What Allen West And Abraham Lincoln Have In Common … U.S. Rep. Allen West came to Washington as part of the 2010 wave of Tea Party-backed candidates.  He became known as aggressive and outspoken, but his tenure in Congress was short-lived.  He recently conceded a close race for Florida's 18th District.

Hillary Clinton no fan of Susan Rice, prefers Kerry for State  —  American Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice speaks to reporters after a Security Council meeting on the situation in Libya, Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at United Nations headquarters.  (AP Photo)  —  The Rice Report...

Rep. Fleck takes place in history  —  First openly gay member of Pennsylvania House  —  Pennsylvania's 81st District is a diverse place — a threecounty territory that encompasses Appalachian, Amish and liberal arts cultures in the midst of the urban and academic centers of Altoona and State College.

The Monster of Monticello  —  Durham, N.C.  —  THOMAS JEFFERSON is in the news again, nearly 200 years after his death — alongside a high-profile biography by the journalist Jon Meacham comes a damning portrait of the third president by the independent scholar Henry Wiencek.

NORQUIST: NEW, LARGER ‘TEA PARTY SECOND WAVE’ COMING  —  “We are about to have a Tea Party second wave that will dwarf the first wave and that is because while ‘spend too much’ brought the Tea Party into existence, we're about to walk into ‘spend too much, regulate too much, and tax too much,’ all together.

West Point chapel hosts first same-sex marriage  —  The ceremony comes a little more than a year after President Obama ended the military policy banning openly gay people from serving.  —  STORY HIGHLIGHTS  —  3:17PM EST December 1.  2012 - The U.S. Military Academy's Cadet Chapel …

Police: Chiefs player kills girlfriend then kills self  —  Police are investigating two deadly shootings Saturday morning that they said are related.  —  The shootings involve a Chiefs player and his girlfriend.  —  The first shooting was reported about 8 a.m. at a home near East 54th Terrace and Crysler Avenue.

Why Obama is pushing for stimulus in ‘fiscal cliff’ deal  —  President Obama's opening offer in ‘fiscal cliff’ talks includes $255 billion in stimulus spending - tax cuts, incentives, and more.  It could be a bargaining ploy or a bid to offset rising taxes on the rich.  —  How about a little government economic stimulus?

A detached Romney tends wounds in seclusion after failed White House bid  —  SAN DIEGO — The man who planned to be president wakes up each morning now without a plan.  —  Mitt Romney looks out the windows of his beach house here in La Jolla, a moneyed and pristine enclave of San Diego …

Infrastructure Spending Needed: Century-Old New Jersey Bridge Collapses For Second Time In Four Years  —  A bridge in Paulsboro, New Jersey collapsed Friday morning, derailing a train carrying highly flammable and carcinogenic vinyl chloride into Mantua Creek.

Mitt Romney's loss creates GOP leadership vacuum  —  BOSTON (AP) — Mitt Romney's shadow looms over a Republican Party in disarray.  —  The face of the GOP for much of the last year, the failed presidential candidate has been a virtual ghost since his defeat Nov. 6.

The Crisis of American Self-Government  —  Harvey Mansfield, Harvard's ‘pet dissenter,’ on the 2012 election, the real cost of entitlements, and why he sees reason for hope.  —  'We have now an American political party and a European one.  Not all Americans who vote for the European party want to become Europeans.