Official Offers Account From Libya of Benghazi Attack  —  WASHINGTON — A State Department official presented a minute-by-minute account on Wednesday of what happened during the seige of the diplomatic compound in Benghazi last Sept. 11, offering the first public testimony from an American official …

Meet Democrats' Newest Republican Crush: Ted Cruz?!?!  —  Starting around the time he launched a bogus attack on then-Defense Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel, Democrats have loved to hate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).  —  They made sure as many as people as possible saw him condescend to Sen. Dianne Feinstein …

Six Take-Aways from the Census Bureau's Voting Report  —  Today's report from the Census Bureau on the diversifying American electorate in 2012 confirms an historic turnout milestone first noted last December by the Pew Research Center, but undercuts a number of other widely-reported demographic analyses …

NYC Considering Allowing Non-Citizens To Vote  —  New York City could soon become the first major city in the country to give non-citizens the right to vote.  The proposal, which would allow certain non-citizens to vote in local elections, appears to have a veto-proof majority in the New York City Council …

Body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev is buried outside Massachusetts, official says  —  WORCESTER - The body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev has been buried somewhere outside of Massachusetts, according to a funeral home official briefed on the situation.  —  The official said that the remains …

Lindsey Graham faces down primary challenge  —  COLUMBIA, S.C. — If any Senate Republican up for re-election next year would seem ripe for a primary defeat it's Lindsey Graham.  —  Running in a conservative, Southern state that has proven friendly to insurgents in recent years …

Gomez took $281,500 home tax deduction  —  Republican US Senate nominee Gabriel E. Gomez claimed a $281,500 income tax deduction in 2005 for pledging not to make any visible changes to the facade of his 112-year-old Cohasset home, a concession so valuable that it is classified …

Top White House Aide Has A Secret Beer With Rep. Paul Ryan  —  On April 10, the day President Obama released his 2014 budget, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough held a secret meeting with House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan at a K Street restaurant, Brasserie Beck, to talk …

Stewart Rips Fox News Over Benghazi Coverage: ‘Denizens Of Bullsh*t Mountain Have Cried Wolf Before’  —  Jon Stewart tonight took on today's big Congressional hearing on Benghazi, and specifically on how it's become the latest way Fox News has gone all-out in covering a potential Obama administration scandal …

Are Republicans really gunning for another debt-limit showdown?  —  The federal debt limit is set to kick back into effect next weekend after a three-month hiatus, marking the start of a political game of chicken likely to culminate in the fall, when Congress will have to give President Obama a higher limit or risk a federal default.

Microsoft Mulling Nook Media LLC Purchase For $1 Billion  —  Microsoft is offering to pay $1 billion to buy the digital assets of Nook Media LLC, the digital book and college book joint venture with Barnes & Noble and other investors, according to internal documents we've obtained.

Judiciary adopts six amendments to tighten border  —  The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday adopted six Republican amendments to immigration reform legislation to strengthen the border.  —  One amendment sponsored by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) adds the Senate and House Judiciary Committees …

Republican leader rips the media for ‘shoving us in the corner’  —  House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) ripped the media in a speech Tuesday to the Ripon Society, arguing press coverage is partly responsible for the GOP's messaging woes.  —  Cantor, who has tried to recast the image …

The tragedy of US higher education  —  The tragedy of Cooper Union is endemic to most American higher education, outside a few community colleges; Cooper is just the special case where the blind rush to some kind of global greatness directly and explicitly violates the institution's founding mission.

Markey Edges Gomez In WBUR Senate Poll  —  BOSTON — A new WBUR poll (PDFs - topline, crosstabs) shows U.S. Rep. Edward Markey leading former Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez 41 to 35 percent in the Massachusetts U.S. Senate race.  —  Markey's six-point edge expands to an eight-point margin …

Dems erupt after GOP boycott of Gina McCarthy  —  Democrats' frustration at GOP “obstructionism” boiled over after a last-minute Republican boycott squelched Thursday morning's scheduled committee vote on Gina McCarthy, President Barack Obama's nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency.

Charlie Crist: I support gay marriage  —  Tonight he posted the following on Facebook: … Seems to us he still has some explaining to do about his position.  Was it an evolution or an acknowledgement that he felt the need to discard his true feelings in '06 to avoid antagonizing social conservatives?