For Romney, a Message Lost in the Empty Seats  —  DETROIT — In a major policy speech here, just days before the Michigan primary, Mitt Romney set out on Friday to deliver a sweeping and sober vision for how to revive the American economy.  In the end, he delivered something else as well …

U.S. Officers Killed in Kabul Shooting  —  KABUL—Two high-ranking U.S. military advisers were killed Saturday during a clash with an Afghan national at Afghanistan's Interior Ministry headquarters, according to Afghan and Western officials.  —  An American colonel and major were both found shot …

Why the Climate Skeptics Are Winning  —  Too many of their opponents are intellectual thugs.  —  The forlorn and increasingly desperate climate campaign achieved a new level of ineptitude last week when what had looked like a minor embarrassment for one of its critics …

Poll: Gingrich holds commanding lead in Georgia  —  ATLANTA —  A new poll conducted for Channel 2 Action News shows Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich with a double-digit lead in Georgia.  —  The Landmark/Rosetta Stone poll of 1,300 voters was conducted on Feb. 23 …

Court filing: Bevilacqua ordered shredding of memo identifying suspected abusers  —  Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua ordered aides to shred a 1994 memo that identified 35 Archdiocese of Philadelphia priests suspected of sexually abusing children, according to a new court filing.

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.

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.

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.

Is this why Mitt Romney's stadium is empty?  —  (Photo: Byron York ) The Internet is having fun with photographs of Mitt Romney giving his big speech on the economy to an empty arena today.  But put that aside.  The real news is in the speech itself, which is the clearest articulation of Romney's fiscal plan that he's yet offered.

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 …

Mooch: “Every Day I Hear About How Folks Are Struggling, How They're Sacrificing”...  Didn't she just return from a ski trip to Aspen?  Apparently the ski lift operators are a chatty bunch.