Henry Waxman, 20-Term Democrat, Is Leaving House  —  CAMBRIDGE, Md. — Representative Henry A. Waxman of California, a diminutive Democratic giant whose 40 years in the House produced some of the most important legislation of the era, will announce on Thursday that he is retiring at the end of the year.

Lunches seized from kids in debt at Salt Lake City elementary  —  Education » School officials cite unpaid balances on students' meal accounts.  —  | The Salt Lake Tribune  —  Up to 40 kids at Uintah Elementary in Salt Lake City picked up their lunches Tuesday …

Democrats: Cede the House to save the Senate  —  With Democrats' grasp on the Senate increasingly tenuous — and the House all but beyond reach — some top party donors and strategists are moving to do something in the midterm election as painful as it is coldblooded: Admit the House can't be won and go all in to save the Senate.

Why I Was Wrong About Chris Christie  —  He wasn't so smart or post-partisan, and may pay the price as a presidential hopeful.  —  A year ago, I wrote: “The smartest move in politics today is to move against Washington and the two major parties.  And the smartest man in politics may be Chris Christie.”

Jed Udall, son of Sen. Mark Udall, arrested on heroin, vehicular-trespassing charges  —  Sheriff: Udall, 26, broke into cars in Eldorado Springs  —  Jed Udall, the 26-year-old son of Colorado Sen. Mark Udall, was arrested Wednesday after Boulder County sheriff's deputies say he broke …

Some Republicans See Racism As a Factor in Immigration Stalemate  —  “I hate to say this, because these are my people — but I hate to say it, but it's racial,” says a Republican congressman.  —  Jason Reed / Reuters  —  WASHINGTON — For more than a year House Republican leaders have insisted …

Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: January 2014  —  January 1st may have been a monumental date for those working on and closely following the Affordable Care Act (ACA), but the latest Kaiser Health Tracking Poll finds little change in the public's knowledge and views of the law.

Liberal vituperation makes our letter writer's point.  —  Five days on, the commentariat continues to drop anvils on Tom Perkins, who may have written the most-read letter to the editor in the history of The Wall Street Journal.  The irony is that the vituperation is making our friend's point …

BREAKING: Here are the Republican Principles for #Immigration Reform-to be formally announced by @SpeakerBoehner at 4:30 pm ET  —  Standards for Immigration Reform  —  PREAMBLE … Border Security and Interior Enforcement Must Come First  —  It is the fundamental duty of any government …

Hillary Clinton is the biggest frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination ever.  Yes, ever.  —  Hillary Rodham Clinton's 61-point edge over Joe Biden in new Washington Post-ABC News polling makes her the single biggest frontrunner for a Democratic presidential nomination …

Feds to seek death penalty against accused Boston bomber Tsarnaev  —  The Justice Department has notified a federal judge that it intends to seek the death penalty if a jury convicts Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for last April's bomb attacks at the Boston Marathon.  —  Tsarnaev is awaiting trial …

CNN exclusive: Obama says Walmart, Apple, others to help jobless  —  Program note: Watch the entire exclusive interview with President Barack Obama on CNN's “New Day” Friday at 6 a.m. ET and “The Lead With Jake Tapper” at 4 p.m. ET  —  (CNN) — The White House has secured commitments …

Is Blogging Unscholarly?  —  The political science blogosphere has erupted in protest after the International Studies Association unveiled a proposal to bar members affiliated with its scholarly journal from doing just that — blogging.  —  “No editor of any ISA journal or member …

It's Not Just MSNBC Making Flip Assumptions About Non-Liberal Racism (UPDATED)  —  Last night, the official Twitter feed of MSNBC used a Cheerios Super Bowl commercial to make a crack about non-lefties being uncomfortable with race-mixing:  —  After an eruption of outrage on Twitter …

Convention wipeout coming soon?  —  This could be the year that Congress bans taxpayer money to pay for presidential political conventions.  —  Public money for the four-day partisan shindigs has long been a political bull's-eye.  But effort after effort has fallen short even as criticism of the party-heavy gatherings has increased.