Dem leader says he'll help GOP on debt-ceiling vote, but at a price  —  House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Wednesday said he's willing to help Republicans secure the votes they need to pass an increase in the debt ceiling, but not without conditions.

Pawlenty co-chairman: Bachmann will be ‘very hard to beat’ in Iowa  —  Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.) is going to be “very hard to beat” in Iowa's Republican caucuses, a co-chairman of former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's campaign said Wednesday.  —  Vin Weber, a former GOP congressman …

White House uses Twitter to bully critics  —  President Obama's director of progressive media is obsessed with one particular conservative provocateur.  Jesse Lee's duties at the White House include “online response” — and there has been no shortage of responses to one person who routinely communicates with him on Twitter.

The Obama-Keynes Mystery  —  I'm not alone in marveling at the extent to which Obama has thrown his rhetorical weight behind anti-Keynesian economics; Ryan Avent is equally amazed, as are many others.  And now he's endorsing the structural unemployment story too.

Katie Pavlich Scandal Grows: FBI, DEA Involved With Operation Fast and Furious  —  Yesterday, Acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson answered questions from Rep. Darrell Issa and Senator Charles Grassley surrounding Operation Fast and Furious.  Melson voluntarily participated in the interview …

CNN Cancels ‘In the Arena’ With Eliot Spitzer  —  1:30 p.m. |  Updated CNN on Wednesday cancelled Eliot Spitzer's 8 p.m. political talk show, “In The Arena,” and said it would shift Anderson Cooper's 10 p.m. nightly newscast into the time slot.  —  The cable news channel also said that Erin Burnett …

Policy shift in presidential condolence letters  —  PLAY CBS NEWS VIDEO  —  NEW YORK - Most families who lose a loved one in the war zones receive a letter of condolence from the President of the United States.  But there are a few who do not receive this honor.

Union Workers Replaced With Prison Labor Under Scott Walker's Collective Bargaining Law  —  While Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's (R) law dismantling collective bargaining rights has harmed teachers, nurses, and other civil servants, it's helping a different group in Wisconsinites — inmates.

REVERSAL!  DHS Now Says Putting Israel on Terrorist Watch List Was A Mistake  —  Last week we reported that the Department of Homeland Security Israel on a list of 36 nations which “have shown a tendency to promote, produce, or protect terrorist organizations or their members.”

Court bars enforcement of 'don't ask, don't tell'  —  (07-06) 13:16 PDT SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court ordered a halt today to the armed forces' discharge of openly gay service members, citing the Obama administration's disavowal of laws that discriminate based on sexual orientation.

Casey Anthony Juror: ‘Sick to Our Stomachs’ Over Not Guilty Verdict  —  Casey Anthony juror Jennifer Ford said today that she and the other jurors cried and were “sick to our stomachs” after voting to acquit Casey Anthony of charges that she killed her 2-year-old daughter Caylee.

Romney Raises More Than All His Republican Contenders Combined  —  ABC News' Emily Friedman (@EmilyABC) reports:  —  Mitt Romney announced today that his campaign raised $18.25 million during the second fundraising quarter, exceeding the amount earned by all of his republican counterparts combined.

Gov. Rick Perry: The Candidate Obama Would Fear the Most  —  More than any other potential GOP presidential candidate, President Obama fears Texas Gov. Rick Perry.  That's because Perry is the only one who can devastate virtually any Obama claim.  —  Take the whine we hear most often from the President …

Bill Clinton likens GOP effort to Jim Crow laws  —  Former President Bill Clinton Wednesday compared GOP efforts to limit same-day voter registration and block some convicted felons from voting to Jim Crow laws and poll taxes.  —  In a speech to liberal youth activists Wednesday …

Could Barack Obama drop Joe Biden?  —  Barack Obama will dump Joe Biden for Hillary Clinton.  Or Andrew Cuomo.  Or whoever's next to emerge in the speculation game.  —  As political pipe dreams go, the idea that a sitting president will swap out his running mate is one of the oldest — and least likely to come true.

TSA warns of possible airline threat involving implanted bombs  —  A traveler is inspected at a TSA checkpoint at LAX this year.  (Mark Boster)  —  The government has warned airlines that terrorists are considering surgically implanting explosives into people in an attempt …

Jeff Sessions: Saying Millionaires Should Share Pain Is ‘Rather Pathetic’ … WASHINGTON — Having the Senate declare that millionaires should share more of the pain involved in putting America's financial house in order is “rather pathetic,” Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) declared Tuesday.

Better Lives for Mexicans Cut Allure of Going North  —  AGUA NEGRA, Mexico — The extraordinary Mexican migration that delivered millions of illegal immigrants to the United States over the past 30 years has sputtered to a trickle, and research points to a surprising cause …

How Effective Was The 2009 Stimulus Program?  —  So the stimulus — the so-called American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 or ARRA — is starting to wind down.  What are the results?  —  Depends on whom you ask, of course.  Conservatives will say unemployment is near double-digits and growth is slow, so clearly it didn't work.

Rep. Tim Scott Floats Impeachment If Obama Invokes 14th Amendment On Debt Limit (VIDEO) … WASHINGTON — While some have asserted that the debt limit might be unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment, and therefore President Obama does not need congressional approval to raise it …

REPORT REVEALS CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY IN SYRIAN TOWN  —  The brutal methods used in a devastating Syrian security operation in the western town of Tell Kalakh may constitute crimes against humanity, Amnesty International said today in a new report.  —  Crackdown in Syria …

The GOP's evolving case against taxes  —  There are two ways to increase taxes.  One is you just raise rates, particularly the top rates.  Economists in general — and Republican economists in particular — don't much like this approach because it raises taxes on the last dollars you've earned.