Giffords gun control group wants $20 million for 2014 elections  —  (Reuters) - A new gun control group led by Gabrielle Giffords, the former U.S. congresswoman wounded in a Tucson shooting rampage, wants to raise $20 million for the 2014 congressional elections, matching …

First Thoughts: The disorganized cabinet shuffle  —  The Obama White House's disorganized cabinet shuffle... And some legitimate excuses for it... Obama to nominate Jack Lew for top Treasury job at 1:30 pm ET... Biden meets with the NRA and other gun-rights groups at the White House …

Carney on coin gambit: ‘There is no backup plan’  —  For all the recent scuttlebutt about resolving the Republican debt-ceiling crisis with a trillion-dollar coin, there was an elusive detail: what does the White House think about this?  Yesterday, for the first time, press secretary Jay Carney was pressed for an answer.

A GOP Strategy for the Debt-Ceiling Fight  —  The House should pass a bill pairing spending cuts with a dollar-for-dollar debt-ceiling increase.  —  President Obama says he won't negotiate with Republicans over his proposed more than $1 trillion increase in the debt ceiling as a matter …

Inaugural Benediction To Be Delivered By Pastor Who Gave Vehemently Anti-Gay Sermon  —  The Presidential Inauguration Committee announced Tuesday that the President Obama has selected Pastor Louie Giglio of the Georgia-based Passion City Church to deliver the benediction for his second inauguration.

Cornyn: Why I can't support Hagel  —  Editor's note: John Cornyn, a Republican, is the senior United States Senator from Texas.  —  (CNN) — To the surprise of many, including me, President Barack Obama has nominated former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel to be his next defense secretary.

Obama Will Keep His “Heat Shield”  —  Eric Holder is the Obama Administration's indispensable man.  —  Image by Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images  —  Eric Holder may be the least popular member of the Obama cabinet.  He is at the center of many of the Administration's ugliest fights with left and right …

Robert Bork's Tragedy  —  Even before Robert Bork died last month, he had achieved something close to martyrdom.  In the quarter-century since the Senate rejected his Supreme Court nomination, successive generations of conservative lawyers and activists have carried the torch …

Bill Clinton to receive Father of the Year award … Former President Bill Clinton hailed President Obama during remarks at the 2012 Democratic National Convention.  (Photo: Jack Gruber, USA TODAY)  —  STORY HIGHLIGHTS  —  Former president Bill Clinton can add Father of the Year …

Boehner takes flak from defense hawks on sequester stance  —  House Republican defense hawks are pushing back strongly against Speaker John Boehner's claim that he has GOP support to allow steep automatic budget cuts to take effect if President Obama does not agree to replace them with other reductions.

Virginia Poll: Armed school guards wanted  —  Bucking the national trend, Virginia voters, by a wide margin, want an armed guard in every school, but they do strongly back an assault weapons ban, according to a poll Thursday.  —  A Quinnipiac University poll found that Old Dominion voters favor putting …

Why U.S. Spending Cuts Won't Kill Too Many Jobs  —  The U.S. began the year with an awkwardly arranged deal that raised taxes.  I hope it doesn't end the year without a deal to limit spending.  —  The U.K. may have embraced austerity too soon, but the U.S. is far enough along in its recovery that it can begin balancing its books.

Virginia Democrat Wants To Roll Back Key Environmental Rules: 'I'm Not Going To Be Here' To Suffer Consequences … As Virginia's state legislature considers whether to lift a decades-old ban on uranium mining in the Commonwealth, Senate Democratic Leader Richard “Dick” Saslaw has been among the most vocal proponents of such a move.