Top Obama adviser says unemployment won't be key in 2012  —  President Obama's senior political adviser David Plouffe said Wednesday that people won't vote in 2012 based on the unemployment rate.  —  Plouffe should probably hope that's the case, since dismal job figures aren't expected …

BREAKING: Bachmann pledges to ban pornography  —  Tonight, Michele Bachmann became the first presidential candidate to sign a pledge created by THE FAMiLY LEADER, an influential social-conservative group in Iowa.  By signing the pledge Bachmann “vows” to “uphold the institution of marriage …

Letter to Senator Patty Murray, Chair Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee  —  Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee  —  Dear Senator Murray:  —  For many months now, your colleagues in the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee leadership have engaged in a series of disparagements …

Phone hacking probe: Ex-News of the World editor Coulson arrested  —  David Cameron: “The buck stops right here”  —  Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson has been arrested by police investigating phone hacking and corruption allegations.  —  And ex-NoW royal editor Clive Goodman …

Will Republican Race's First In Be the First Out?  —  AMES, Iowa — Tim Pawlenty was first in line to enter the Republican presidential race.  He is now fighting to avoid becoming the earliest major candidate to be shown the door.  —  No contender for the Republican nomination has followed …

Negotiating on a Knife's Edge  —  Every fresh report of “progress” on the debt-ceiling talks produces new reasons to feel profoundly uneasy.  The talks were misbegotten from the beginning, made necessary only by the irresponsible refusal of Republicans to pay the nation's bills unless …

What Obama Wants  —  On Thursday, President Obama met with Republicans to discuss a debt deal.  We don't know exactly what was proposed, but news reports before the meeting suggested that Mr. Obama is offering huge spending cuts, possibly including cuts to Social Security and an end …

What's In A Name?  Dems Support Social Security Benefit Cut — By Calling It Something Else  —  Social Security benefit cuts may be a bridge too far for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).  But what if Republicans and Democrats alike just agreed to refer to a benefit cut by another name.

TSA Agent Caught With Passenger's iPad in His Pants; Allegedly Took $50,000 in Other Goods, Cops Say  —  While most Transportation Security Administration employees are busy groping people or taking naked pictures of them, the cops say one of those employees was putting fliers' electronics down his pants.

Bachmann on sex-appeal comment: “Sounds like good news to me!”  —  Earlier this week, Pawlenty adviser Vin Weber remarked that Michele Bachmann would be hard to beat in Iowa in part because of her “sex appeal,” a comment for which Weber apologized almost immediately.

As Wall St. Polices Itself, Prosecutors Use Softer Approach  —  As the financial storm brewed in the summer of 2008 and institutions feared for their survival, a bit of good news bubbled through large banks and the law firms that defend them.  —  Federal prosecutors officially adopted …

Mexican Citizen Is Executed as Justices Refuse to Step In  —  WASHINGTON — In a 5-to-4 decision that split along ideological lines, the Supreme Court on Thursday evening rebuffed a request from the Obama administration that it stay the execution of a Mexican citizen on death row in Texas.

Buffett Bets ‘Heavily’ Against Double Dip  —  Billionaire Warren Buffett said he is wagering on continued economic expansion and doesn't expect a second recession.  —  “I would bet very heavily against that,” Buffett told Bloomberg Television's Betty Liu on the “In the Loop” program today after data showed slowing U.S. job growth.

Obama To Unveil Gun Control Reforms In Near Future … WASHINGTON — Half a year after the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), the Obama administration is set to release a series of reforms to the current gun law, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said on Thursday.