The Secret Gingrich-Santorum ‘Unity Ticket’ That Nearly Toppled Romney  —  It's one of the great untold stories of the 2012 presidential campaign, a tale of ego and intrigue that nearly upended the Republican primary contest and might even have produced a different nominee …

Detroit native Carson could break barriers in Senate race  —  Dr. Ben Carson is a Black History month staple.  Each February, schoolchildren hear the story of the impoverished African-American boy from Detroit, a struggling student whose mother made him read two books a week until he bloomed into a scholar.

Congress turns to domestic policy after budget battles  —  WASHINGTON — A brief reprieve in the fiscal battles between President Obama and a divided Congress will allow two contentious and politically divisive domestic issues — guns and immigration — to take center stage in the national debate this spring.

Marine kills two at Quantico base, takes own life  —  (Reuters) - An active-duty Marine shot dead two fellow service members at a base at Quantico, Virginia, then barricaded himself in a building and killed himself, prompting a brief lockdown of the base, the Marines said on Friday.

Ryan's budget rejected in Senate on 40-59 vote  —  The Senate rejected House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) budget Thursday night.  —  Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) forced Senate Republicans to vote on Paul's plan through an amendment she offered, which failed on a 40-59 vote.

The Man Who Could Turn Texas Blue: Rick Perry  —  By opposing Medicaid expansion, the governor could hurt the GOP in a must-win state.  —  AUSTIN, Texas—Big in all things, Texas leads the nation in failing to provide health insurance.  About one in four Texans are uninsured, the highest percentage in any state.

Treasure Island Trauma  —  A couple of years ago, the journalist Nicholas Shaxson published a fascinating, chilling book titled “Treasure Islands,” which explained how international tax havens — which are also, as the author pointed out, “secrecy jurisdictions” where many rules don't apply — undermine economies around the world.

Simple Plan  —  Of all the vast literature on the current plight of the Republican Party, this fairly simple statement from Rich Lowry makes the most sense to me: … Now to be sure, Jack Kemp's reputation as an idea man is being considerably inflated by Lowry.  But it's the right idea.

Why Republicans still run K Street  —  Democrats control the White House and the Senate, but you wouldn't know it by looking down K Street.  —  Republicans hold more than 30 of the 50 highest-profile, in-house lobbying jobs in town, a POLITICO analysis found.

Is Hillary Clinton Too Conservative To Become President?  —  While she was at the State Department — and out of politics for four years — Clinton's party was moving to the left, and fast.  “Now that she's unshackled by the boundaries of her office, she'll step up the mic,” says Singer.

Noonan: Can the Republican Party Recover From Iraq?  —  The war almost killed the GOP.  Whether it can come back is yet to be seen.  —  The air has been full of 10th-anniversary Iraq war retrospectives.  One that caught my eye was a smart piece by Tom Curry, national affairs writer for NBC News …

Mrs. Warren goes to Washington  —  Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren's credentials, support, and savvy make her almost untouchable — and she knows it.  —  Elizabeth Warren was the only senator on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, aside from the chair and ranking minority …

Ohio's Republican Governor Endorses Civil Unions, Then Takes It Back  —  John Kasich's office says he was using the term “loosely” when he said he supported civil unions.  —  Image by Rick Osentoski / AP  —  Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich said he favored civil unions …

Pope Francis Calls For More Dialogue With Islam  —  VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has called for more dialogue with Islam and offered an olive branch to China and other countries that don't have diplomatic relations with the Holy See.  —  Francis met Friday with ambassadors …

Drone base in Niger gives U.S. a strategic foothold in West Africa  —  Craig Whitlock/The Washington Post - The U.S. military has deployed unarmed Predator drones and more than 100 troops to Niger, where they are spying on extremist groups in the region and assisting French forces in Mali.

All signs point to no lethal chemical weapons attack in Syria  —  As the Syrian regime and rebels trade accusations of an alleged lethal chemical weapons attack yesterday, chemical weapons experts say there is no evidence that attack occurred.  —  BEIRUT  —  An alleged chemical weapons …

Banks Are Too Big to Fail Say ... Conservatives?  —  Members of the Federal Reserve don't usually make the rounds at partisan gatherings.  But amid the tri-cornered hats and “#StandWithRand” buttons of last week's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)—the largest annual gathering …

Did the Assault-Weapons Ban Kill Gun Control?  —  The Democrats' likely failure to reinstate the assault-weapons ban is a blow to gun-control efforts, writes Adam Winkler.  And that's not because the ban was effective or necessary.  —  Sen. Harry Reid announced Tuesday that he would not be including …

Yoko Ono Tweets John Lennon's Bloody Glasses  —  Yoko Ono joined the U.S. gun debate when she tweeted a picture of the blood-stained glasses her husband, John Lennon, was wearing when he died.  Lennon, one of the Beatles, died in 1980 after being shot in the back four times at the couple's New York City apartment by a crazed stalker.