Updated at 5:10 EST with audio of the call.  —  Updated at 6:12pm EST with confirmation that the call did indeed come from the Santorum campaign  —  LANSING, MI — Rick Santorum's campaign is locked in a tight battle with Mitt Romney ahead of Tuesday's Michigan primary.

GOP frets over 2012 knife fight  —  National Republican leaders are voicing increasing dismay over the course of the party's presidential primary, which has fallen into such a negative grind that they warn could cost them the White House.  —  At the core of their concern is the atmosphere …

Stratfor Is a Joke and So Is Wikileaks for Taking It Seriously  —  The corporate research firm has branded itself as a CIA-like “global intelligence” firm, but only Julian Assange and some over-paying clients are fooled.  —  On June 2, 2009, Anya Alfano of Stratfor, which describes itself as a private …

What's the Matter With ‘Nebraska’?  —  A frivolous essay underscores the left's serious prejudices.  —  This column has recently become skeptical of the view—nearly universal on the liberal left but common as well among conservative elites—that Rick Santorum is “unelectable” …

Democrats target likely veep pick Sen. Rubio  —  Democrats have started to wage a political assault against Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and the intensity of their attacks will intensify in the coming weeks.  —  Senior officials in the Democratic Party anticipate that Mitt Romney will win …

JOBS Act just what Obama ordered  —  America has always offered immense opportunity because innovators have had the ability to take risks, work hard and be rewarded for it.  Innovators, entrepreneurs and small-business people built the framework for American success, creating legacies lasting generations.

Santorum: Gas Prices Caused The 2008 Recession  —  Dubiously claims gas prices prevented people from paying their mortgages.  —  LANSING, Michigan—Rick Santorum sharpened his attack on President Barack Obama over rising gas prices, saying high energy prices caused the 2008 recession.

What Happens if Rick Santorum Wins Michigan?  —  That's the question I asked ABC News contributor Matt Dowd ahead of tonight's primary.  Mitt Romney has been bouncing up and down in the polls of his home state, and is now neck and neck with Rick Santorum.  —  “If Rick Santorum wins tonight it's …

Trashing Tricare  —  The Obama administration's proposed defense budget calls for military families and retirees to pay sharply more for their healthcare, while leaving unionized civilian defense workers' benefits untouched.  The proposal is causing a major rift within the Pentagon, according to U.S. officials.

Secret memo suggests White House ignored SOS from Iranian opposition  —  Iranian supporters of defeated reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi demonstrate on June 18, 2009 in Tehran, Iran.  Thousands of people have continued to protest in the streets of Tehran during a day of mourning …

Kerrey reconsiders after turning down Senate bid  —  OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Democrats might yet have a lifeline in their quest to hold on to Nebraska's open U.S. Senate seat this year, and once again it's former Sen. Bob Kerrey giving them hope.  —  The popular two-term U.S. senator …

Newt: We can't fix Afghanistan  —  Via POLITICO's Emily Schultheis, Newt Gingrich, assessing the problems in the Middle East, had this to say about Afghanistan:

Republican Party started out anti-Mormon  —  • The founders of the Republican Party saw Mormons as their enemies.  —  And the first Mormon leaders didn't have much nice to say about the GOP, either.  —  You would never know it now — one recent poll showed three-quarters …

Will the EPA's new climate rules get killed in court?  —  Congress isn't planning to tackle climate change anytime soon, which means the Environmental Protection Agency is now the last line of defense.  But could the EPA's new rules on carbon pollution get tossed out by the courts?  We're about to find out.

Christianity gets less sensitive treatment than other religions admits BBC chief  — But added that religion as a whole should never receive the same ‘protection and sensitivity’ in the law as race  —  BBC director-general Mark Thompson has claimed Christianity is treated with far less sensitivity …

The Unbearable Gleickness of Being: An Omnibus Climate Update  —  The Gleickgate hits just keep coming.  (Or is it Fakegate, as Heartland is calling it, or Gleick-Out, as I've called it?  Doesn't matter.)  First, Gleick has taken a leave of absence from his post as president of the Pacific Institute …

Wealthy More Likely to Lie, Cheat: Researchers  —  Are society's most noble actors found within society's nobility?  —  That question spurred Paul Piff, a Ph.D. candidate in psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, to explore whether higher social class is linked to higher ideals, he said in a telephone interview.

Initiative to legalize marijuana makes ballot in Colorado  —  Colorado voters in November will decide whether limited possession of marijuana for any purpose should be legalized.  —  If passed, the initiative would make Colorado the only state in the nation to legalize marijuana for recreational use.

Jewish School's Team, Refusing to Play During Sabbath, Loses Trip to State Semifinals  —  The Robert M. Beren Academy, an Orthodox Jewish day school in Houston, won its regional championship to advance to the boys basketball state semifinals this weekend in Dallas.  But the team will not make the trip.

Buffett: Banks Victimized by Excesses of Ousted Homeowners  —  Warren Buffett, who controls the biggest shareholding of the No. 1 U.S. mortgage lender, said banks were victimized by some homeowners who refinanced their loans before getting evicted.  —  “Large numbers of people who have 'lost …

Co­lo­ni­al­ ism in Africa helped launch the HIV epidemic a century ago  —  We are unlikely to ever know all the details of the birth of the AIDS epidemic.  But a series of recent genetic discoveries have shed new light on it, starting with the moment when a connection from chimp to human changed the course of history.