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 …

States Are Focus of Effort to Foil Health Care Law  —  RICHMOND, Va. — The federal government is again open for business, and Republicans in Washington are licking their wounds from the failed Tea Party attempt to derail President Obama's health care overhaul.

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.

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 …

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.”

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 …

Brown tops two Democratic rivals in early poll in Maryland's 2014 race for governor  —  Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown (D) enjoys an early lead in Maryland's 2014 Democratic primary for governor, but large segments of voters don't recognize the candidates' names at this point …

Transgender advocates want free mammograms under Obamacare  —  News that an uninsured transgender woman in Colorado was denied a free mammogram has prompted two advocacy groups to petition the federal government for equality in screening.  —  “That is irrational discrimination, plain and simple …

GOP isn't learning from its mistakes  —  My children and I love watching Peter Pan.  In fact, we've seen the Disney classic so often through the years that we could probably recite most of the movie from memory.  Maybe that's why the opening lines came so easily to my mind earlier this week …

Regulators fire up engines again  —  The federal rulemaking machine is rumbling back to life as agency officials tackle the backlog of work that was created by the government shutdown.  —  Conservatives worry officials are preparing a surge of new regulations to make up for lost time and meet upcoming deadlines.