Cover Story: Barry Blitt's “Playing in Traffic”  —  “I'm hoping this cartoon diverts a lot of traffic to my Web site,” Barry Blitt says about “Playing in Traffic,” the image of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie that he penned for next week's cover.  —  KEYWORDS - CHRIS CHRISTIE; - COVERS

U.S. to Recognize Utah Gay Marriages Despite State Stance  —  WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Friday said that it would recognize as lawful the marriages of 1,300 same-sex couples in Utah, even though the state government is refusing to do so.  —  Wading into the fast-moving legal battle …

People Not In Labor Force Soar To Record 91.8 Million; Participation Rate Plunges To 1978 Levels  —  Curious why despite the huge miss in payrolls the unemployment rate tumbled from 7.0% to 6.7%?  The reason is because in December the civilian labor force did what it usually does in the New Normal …

Liberal Self-Identification Edges Up to New High in 2013  —  Fifteen-percentage-point conservative advantage ties as smallest to date  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Americans continue to be more likely to identify as conservatives (38%) than as liberals (23%).  But the conservative advantage …

State Department names groups behind Benghazi strike  —  The State Department on Friday for the first time blamed specific groups and militants for the 2012 Benghazi attack, designating them as terrorists — a move that further undermines initial claims the attack was spontaneous.

Georgia GOPer Attacking Free School Lunch Expensed $4,200 In Meals  —  Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) warned that there's “no such thing as free lunch” for school children in Georgia, but he seems to have enjoyed a few.  —  An investigation by Georgia's WSAV channel 3 found that Kingston …

Obama administration to end contract with CGI Federal, company behind HealthCare.gov  —  The Obama administration has decided to jettison CGI Federal, the main IT contractor that was responsible for building the defect-ridden online health insurance marketplace and has been immersed in the work …

Rachel Maddow claims Florida group that backs drug-testing welfare recipients is affiliated with Koch brothers  —  PunditFact isn't always the first to weigh in on the tit-for-tat of cable news shows, in part because the nature of our work requires more than claims and counterclaims.

U.S. job growth weakest in three years  —  (Reuters) - U.S. employers hired the fewest workers in almost three years in December, but the setback was likely to be temporary amid signs that cold weather conditions might have had an impact.  —  Nonfarm payrolls rose only 74,000 last month …

Beyond Polarization to Warfare  —  At WaPo's Monkey Cage subsite today, there's an important piece by University of Texas political scientist Sean Theriault that gets to a distinction in political attitudes that some of us have been trying to articulate ever since the radicalization of one of our two major parties occurred:

White House Dares Democratic Senators Pushing Iran Sanctions To Admit They Want War  —  WASHINGTON — The White House on Thursday challenged a group of senators to admit they are working to push the country toward war with Iran, upping the tension between the administration and Senate advocates …

How Millennials Have Already Reshaped Politics  —  Political parties are taking young people's policy preferences into account, but that doesn't mean they're getting everything they want.  —  Almost every week provides more evidence of the political system bending toward the cultural preferences of the massive millennial generation.