Officials Say F.B.I. Knew of Petraeus Affair in the Summer  —  WASHINGTON — High-level officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Justice Department were notified in the late summer that F.B.I. agents had uncovered what appeared to be an extramarital affair involving the director …

The GOP's media cocoon  —  A long-simmering generational battle in the conservative movement is boiling over after last week's shellacking, with younger operatives and ideologues going public with calls that Republicans break free from a political-media cocoon that has become intellectually suffocating and self defeating.

MSNBC, Its Ratings Rising, Gains Ground on Fox News  —  On Tuesday night, with a minute to go until the polls closed in the battleground state of Virginia, the MSNBC hosts Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews received word through their earpieces that the state was too close to call …

Grover Norquist: Obama reelected by characterizing Romney as ‘a poopy-head’  —  Grover Norquist, the man who to many represents the GOP's hard line stance against raising taxes, said Monday that the results of the recent election and the looming fiscal cliff are no reason for the GOP to compromise on a deficit deal.

Romney campaign's lasting mark  —  With the election over, supporters of Mitt Romney have to pack up their campaign signs and paraphernalia and get on with their lives.  —  But what if you can't get rid of that stuff?  Literally.  —  Eric Hartsburg caught some attention in the weeks leading …

Outrage Builds As Arizona Continues To Count Votes  —  Nearly a third of votes cast in Arizona remained uncounted the day after the election.  Most of them were probably cast by Latinos, organized and newly registered by multiple civil rights groups in the state to combat candidates …

Opinion: California leading the way to a more functional Congress  —  The dark and dysfunctional 112th Congress, now drawing to its close, will go down in history as one in which the bad behavior of lawmakers led to a downgrade of the nation's credit rating and the creation of the impending fiscal cliff.

Hawks and Hypocrites  —  Back in 2010, self-styled deficit hawks — better described as deficit scolds — took over much of our political discourse.  At a time of mass unemployment and record-low borrowing costs, a time when economic theory said we needed more, not less, deficit spending …