Florida banker's wife left family to join Wall Street protesters  —  A married mother of four from Florida ditched her family to become part of the raggedy mob in Zuccotti Park — keeping the park clean by day and keeping herself warm at night with the help of a young waiter from Brooklyn.

Climate Skeptics Take Another Hit  —  Physicists are notorious for believing that other scientists are mathematically incompetent.  And University of California-Berkeley physicist Richard Muller is notorious for believing that conventional wisdom is often wrong.  For example, the conventional wisdom about climate change.

Marco Rubio's compelling family story embellishes facts, documents show  —  During his rise to political prominence, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) frequently repeated a compelling version of his family's history that had special resonance in South Florida.  He was the son of exiles, he told audiences …

Steve Jobs Biography Reveals He Told Obama, 'You're Headed For A One-Term Presidency' … In one of the most hotly-anticipated biographies of the year, “Steve Jobs,” author Walter Isaacson reveals that the Apple CEO offered to design political ads for President Obama's 2012 campaign despite …

Senate blocks new Obama jobs bill  —  For the second time in two weeks, Senate Republicans voted in unison to block “jobs” legislation, which the Obama administration and Senate Democratic leaders have made central to their agenda.  —  The majority of Democrats then blocked a second “jobs” measure offered by Republicans.

Gov. Brewer: Obama ‘lectured me’  —  Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer skewers President Barack Obama in a new book, saying the president was “patronizing” and “condescending” when she met him at the White House last summer.  —  “We sat down and started with some chitchat,” she writes in her autobiography, according to the Arizona Republic.

Car Company Gets U.S. Loan, Builds Cars In Finland  —  Vice president Joe Biden, left, and Henrik Fisker, CEO of Fisker Automotive announces that the company will produce plug-in hybrid electric vehicles at the former General Motors Boxwood Plant, Oct. 27, 2009, in Wilmington, Del. (Rob Carr/AP Photo)

Jon Stewart On GOP Reaction To Gaddafi's Death: ‘What The F*ck Is Wrong With You?’  —  Thursday night on the Daily Show, Jon Stewart tackled the big headline of the day: The death of Muammar Gaddafi... Specifically, the right's reaction to the former dictator's passing.

Progressives, Islamists huddle at Justice Department  —  Top Justice Department officials convened a meeting Wednesday where invited Islamic advocates lobbied them for cutbacks in anti-terror funding, changes in agents' training manuals, additional curbs on investigators and a legal declaration …

Texas Reduces Weekend Meals for Prisoners  —  HOUSTON — Texas prison officials last month ended the decades-old practice of serving last meals to inmates about to be executed after one man ordered an elaborate feast of hamburgers, pizza and chicken-fried steaks that he did not eat.

FOREIGN CAMPAIGNS  —  In his salad days, Muammar Qaddafi was a professorial friend and vigilant protector of his colleagues in tyranny.  At the World Revolutionary Center, in Benghazi, a desert Deerfield for dictators, Qaddafi trained Blaise Compaoré, of Burkina Faso; Idriss Déby, of Chad; and Charles Taylor, of Liberia.

Federal stimulus money for Oregon jobs hired foreign workers  —  WASHINGTON — At least $7 million in federal stimulus money intended to provide jobs to unemployed Oregonians instead paid wages to 254 foreign workers, federal investigators have concluded.  —  The money was for forest clean …

Advisers split on Occupy Wall Street  —  Exclusive poll shows that nearly 40 percent support protests; close to half back taxing the rich  —  Though most do not support the Occupy Wall Street movement, advisers are largely split when it comes to imposing higher taxes on the wealthy and tougher regulations on big banks.

Obama Job Approval Average Slides to New Low in 11th Quarter  —  Prior low was 45% in his seventh quarter  —  PRINCETON, NJ — President Barack Obama's 11th quarter in office was the worst of his administration, based on his quarterly average job approval ratings.

Can Obama 2012 Replicate Bush 2004?  —  He'll have hundreds of millions of dollars, the bully pulpit, Air Force One and high-profile supporters from Warren Buffet to Lady Gaga behind him.  But President Obama's chances of re-election could come down to a single strategic question …

Sandoval ready to move Nevada's GOP caucuses back to February  —  Gov. Brian Sandoval doesn't have the official last word on telling the state party whether to stick to its guns or bend to national GOP pressure to move its caucus date back to February.  —  But as the top Republican in the state …

Mitt Romney's unexplored vulnerability: His millionaire tax rate  —  A few weeks ago, Paul Begala, one of the operatives behind the Obama-allied group Priorities USA Action, emailed me an offhand gag: … Now it looks like the “Romney Rule” is making its official debut in Campaign 2012.