The crux of Ted Cruz  —  Two things are often said in this town: “A day is a year in politics.”  And, “It's all about 2014.”  —  Combined, the two statements mean that much can happen between now and the midterm elections next year, when Republicans hope to hold the House and gain the Senate …

The HHS Secretary refuses to testify about ObamaCare's rollout.  —  The Affordable Care Act's botched rollout has stunned its media cheering section, and it even seems to have surprised the law's architects.  The problems run much deeper than even critics expected, and whatever federal officials …

Tyrone on why the government shutdown and the debt ceiling crisis were brilliant Republican strategy  —  Tyrone, my evil twin brother, was in town visiting the other day, after a long absence.  He was upset that I gave so little space to the recent machinations in Washington …

Dick Cheney calls his current health “a miracle”  —  Dick Cheney says his current health is “a miracle” in a frank discussion of the heart disease he suffered over his entire political career and especially when he served as the vice president.  In his first interview about his new book …

Peter Baker's ‘Days of Fire’  —  The Bush administration opened with a second Pearl Harbor, ended with a second Great Crash and contained a second Vietnam in the middle.  —  The story of those eight years would seem far too vast to contain inside a single volume.  Yet here that volume is.

Watch Megyn Kelly Desperately Try To Rein In Sarah Palin  —  Megyn Kelly had Sarah Palin on her new show on Thursday night, and the interview went about as you would expect it to go.  Our favorite part came in the first couple of minutes.  —  Kelly set Palin up nicely …

I'm Daisy Coleman, The Teenager At The Center Of The Maryville Rape Media Storm, And This Is What Really Happened  —  You may have heard my story, thanks to Anonymous who trended #justice4daisy.  I'm not done fighting yet.  —  Winter: cold, bleak, bitter, ugly.

McConnell Totally Said No Before Saying No Was Cool  —  A number of journalists have been casting about desperately for sources of hope, and some of them have settled on moderate Republicans, especially Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.  Paul Kane calls him “perhaps the most accomplished congressional dealmaker of his time.”

Authorities probe threat against Cruz  —  Law enforcement officials are investigating a threat against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who was vaulted into national prominence with his push to defund ObamaCare.  —  A person identifying himself as Troy Gilmore Jr., posted on Twitter Friday morning …

The Tea Party, by the Numbers  —  Most Republicans are a normal shade of red; Tea Party Republicans are a deep burgundy.  —  A national poll conducted for Bloomberg News in September shows that Tea Party Republicans are, across the board, more conservative than their fellow party members …