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 …

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.

Newt OK with gay marriage referenda  —  With same-sex marriage laws passing in Maryland and Washington state and New Jersey headed for a fall referendum on the issue, Newt Gingrich said at the Washington state capitol this morning that he's basically comfortable with states enacting gay marriage laws by popular vote.

Sen. Hutchison hits Obama on job growth, high gas prices  —  Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) tried to further the Republican narrative that the president and the Democrat-controlled Senate are impeding job growth and causing a spike in the cost of gasoline.

‘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.

A Letter to the Obama Campaign  —  Dear Mr. Messina:  —  Because every American has the right to take part in the public discourse on matters that affect the future of our country, I feel compelled to respond directly about a fundraising letter you sent out on February 24 denouncing Koch.

Jeb Bush: The GOP Debates Are ‘A Little Troubling’  —  Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush expressed anguish over the rhetoric he's heard in the various 2012 GOP debates.  “I used to be a conservative and I watch these debates and I'm wondering, I don't think I've changed …

Exclusive: State Department quietly warning region on Syrian WMDs  —  The State Department has begun coordinating with Syria's neighbors to prepare for the handling of President Bashar al-Assad's extensive weapons of mass destruction if and when his regime collapses, The Cable has learned.

Los Angeles Times launches new membership program  —  Starting March 5, online readers will be asked to buy a digital subscription at an initial rate of 99 cents for four weeks.  Readers who do not subscribe will be able to read 15 stories in a 30-day period for free.

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) …

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 …

City Teacher Data Reports Are Released  —  Updated After a long legal battle and amid much anguish by teachers and other educators, the New York City Education Department released individual performance rankings of 18,000 public school teachers on Friday, while admonishing the news media …

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.”

Seven states sue over contraception mandate  —  Seven state attorneys general sued the Obama administration Thursday over its order requiring some religious employers to cover birth control in their employees' healthcare plans.  —  In the suit, the states argue that the White House infringed …