Five Stories You'll Care About In Politics This Week  —  It's choosing time: Did primary voters in Virginia deliver an earthquake or a tornado?  Would you rather have a steak with Eric Cantor or a drink with Rick Perry?  Is a race for House leadership more “House of Cards” or “Election”?

U.S. officials scrambled to nab Snowden, hoping he would take a wrong step.  He didn't.  —  While Edward Snowden was trapped in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport last year, U.S. officials were confronting their own dearth of options in the White House Situation Room.

Eric Cantor loss gives Republicans chance to become people's party  —  REPUBLICAN PARTY CAMPAIGN FINANCE ERIC CANTOR WALL STREET DAVE BRAT  —  Eric Cantor's single largest source of campaign contributions was Blackstone Group, the high-rolling financial titan in Midtown Manhattan.

Obama pinched by crises abroad  —  President Obama is trapped between two international crises at a time when the U.S. military is facing cutbacks and the public is weary of foreign engagements.  —  Three weeks after Obama announced that most troops would leave Afghanistan by the end …

Republicans come out of the 2014 primary season with little to guide them forward  —  The 2014 primary season, while leaving the Republicans in good shape for the fall elections against the Democrats, has done little to quiet their internal turmoil or to provide a winning formula going forward.

Romney III  —  As if there wasn't enough evidence of the intellectual exhaustion of the GOP, now we have the bizarre spectacle of Republicans pushing for a third Mitt Romney presidential campaign in 2016:  —  Seriously, what is the question to which Romney is the answer—besides, of course …

The brutal neoconservative legacy in Iraq  —  When we take stock of American policy in Iraq and its effects over the last decade, reasonable and humane people tend to focus on the devastating toll in blood, treasure and reputation.  Hundreds of thousands dead, even more injured …

‘Highly spiritual’ Oregon high school shooter Jared Padgett wrote plans to kill ‘sinners’ in diary: police  —  Police found the alleged shooter's diary in his family's Oregon home.  The 15-year-old's detailed plans did not name specific people as targets, police said.

Did The IRS Really Lose Lois Lerner's Emails?  Let a Special Prosecutor Find Them  —  Obama needs to address this ‘phony scandal’ and the public trust with real transparency.  —  A sloppy mistake, the government calls it, but you couldn't blame a person for suspecting a cover-up …

George Will responds to senators on his sexual assault column  —  Editor's note: On Thursday, U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) and Robert Casey (D-Pa.) sent a letter to Post columnist George Will objecting to his column published online …

Adam Carolla Rips “Ambush” Interview With NPR Host: “Speech Is Free Unless You Disagree With Them”  —  Adam Carolla talks about a taped appearance on Brian Lehrer's show on New York City's public radio station WNYC where the host ambushed him and attempted to paint him as a racist.

Michael Steele: ‘Lot Of Interest’ In Eric Cantor Serving As RNC Chairman  —  Eric Cantor, next Republican National Committee chairman?  —  Former RNC chair Michael Steele thinks it's a possibility after the House majority leader was defeated Tuesday in a Virginia Republican primary.