National Politics

• USAID contractor work in Cuba detailed
  Reports written by American aid contractor Alan Gross detail secret work he carried out in Cuba before his arrest there in 2009.

• White House: Matter of time before Assad falls
  President Barack Obama's chief of staff says it's only a matter of time before the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad collapses.

• Santorum says he'll be in 2-man race with Romney
  Rick Santorum says he expects to do well in the next GOP presidential contests and will be in a two-man race with Mitt Romney.

• SPIN METER: Romney backed earmarks as governor
  Mitt Romney takes a hard line against congressional earmarks, but the GOP presidential front-runner had a more favorable view of federal pork-barrel spending when he was governor of Massachusetts.

• From the go, roller-coaster GOP White House race
  From the start, it's been a roller-coaster race for the Republican presidential nomination.

• Analysis: Obama pitches middle while GOP eyes base
  The dustup over contraception underscored President Barack Obama's political edge in working to attract independent voters without alienating his Democratic base. His Republican rivals are forced to keep emphasizing their conservative credentials to attract the right-leaning activists who dominate the nominating contests.

• Day after Maine win, Romney looks to money race
  His losing streak broken and the GOP presidential race entering a lull, Mitt Romney now turns his attention to extending the huge cash advantage he enjoys over his rivals.

• Obama sees sunnier political outlook, but clouds remain
  President Barack Obama's long-sluggish poll numbers have inched up, the unemployment rate has dropped five months in a row, the stock market shows signs of life and the Republican presidential contenders are slicing each other up in a primary battle that shows no sign of ending soon.

• Romney's good day: wins conservatives, Maine caucus
  Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney got a much-needed boost Saturday, winning a key symbolic vote over former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania among some of the nation's most active Republican voters and besting the field in the Maine caucuses.

• Romney's good day; wins conservatives, Maine caucus
  Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney got a much-needed boost Saturday, winning a key symbolic vote over former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania among some of the nation's most active Republican voters and besting the field in the Maine caucuses.

• Romney thanks Maine voters _ in a statement
  Mitt Romney is thanking Maine voters after the state party chairman declared him the winner of that state.

• Romney adds to delegate lead with Maine victory
  Mitt Romney added to his lead in the race for delegates Saturday with a narrow victory in the Maine Republican presidential caucuses.

• Paul says Maine outcome is virtual tie
  Republican presidential contender Ron Paul says he wishes all the Maine caucuses would have met on Saturday.

• Romney edges Santorum in conservatives' straw poll
  Mitt Romney has won The Washington Times/CPAC Presidential Straw Poll of conservative activists.

• Obama's budget offers short-term help for economy
  The president will send Congress a budget that will provide short-term help to a struggling economy while offering a long-term plan to deal with soaring deficits, the White House said Sunday. Republicans attacked the spending blueprint as offering more of the same failed solutions for the economy.

• A look at Maine, where Romney and Paul are vying
  A profile of Maine, site of the Republican caucus on Feb. 11:

• Obama budget seeks to boost trade enforcement
  President Barack Obama's new budget proposal will ask Congress to devote millions for a new trade enforcement center and more U.S. inspectors in China as the administration takes aim at unfair trade practices abroad, a senior administration official said Saturday.

• First lady walks 'the platypus walk'
  Add another dance move to Michelle Obama's repertoire. This one has to do with a certain celebrity platypus.

• First lady's trips boost health _ and her husband
  In just the past few days, she's danced with cheering school kids, chatted with troops, swapped ideas with busy parents and engaged in a friendly cooking competition with stars from "Top Chef."

• SPIN METER: Gov. Romney quiet on birth-control law
  Mitt Romney faulted President Barack Obama's original push to require church-affiliated employers to pay for birth control as an "assault on religion," but as Massachusetts governor, Romney was largely silent about a state law that required virtually the same contraceptive coverage.

• White House didn't foresee birth control backlash
  It's not like he wasn't warned.

• First lady fixes on must-dos prior to election run
  Gearing up for a tough political season ahead, Michelle Obama said Saturday she's trying to get as much done as possible before the general election campaign starts to drown out everything else.

• Faces beyond the numbers of long-term unemployed
  J.R. Childress is up before the sun, bustling about in the French colonial brick house he built. He helps pack his wife's lunch, downs some eggs or cereal for breakfast, pores over online and newspaper job listings and hopes - even prays - this will be the day when his fortunes turn around.

• Deadline nears, Obama wants payroll tax cut action
  President Barack Obama is pressuring Congress to extend a payroll tax cut for the rest of the year as another deadline nears for Congress to act or see taxes go up for millions of working people.

• Maine GOP chairman says Romney wins caucuses
  Mitt Romney narrowly won Maine's Republican caucuses, state party officials announced Saturday, providing his campaign with a much-needed boost after three straight losses earlier this week. But the former Massachusetts governor won just a plurality of the Maine vote, suggesting he still has work to do to unite GOP voters behind his candidacy.