Richard Mourdock, a Tea Party favorite, captured more than 60 percent of the vote in the Indiana Republican primary to oust longtime U.S. Senator Richard Lugar — demonstrating the clout of the Tea Party and sending a strong message to the establishment wing of the Republican Party.

Between 15 and 20 American soldiers were involved in the March 11 massacre of civilians in Kandahar Province, according to a parliamentary probe of the killings, not merely one sergeant as has been widely reported for the past week. An investigative team of parliament members spent two days in the province, interviewing members of the victims' families and tribal elders and gathering evidence related to last Sunday's murders in which 16 Afghan civilians, including nine children, were killed and their bodies set on fire. The attacks lasted one hour Sunday morning and were carried out by two groups of U.S. soldiers, the leader of the investigative team told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Even as Massachusetts Senator John Kerry was on his way to Islamabad on a mission to mend deteriorating relationships between the United States and Pakistan, Pakistan's parliament passed a unanimous resolution in the early hours of Saturday morning, calling for a review of all aspects of the nation's relationship with the United States. The session was highlighted by expressions of anger and embarrassment caused by the raid by the CIA and U.S. Navy SEALs that succeeded in the finding and killing Osama bin Laden in the al-Qaeda leader's house in Abbottabad, 35 miles from the nation's capital. The resolution called the raid a "violation of Pakistan's sovereignty."

There may very well be a train wreck coming if and when the Supreme Court declares the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("ObamaCare") unconstitutional just before the justices hightail it out of town for their summer vacation. But it may not be the train wreck that some are eagerly predicting for the Obama administration.

Ron Paul is clinging to a one-point lead over Mitt Romney, with Rick Santorum hard on the heels of both just before the voting in the crucial Iowa caucuses, according to Public Policy Polling survey released last night. The latest results show Paul, who surged to the lead in the PPP polling in mid-December, has lost four points since the last survey, but remains ahead of Romney 20-19 percent, with Santorum but a single point behind Romney at 18 percent. Newt Gingrich at 14 percent and Rick Perry with 10 percent are the only other candidates in double digits. Michele Bachmann (8 percent), John Huntsman (4 percent), and Buddy Roemer (two percent) remain at the back of the pack.

The last Des Moines Register poll before Tuesday's voting in Iowa shows former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Texas Congressman Ron Paul in a virtual tie for first place and three other candidates competing for a third-place finish before the battle for the Republican nomination moves east to New Hampshire for the first-in-the-nation primary one week later. It also shows Paul well ahead of the rest of the field in attracting Independents to his candidacy. A CNN poll released last week, meanwhile, has drawn criticism for leaving out Democrats and Independents and likely underestimating Paul's strength with caucus voters.

As unlikely as it might have seemed to professional politicians and talking-head media stars just a few weeks ago, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul is now regarded as a real threat to win the Iowa caucuses on January 3, just one week before the New Hampshire primary. And the reaction of party leaders to that would not be pretty, said columnist Timothy Carney of the Washington Examiner.

Bill O'Reilly (left), the provocative and usually hawkish host of The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News channel, warned Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in a telecast earlier this week that bombing Iran "starts World War III."

With a Public Policy Polling survey showing him just one point behind frontrunner Newt Gingrich in Iowa and a Rasmussen poll placing him just four points behind Gingrich for second place in Iowa, Ron Paul arrived at a campaign stop in Manchester, New Hampshire., Wednesday afternoon with plenty to be cheerful about.

At least four members of the five-person paid staff of the Michele Bachmann presidential campaign in New Hampshire have resigned, the New Hampshire Union Leader reported Saturday morning, but apparently someone forgot to tell the candidate.