SOPA blackout leads co-sponsors to defect  —  Amid online protests that include major websites like Wikipedia blacking out their sites, a few co-sponsors of the Stop Online Piracy Act in Congress are defecting.  —  Rep. Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.), originally a co-sponsor of the bill, pulled his name from the list of sponsors on Tuesday.

Newt Gingrich: If Mitt Romney Wins South Carolina, It's Over … South Carolina Primary Election , South Carolina Primary Election 2012 , Politics News  —  COLUMBIA, S.C. — Newt Gingrich came clean Tuesday afternoon, admitting that if he can't win this state's primary on Saturday …

Obama's jobs council report says ‘drill’  —  President Obama's jobs council called Tuesday for an “all-in approach” to energy policy that includes expanded oil-and-gas drilling as well as expediting energy projects like pipelines.  —  “[W]e should allow more access to oil …

Romney Caricatures Himself  —  Mitt Romney, in all likelihood, is going to walk away with his party's presidential nomination.  Yet from the standpoint of positioning himself for the general election, the primary season has been a disaster for him.  Romney's campaign has worked hard …

Mitt Romney Sent Millions to Mormon Church  —  Republican presidential hopeful and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney walks toward his campaign plane, Jan. 11, 2012 in Bedford, Mass. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)  —  Underscoring the prominent, if little discussed role that Mitt Romney played …

Obama's not-so-super PAC  —  Last spring, Sean Sweeney — a co-founder of Priorities USA Action, Barack Obama's not-so-super super PAC — rode an elevator up to a donor's office atop a Chicago skyscraper, hoping to ride down with a big check.  —  His pitch: Sure, Obama has made a career …

For Gingrich, an Endorsement of Sorts From Sarah Palin  —  ON THE NEWT GINGRICH PRESS BUS, Interstate 20, S.C. — Sarah Palin, who conducted a lengthy flirtation with a run for the Republican nomination last year, ended the equally lengthy speculation over which candidate she would endorse by naming Newt Gingrich — sort of.

Recess appointments might not hold  —  Some legal experts, including those who have sided with President Obama on other constitutional issues, think there is a good chance the courts could overturn his recent recess appointments.  —  Legal experts said courts could invalidate Obama's appointments …

Why They Stood and Cheered  —  Gingrich confronts the left's insidious theory of racial supremacy.  —  Bye-Ku for Jon Huntsman  —  Call me crazy, but  —  I think insulting voters  —  Will warm them to me  —  The live-audience reaction to Republican presidential debates is a matter …

‘Occupy’ protesters suspected of throwing smoke bomb over White House fence  —  WASHINGTON - The Secret Service was responding Tuesday night to an escalating protest that may have involved one or more smoke bombs being thrown over the White House fence.  —  An estimated 1,000 protesters have gathered.

The bitter backstory between Newt Gingrich and Romney backer, Susan Molinari  —  Later today, Mitt Romney's presidential campaign will host a Newt Gingrich-bashing conference call with two surrogates, former Rep. Susan Molinari and former Sen. Jim Talent.  —  Molinari's dislike for Gingrich spans more than a decade.

In Brooklyn, Suspicious Passenger, With a Tail  —  It was a few minutes before 4:30 a.m. when the call came in: a suspicious passenger was aboard a Manhattan-bound subway train.  Other riders were alarmed.  The suspect was said to be making furtive movements.  —  And there was something else: this suspect had a tail.

Did Rick Santorum Win the Iowa Caucuses, Not Mitt Romney?  —  Incorrect precinct numbers from one Iowa town, and a 20-vote misallocation to Mitt Romney, casts his eight-vote victory in question—along with his claim to be the only candidate to win both Iowa and New Hampshire.

Dear Andrew Sullivan: Why Focus On Obama's Dumbest Critics?  —  A major defense of the president exaggerates Obama's accomplishments and misses the point: his scandalous transgressions against rule of law.  —  After reading Andrew Sullivan's Newsweek essay about President Obama, his critics …

Fractious House GOP tries to unify  —  House Republican leaders on Wednesday began the process of rallying their fractious conference behind an agenda for 2012.  —  The 242-member House majority met behind closed doors for the first time this year, coming off a bitter defeat in the payroll tax fight at the close of 2011.