Romney Support Up; Widens Advantage in 2012 Preferences  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Republicans' support for Mitt Romney as their party's 2012 presidential nominee has increased significantly to 24%, compared with 17% in late May.  As a result, Romney has widened his advantage over Sarah Palin …

President talks scandal, debt ceiling in an exclusive interview with TODAY's Ann Curry  —  Below:  —  In an exclusive interview with TODAY's Ann Curry that will air on Tuesday's show, President Barack Obama said that if he were Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner right now …

In Reversal, 3 Democratic Senators Will Back Gay Marriage  —  ALBANY — Three wavering Democratic lawmakers in the State Senate have agreed to support legislation legalizing same-sex marriage in New York, several people with knowledge of the negotiations said on Monday, marking a potential turning point for the long-debated measure.

Obama Seeks to Win Back Wall St. Cash  —  WASHINGTON — A few weeks before announcing his re-election campaign, President Obama convened two dozen Wall Street executives, many of them longtime donors, in the White House's Blue Room.  —  The guests were asked for their thoughts on how to speed …

Pawlenty: Bush Tax Cuts “Didn't Fully Serve Their Intended Purposes”  —  DERRY, N.H. — Addressing a packed, boisterous room at Halligan Tavern here, accompanied by half a dozen state legislators (not all had endorsed him), Tim Pawlenty made a mostly economics, competence-based case against the Obama administration.

F.B.I. Agents Get Leeway to Push Privacy Bounds  —  WASHINGTON — The Federal Bureau of Investigation is giving significant new powers to its roughly 14,000 agents, allowing them more leeway to search databases, go through household trash or use surveillance teams to scrutinize the lives of people who have attracted their attention.

Gov. Perry: Economic Crisis Is Part of God's Plan To Return Us To Biblical Principles  —  For the past week, Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) has been roundly criticized by religious and LGBT groups alike for inviting other governors to join him at an anti-gay prayer event hosted by stridently bigoted American Family Association.

Missing Iraq money may have been stolen, auditors say  —  U.S. Defense officials still cannot say what happened to $6.6 billion, sent by the planeload in cash and intended for Iraq's reconstruction after the start of the war.  —  Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills, pictured last month, has held hearings on waste and fraud in Iraq.

Scientific Consensus on Global Warming  —  Scientific societies and scientists have released statements and studies showing the growing consensus on climate change science.  A common objection to taking action to reduce our heat-trapping emissions has been uncertainty within the scientific community …

Why We're Going Back to Single-Sex Dorms  —  Student housing has became a hotbed of reckless drinking and hooking up.  —  My wife and I have sent five children to college and our youngest just graduated.  Like many parents, we encouraged them to study hard and spend time in a country where people don't speak English.

Neocon flack: Weiner may have converted to Islam  —  (UPDATED) We thought everything that could be said about Anthony Weiner's lewd photo scandal had been said.  But Eliana Benador, a former influential neoconservative public relations operative, has proved us wrong.

Medicare Saves Money  —  Every once in a while a politician comes up with an idea that's so bad, so wrongheaded, that you're almost grateful.  For really bad ideas can help illustrate the extent to which policy discourse has gone off the rails.  —  And so it was with Senator Joseph Lieberman's proposal …

Superhell  —  So it looks like DC comics is resetting the clock on the entire DC universe.  I'm guessing that means that Dick Grayson will go back to being Robin, Lois will once again pine for Superman without realizing he's actually the dweeby bespectacled guy on the other side of the newsroom, etc.

Obama Jokes at Jobs Council: ‘Shovel-Ready Was Not as Shovel-Ready as We Expected’  —  President Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness met today in Durham, NC at Cree Inc., a company that manufactures energy-efficient LED lighting.  One of the Council's recommendations to President Obama …

Indiana Senate Candidate Mourdock's Campaign Assaults Citizen Journalist  —  This weekend we attended a Tea Party event in Kokomo, Indiana.  As we were interviewing Republican U.S. Senate Candidate Richard Mourdock; his campaign manager, Chief Deputy & General Counsel for Indiana …

Rep. Anthony Weiner's Nissan Pathfinder is unregistered, DMV says  —  Lying about sexting apparently isn't Rep. Anthony Weiner's only gray area.  —  When Weiner (D-Queens, Brooklyn) was photographed by the Daily News fleeing the Capitol in his Nissan Pathfinder, it was clear …

How to avoid a lost decade  —  Even with the massive 2008-09 policy effort that prevented financial collapse and depression, the United States is now halfway to a lost economic decade.  From the first quarter of 2006 to the first quarter of 2011, the U.S. economy's growth rate averaged less …

U.S. Chamber's Tom Donohue tells Atlanta Rotary how business is faring in D.C.  —  There was lots of patting on the back at he Rotary Club of Atlanta's luncheon Monday with Tom Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as the keynote speaker.  —  Donohue was introduced by Sam Williams …

McLean woman ‘involuntarily committed’ in alleged Red Line bomb threat  —  [This story was originally posted at 8:39 a.m. with updates at 12:15 p.m., 1:50 p.m. and 2:33 p.m. Stay with PostLocal.com as more information becomes available.]  —  A 51-year-old Mclean woman was “involuntarily committed” …

US Is in Even Worse Shape Financially Than Greece: Gross  —  When adding in all of the money owed to cover future liabilities in entitlement programs the US is actually in worse financial shape than Greece and other debt-laden European countries, Pimco's Bill Gross told CNBC Monday.

Herman Cain's Anti-Muslim Bigotry Should Be Disqualifying  —  The loyalty test he proposes for Muslim Americans isn't just discriminatory and unconstitutional — it would never work  —  Presidential candidate Herman Cain has reiterated his position that any Muslim serving in his administration …

British fear ‘American-style’ healthcare system  —  As leaders debate ways to reform healthcare, politicians repeatedly tell a worried public that Britain will not turn the National Health Service into an ‘American-style’ private system.  —  British Prime Minister David Cameron speaks …