EXCLUSIVE: Saudi Arabia ‘warned the United States IN WRITING about Boston Bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev in 2012’  — Saudis developed intelligence separately from Russia, which also warned the U.S. about the accused Boston bomber  — A letter to the Department of Homeland Security allegedly named Tsarnaev …

A House in chaos  —  Less than two weeks ago, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy walked upstairs to Majority Leader Eric Cantor's Capitol office to discuss a sensitive issue: Why did Cantor schedule a vote before McCarthy had the chance to survey Republican support?

Bottoms Up, Lame Duck  —  During the 2012 campaign, the president and his top advisers liked to make the argument that if he was re-elected, the “fever” would break.  Washington would no longer be the graveyard of progress, the crypt of consensus.  Once dystopian Republicans accepted …

Cruz 2016  —  Freshman senator Ted Cruz is considering a presidential run, according to his friends and confidants.  —  Cruz won't talk about it publicly, and even privately he's cagey about revealing too much of his thought process or intentions.  But his interest is undeniable.

GOP Battles A Threat To Gun Rights That Even The NRA Says Doesn't Exist  —  Republican lawmakers are pushing legislation aimed at combating a threat to gun rights that even the National Rifle Association has described as pure fiction.  —  A bill introduced late last week by Sen. James Inhofe …

Spring Slowdown Paints Ugly Picture for Jobs: ADP  —  The gloomy news continued for jobs as ADP reported Wednesday that private companies created just 119,000 new positions in April.  —  That was well below expectations and confirmation that the labor market is slowing heading into late spring and early summer.

Pat Toomey: Background Checks Died Because GOP Didn't Want To Help Obama  —  Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) revealed that some members of his party opposed expanding background checks for gun sales recently because they didn't want to “be seen helping the president.”

Gabriel E. Gomez wins GOP nod in special US Senate primary; Edward J. Markey to run for the Democrats  —  Will he be the next Scott Brown?  —  Gabriel E. Gomez, a 47-year-old son of immigrants who became a Navy pilot and SEAL before becoming a private equity investor, won the Republican nomination tonight …

FDA's Plan B on Plan B Is Still Not Good Enough  —  Last month, federal judge Edward Korman held that the Obama administration's override of the FDA's recommendation for over-the-counter emergency contraception was illegal.  The “compromise” of making Plan B available without a prescription …

DIRTY TRICKS: Mysterious Conservative Group Sending Out Push Polls In South Carolina Special Election  —  HILTON HEAD, South Carolina — A mysterious conservative group has been placing highly-misleading phone calls to South Carolina voters, trying to dissuade them from voting for the Democrat …

It's a 401(k) World and It Basically Sucks  —  I like the metaphor in Tom Friedman's latest column, arguing that we now live in a 401(k) world.  But I wish he'd spelled it out in greater detail, because the problem with living in a 401(k) world is that Planet 401(k) is a pretty sucky planet.

Sarah Palin for Senate?  Some tea party activists want her to run  —  SEATTLE — Sarah Palin's last elective position in Alaska ended early when in 2009 she abandoned the governorship midway through her first term.  —  But tea party activists appear eager for a comeback …

Larry Flynt Endorses Mark Sanford — Because it Wasn't all Weird Enough  —  Because things weren't weird enough in the special election for South Carolina's 1st District House seat, what with satirist Stephen Colbert's sister taking on the world's foremost Appalachian Trail hiker …

GOP Census Bill Would Eliminate America's Economic Indicators  —  WASHINGTON — A group of Republicans are cooking up legislation that could give President Barack Obama an unintentional assist with disagreeable unemployment numbers — by eliminating the key economic statistic altogether.