EXCLUSIVE: Susan Rice drops out of running for secretary of state; saddened by partisan politics  —  Embattled U.N. envoy Susan Rice is dropping out of the running to be the next secretary of state after months of criticism over her Benghazi comments, she told NBC News on Thursday.

First Thoughts: GOP goes off the image cliff  —  NBC/WSJ poll: GOP already goes off one cliff — the image cliff... American public: We want compromise... But this also presents dilemma for White House: Does it bend over backwards to achieve compromise, or does it try to make the GOP cry …

Where big GOP bucks could matter  —  Mitt Romney and the GOP lost, but it wasn't for lack of money.  They spent a lot; they just didn't get enough bang for the buck.  —  Billionaire Sheldon Adelson alone donated $150 million.  But Romney lost anyway, especially among unmarried women.

‘The a—hole factor’  —  Back-bench freshmen Justin Amash, Tim Huelskamp and David Schweikert are gaining martyr status among conservative activists after they were “purged” from House committees for what they say is a matter of sticking to their principles on tough votes.

‘Gangnam Style’ death prompts warning to middle-aged men not to attempt the vigorous dance  —  NOTE: WE DO NOT STORE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS(ES) BUT YOUR IP ADDRESS WILL BE LOGGED TO PREVENT ABUSE OF THIS FEATURE.  PLEASE READ OUR LEGAL TERMS & POLICIES  —  The death of a father-of-three …

King: Benghazi 10 times bigger than Watergate, Iran-Contra combined  —  Rep. Steve King, Iowa Republican, said Wednesday that the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, is 10 times bigger than the Watergate and Iran-Contra scandals put together.

Arnold Schwarzenegger: What I've Learned  —  Actor, former governor, 65, Los Angeles  —  The Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts, Inc./Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York  —  Warhol photographed Schwarzenegger, then a bodybuilder, with a Polaroid Big Shot camera in 1977.

Obama ‘May Decide To Go Blow Up Small Countries’ For Fun, Norquist Predicts … Although a growing number Republicans are distancing themselves from the Americans for Tax Reform anti-tax pledge, Grover Norquist is confident that Congressional Republicans will force massive cuts to government programs …

Joe Lieberman's sad send-off  —  It was a lonely farewell for Joe Lieberman.  —  When the senior senator from Connecticut stood to give his parting address Wednesday afternoon, just one of his colleagues, Delaware Democrat Tom Carper, was with him on the Senate floor.

U.S. Terrorism Agency to Tap a Vast Database of Citizens  —  Top U.S. intelligence officials gathered in the White House Situation Room in March to debate a controversial proposal.  Counterterrorism officials wanted to create a government dragnet, sweeping up millions of records about U.S. citizens—even people suspected of no crime.

Syrian rebels may win - Russia  —  The Syrian government may be defeated by opposition forces, a Russian deputy foreign minister has said.  —  President Bashar al-Assad's forces are “losing more and more control and territory”, Mikhail Bogdanov said on Thursday, Russian news agencies report.

The Strange Republican Shift on Taxes  —  There's been an odd change in Republican rhetoric in the last few weeks about taxes.  As we all know, for a couple of decades now, particularly since George H.W. Bush went back on his “Read my lips” promise and agreed to a tax increase to bring down the deficit …

House GOP Boosts Funds for DOMA Legal Defense  —  House Republicans quietly have raised the value of a contract with a private law firm that is handling the chamber's Supreme Court defense of a 1996 federal law that defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

State Rep. Lisa Posthumus Lyons tried to exempt husband from right-to-work law  —  ALTO, MI - Michigan House Democrats are calling an assistant majority floor leader a hypocrite for proposing an amendment that would have exempted her husband from right-to-work bills that lawmakers passed, and Gov. Snyder then signed into law.

N. Joseph Woodland, Inventor of the Bar Code, Dies at 91  —  N. Joseph Woodland, who six decades ago drew a set of lines in the sand and in the process conceived the modern bar code, died on Sunday at his home in Edgewater, N.J. He was 91.  —  His daughter Susan Woodland confirmed the death.

Insight: How Republicans engineered a blow to Michigan's powerful unions  —  (Reuters) - As a trained aerospace engineer, Patrick Colbeck applied his penchant for data analysis and “systematic approach” to his new job in early 2011: a Michigan state senator, recently elected and keen to create jobs in the faded industrial powerhouse.