Shift on Executive Power Lets Obama Bypass Rivals  —  WASHINGTON — One Saturday last fall, President Obama interrupted a White House strategy meeting to raise an issue not on the agenda.  He declared, aides recalled, that the administration needed to more aggressively use executive power …

Jon Huntsman Trashes GOP, Expresses Campaign Regrets  —  Former Republican presidential candidate compares his party to Communist China.  Says Reagan would have trouble winning GOP primary in this political environment.  Regrets opposition to 10-1 spending cuts to tax increase deficit deal.

Poll: Just three percent have favorable view of John Edwards  —  CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto.  —  (CBS News) With opening arguments in the trial of former U.S. senator and presidential candidate John Edwards set …

For Results, Twitter Gets Out Early Word, in Code  —  PARIS — In France on Sunday, the flan was decidedly in the oven, while the tomato was surprisingly green.  By the same token — according to Twitter, at any rate — the temperature in Budapest hovered near 25 degrees.

An $8 billion trick?  —  Call it President Obama's Committee for the Re-Election of the President — a political slush fund at the Health and Human Services Department.  —  Only this isn't some little fund from shadowy private sources; this is taxpayer money, redirected to help Obama win another term.

White killer whale adult spotted for first time in wild  —  “Iceberg” is believed to be the first mature white orca observed  —  Scientists have made what they believe to be the first sighting of an adult white orca, or killer whale.  —  The adult male, which they have nicknamed Iceberg …

Obama targets foreign nationals' use of new technologies in human rights abuses  —  President Obama issued an executive order Monday that will allow U.S. officials for the first time to impose sanctions against foreign nationals found to have used new technologies, from cellphone tracking …

HOW THE MEDIA COVERED THE 2012 PRIMARY CAMPAIGN  —  LESS HORSE RACE THAN 2008  —  By Tom Rosenstiel, Mark Jurkowitz and Tricia Sartor of PEJ  —  Mitt Romney needed 15 weeks once the primary contests began to gain a secure hold over his party's nomination for president.

The Amnesia Candidate  —  Just how stupid does Mitt Romney think we are?  If you've been following his campaign from the beginning, that's a question you have probably asked many times.  —  But the question was raised with particular force last week, when Mr. Romney tried …

Yet another new survey shows that Republican supporters know more about politics and political history than Democrats.  —  On eight of 13 questions about politics, Republicans outscored Democrats by an average of 18 percentage points, according to a new Pew survey titled “Partisan Differences in Knowledge.”

President Obama Edits Out Climate Change From His Earth Day 2012 Proclamation  —  You'll be glad to know that in the last 12 months, that whole climate change problem went away.  At least that's the impression left from comparing President Obama's 2012 Earth Day proclamation with the 2011 one.

TV Corrects Itself, Just Not on the Air  —  After broadcasting an audio clip on the “Today” show about George Zimmerman last month that hit the trifecta of being misleading, incendiary and dead-bang wrong, NBC News management took serious action: it fired the producer in charge and issued …

Giuliani endorses Romney, downplays being running mate  —  (CNN) - One-time Mitt Romney rival Rudy Giuliani endorsed the all-but-certain Republican presidential nominee for president on Monday.  And the former New York City mayor downplayed any chance he would be considered a running mate on the GOP ticket.

Cynthia McKinney back and running for her old congressional seat  —  Former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is preparing to run for her old 4th Congressional district seat on the Green Party ticket.  —  McKinney was defeated by 4th district incumbent Hank Johnson in 2006 …

Ex-GOP Gov. Crist's law firm donates to pro-Obama super PAC  —  Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist made his name in the Republican Party, but his new employer — a personal injury law firm — leans the other way, as evidenced by a $50,000 donation it made to the pro-Obama super PAC, Priorities USA Action.

West says Muslim Brotherhood being allowed to influence strategy  —  Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) criticized the FBI on Monday for removing nearly 900 pages of training material it deemed to be offensive, saying it showed extremist Muslim groups were influencing national strategy.

Obama's campaign whisperer  —  Barack Obama's top advisers are making a mid-"core" correction in their attacks on Mitt Romney — with a little nudge from Bill Clinton, who is finding a niche as an Obama campaign whisperer and fundraiser.  —  Late last year, as Romney galloped to the right …

Obama: ‘National sovereignty is never a license to slaughter your people’  —  President Obama on Monday announced new tools in what he called “an achievable goal” to prevent atrocities including the slaughter of innocent people in countries such as Syria and Sudan.

Pushback for Romney Fund  —  New Effort Raises Red Flags for Wall Street Donors Due to Tighter SEC Rules  —  A new effort by Mitt Romney's presidential campaign to substantially increase the amount of money wealthy backers can give has hit a hurdle: new Securities and Exchange Commission rules …

Why stay?  President, Congress should just go home until after the election  —  The president is in full campaign mode.  So is Congress.  The federal government has been put into a holding pattern until the November elections.  —  Like “Major, Major, Major” from “Catch-22,” …