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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

The Possum Republicans  —  Politicians do what they must to get re-elected.  So it's not unexpected that Republican senators like Richard Lugar and Orrin Hatch would swing sharply to the right to fend off primary challengers.  —  As Jonathan Weisman reported in The Times on Sunday …

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.

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.

Gingrich: Obama's call for higher education ‘perfectly reasonable’  —  Newt Gingrich said President Barack Obama's call for Americans to “commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training” seemed “perfectly reasonable,” drawing a contrast with rival Rick Santorum …

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.

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 …

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.

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.

Yoga Fans Sexual Flames and, Predictably, Plenty of Scandal  —  The wholesome image of yoga took a hit in the past few weeks as a rising star of the discipline came tumbling back to earth.  After accusations of sexual impropriety with female students, John Friend, the founder of Anusara …

Democratic lobbyists giving cold shoulder to Obama super-PAC  —  Democratic lobbyists who have been barred from fundraising for President Obama's campaign are showing little interest in donating instead to a super-PAC that supports him.  —  Unlike Obama's official campaign …

Young Women Often Trendsetters in Vocal Patterns  —  From Valley Girls to the Kardashians, young women have long been mocked for the way they talk.  —  Whether it be uptalk (pronouncing statements as if they were questions?  Like this?), creating slang words like “bitchin' ” and “ridic,” …

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.