Bachmann Accuses Obama Of Living A Life Of Excess  —  In one of her first major addresses since winning a close re-election bid in November, the Tea Party favorite conceded during her address at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Saturday that Obama and his family …

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 …

Coveted CPAC straw poll offers a blurry snapshot of future presidential field  —  Potential 2016 GOP presidential contenders will get an early indication Saturday of where they stand when results from Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll — traditionally a snapshot of support for White House aspirants — are released.

Pelosi caught in a bind on entitlement cuts  —  President Obama's openness to Social Security cuts as part of a sweeping budget package has put Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in a tough spot.  —  The minority leader is straddling the gulf between a Democratic president who's been willing …

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.

CIA begins sizing up Islamic extremists in Syria for drone strikes  —  The strategy is part of the agency's secret contingency planning to protect the U.S. and its allies as the violence there grows.  Some militants in Syria are seen as closely linked to Al Qaeda.

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 …

Academic Ghettoization of Conservatism?  —  I am all for universities hiring more conservative professors and Steven Hayward, author of a two-volume history of the “Age of Reagan,” should be considered a worthy candidate by any hiring committee.  Yet I am dubious about the job he has just taken …

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 …

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 …