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.

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.

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.

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 …

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.

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 …

On issues, public is more aligned with Obama than GOP  —  SETTING A NATIONAL AGENDA: WHAT NEEDS TO GET DONE THIS YEAR?  —  In a USA TODAY/Pew Research Center Poll, Americans were asked how urgent it was for President Obama and Congress to pass major legislation on some top issues this year.

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.

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.

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 …

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.

Jackson Graft Case Further Indicts Black Caucus  —  Corruption: Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.'s guilty plea to fraud charges raises fresh questions about the Congressional Black Caucus.  It's a group with many laudable goals, but why do so many in it succumb to corruption?

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 …

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 …

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 …

Who Will Mind the Drones?  —  IN the wake of revelations about the Obama administration's drone program, politicians from both parties have taken up the idea of creating a “drone court” within the federal judiciary, which would review executive decisions to target and kill individuals.

Double Ultrasound Bill In Indiana Passes Out Of Senate Committee  —  Video, Double Ultrasound, Double Ultrasound Bill, Double Ultrasound Indiana, Indiana Abortion Bill, Indiana Double Ultrasound, Indiana Double Ultrasound Bill, Indiana Mandatory Ultrasound Bill, Indiana Ultrasound …

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 …

Islam or death?  Egypt's Christians targeted by new terror group  —  A group of Christian priests from a local Coptic church in Egypt were told to convert to Islam or face death, according to an Arabic news site.  —  The incident, which comes in the midst of continued persecution and pressure …

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.