Influential Republicans working to draft Jeb Bush into 2016 presidential race  —  LAS VEGAS — Many of the Republican Party's most powerful insiders and financiers have begun a behind-the-scenes campaign to draft former Florida governor Jeb Bush into the 2016 presidential race …

The Christie Way?  —  I'm a little confused by this.  Generally speaking when you throw someone under the bus and you want them to play along, you add as much padding to the process as possible.  That doesn't appear to be the Chris Chrisitie way.  The main fallperson turns out to be former deputy chief of staff Bridget Kelly.

Tomblin vetoes 20-week abortion ban  —  Governor calls 20-week cutoff unconstitutional and detrimental  —  CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin vetoed a bill late Friday that would have banned abortions of fetuses after 20 weeks gestation.  The governor called the bill unconstitutional and a “detriment” to women's health.

Maryland set to replace troubled health exchange with Connecticut's system  —  Maryland officials are set to replace the state's online health-insurance exchange with technology from Connecticut's insurance marketplace, according to two people familiar with the decision …

Arrest Climate-Change Deniers  —  Man-made climate change happens.  Man-made climate change kills a lot of people.  It's going to kill a lot more.  We have laws on the books to punish anyone whose lies contribute to people's deaths.  It's time to punish the climate-change liars.

The astounding story of Leland Yee.  —  You may remember Leland Yee.  He's a state senator from San Francisco who's appeared in this column a couple of times before: in 2009, when he objected (unsuccessfully) to the appointment of a University of California chancellor who'd been linked …

Exclusive: Russia threatened countries ahead of UN vote on Ukraine - envoys  —  (Reuters) - Russia threatened several Eastern European and Central Asian states with retaliation if they voted in favor of a United Nations General Assembly resolution this week declaring invalid Crimea's referendum …

Standing Up to the Commie Thugs In Venezuela  —  In Venezuela, a popular uprising threatens to sweep Nicolas Maduro, the heir to Hugo Chavez, from power, along with his brutal, corrupt, viciously anti-American socialist regime.  The magnitude of anti-Maduro demonstrations in Venezuela …

Newly Released Clinton-Era Papers Show Damage Control During Scandal  —  As the White House was enveloped in the Monica Lewinsky scandal in January 1998, aides offered advice to President Bill Clinton's speechwriting team on how to use the State of the Union address that month to rebuild public confidence in the president.

GCHQ and NSA Targeted Private German Companies  —  Documents show that Britain's GCHQ intelligence service infiltrated German Internet firms and America's NSA obtained a court order to spy on Germany and collected information about the chancellor in a special database.

Which Side Are You On?  —  For conservatives, the story of the Obama years has been the depressing spectacle of Republicans fighting a rearguard action covering their retreat from a Democratic agenda backed by superior numbers.  Republicans began the Obama administration with effectively no leverage …

FiveThirtyEight Apologizes On Behalf Of Controversial Climate Science Writer  —  NEW YORK — Two prominent climate scientists say Roger Pielke Jr., a controversial writer at Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight site, sent emails threatening possible legal action in response to their criticism of his findings for the data-driven news site.