Secret Emails of Potential Clinton Campaign Managers Revealed … For the past five years, a prominent Democratic operative who is a leading contender to manage a Hillary Clinton presidential campaign has maintained a private email listserv for friends and associates that carries a provocative name: the “Mook Mafia.”

The Gruber Confession  —  It's not exactly the Ems Dispatch (the diplomatic cable Bismarck doctored to provoke the 1870 Franco-Prussian War).  But what the just-resurfaced Gruber Confession lacks in world-historical consequence, it makes up for in world-class cynicism.

Newly Insured Through Exchanges Give Coverage Good Marks  —  Story Highlights  —  PRINCETON, N.J. — Over seven in 10 Americans who bought new health insurance policies through the government exchanges earlier this year rate the quality of their healthcare and their healthcare coverage as “excellent” or “good.”

GOP debates its immigration strategy as Obama prepares executive action  —  Congressional Republicans have split into competing factions over how to respond to President Obama's expected moves to change the nation's immigration system, which are likely to include protecting millions from being deported.

Obama, Down but Not Out, Presses Ahead  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama emerged from last week's midterm election rejected by voters, hobbled politically and doomed to a final two years in office suffering from early lame-duck syndrome.  That, at least, was the consensus in both parties.

Americans' Cellphones Targeted in Secret U.S. Spy Program  —  Fake Cellphone Towers on Planes Used to Target Criminals, but Also Sift Through Thousands of Other Phones  —  WASHINGTON—The Justice Department is scooping up data from thousands of cellphones through fake communications towers deployed …

Shell lawsuit against environmental groups ruled unconstitutional  —  Two years ago, in a preemptive move, Shell sued a host of environmental and advocacy groups to prevent them from suing Shell over its plans to drill for oil in the Arctic.  —  On Wednesday, a federal appeals court called …

pointergate  —  A few days before the November 4th election, I took a photo with an organizer while doorknocking to get the vote out.  In that photo, the organizer and I pointed at one another (after, it has often been remarked, an awkward moment of set-up).

Obama's Unexpectedly Good Week  —  Eight days ago, President Obama went before the White House press corps to acknowledge the previous day's midterm-election results and take his knocks.  “Obviously, Republicans had a good night,” he said.  “And they deserve credit for running good campaigns.

Evaluating the Success of Democratic Get-Out-the-Vote Efforts  —  The Democrats invested millions of dollars in a vaunted field operation to mobilize the young and nonwhite voters who do not usually participate in midterm elections.  Yet it was not enough to save Democrats from a Republican landslide.

Chris Christie's temperament spooks Wall Street  —  Top GOP donors still see the New Jersey governor as a risky investment.  —  Chris Christie has seemed on top of the world to donors and supporters in the days since the GOP racked up big wins in gubernatorial races with him leading the charge for the Republican Governors Association.

Big donors urge Warren to run  —  Elizabeth Warren insists she has no interest in running for president in 2016, but the rich liberals to whom she spoke Thursday afternoon seemed unwilling to take ‘no’ for an answer.  —  The Massachusetts senator got a rock stars' welcome during …

Leahy eyes NSA reform as crowning glory  —  Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) isn't leaving the Senate majority without a fight.  —  The outgoing chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee has put his full weight behind passing legislation to rein in the National Security Agency (NSA) during this year's lame-duck session.