Palin: 'I'm Going to Plow Through'

'I don't try to rig straw polls,' says candidate

(NEWSER) - Fresh off his loss to Mitt Romney at CPAC , Rick Santorum hit the talk shows this morning, and he's downplaying the victory, reports Politico : "You have to talk to the Romney campaign and how many tickets they bought—we've heard all sorts of things," Santorum told CNN. "Ron Paul has won those (straw polls) because he trucks in a lot of people, pays for their ticket, and they come in and vote. I don't try to rig straw polls." Elsewhere on the Sunday dial, as per Politico : More»

Hints at Romney problems, saying too late to 'spin it'

(NEWSER) - Sarah Palin topped off the Conservative Political Action Conference last night with a rousing speech, avoiding endorsing any candidate, but certainly hinting at Mitt Romney's weaknesses, reports the Wall Street Journal . Palin said that Republicans need a conservative whose beliefs are "instinctive," not someone molded by spin doctors and Washington consultants. "It's too late in the game to teach it or spin it at this point," said Palin, without actually mentioning Romney by name. "It's either there or it isn't." More»

Palin reflects on life with a special-needs child

(NEWSER) - When Sarah Palin learned her baby, Trig, would be born with Down syndrome, she was so scared she "dared not discuss my pregnancy for many months," she writes in the Daily Beast . "All I could seem to muster was a calling out to God to prepare my heart for what was ahead." But her son soon taught her "what true joy could be," and now that he's almost four, Palin often finds herself wondering what her family would do without him. "He’s our 'everything that really matters,'" writes Palin in the essay, which was also published in Newsweek. More»

And Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin is still pretty scary: reactions

(NEWSER) - If you thought Julianne Moore's Sarah Palin was terrifying in the first Game Change teaser , wait until you see her in the full trailer, where she utters lines such as, "We have to win this thing. I so don’t want to go back to Alaska." Watch below, then read on for some reactions:

• This will clearly be "a Frankenstein-esque story about McCain’s staffers coming to regret the choice they made in bringing a little-known governor into the limelight," writes Jon Bershad at Mediaite . "The full trailer ... gives us even more famous actors getting their turn to stare in horror at the 'monster' they’ve created."

He's at large, mom who aided him busted: cops

(NEWSER) - An Afghan militiaman strangled his wife for giving birth to a third daughter instead of a son, according to law enforcement authorities. The 28-year-old victim was killed in her home in the northern province of Kunduz by her husband and his mother just three months after the woman had the baby, reports the Guardian . The victim's mother-in-law has been arrested, but the husband has fled. It's uncertain who will care for the couple's daughters. Two months ago, attackers in the same province poured acid over parents and three children after the parents refused to hand over their young daughter in marriage. The rejected suitor has been arrested. More»