Rand Paul demands Dems return money raised by ‘sexual predator’ Bill Clinton  —  ** FILE ** Former President Bill Clinton, left, is seen on March 9, 2004, in New York.  Monica Lewinsky, is shown in an undated promotional photo provided by Fox.  Sen. Rand Paul said Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014 …

Senator Races to Renew Ties, if Not Make a Home, in Kansas  —  DODGE CITY, Kan. — It is hard to find anyone who has seen Senator Pat Roberts here at the red-brick house on a golf course that his voter registration lists as his home.  Across town at the Inn Pancake House on Wyatt Earp Boulevard …

Obama Bundler Nominated As Ambassador To Argentina Says He's Never Been There  —  A bundler for President Barack Obama who is nominated as the next U.S. ambassador to Argentina said Thursday that he's never actually been to that country.  —  During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing …

House GOP closing in on debt limit package  —  House Republicans are moving toward introducing a bill that would lift the debt limit until the first quarter of 2015, while patching the Medicare reimbursement rate for nine months and reversing recent changes to some military retirement benefits …

Bill Clinton to campaign for Alison Lundergan Grimes in Kentucky  —  The big dog is coming to Kentucky to help Alison Lundergan Grimes.  —  Former President Bill Clinton — known as the “Big Dog” — will come to Louisville this month for a campaign event for Grimes, who is running …

Oklahoma restaurant won't serve ‘freaks,’ ‘f*ggots,’ the disabled and welfare recipients  —  A restaurant outside of Oklahoma City is facing criticism after its outspoken owner made a series of inflammatory comments after one of his former customers, who is disabled, complained that he'd been banned from the establishment.

AIPAC breaks with GOP on Iran sanctions  —  America's main pro-Israel lobby came out against an immediate vote on Iran sanctions Thursday, just hours after 42 Republican senators demanded a vote.  —  The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) issued its statement after the bill's author …

Russia Opens Sochi Games With Pageantry and Pride  —  SOCHI, Russia — With an outsize extravaganza that reached deep into the repertoire of classical music and ballet, traversed the sights and sounds of the world's largest geopolitical expanse, soared into outer space, and swept across 400 years …

NSA is collecting less than 30 percent of U.S. call data, officials say  —  The National Security Agency is collecting less than 30 percent of all Americans' call records because of an inability to keep pace with the explosion in cellphone use, according to current and former U.S. officials.

Stephen Kim pleads guilty in Fox News leak case  —  A State Department contractor charged with leaking top-secret information about North Korea to Fox News entered a guilty plea Friday and agreed to serve a 13-month prison term.  —  During an 80-minute hearing at U.S. District Court …

Insight: Republicans still seen falling behind in election data wars  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When Barack Obama defeated Mitt Romney in the 2012 U.S. presidential election, many political strategists saw it as a triumph of the Obama team's technological prowess, allowing …

Lt. Gov. John Walsh Chosen for Baucus' Senate Seat  —  Montana Gov. Steve Bullock said Friday he has appointed Lt. Gov. John Walsh to serve out the term of Democratic U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, who will be leaving the seat to become the next ambassador to China.  —  Walsh, 53, is a Butte native …

Where Is the Democratic Party's Pro-Obamacare Campaign?  —  No headline candidate or big-money advocacy group, not even OFA, is running political ads touting the health law's successes.  Instead, they're trying to change the message.  —  The most robust defense of Obamacare on television right …

Colin Powell: ‘Elements’ in GOP 'Demonize People Who Don't Look Like the Way They'd Like'  —  Appearing on MSNBC, former Secretary of State Colin Powell savaged the Republican Party of which he says he is still a member for catering to “elements” that are overtly hostile to people of other races or nationalities.

A Missing Argument on Contraceptives  —  One of the most anticipated showdowns of the Supreme Court's current term will take place March 25, when the justices are scheduled to hear two cases brought by secular, for-profit corporations whose owners want an exemption, based on their religious beliefs …

Victoria Nuland gaffe: Angela Merkel condemns EU insult  —  Germany's Angela Merkel has said a US official's apparent insult of the EU's efforts to mediate in the Ukraine crisis is “totally unacceptable”.  —  Victoria Nuland has apologised after a voice resembling hers used a graphic swear word …