For those who misunderstood my joke today, here's my quest for forgiveness...  Last week my joke at the Conservative Political Action Conference generated laughter and media attention.  Today on Andrea Mitchell's show, my aspirin joke bombed as many didn't recognize it as a joke but thought …

Top GOP Senator Says ‘If Romney Loses Michigan, We Need a New Candidate’  —  A prominent Republican senator just told me that if Romney can't win in Michigan, the Republican Party needs to go back to the drawing board and convince somebody new to get into the race.

Exclusive: Feds arrest man allegedly heading to U.S. Capitol for suicide mission after sting investigation  —  Authorities have arrested a man allegedly on his way to the U.S. Capitol for what he thought would be a suicide attack on one of the nation's most symbolic landmarks, Fox News has learned exclusively.

Inside Newt Gingrich's Plan To Steal Back The GOP Race  —  Newt Gingrich has been laying low this month, slipping in the polls and public opinion but gearing up for yet another comeback in the rollercoaster Republican primary.  —  Gingrich was never expected to do well in February's nominating contests.

Santorum to Mainline Protestants: You Are Satan's Spawn  —  Kyle Mantyla of People for the American Way's indispensable Right Wing Watch has come up with an audiotape of a Rick Santorum address to the students of the conservative Catholic Ave Maria University in Florida, delivered in 2008.

TPMDC  —  Obama Administration Wouldn't Defend Blocking Military Benefits From Same-Sex Couples  —  The Obama Justice Department has concluded that legislation banning same-sex couples from receiving military and veterans benefits violates the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment …

Maine GOP: Results went to spam  —  Maine Republican Party chairman Charlie Webster has admitted that the state party made numerous clerical errors in counting the state's caucus results — even omitting some votes because emails reporting tallies “went to spam” in an email account.

Heartland Memo Looking Faker By the Minute  —  After yesterday's post on why I thought that one of the documents in the Heartland leak was a fake, I discovered that David Appell had been investigating along the same lines.  Appell, however, looked at one thing that hadn't occurred to me: where the PDF was created.

The Myth of Runaway Health Spending  —  The growth rate of national health expenditures has been declining for a decade, driven by better medical care and consumer choice.  —  New data show that health spending over the past several years has been normalizing toward the rate of general inflation …

Dick Cheney is lobbying for gay marriage in Maryland?  —  Buried in Annie Linskey's Baltimore Sun story today about GOP Maryland Delegate Wade Kach coming out in support of marriage equality is this little tidbit: … Dick Cheney is personally lobbying on behalf of gay marriage?  Really?

The Jeremy Lin Problem  —  Jeremy Lin is anomalous in all sorts of ways.  He's a Harvard grad in the N.B.A., an Asian-American man in professional sports.  But we shouldn't neglect the biggest anomaly.  He's a religious person in professional sports.  —  We've become accustomed …

Google's iPhone Tracking  —  Web Giant, Others Bypassed Apple Browser Settings for Guarding Privacy  —  Google Inc. and other advertising companies have been bypassing the privacy settings of millions of people using Apple Inc.'s Web browser on their iPhones and computers …

Six recused in Waters ethics case  —  Six members of the House Ethics Committee — including all five Republicans on the secretive panel — have recused themselves from the long-running case involving Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters (Calif.), an unprecedented move that raises new questions on whether the Waters case can be finished.

Record 19 reporters, media execs join Team Obama  —  For some Washington reporters and media execs, cheering their team from the sidelines just isn't good enough: Tugging on a red, white and blue Team Obama jersey is the answer.  —  That's the case for a whopping 19 journalists and media executives …

A Syllabus for the ‘Occupy’ Movement  —  Conservatives are wrong to deride college courses on the anti-Wall Street protests.  Here's a lesson plan and possible reading list.  —  Schools from New York's Columbia to Chicago's Roosevelt University are offering courses on the “Occupy” movement.

Gov. Christie vetoes N.J. gay marriage bill  —  TRENTON — Delivering on his promise of swift action, Gov. Chris Christie this afternoon conditionally vetoed the gay marriage bill and suggested appointing an ombudsman to address complaints of same-sex couples and strengthen New Jersey's civil union law.