If No Deal is Struck, Four-in-Ten Say Let the Sequester Happen  —  Deficit Reduction: Focus Mostly on Spending But Keep Taxes in Mix  —  OVERVIEW  —  After a series of fiscal crises over the past few years, the public is not expressing a particular sense of urgency over the pending March 1 sequester deadline.

Marriage Equality Is a Conservative Cause  —  The party of Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan has now lost the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections.  The marketplace of ideas will render us irrelevant, and soon, if we are not honest about our time and place in history.

EXCLUSIVE: Cornyn asks president to withdraw Hagel [Updated]  —  This post has been updated.  —  Right Turn has learned that a third of Senate Republicans, led by Minority Whip John Cornyn (Tex.), have called on President Obama to withdraw Chuck Hagel's nomination as defense secretary …

Laura Bush Objects To Being Quoted Accurately Supporting Marriage Equality  —  This week, the Respect for Marriage Coalition launched a new $1 million print and television ad campaign highlighting bipartisan support for marriage equality.  Unfortunately, it seems Former First Lady Laura Bush …

Crowd Cheers After McCain Tells Aurora Victim's Mother She Needs ‘Straight Talk’ (VIDEO)  —  Constituents at a town hall hosted by Sen. John McCain Wednesday in Phoenix cheered after the Arizona Republican told the mother of an Aurora, Colo. shooting victim that an assault weapons ban could not get through Congress.

Carter: Obama thanked my grandson for ‘47%’ tape  —  (CNN) - President Barack Obama expressed gratitute last week to former President Jimmy Carter's grandson for his role in leaking secretly-recorded video of Mitt Romney's infamous “47%” comments, the former president told CNN's Piers Morgan.

Key House Republican: Don't Even Think About A Path To Citizenship  —  Immigration reform's chances in the House are looking bleaker after one of the top Republicans tasked with shepherding a bill to passage ruled out a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

Joe Biden's Shotgun Advice Could Land Jill Biden in Jail  —  Felony aggravated menacing, reckless endangering charges could result from shooting gun in air  —  Vice President Joe Biden might want to have a talk with his son, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, before he makes another public statement about guns.

Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us  —  1. Routine Care, Unforgettable Bills  —  When Sean Recchi, a 42-year-old from Lancaster, Ohio, was told last March that he had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, his wife Stephanie knew she had to get him to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Congressman Says Americans Need Guns To Protect The Nation From Sharia Law  —  Tea Party Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-TX) told a conservative radio show on Thursday that the GOP must oppose gun regulations to protect the country from the threat of “Sharia Law.”

Biden says lawmakers need to ‘show some courage’ on gun control  —  Vice President Biden urged lawmakers to “show some courage” and back the Obama administration's favored measures for reducing gun violence.  —  Biden, on Thursday, called on lawmakers to support proposals like reinstitution …

Sensing weakness, Karl Rove's critics pounce  —  For the first time in a dozen years, Karl Rove's critics smell blood.  —  After his electoral wipeout in November — and motivated by years of resentment that's spilling over — Rove's credibility within his own party is at an all-time low.

Blaspheming Saint Romney  —  Until around the time Todd Akin blew up his Senate race, the conventional wisdom in campaign world was that if Romney won, he'd carry the House and the Senate as well.  That supposition underlay the GOP's entire substantive agenda from tax reform to entitlement cuts to repealing key provisions of Obamacare.

Ed Markey Compares Campaign Finance Ruling To Decision Upholding Slavery  —  “The Dred Scott decision had to be repealed, we have to repeal Citizens United,” Massachusetts Democrat says days after meeting with black clergy.  —  Image by Josh Reynolds / AP  —  WASHINGTON — Rep. Ed Markey …

When solitude is torture  —  “Zero Dark Thirty,” a nominee for Sunday's Oscar for Best Picture, reignited debate about whether the waterboarding of terrorism suspects was torture.  This practice, which ended in 2003, was used on only three suspects.  Meanwhile, tens of thousands …

Oops: Top Republican Senator Inadvertently Embraces Roe v. Wade  —  CHARITON, Iowa — During a town hall on Wednesday, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee embraced the reasoning behind the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing a woman's choice to get an abortion …

MSNBC, a bastion of Obama advocates?  —  Editor's note: Howard Kurtz is the host of CNN's “Reliable Sources” and is Newsweek's Washington bureau chief.  He is also a contributor to the website Daily Download.  —  (CNN) — David Axelrod is a smart guy who knows a heck of a lot about politics and the press.

Obama: Helping rich only thing that ‘binds’ GOP together  —  President Obama, speaking to a very friendly Al Sharpton as part of a round with black broadcasters Thursday, offered a harsh assessment of the GOP — arguing that their opposition to taxing the wealthy was the only thing keeping …

New entry in the AP Stylebook: husband, wife  —  The following entry was added today to the AP Stylebook Online and also will appear in the new print edition and Stylebook Mobile, published in the spring:  —  husband, wife Regardless of sexual orientation, husband or wife is acceptable …