Republican firebrand Sarah Palin tore into Barack Obama, the "permanent political class, " and unnamed practitioners of "crony corporate capitalism," but made no mention of her  yet undeclared candidacy for President during a 40-minute speech at a Tea Party rally in Indianola, Iowa, on Saturday. But on another of her frequent visits to the state whose caucuses begin the delegate selection for the party's national convention, the  former Alaska Governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate sounded very much like a contender for the top of the ticket 2012, as she widened her attack to include Republicans as well as Democrats and offered a five-point plan for revitalizing America.

Ron Paul wants to make it quite clear that he has never accused Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke of treason. He has merely accused him of counterfeiting, which is a different crime altogether.

A headline on the Politico website told the story — or, more accurately, the part of the story Politico and much of the rest of the news media want told: "Michele Bachmann wins Ames Straw Poll, Tim Pawlenty gets third."

In this year’s summer of discontent, as the nation faced a possible government shutdown in the battle over the debt ceiling, presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty was assuring voters he could handle such a crisis when his turn came. As a former Governor of Minnesota, he has, as they say, been there, done that.

Michele Bachmann is hoping to become the first presidential candidate to go directly from the House of Representatives to the White House since James Garfield made the leap in 1880. But a rapid climb up the political ladder is nothing new for the third-term Congresswoman who has gone from defeated school-board candidate in Stillwater, Minnesota, to top-tier presidential candidate in a mere 12 years.

Amid all the sound and fury and the "high noon" drama surrounding the debt-limit deadline and the passing of a deficit reduction measure this week, one discomforting fact emerged: Federal spending will continue to increase and the national debt, now approaching $15 trillion, will grow, not shrink, over the next 10 years.

Mexican trucks may begin hauling freight throughout the United States by the end of this month or early September under a bilateral trade agreement that resolves a long-standing trade dispute, but not the controversy over driving goods across the U.S.-Mexican border.   

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has been butting heads with Senate Democrats and President Obama in recent weeks in budget and debt ceiling negotiations, but the Kentucky Republican has also been getting flak from members and supporters of his own party. The conservative organization FreedomWorks, which played a prominent role in organizing the Tea Party movement of 2009 and 2010, put out a message on Twitter this week urging its followers to call McConnell and "Help him find his spine." The Tweet was in response to a backup plan McConnell has offered to break the deadlock in negotiations over raising the debt limit before the current borrowing authorization expires on August 2.

It seems strange sometimes, the things that trouble Senator John McCain. Take the NATO war on Libya, for example, in which the United States is a participant, if not the outright leader.

Just one day after officially beginning her campaign for President in neighboring Iowa, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann went to the East Coast and campaigned Tuesday in both northern New England and the deep South, speaking at rallies in the early voting states of New Hampshire and South Carolina and finding receptive crowds in both states.