The frontrunner has no clothes  —  The applause identified Rick Perry as the crowd favorite when he took the stage in Tampa for Monday night's Tea Party debate, greeting his lesser rivals as “fellas.”  —  But two hours later, those fellas - and a gal from Minnesota - had made some serious …

Bachmann: Gardasil causes “mental retardation”  —  Earlier today, I noted that Michele Bachmann finally scored points on Rick Perry by hitting him on his ties to Merck and linking that to the Gardasil mandate Perry imposed through executive order in Texas.  This is a fair point on Perry's record …

Axelrod: 'We're not in a negotiation' on Obama $447B jobs package  —  Obama's top political adviser David Axelrod said Tuesday that the administration was unwilling to break up the president's $447 billion jobs plan if Republicans were only receptive to passing certain elements.

Weiner flees amid Dem panic over vote today  —  Disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner did his fellow Democrats no favors yesterday — moving out of his district just as his panicking party struggled to hold on to his endangered congressional seat.  —  Winer took the last ramining items …

Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2010  —  Summary of Key Findings  —  The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that in 2010, median household income declined, the poverty rate increased and the percentage without health insurance coverage was not statistically different from the previous year.

The Death of the Confidence Fairy  —  In the first half of last year a strange delusion swept much of the policy elite on both sides of the Atlantic — the belief that cutting spending in the face of high unemployment would actually create jobs.  I went after this stuff early and hard …

Some real Shock and Awe: Racially profiled and cuffed in Detroit  —  Silly me.  I thought flying on 9/11 would be easy.  I figured most people would choose not to fly that day so lines would be short, planes would be lightly filled and though security might be ratcheted up …

Stop and frisky  —  The NYPD has launched an investigation after a raunchy YouTube video surfaced featuring uniformed officers gyrating and rubbing their crotches against semi-nude women at the violence-racked West Indian Day Parade in Brooklyn.  —  The explicit footage shows the cops wildly bumping …

TPM2012  —  Tea Party Debate Audience Cheers Idea Of Letting Sick Man Without Insurance Die (VIDEO)  —  The last two Republican presidential debates have been some of the most macabre on record.  Last time around, at the Reagan Library, the crowd gave the biggest applause of the night …

Rep. Issa hit with ethics allegations  —  A liberal advocacy group is filing an ethics complaint against Rep. Darrell Issa, alleging that the California Republican has repeatedly used his public office for personal gain.  —  The group, American Family Voices, is planning to file the complaint …

Change proposed for state's electoral vote process  —  HARRISBURG — A new proposal is pushing the often-forgotten Electoral College into the spotlight as Pennsylvania officials ponder the state's role in next year's presidential race.  —  Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi is trying …

Oregon GOP removes anti-gay language from party platform  —  Oregon Republicans have stripped anti-gay language from their 2012 party platform, a shift toward the political center in a state where the GOP has struggled mightily in recent years.  —  Wording that essentially condemned same-sex marriage …

House Dems introduce bill to eliminate debt ceiling  —  Three congressional Democrats are introducing a bill Wednesday that would abolish the federal debt ceiling.  The lawmakers say that the recent debate to raise the ceiling and avoid default had a “disastrous” effect on the U.S economy …