Last Slide  —  Once again the world is laughing at Iowa.  Late-night comedians and social media mavens are having a field day with jokes about missing caucusgoers and coin flips.  —  That's fine.  We can take ribbing over our quirky process.  But what we can't stomach is even the whiff of impropriety or error.

Republican Race Tightens Nationally; Clinton Still Solid  —  PPP's newest national poll finds the race on the Republican side tightening considerably in the wake of Donald Trump's surprise loss in Iowa on Monday night.  Trump's lead has fallen to just 4 points- he's at 25% to 21% each …

Ben Carson slashes staff as funds dry up  —  CONCORD, N.H. — Ben Carson, the famed neurosurgeon whose bid for the Republican presidential nomination has struggled to keep pace with rivals, will cut more than 50 staff positions on Thursday as part of an overhaul and downsizing of his entire campaign.

Family finds spider crawling inside bag of salad  —  (Feb. 4, 2016) - You definitely don't want to see something crawling inside your bag of lettuce, but that's exactly what happened to an Australian family.  —  Zoe Perry posted a video of the creepy encounter to Woolworths' Facebook page with the following message:

Hair tourniquet?  Dad shares photo of baby's swollen toe to warn parents of common hazard … WICHITA, Kansas — A Kansas father has a warning for all parents after finding something strange on his infant daughter's foot.  —  He shared a photo on Facebook to warn other parents.

Smirking drug CEO antagonizes lawmakers after pleading the Fifth  —  Embattled drug executive Martin Shkreli antagonized lawmakers on Thursday by smirking and posing for pictures during his first appearance on Capitol Hill even as he refused to answer questions about drug prices.

Clinton's Security Clearance Is Under Scrutiny  —  Now that several e-mails on Hillary Clinton's private server have been classified, there is a more immediate question than the outcome of the investigation: Should the former secretary of state retain her security clearance during the inquiry?

The Great GOP Realignment  —  Ted Cruz and Donald Trump may herald an historic working-class Republican revolt against the party establishment.  —  JoshuaGreen  —  A few days before the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses, Brad Martsching was barreling down a Pennsylvania highway, hoping to unload …

Ryan backs voting rights bill — but tells black caucus it's out of his hands  —  Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) told black lawmakers Wednesday that he supports new voting rights protections they've championed, but said he won't bypass a committee chairman to move legislation, according to a Democrat who attended the gathering.

This Is How Much the Koch Brothers Hate Donald Trump  —  There is one man standing in the way of the Koch brothers' plans to elect a free-market conservative to the White House in November.  His name is Donald J. Trump.  —  The Kochs, whose donor network is raising nearly $900 million …

Santorum can't name any of Rubio's Senate accomplishments  —  Rick Santorum had one job to do in his appearance on MSNBC's “Morning Joe” on Thursday.  He failed.  —  The former Pennsylvania senator, who dropped his presidential bid Wednesday, told co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski …