Scott Walker opens up about White House ambitions  —  Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker acknowledged in an interview Friday that he's open to a presidential bid and pointedly declined to pledge to serve a full four-year term if he's reelected next year.  —  Walker insisted he was visiting Iowa …

Rob Portman and the Politics of Narcissism  —  I'm glad that Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio has reconsidered his view on gay marriage upon realization that his son is gay, but I also find this particular window into moderation—memorably dubbed Miss America conservatism by Mark Schmitt—to be the most annoying form.

Federal Judge Finds National Security Letters Unconstitutional, Bans Them  —  Ultra-secret national security letters that come with a gag order on the recipient are an unconstitutional impingement on free speech, a federal judge in California ruled Friday.  —  U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ordered …

Obama doubles down on alternative energy  —  President Barack Obama is doubling down on the administration's plan to reinvest federal oil-and-gas drilling revenues into next-generation alternative energy technology, unveiled during his State of the Union address last November.

Ryan: Democrats' budget puts US on path ‘straight into debt crisis’  —  House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Saturday said he wants the federal government to cut back on spending, just like an American family would.  —  Ryan used the weekly GOP address to promote …

Weiner Polled for N.Y. Mayoral Bid  —  Disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner's dormant New York City mayoral campaign paid more than $100,000 to a San Francisco-based polling firm earlier this month, suggesting the once-prominent Democrat whose career was derailed by allegations he sent salacious texts …

CPAC Event On Racial Tolerance Turns To Chaos As ‘Disenfranchised’ Whites Arrive  —  This post has been updated.  —  A CPAC session sponsored by Tea Party Patriots and billed as a primer on teaching activists how to court black voters devolved into a shouting match as some attendees demanded justice …

Democrats Try And Fail To Catch Conservatives Cheering Ashley Judd's On-Screen Death  —  CPAC crowd unmoved by the big moment, video shows.  No gotcha here.  —  WASHINGTON — Democrats hoped to catch attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference cheering the on-screen death …

A lengthy weather report again affirms global warming  —  SCIENTISTS HAVE a good sense of what the Earth's climate has been like over the past handful of centuries.  But what about many thousands of years back?  —  In a recent article in the journal Science, researchers at Oregon State University …

Jeb Bush: GOP can't be ‘anti-everything’  —  Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) called for an aspirational, big-tent conservative movement Friday night, telling leaders that the GOP “must move beyond the divisive and extraneous issues that currently define the public debate.”

House Republicans Unanimously Vote Down Minimum Wage Hike  —  House Republicans unanimously voted down a measure Friday that would have raised the federal minimum wage, from its current $7.25 per hour to $10.10 by 2015.  —  Six Democrats joined 227 Republicans in voting it down; 184 Democrats voted yes.

Maryland will be 18th state to ban death penalty  —  The state legislature completed action to repeal capital punishment.  Gov. Martin O'Malley will sign the ban.  —  Maryland's General Assembly on Friday completed its repeal of the death penalty, nearly 40 years after the U.S. Supreme Court restored capital punishment.

The Anti-Choice Olympics  —  Ever since the 2010 elections, Republican legislators and governors have been in a competition to see who can enact the most blatantly unconstitutional—at least according to existing precedents—laws on abortion in the country.  The first batch …