Rick Perry calls global warming an unproven, costly theory  —  The Texas governor says scientists have ‘manipulated data’ to win research dollars.  —  Reporting from Bedford, N.H.— Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Wednesday reaffirmed his view that global warming is an unproven scientific theory …

U.S. Inquiry Eyes S.&P. Ratings of Mortgages  —  The Justice Department is investigating whether the nation's largest credit ratings agency, Standard & Poor's, improperly rated dozens of mortgage securities in the years leading up to the financial crisis, according to two people interviewed …

Score one for the professional left  —  Greg Sargent has a nice take on the e-mail an Obama campaign official sent mocking Paul Krugman and the “firebaggers.”  But whenever I read these periodic eruptions about “the professional left,” my main thought is: if I were a member of the professional left, I would be stoked.

New Low of 26% Approve of Obama on the Economy  —  Ratings on Afghanistan and foreign affairs have also declined  —  PRINCETON, NJ — A new low of 26% of Americans approve of President Barack Obama's handling of the economy, down 11 percentage points since Gallup last measured it in mid …

West: I'll lead you off ‘plantation’  —  Rep. Allen West says he is a “modern-day Harriet Tubman” who wants to lead black voters away from the “plantation” of the Democratic Party.  —  There is a “21st century plantation” of African-American voters unwaveringly supporting Democrats …

Presidential vacations: How does Obama compare?  —  President Obama and his family will be staying at the 28-acre Blue Heron Farm in Martha's Vineyard.  (Ivy Ashe for the Vineyard Gazette)  —  Following his three-day bus tour to promote his economic agenda — and not to mention …

Gov. John Kasich asks union leaders to compromise on Senate Bill 5; union group says repeal it, then we'll talk  —  COLUMBUS, Ohio — Gov. John Kasich backtracked on Senate Bill 5 on Wednesday, asking union leaders to negotiate a compromise on the collective bargaining law he championed and end efforts to repeal it.

Liveblog: Coordinated terror attacks near Egyptian border  —  This is a liveblog of the events currently going on near the Egyptian border in the area of Eilat.  There are three events.  —  1. ‘Palestinian’ terrorists shot at an Egged bus - number 392 - from Beer Sheva to Eilat.

Bachmann: I'll bring back $2 gas  —  NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — President Michele Bachmann has a promise: $2 gas.  —  “Under President Bachmann you will see gasoline come down below $2 a gallon again,” Bachmann told a crowd Tuesday in South Carolina.  “That will happen.”

Hispanic Democrats Set Sights on New Texas Seat  —  DALLAS—A newly drawn Central Texas congressional district is creating tensions about who best can serve its mostly Hispanic residents—one of their own, or a long-time congressman who happens to be white.  —  As a result of redistricting led …

Coburn: Good thing I can't pack a gun  —  Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) ripped his colleagues during a tour of northeast Oklahoma, calling them “career elitists,” “cowards” and said, “It's just a good thing I can't pack a gun on the Senate floor.”  —  Coburn's gun-on-the- floor comment comes less …

Fed Eyes European Banks  —  Regulators Scrutinize Ability of Institutions' U.S. Units to Fund Themselves  —  Federal and state regulators, signaling their growing worry that Europe's debt crisis could spill into the U.S. banking system, are intensifying their scrutiny of the U.S. arms …

Bachmann Staffer Arrested for Terrorism in Uganda in 2006  —  The charges were dropped after he spent more than a month in prison.  Now he's rallying Bachmann's faith-based support and prepping for a movie about his ordeal.  —  Updated 6:35 p.m.  —  The evangelical organizer …

AFL-CIO: Labor will stand by Obama  —  Organized labor won't sit out President Obama's reelection campaign and let a Republican win the presidency, the AFL-CIO's political director said Wednesday.  —  Despite the frustration labor activists have expressed toward the administration for the deals …

Meghan McCain wants Palin to stop ‘flirting’ with presidential decision  —  Meghan McCain, daughter of former presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), wants her father's former running mate Sarah Palin to “stop flirting” with possible presidential candidacy.

‘NUTS!’  — Allen West's Strange, One-Word Response To Being Called Out For Ties To Islamophobes  —  Earlier this month, a local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) sent Rep. Allen West (R-FL) a letter asking him to cut off ties with leading anti-Muslim activists …

O'Donnell walks out of CNN interview  —  (CNN) - Christine O'Donnell, the former Delaware GOP Senate candidate, walked off the set of CNN's “Piers Morgan Tonight” Wednesday when asked about her views on sexual abstinence and gay marriage.  —  “I'm not talking about policies.

Is the SEC Covering Up Wall Street Crimes?  —  A whistleblower claims that over the past two decades, the agency has destroyed records of thousands of investigations, whitewashing the files of some of the nation's worst financial criminals.  —  Imagine a world in which a man …

Supercommittee runs risk of turf war  —  Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich last week called the supercommittee “about as a dumb an idea as Washington has come up with in my lifetime.”  —  “The idea that 523 senators and congressmen are going to sit around for four months while 12 brilliant people …