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.

Death Star Petition Requires White House Response  —  The petition has passed the 25,000 threshold needed for a response from the White House.  The White House petition is now quite operational.  —  Andrew Kaczynski  —  a half hour ago  —  3 responses

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.

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 …

Neil Cavuto cuts off Rep. E.B. Johnson  —  Fox News' Neil Cavuto cut to commercial during a heated interview with Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson where the congresswoman told him to “shut up for just a second” and he later called their discussion “a total waste of time.”

Steve King: I Don't Know What Happened In Benghazi But It's Worse Than Watergate  —  Rep. Steve King (R-IA) has no idea what happened in Benghazi but he does know that it's worse than Watergate and the Iran-Contra scandal times 10.  Here's King from a Washington Times article published on Wednesday:

‘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.

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.

‘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 …

More staffers recount confrontational elevator rides with Rep. Foxx  —  More House staffers are coming forward with cautionary tales of their members-only elevator rides with Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.).  —  ITK last week brought you one tipster's claims of Foxx laying the verbal smackdown …

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.

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.

Mother Nature Is Just Getting Warmed Up: Record-Smashing Early December Assures 2012 Will Be Hottest In U.S. History  —  We've had spring weather in early December — and that guarantees 2012 will be the hottest year on record for the United States.  —  I had reported on Monday that 2012 …

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 …

LANSING UNION ATTACK VICTIM: ASSAILANT WORE GUY FAWKES-LIKE ‘DEVIL MASK’  —  Local Lansing Michigan hot dog vendor Clint Tarver was catering for Americans For Prosperity during the right-to-work demonstrations at the State Capitol on Tuesday, when two men rushed into the tent.

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.