Burglars Who Took On F.B.I. Abandon Shadows  —  Stealing J. Edgar Hoover's Secrets: One night in 1971, files were stolen from an F.B.I. office near Philadelphia.  They proved that the bureau was spying on thousands of Americans.  The case was unsolved, until now.

Republicans Really Could Win It All This Year  —  A definitive guide to the 2014 elections from our new columnist. … Another midterm election beckons, and over the next 10 months we'll see headlines about a thousand supposedly critical developments—the “game changers” and the “tipping points.”

Angry Dennis Rodman defends North Korea basketball game  —  (CNN) — Basketball star Dennis Rodman defended his controversial visit to North Korea with a team of former NBA players in a combative exchange Tuesday, saying it was a “great idea for the world.”  —  In an exclusive interview …

In surprise, unemployment benefits advance  —  In a surprise, several Senate Republicans on Tuesday morning joined with Democrats to break the filibuster of a bill to extend unemployment benefits for three months.  —  By 60-37, Senate Democrats secured the votes needed to advance the bill …

Spitzer caught sucking Lis Smith's toes in topless hot tub romp  —  Sleazy Eliot Spitzer turned a resort hot tub into a steamy love cauldron over the weekend — kissing and sucking the toes of his topless mistress, Lis Smith, in front of families with children, mortified witnesses told The Post.

How Janet Yellen's Agenda Could Transform Washington  —  The next Fed chair is an old-school progressive economist.  Just wait until she starts sharing her passions.  —  Every Federal Reserve Board chairman comes into office with a secret agenda, a hidden passion.

NBC's ‘Meet The Press’ hits historic lows in the final quarter of 2013  —  It's no secret that NBC's “Meet The Press” has been in bad shape of late.  Indeed, the show has been on the decline since David Gregory took over in 2008.  But the most recent numbers are especially troubling.

State Sen. Creigh Deeds to push for mental health reform  —  The state senator already has introduced bills to make changes to a system that he believes failed his son, Gus, who committed suicide.  —  Image (1)  —  RICHMOND — Nearly two months after a crisis that ended with the suicide …

3 Amtrak Trains With Hundreds of Passengers Stranded Since Monday  —  About 500 passengers aboard three Amtrak trains were stranded overnight in a remote part of northern Illinois because of blowing and drifting snow, Amtrak officials said today.  —  The trains were halted late Monday near Mendota, about 80 miles west of Chicago.

CNN Poll: Support for legal marijuana soaring  —  Washington (CNN) - In a major turnaround from past decades, a majority of Americans support legalizing marijuana, according to a new poll.  —  The CNN/ORC International survey released Monday also indicated that the number of people who say smoking pot is morally wrong has plunged.

If You Can't Go to Cedars-Sinai Anymore, Is It Obamacare's Fault?  —  Consumer choices, cachet, and health care reform  —  At Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, originals by Picasso and Warhol hang in the hallways.  The deluxe maternity rooms—three-bedroom, two-bath suites with views of the city …

Chicago Ban on Gun Sales Within City Struck Down by Judge  —  A Chicago law prohibiting the sale of guns within the third-most populous U.S. city was struck down as unconstitutional by a federal judge.  —  “Chicago's ordinance goes too far in outright banning legal buyers and legal dealers …

Ten freshman governors who have shrunk their states' bureaucracies  —  In 2010, Americans went to the polls and elected a whole crop of new governors — 26 in all, if you count the election of governors who had previously served non-consecutive terms in Iowa and Oregon.

New York City Murders Are Twice As Likely To Be Solved When The Victim Is White Instead Of Black  —  As the number of homicides dropped in New York City in the 1990s, so, too, did the percentage of murders considered solved.  But in boroughs outside Manhattan with a large number …

Ted Cruz's dad backs tea partier Katrina Pierson for Sessions' seat  —  Rafael Cruz says he's always liked tea party leader Katrina Pierson.  —  On Monday, Cruz, the father of Sen. Ted Cruz, endorsed the Garland Republican in her bid to beat incumbent Pete Sessions in the March primary for the 32nd Congressional District seat.

Leading Republican jumps into hot House race  —  Washington (CNN) - A former aide to retiring Republican Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia Tuesday is officially jumping into the race for his U.S. House seat, which will be among the most contested and expensive congressional battles in this November's midterm elections.

Ghosts of Burke and Paine Still Haunt U.S. Politics  —  Sometimes the deepest differences in politics aren't about the conclusions people draw but the way they reach them.  —  The British statesman Edmund Burke and the Anglo-American revolutionary Thomas Paine both favored free trade, for example, but for different reasons.

What Pope Francis Can Teach the GOP  —  With his softer message on gay and divorced families, the pope has figured out what the Republicans haven't grasped—you've got to tone it down if you want to keep a modern flock.  —  When the Catholic Church eclipses the Republican Party on social policy …