Inside the talks: Fiscal framework emerges  —  Listen to top Democrats and Republicans talk on camera, and it sounds like they could not be further apart on a year-end tax-and-spending deal - a down payment on a $4 trillion grand bargain.  —  But behind the scenes, top officials …

Behind the Susan Rice meeting meltdown  —  In just two quick meetings on Capitol Hill, Susan Rice may have blown up any goodwill she had with the very senators she'll need for confirmation if she's ever tapped as the next secretary of state.  —  Over the past two days …

The Science Behind Those Obama Campaign E-Mails  —  One fascination in a presidential race mostly bereft of intrigue was the strange, incessant, and weirdly overfamiliar e-mails that emanated from the Obama campaign.  Anyone who shared an address with the campaign soon started receiving messages …

The Incestuous Bleeding of the Republican Party  —  If money is the root of all evil, for the Republican Party evil is located on the fifth floor of 66 Canal Center Plaza, Alexandria, VA 22314.  —  Strip away the candidate and coalition and it is on the fifth floor of 66 Canal Center Plaza …

Mortgage-interest deduction could be on the table in ‘fiscal cliff’ debate  —  Of all the deductions woven into the sprawling U.S. tax code, few have been more fiercely guarded than the enormous tax break that lets homeowners deduct the interest they pay on their mortgages.

McIntyre keeps NC Congress seat after recount  —  RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre reclaimed his longtime southeastern North Carolina congressional seat on Wednesday night, earning a razor-thin victory over his Republican challenger after a machine recount produced hardly any change in the margin.

The Brotherhood delusion  —  The great, acerbic 19th-century satirist Ambrose Bierce defined a revolution as “an abrupt change in the form of misgovernment.”  He would understand events in Egypt since the fall of Hosni Mubarak very well.  —  In the signature revolution of the Arab Spring …

The Tea Party Goes to War  —  A left-right attempt to treat terror detainees like common criminals.  —  There's a lot to be said for the libertarian approach to government, but the realities of a dangerous world can make its more rigid adherents seem naïve.

Photo of Officer Giving Boots to Barefoot Man Warms Hearts Online  —  On a cold November night in Times Square, Officer Lawrence Deprimo was working a counterterrorism post when he encountered an older, barefooted homeless man.  The officer disappeared for a moment, then returned with a new pair of boots …

Mitt Romney face tattoo man does an about-face  —  Critics of Mitt Romney accused him of being a flip-flopper.  Now one of his die-hard supporters is guilty of the same charge.  —  Eric Hartsburg, the 30-year-old resident of Michigan City, Ind., inked the Romney/Ryan campaign's distinctive …

Rebbe Grover, Zombie Tax Cuts & the Golem  —  Descending from the Jesuits and their probabilism and the Rabbis and their Talmudic interpretations, official Washington is now deep in a complex exegesis of the Norquist anti-tax pledge.  Is it eternal?  Is it limited to a single term?

DIY graphic design  —  The diagram leaked to the Associated Press this week is nothing more than either shoddy sources or shoddy science.  In either case, the world can keep calm and carry on.  —  This week the Associated Press reported that unnamed officials “from a country critical …

National Income and Product Accounts Gross Domestic Product, 3rd quarter 2012 (second estimate); Corporate Profits, 3rd quarter 2012 (preliminary estimate)  —  Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States …

Drive to Unionize Fast-Food Workers Begins  —  After three years of working at the McDonald's restaurant on 51st Street and Broadway, Alterique Hall earns $8 an hour — and is yearning for something better.  —  So when he heard about an unusual campaign that aims to unionize dozens …

Top Romney strategist: Failure to reach out to women, Hispanics biggest mistake  —  Mitt Romney's top political strategist on Thursday said the campaign's failure to reach out to women and Hispanic voters was their biggest mistake.  —  In an interview on CBS's “This Morning,” …

Jon Huntsman: GOP Primary Barriers To Entry Were ‘Pretty Damn Low’ … REACT:  —  FOLLOW:  —  Jon Huntsman, Republican Party, Republican Party, Video, Grover Norquist, Jon Huntsman Republican Primary, Gop 2012, Gop Future, Jon Huntsman Foreign Policy, Jon Huntsman Gay Marriage …

Cutter: Obama Has Mandate To ‘Protect Middle Class’  —  Stephanie Cutter, who served as deputy campaign manager for Obama's re-election effort, said that the president's mandate after winning re-election “is to protect the middle class,” during an appearance on MSNBC's “Daily Rundown.”