Obama to Raise Minimum Wage Under Federal Contractors  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama plans to sign an executive order requiring that janitors, construction workers and others working for federal contractors be paid at least $10.10 an hour, using his own power to enact a more limited version …

A Very Sincere Thank You to @Gretawire  —  Greta Van Sustern wishes you to know I'm a creepy jerk.  She does not know who I am and thinks no one should listen to me.  I appreciate her letting someone she's never heard of who she thinks should not be listened to live rent free in her head.

Pete Seeger, Songwriter and Champion of Folk Music, Dies at 94  —  Pete Seeger, the singer, folk-song collector and songwriter who spearheaded an American folk revival and spent a long career championing folk music as both a vital heritage and a catalyst for social change, died Monday.

Poll: Christie numbers tank as scandals continue  —  Chris Christie's political future looks to be in serious danger with more Americans believing the embattled New Jersey governor is lying about the bridge closure scandal than telling the truth, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

Matthews goes after McCain critic  —  Sen. John McCain, under fire from the Arizona GOP for not being conservative enough, got an unlikely ally in his defense against the state party's censure of the senator, as MSNBC host Chris Matthews went after the author of the Arizona GOP's critique of McCain.

56 Dems endorse Hillary for 2016  —  Fifty-six Democratic lawmakers say they would endorse Hillary Clinton for president if she launches a 2016 White House bid, according to a survey conducted by The Hill.  [SEE COMPLETE LIST]  —  Twenty-two congressional Democrats had already publicly endorsed Clinton.

Lawmakers demand Obama dump Clapper  —  A bipartisan group of House members is criticizing President Obama for not going far enough in his attempts to rein in the country's surveillance programs.  —  In a letter to the White House on Monday, six lawmakers led by House Oversight …

Exclusive: Democratic senators to file amicus brief in Hobby Lobby birth control case  —  In a brief to be filed with the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, 19 Democratic senators are siding with the Obama administration against evangelical Christian businessmen who argue that paying …

How Rick Santorum is laying the groundwork for another presidential run  —  WASHINGTON — Talk about campaign trail déjà vu.  —  As hundreds of bundled-up supporters gathered around him on a freezing January day, Rick Santorum towered over a lectern and rallied his troops.

How Republicans Lost the Farm  —  On a recent Monday in San Antonio, Texas, Tom Vilsack, the secretary of agriculture, got up to speak to an auditorium full of farmers.  Vilsack, a doughy, wavy-haired former governor of Iowa, wore a grim expression as he gripped the lectern.

Gibbs: Obama ‘Stopped Trying’ to Change Washington Long Ago  —  Former press secretary Robert Gibbs said today on TV that President Obama and his White House “long ago” gave up on “trying” to change Washington:  —  Gibbs first thanked God that he's no longer working in this White House …

Obamacare: Tom Coburn loses cancer doctor  —  Cancer-stricken Sen. Tom Coburn revealed Tuesday that his health insurance under Obamacare doesn't cover his oncologist, but said he still is receiving excellent care.  —  “I'm doing well from a health standpoint, got great docs,” Coburn said on MSNBC's …

Giant Hologram of Turkish Prime Minister Delivers Speech  —  Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan couldn't attend a political party meeting in the city of Izmir on Sunday, so he decided to send the next best thing: a giant hologram of himself.  —  In a scene straight out of Star Wars …

Kain Colter starts union movement … For the first time in the history of college sports, athletes are asking to be represented by a labor union, taking formal steps on Tuesday to begin the process of being recognized as employees, ESPN's “Outside The Lines” has learned.

Dark lands: the grim truth behind the ‘Scandinavian miracle’  —  Television in Denmark is rubbish, Finnish men like a drink - and Sweden is not exactly a model of democracy.  Why, asks one expert, does everybody think the Nordic region is a utopia?  —  For the past few years the world …

The limits of Ezra Klein's star power  —  No greater act of press criticism exists than to launch your own publication.  Starting anew allows a journalist to leave the cracked glass, dents and rust of the old behind, to reject the past and all its mistakes and compromises, and to show by example how the work should be done.

Democrat wins Virginia Senate recount, giving Gov. Terry McAuliffe's agenda a crucial boost  —  VIRGINIA BEACH — Democrats prepared to seize control of the Virginia Senate on Monday after winning a recount by just 11 votes in a razor-thin special election, giving Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe's first-year agenda a crucial boost.