Romney speech falls flat in Detroit  —  Mitt Romney spoke to several empty seats Friday in Detroit, in a speech that offered Democrats more fodder for their attacks and failed to deliver the major economic address his campaign promised.  —  Television cameras showed rows of empty chairs …

Arlen Specter: Rick Santorum ‘so far to the right’  —  ‘I intend to watch the campaign.  I intend to make a decision on the merits,’ Specter said.  AP Photo  —  Close  —  Former Sen. Arlen Specter said Friday that he thought fellow Pennsylvanian Rick Santorum was too extreme to be president.

The Sharia Court of Pennsylvania — the Transcript  —  I have made a transcript of the Pennsylvania case in which state judge Mark Martin, a Muslim convert and U.S. Army reservist who served in Iraq, relied on a sharia law defense (as well as some evidentiary contortions) …

Out of Gas  —  The folly of blaming Obama for higher gas prices.  —  Consumers are paying ever-higher prices for gas  —  Magdalena Jankowska/iStockphoto  —  Several months' worth of strong labor market data have put a crimp in Republican plans to run against Barack Obama as the second coming of Herbert Hoover.

Did Jeb Bush Actually Say That?  —  We may be reaching critical mass in the belief that this pathetic field of Republican candidates has jumped the shark...even many Republicans have come to that conclusion.  Politico today cites several sources that Jeb Bush said this during a post-speech question …

Romney's Stadium Speech Today Dwarfed By Obama Stadium Speech In 2008  —  At this very moment, Mitt Romney is holding an event at Ford Stadium which has failed to attract enough people to come even close to filling it up (in fact, you could fit Romney's 1,200 person crowd in the 65,000-seat stadium 54 times over).

Gregoire: Obama the ‘inspiration’ on gay marriage  —  Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) defended President Obama's record on gay rights, saying that the president was the “inspiration” for her state's recent same-sex marriage legalization bill.  —  “I think we probably have succeeded as much as we have because of his leadership.

David Albo, Virginia Lawmaker, Says Wife Wouldn't Have Sex Because Of Transvaginal Ultrasound Bill  —  Virginia's controversial transvaginal ultrasound bill hit one Republican lawmaker close to home.  In the bedroom, to be precise.  He said a fellow lawmaker's television discussion of the bill cost him sex with his wife.

‘Right Wing Lice’  —  Bigoted and hateful rhetoric from a New York Times columnist.  —  A month ago, Charles Blow of the New York Times blocked this columnist on Twitter in reaction to our pointing out that one of his tweets was fallacious.  The Blow tweet in that incident was racially charged but offensive only to logic.

Karen Santorum: husband's presidential run is 'God's will'  —  Rick Santorum's wife granted a rare interview Thursday, telling conservative talk show host Glenn Beck that she initially had been against her husband running for president but finally concluded it was “God's will.”

Rick Santorum speaks at super PAC fundraiser  —  Rick Santorum on Thursday afternoon slipped away from the campaign trail to speak to a fundraiser for a supportive super PAC, despite denying previous reports that he planned to do so.  —  The fundraiser drew between 20 and 25 donors …

Democratic governors discuss bypassing Congress with Obama  —  President Obama met with a group of Democratic governors on Friday and discussed plans to work around Congress toward policy goals.  —  Gov. Jack Markell, the Democratic governor of Delaware and the vice chairman …

Gingrich Calls Obama's Embrace of Algae Energy ‘Weird’  —  FEDERAL WAY, Wash.— Newt Gingrich has been hitting Obama's energy speech since the president delivered it Thursday, calling the speech funny enough to be on SNL and “something worthy of Leno or Letterman.”

Palin said her divorce was ‘when,’ not ‘if’  —  Sarah Palin, in 2007, indicated she was contemplating a divorce.  —  In a Sept. 26, 2007, email obtained by The Associated Press, Palin wrote to an aide and her husband, Todd Palin: “So speaking of. ..  If we, er, when we get a divorce …

Per person cost of federal high-risk medical plan doubles  —  Medical costs for enrollees in the health-care law's high-risk insurance pools are expected to more than double initial predictions, the Obama administration said Thursday in a report on the new program.

Buchanan To Republicans: You're Overeaching On Birth Control  —  Women's health care has dominated political discussions as GOP-controlled state legislatures consider legislation to extremely curtail women's access to abortions and right-wing leaders claim the Obama administration is infringing …