New poll shows Rick Santorum leading in Alabama GOP primary  —  A new poll released on the eve of Rick Santorum's first campaign visit to Alabama shows the former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania leading in the state Republican Party presidential primary.  —  The statewide poll conducted …

Breitbart's Obama Video Is a Total Dud  —  That movie stunk.  —  Breitbart.com's explosive, blockbuster video that would expose Barack Obama as a radical commie who wasn't vetted by the media was almost entirely hype.  —  Breitbart.com's Editor-in-Chief Joel Pollak and Editor …

Obama adviser slams Romney for Limbaugh while planning to go on Maher  —  CHICAGO — While slamming Mitt Romney for not standing up to the “strident voices” on his side, a top Obama advisor is planning to spend some quality time with one on his own, The Daily has learned.

Obama lobbying Dems over Keystone XL pipeline  —  President Barack Obama is intervening in a Senate fight over the Keystone XL oil pipeline and personally lobbying Democrats to reject an amendment calling for its construction, according to several sources familiar with the talks.

Wind farms in Pacific Northwest paid to not produce  —  Wind farms in the Pacific Northwest — built with government subsidies and maintained with tax credits for every megawatt produced — are now getting paid to shut down as the federal agency charged with managing the region's electricity grid …

Joe the Plumber blows a gasket on CNN  —  Samuel Wurzelbacher, who on Thursday morning accused CNN of being like TMZ and trying to trap him with “gotcha questions,” explained to POLITICO immediately following the tense interview that he is “sick of the gossip and drama.”

Won't Be Long Now, Folks!  —  And the odds that we'll get to somebody dropping the ni-CLANG word on President Obama took a really big step forward today, along with bonus misogyny to boot.  They say a picture's worth a thousands words, and judging from the latest Mike Lester political cartoon from the Rome …

U.S. Warns Apple, Publishers  —  Justice Department Threatens Lawsuits, Alleging Collusion Over E-Book Pricing  —  The Justice Department has warned Apple Inc. and five of the biggest U.S. publishers that it plans to sue them for allegedly colluding to raise the price of electronic books, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Influence Industry: Obama gives administration jobs to some big fundraisers  —  Big donors considering whether to work the phones raising money for President Obama's reelection campaign might consider the fate of his 2008 bundlers.  Many of them, it turns out, won plum jobs in his administration.

Rep. Jean Schmidt's Defeat Serves as Warning  —  Ohio Rep. Jean Schmidt had tough primaries before, but it's obvious she didn't see this one coming.  —  Podiatrist Brad Wenstrup defeated Schmidt by 6 points in Tuesday's GOP primary, likely ending the controversial Congresswoman's career.

Dogging Mitt Romney  —  I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but Mitt Romney once drove to Canada with the family Irish setter on the roof of the car.  —  Seamus, the dog-on-the-roof, has become a kind of political icon.  You cannot go anywhere without running into him.

First Thoughts: Why isn't this GOP race over?  —  Jessica Rinaldi / Reuters  —  Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney pauses while speaking to supporters at his “Super Tuesday” primary election night rally in Boston, Massachusetts, March 6, 2012.

International Slutty Women's Day: A Story in GIFs  —  The year was 2012.  Women were basically just hanging out.  —  You know, doing lady stuff.  —  We'd gotten used to the fact that, for decades, people have been trying to tell us what to do.  —  That we should pay attention …

Senior Syrian official defects to protest Assad's crackdown  —  BEIRUT (AP) - Syria's deputy oil minister announced his defection in an online video that emerged Thursday, making him the highest ranking official to abandon President Bashar Assad's regime since the country's uprising erupted a year ago.

Secret Service agent: Clinton's staff rude, Hillary aloof  —  In a breach of tradition, a former U.S. Secret Service agent has self-published a book that savages the Clinton White House staff as arrogant and rude, suggests former first lady Hillary Clinton was aloof and charges …

The Party of Hate  —  Millions of Americans voted for Barack Obama in the hope that he would be a trailblazer who would conduct the presidency in a new way.  Well, he has: Obama has been the most divisive president in our modern history, unabashedly stirring up hate against not only his political enemies …

Pat Robertson Says Marijuana Use Should be Legal  —  Of the many roles Pat Robertson has assumed over his five-decade-long career as an evangelical leader — including presidential candidate and provocative voice of the right wing — his newest guise may perhaps surprise his followers the most: marijuana legalization advocate.

Rick Santorum Will Face More Ballot, Delegate Problems  —  Rick Santorum's ballot problems keep getting worse.  —  The candidate failed to appear on the ballot in Virginia on Super Tuesday, losing his chance to win 46 delegates.  He also may have lost his chance at more than a quarter …

Obama Will Make Taxpayers Guarantee Mortgages Without Checking Borrowers' Incomes or Employment  —  (CNSNews.com) - Wth no authorization from Congress, President Barack Obama has announced that his administration—through the Federal Housing Administration—will insure refinanced mortgages …

Op-Ed Contributor: Reforms for the New Upper Class  —  THERE'S been a lot of commentary from all sides about my recently published book, “Coming Apart,” which deals with the divergence between the professional and working classes in white America over the last half century.

Subject for Debate: Are Women People?  —  I've always assumed that women are fully autonomous human citizens—who vote, even!—but now I'm not so certain  —  From left: Catholic Bishop William Lori, the Rev. Matthew Harrison, Dr. Ben Mitchell, Rabbi Meir Soloveichik and Craig Mitchell …