Even with the massive 2008-09 policy effort that prevented financial collapse and depression, the United States is now halfway to a lost economic decade.  From the first quarter of 2006 to the first quarter of 2011, the U.S. economy's growth rate averaged less …

GOP swings both ways on gay-marriage bill  —  Seven or more Senate Republicans have signaled Gov. Cuomo that they're ready to legalize same-sex marriage, more than enough to put the controversial and historic measure over the top this week, The Post has learned.

Missing Iraq money may have been stolen, auditors say  —  U.S. Defense officials still cannot say what happened to $6.6 billion, sent by the planeload in cash and intended for Iraq's reconstruction after the start of the war.  —  Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills, pictured last month, has held hearings on waste and fraud in Iraq.

Why We're Going Back to Single-Sex Dorms  —  Student housing has became a hotbed of reckless drinking and hooking up.  —  My wife and I have sent five children to college and our youngest just graduated.  Like many parents, we encouraged them to study hard and spend time in a country where people don't speak English.

Medicare Saves Money  —  Every once in a while a politician comes up with an idea that's so bad, so wrongheaded, that you're almost grateful.  For really bad ideas can help illustrate the extent to which policy discourse has gone off the rails.  —  And so it was with Senator Joseph Lieberman's proposal …

How educated are state legislators?  —  The Chronicle has looked at where each of the 7,000-plus state legislators in America went to college - or whether they went at all.  In doing so, we got a glimpse of how the citizens who hold these seats reflect the average American experience.

U.S. pressuring Netanyahu to accept Obama's peace plan  —  Israeli source says Americans frustrated with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for hampering U.S. efforts to stop Palestinians trying UN route to statehood in September.  —  Washington is pressuring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu …

After running pizza chain, Cain says he can make foreign policy decisions  —  MANCHESTER, N.H. — Is running a pizza chain similar to being commander in chief of the armed forces?  —  Herman Cain, the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza running for president, said he's suited …

British fear ‘American-style’ healthcare system  —  As leaders debate ways to reform healthcare, politicians repeatedly tell a worried public that Britain will not turn the National Health Service into an ‘American-style’ private system.  —  British Prime Minister David Cameron speaks …

How We're Meeting the Job Creation Challenge  —  The President's Jobs and Competitiveness Council, comprised of 26 private-sector leaders, is developing ideas that will accelerate job growth and improve America's competitiveness.  —  The U.S. economy is resilient, but the inescapable truth …

Green jobs success eludes President Obama  —  President Barack Obama heads to an energy plant in North Carolina on Monday to talk once again about the job-creating power of a green economy.  —  The catch?  Nearly three years into Obama's presidency, the White House can't point …

Palin film to screen at conservative confabs  —  The Sarah Palin film “The Undefeated” is set for screenings at three of the major conservative activist conferences this summer.  —  Next week's RightOnline conference will be the first to show the film, with an introduction from BigGovernment.com founder Andrew Breitbart.

Dole misses being ‘in the eye’ of politics  —  RUSSELL — Decades after retiring from office, commanding the U.S. Senate and twice pursuing a promotion to the White House, former Sen. Bob Dole said he still craves politics.  —  “I miss being in the eye of the storm, trying to work out compromises …

Affluent black county mired in mortgage mess  —  Prince George's leads Maryland with highest foreclosure rate  —  Below:  —  America's wealthiest black county is in trouble.  —  Prince George's County, Md., has gained prominence in recent years as the most affluent county in America with a majority African-American population.

‘The Sarah Palin I Know’  —  For more on Ziegler's Palin-related experiences and to read his pre-emptive rebuttal of his critics, go to: www.TheSarahPalinIKnow.com  —  For many reasons, the first week of January 2009 was clearly the longest and most difficult of my life.