In Iowa, tea party defender Ted Cruz says he knows how to unite the GOP  —  Conservative purist Ted Cruz addressed the concerns of any Iowa Republicans who reject him as too rigid, arguing he knows exactly how to unify the GOP and how to turn the country around.  —  The answer: “Restore historic economic growth,” he said.

Michelle Obama's Princeton classmate is executive at company that built Obamacare website  —  First Lady Michelle Obama's Princeton classmate is a top executive at the company that earned the no-bid contract to build the failed Obamacare website.  —  Toni Townes-Whitley, Princeton class of '85 …

Xia Yeliang: The China Americans Don't See  —  A Peking University economics professor who was sacked for his political views explains the underside of elite Chinese higher education.  —  The 21st-century romance between America's universities and China continues to blossom …

GOP Civil War  —  Oh, it's on: … RINO hunt!  This is astonishing, and can only be driven by an ideological mindset so impervious to reality that it would rather destroy political conservatism's chances of actually running the country than succumb to the least impurity in the ranks.

After Year of Working Around Federal Cuts, Agencies Face Fewer Options  —  WASHINGTON — In the weeks that led to the huge across-the-board cuts to federal spending early this year, Obama administration officials warned of dire consequences for the Justice Department: F.B.I. agents dropped …

Immigration Poses Threat of Another Republican Rift  —  WASHINGTON — A push to bring immigration legislation to the House floor, led by an unusual coalition of business executives, prominent conservatives and evangelical leaders, threatens to create another schism in the Republican Party …

Obamacare Website Flaws Imperil President's Activist Agenda  —  The rocky debut of the insurance exchanges at the heart of President Barack Obama's health-care law poses risks to his political agenda and the activist role for government that he has championed for his second term.

Cindy McCain petitions husband to back gay rights bill  —  Call it a bold canvassing move that paid off: An organizer for the Human Rights Campaign asked Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) wife Cindy to sign a postcard Thursday urging the senator to back legislation barring workplace discrimination …

NSA Blames ‘Internal Error,’ Not Hackers, For Website Crash  —  The shadowy National Security Agency said late Friday that it was a glitch that brought down its public website for a few hours, not hackers as some claimed online.  —  “NSA.gov was not accessible for several hours tonight …

Delay Obamacare?  Not as easy as you think  —  More and more Democrats worried about the 2014 election are beginning to join the Republican call to delay the Obamacare enrollment season.  —  But it's not as easy as bumping things back a few days on the calendar.

Obama's Valerie Jarrett: Often Whispered about, But Never Challenged  —  President Obama's aides went to extraordinary lengths to uncover the identity of a senior official who was using Twitter to make snarky comments about White House staffers.  Suspicion gradually centered on Jofi Joseph …

Obama's Top Economic Adviser Tells Democrats They'll Have to Swallow Entitlement Cuts  —  This morning, Gene Sperling, director of the White House's National Economic Council, appeared before a Democratic business group for what was billed as a speech about the economy after the shutdown, followed by a Q&A session.