Who Said It: Marco Rubio or Barack Obama?  —  Willful ignorance of science is a bipartisan value.  —  By now you've heard the outrageous quote from Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., on his doubts about the origins of planet Earth.  When asked to give its age, he replied: “I'm not a scientist, man. ...

Mitt Romney Went To Disneyland  —  Earlier: Mitt Romney fills up his gas tank.

U.S. Deficit Shrinking At Fastest Pace Since WWII, Before Fiscal Cliff  —  Believe it or not, the federal deficit has fallen faster over the past three years than it has in any such stretch since demobilization from World War II.  —  In fact, outside of that post-WWII era …

Gaza fighting rages as Clinton pursues durable cease-fire  —  TEL AVIV — A bus bombing Wednesday morning brought the Gaza conflict to central Tel Aviv, as intensified fighting between Hamas militants and the Israeli military raised doubts about the prospects of a durable cease-fire being sought …

McCain Backs Away From Benghazi Conspiracies  —  Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) today issued a statement essentially conceding that he was wrong in accusing the White House of changing U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice's talking points on Benghazi for political purposes.  —  Former CIA Director David …

Iowa's GOP Governor: Time to End the Straw Poll  —  Is one of the quirkiest rituals of the Republican presidential election calendar heading for the grave?  —  It is, if Iowa's Republican Gov. Terry Branstad has his say.  —  Eyeing the wreckage of the 2011 Ames Straw Poll …

S.F. barely passes public-nudity ban  —  Protester Gypsy Taub speaks out against the Board of Supervisors decision to ban public nakedness while naked at City Hall in San Francisco, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2012.  San Francisco lawmakers on Tuesday narrowly approved a proposal to ban public nakedness …

From the Maker of Unskewed Polling Comes: The Obama Voter Fraud Map  —  In the last weeks of the election, Dean Chambers became famous for putting into numbers what other conservative put into words.  The polls that showed Mitt Romney losing must, said Chambers, have been skewed.

The New Republicans  —  There has been a lot of talk since the election about the possible emergence of a new faction within the Republican party, or at least among the conservative intelligentsia.  These new Republicans, we're told, are willing to be more open-minded on cultural issues …

Poetic justice: Romney likely to finish at 47 percent  —  When all the votes are counted, could Mitt Romney really end up achieving perfect poetic justice by finishing with 47 percent of the national vote?  Yup.  Dave Wasserman of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report says new votes in from Maryland put Romney at 47.56 percent.

The Real Scoop on Papa John's and Obamacare … Affordable Care Act , Obamacare , Papa Johns , Papa Johns Health Care , Papa Johns Obama , Papa Johns Obamacare , Papa Johns Pizza , Pizza Health Care , Business News  —  Reading what has been written about statements I made on the effect …

Christie approval rating up nearly 20 points after Sandy  —  New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has seen a dramatic bump in his approval rating in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the super-storm that pummeled his home state late last month.  —  The Republican governor, who served …

Democrats preparing candidates in case Kerry moves to Cabinet  —  Democrats in Massachusetts are culling a list of candidates for a 2013 special election should Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) be appointed to President Obama's cabinet.  —  Recently-defeated Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) …

Messina: Huntsman would have been ‘tough’ candidate  —  Obama campaign manager Jim Messina spoke with Mike Allen at POLITICO's Playbook Breakfast spoke about the campaign's concerns about Huntsman being the Republican nominee.  11/20/2012 12:09 PM EDT

Campaign 2012: The Report Card  —  Has there ever been a less gracious presidential loser than Mitt Romney?  I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt during the campaign.  I figured he was just dialing for dollars when he massaged the Boca Raton fat cats' fantasies about the lack of …

The best tax deduction to chop  —  What's the least defensible special break in the U.S. tax code?  With so many distortions to choose from, it's hard to name just one.  If forced to pick, I might say the deduction for state and local taxes, which cost $67 billion in fiscal 2011 …

Republicans, 2016: In full swing  —  Tired of presidential politics?  Get over it: Upwards of 15 prominent Republicans are privately contemplating 2016 campaigns for the presidency — and the most serious and ambitious of the bunch are already plunging in, some quite publicly.

Report: French officials accuse US of hacking Sarkozy's computers  —  The United States used U.S.-Israeli spy software to hack into the French presidential office earlier this year, the French cyberwarfare agency has concluded, according to the newsmagazine l'Express.

Church of England governing body blocks move to approve female bishops  —  LONDON — The Church of England's governing body blocked a move Tuesday to permit women to serve as bishops in a vote so close it failed to settle the question of female leadership and likely condemned the institution to years more debate on the issue.