Republicans tussle over gay candidates  —  Virginia Rep. Randy Forbes, a senior House Republican eyeing a powerful committee chairmanship, is causing friction with some of his colleagues by pushing the House GOP campaign arm to deny support for some of the party's gay congressional candidates.

The best speech Obama has given on the economy  —  The speech President Obama delivered this morning at THEARC in D.C. is perhaps the single best economic speech of his presidency.  That's in part because it exists for no other reason than to lay out Obama's view of the economy.

Martin Bashir Resigns From MSNBC  —  Just over two weeks ago, MSNBC host Martin Bashir delivered a harsh piece of commentary that culminated in the suggestion that someone should “s-h-i-t” in former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's (R-AK) mouth.  Bashir offered an abject apology on his next broadcast …

Young invincibles spurn O-Care  —  Mounting opposition to ObamaCare among young adults is creating a new crisis for the White House.  —  While the federal enrollment website HealthCare.gov appears to be improving by the day, polls show the “young invincibles” key to making the law work are becoming less likely to enroll.

2 million Facebook, Gmail and Twitter passwords stolen in massive hack  —  Hackers have stolen usernames and passwords for nearly two million accounts at Facebook, Google, Twitter, Yahoo and others, according to a report released this week.  —  The massive data breach was a result …

The 10 Best Books of 2013  —  The year's best books, selected by the editors of The New York Times Book Review.  —  FICTION  —  Alfred A. Knopf, $26.95.  —  By turns tender and trenchant, Adichie's third novel takes on the comedy and tragedy of American race relations from the perspective of a young Nigerian immigrant.

Remember all those Obamacare horror stories?  Not looking so bad now  —  Inflammatory personal testimony has been a staple of bad debating since humans first started arguing with each other  —  Statisticians dismiss the practice of using personal stories to argue about an objective reality as …

Obama moves left on the economy to change the subject from ObamaCare.  —  For all of their mutual public admiration, Presidents Clinton and Obama react differently to political trouble.  Bill moved to the middle, while Barack always moves left.  So it's no surprise that Mr. Obama is responding …

Obama steals past the Nov. 30 deadline.  —  NBC's Michael O'Brien had some fun yesterday paraphrasing President Obama's latest infliction on the ears of America: “Obama said his signature health care reform law is going nowhere as long as he's in office.” … Obama gives a health-care speech.

TIME Exclusive: Icahn Files Apple Shareholder Proposal  —  The richest man on Wall Street is opening a new front in his quest to persuade Apple to part with more of its massive cash stockpile.  —  Veteran investor Carl Icahn is opening a new front in his quest to persuade Apple to part with more of its massive cash stockpile.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus: Hillary Research Already Underway  —  HH: Back in California after two wonderful days in the nation's capital, but I can't keep talking about anything except Obamacare.  And the best person to do that, chairman of the Republican National Committee, Reince Priebus …

Unarmed Man Is Charged With Wounding Bystanders Shot by Police Near Times Square  —  An unarmed, emotionally disturbed man shot at by the police as he was lurching around traffic near Times Square in September has been charged with assault, on the theory that he was responsible …

NSA tracking cellphone locations worldwide, Snowden documents show  —  The National Security Agency is gathering nearly 5 billion records a day on the whereabouts of cellphones around the world, according to top-secret documents and interviews with U.S. intelligence officials …

Will Heads Roll?  Who Gets Fired Over Obamacare? … The development and roll-out of the federal online health insurance marketplace has been panned inside and outside the White House as a management fiasco.  But still unclear, two months after its launch, is whether any administration …

Budget Deal Looks Likely, But Passage Uncertain  —  Ryan, left, and Murray are likely to announce a modest budget deal in the coming days.  (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)  —  Budget negotiators are nearing a deal that could ease the way for leaders to avert another government shutdown before the 2014 elections …

Ted Cruz explains dad's Fidel Castro comment  —  Sen. Ted Cruz said while there are some differences between President Barack Obama and former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, Obama is displaying “dictatorial” tendencies as president.  —  During an interview by Jorge Ramos on Fusion …

Large Companies Prepared to Pay Price on Carbon  —  WASHINGTON — More than two dozen of the nation's biggest corporations, including the five major oil companies, are planning their future growth on the expectation that the government will force them to pay a price for carbon pollution as a way to control global warming.

Bob McDermott, Hawaii Lawmaker, Defends Efforts To Overturn State's Gay Marriage Law  —  Dozens of Hawaii gay and lesbian couples have been marrying since the stroke of midnight on Monday under the state's new marriage equality law.  But one GOP legislator, Bob McDermott …

ALEC calls for penalties on ‘freerider’ homeowners in assault on clean energy  —  • Documents reveal conservative group's anti-green agenda  —  • Strategy to charge people who install their own solar panels  —  • Environmentalists accuse Alec of protecting utility firms' profits