Dems to Palin: 'No Thanks on Campaign Help'

Right-leaning Dem weighs Arkansas gubernatorial run after 6 House terms

(NEWSER) - Democrat Mike Ross won’t seek a seventh term in Congress, the Arkansas rep said today. A leader of the Blue Dog Coalition of fiscally conservative Democrats, Ross said he’s considering running for governor in his home state, and another congressional term would conflict with a possible 2014 campaign. Such a move “wouldn't be fair to the people who elected me to Congress and it wouldn't be fair to my supporters in a race for governor,” he said. More»

McCain says Gabrielle Giffords' shooter is disgrace to the human race

(NEWSER) - Sarah Palin, who's been taking flak because of a SarahPac map that put Gabrielle Giffords' district in its crosshairs (literally), issued a quick Facebook statement today offering "sincere condolences" to Giffords' family after the Arizona shooting . "On behalf of Todd and my family, we all pray for the victims and their families, and for peace and justice," she wrote. More»

Choice is great—but we're making the wrong ones, writes Cathy Young

(NEWSER) - As Michelle Obama and Congress champion efforts to fight childhood obesity, the right, led by Sarah Palin and Fox News, is angrily firing back. While some of their concerns are fair—that healthy-eating messaging can escalate into “propaganda,” for example—others suggest “a reality check is in order,” writes Cathy Young at RealClearPolitics . "For the right, 'my body, my choice' means not only that the government shouldn't be able to ban your favorite junk food or ship you off to a fat-farm gulag, but that you should be able to gorge yourself into obesity without having to endure societal disapproval or lectures from do-gooders." But the anti-obesity campaign is about “persuasion,” not “coercion.” More»

First order of business: Defund health care reform

(NEWSER) - Sarah Palin is out with an open letter of advice to Republican freshmen on Facebook . "The task before you is daunting because so much damage has been done in the last two years, but I believe you have the chance to achieve great things," she writes. A sampling:

• End Obamacare: It's "a job-killer, a regulatory nightmare, and an enormous unfunded mandate. The American people don’t want it and we can’t afford it."

Most suspects are men with guns, many mentally disturbed

(NEWSER) - Death threats against members of Congress are up 300% this year, the FBI tells Politico , and almost everyone doing the threatening owns guns. Capitol Police say they've had to dramatically step up security efforts, which were also boosted in 2009. “We have about 12 open cases at any given time,” says the Senate's sergeant-at-arms, “but most of them are relatively low threat.” Mental illness is common among suspects, and most have recently lost jobs, become seriously ill, or undergone other life upheaval. More»