Geithner: No deal ‘without rates going up’  —  Washington (CNN) - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner drew a line in the sand over taxes in defense of the Obama administration's controversial proposal to avoid the fiscal cliff.  —  In an interview with CNN's Candy Crowley on “State of the Union …

Billionaire Bloomberg knocks out Joe Baca, adds dynamic to gun politics  —  Joe Baca never saw it coming, and neither did Gloria Negrete McLeod.  —  But as state Sen. Negrete McLeod replaces Baca in Congress, the dueling San Bernardino County Democrats witnessed first hand the beginnings …

Asperger's gone, dyslexia stays in first change to psychiatric manual in almost 20 years  —  CHICAGO — The now familiar term “Asperger's disorder” is being dropped.  And abnormally bad and frequent temper tantrums will be given a scientific-sounding diagnosis called DMDD.

Republicans Go To Obama School  —  At Harvard, GOP staffers sit at Axelrod's feet.  “We weren't even running in the same race.”  —  Source: pics.lockerz.com / via: @jmartpolitico  —  CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Demoralized Republicans arrived in Boston Wednesday night for a rare moment in American politics …

The Education of Virginia Woolf  —  Born into the highest stratum of the English intellectual aristocracy, Virginia Woolf—whose set included some of the kingdom's most illustrious families, many of its finest writers and painters, its greatest poet, its most brilliant economist—could be an appalling snob.

One generation got old; one generation got sold  —  I got a kick out of the following letter to the editor of Barron's that seems to be making the rounds: … We baby boomers made more mistakes than any one generation has a right to indulge in.  But at least we managed to avoid electing a radical president.

Jacob Lew, Low-Key Power Broker  —  WASHINGTON — When President Obama was locked in painful spending negotiations with House Republicans last spring, his exceedingly meticulous budget director, Jacob J. Lew, went to the Oval Office to propose some complex budget changes.

A detached Romney tends wounds in seclusion after failed White House bid  —  SAN DIEGO — The man who planned to be president wakes up each morning now without a plan.  —  Mitt Romney looks out the windows of his beach house here in La Jolla, a moneyed and pristine enclave of San Diego …

Obama punts to Congress over repercussions for UN Palestine vote  —  The White House won't seek to punish the Palestinian Authority for this week's statehood vote at the United Nations, but did not vow to veto pending legislative proposals to cut off U.S. aid in retaliation.

What Allen West And Abraham Lincoln Have In Common … U.S. Rep. Allen West came to Washington as part of the 2010 wave of Tea Party-backed candidates.  He became known as aggressive and outspoken, but his tenure in Congress was short-lived.  He recently conceded a close race for Florida's 18th District.