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AP: Top Gingrich aides resign from presidential campaign

Republican Newt Gingrich's senior aides on his presidential campaign have resigned en mass, according to the Associated Press.

Gingrich, the former House speaker, had a rocky entry into the 2012 presidential race. He had called a GOP Medicare plan "right-wing social engineering" and spent days trying to recover.

News outlets prepare for release of Palin e-mails

News organizations are getting ready for the release of Sarah Palin's e-mails from her tenure as Alaska governor, set for 9 a.m. local time Friday in Juneau.

The Washington Post says it plans to publish over 24,000 pages of e-mails sent by and to Palin, who left office in July 2009 -- about 18 months before the end of her term. The newspaper is planning a "crowd-sourcing" event, asking its readers to help analyze, research and put the e-mails into context.

MSNBC, Mother Jones magazine and Pro Publica, the non-profit investigative reporting organization, are joining forces to put the e-mails in an online archive. The New York Times is also planning its own searchable database.

Reporters are gathered in Alaska's state capital for the document release, which will occur at 1 p.m. ET.

Palin, who may or may not be running for president next year, said Sunday on Fox News that she's not too worried about the potential impact of the e-mails' content, saying "every rock in the Palin household" that could be kicked over has been overturned.

"I'm sure people are going to capitalize on this opportunity to go through 25,000 e-mails and perhaps take things out of context," she said. "They'll never truly know what the context of each one of the issues were that I was working on that day, or in that time period."

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See photos of: Sarah Palin

Mitt Romney defends position on auto bailouts

Updated at 12:52 p.m. ET

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is defending himself in his native Michigan, where he was met today by a small group of protesters angry over his stance against a federal bailout of the auto industry.

Romney, whose father, George, was once Michigan governor and head of American Motors, wrote a New York Times column in 2008 entitled "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt" that advised against a government bailout.

"Some people believe in bailouts. I believe in the process of the law," the former Massachusetts governor said. "The idea of just writing a check, which is what the auto executives were asking for, was not the right course. ... It would have been best had the auto companies gone through the bankruptcy process without having taken $17 billion from government."

Romney told the Detroit Free Press on Wednesday that "the Obama administration finally did what I told them they had to do" and essentially oversaw a "managed bankruptcy" for General Motors and Chrysler that Romney called for in the 2008 piece.

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Pawlenty gets S.C. campaign help from 'you lie' lawmaker

Republican Tim Pawlenty vowed he's going to tell the truth during his presidential campaign. Now, he's got some help from a congressman known for telling President Obama: "You lie."

Rep. Joe Wilson, who called out Obama during a 2009 health care speech to Congress, has endorsed the former Minnesota governor and signed on as Pawlenty's co-chair in South Carolina.

The Palmetto State holds the "first in the South" presidential primary, and is viewed as a crucial test for GOP candidates in their appeal to voters on social, fiscal and military issues.

"Gov. Pawlenty is the best man to get our nation back on the right track," Wilson said in a statement released by the presidential campaign. "As South Carolinians get to know Gov. Pawlenty, as I have, they will see someone with a remarkable record of conservative accomplishments in a politically tough state for Republicans."

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Rep. Weiner under more pressure from Dems to resign

Updated at 1:03 p.m. ET

House Democrats are stepping up their calls to embattled Rep. Anthony Weiner to resign from Congress, saying the New Yorker's sexually charged contact with women on the Internet and lies to cover up the scandal are a distraction.

Rank-and-file Democrats such as Niki Tsongas of Massachusetts, Larry Kissell of North Carolina and Mike Ross of Arkansas have added their names to the growing list of Democrats calling on Weiner to resign.

"Enough is enough," said Rep. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., who is running for the U.S. Senate. "It's time for congressman Weiner to resign. Everyone should be focused on jobs and the economy, and his refusal to do the right thing is a distraction."

The outcry intensified after two revelations Wednesday. The New York Times reported Huma Abedin, Weiner's wife, is pregnant with the couple's first child. And a photo showing a man's genitals was published on the Internet after conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart showed the picture to the hosts of Sirius XM radio's Opie & Anthony Show.

"This picture puts it over the limit," Ed Rendell, a former Pennsylvania governor and Democratic Party chairman, said on MSNBC. "He has no choice but to resign."

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Report: Rep. Weiner's wife is pregnant

Updated at 6:07 p.m. ET

Huma Abedin, the wife of embattled Rep. Anthony Weiner, is pregnant with the couple's first child, according to The New York Times.

The newspaper, citing "three people with knowledge of the situation," said the couple has disclosed the pregnancy to close friends and family.

The revelation tops a wild day in which key Democrats have called on Weiner to resign. After days of denials, the New York congressman admitted Monday that he sent a lewd, crotch-level photo of himself to a Seattle woman. He also said he had "inappropriate" relationships with women on Facebook and Twitter.

Weiner has said he will not resign. During his sometimes-tearful news conference, Weiner also said he and his wife -- an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton -- have no plans to split up. They got married in July 2010.

His Democratic colleagues are starting to show their impatience. Rep. Allyson Schwartz of Pennsylvania, who recruits Democratic candidates to run for office, said Weiner has lost his credibility.

"Having the respect of your constituents is fundamental for a member of Congress. In light of Anthony Weiner's offensive behavior online, he should resign," Schwartz, a top lieutenant of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in a statement.

Former Democratic National Committee chairman Tim Kaine, Rep. Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas also have joined Republicans such as House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., in calling for Weiner to leave. Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine, stopped short, saying that "it's better for him and his family" that he step down.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has made a formal request to the ethics committee for an investigation into Weiner's actions.

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Christine O'Donnell hails FEC complaint dismissal in money pitch

Tea Party favorite Christine O'Donnell is asking supporters for financial help, now that a complaint filed against her Delaware Senate campaign has been dismissed.

"It's appalling that the justice system was abused and misused as a political weapon in the first place," O'Donnell wrote in an e-mail to supporters, according to CNN.

O'Donnell captured national attention when she defeated veteran GOP Congressman Mike Castle for the Republican Senate nomination last year. Democrat Chris Coons went on to win the Senate seat formerly held by Vice President Biden.

An FEC complaint lodged by the Delaware Republican Party was dismissed last week. It alleged that O'Donnell and the Tea Party Express violated campaign finance rules that ban coordination between a candidate and outside groups.

"It was a frivolous, politically motivated move in the first place!," O'Donnell posted on Twitter.

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Rollins says Bachmann 'more substantive' than Palin

Updated at 2:06 p.m. ET

GOP presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann's top political strategist says the Minnesota congresswoman will be "so much more substantive" than Sarah Palin in a White House campaign.

Veteran GOP strategist Ed Rollins, who was an adviser to Mike Huckabee in 2008, talked about Bachmann and Palin to Politico.

"People are going to say, 'I gotta make a choice and go with the intelligent woman who's every bit as attractive,' " Rollins said about Bachmann in the interview.

Michael Glassner, chief of staff at Sarah PAC, Palin's political action committee, blasted Rollins in an e-mail to Politico:

Beltway political strategist Ed Rollins has a long, long track record of taking high profile jobs and promptly sticking his foot in his mouth. To no one's surprise he has done it again, while also fueling a contrived narrative about the presidential race by the mainstream media. One would expect that his woodshed moment is coming and that a retraction will be issued soon.

Bachmann has said she'll announce her presidential intentions sometime this month from her hometown in Iowa. The third-term lawmaker has said she and Palin are "friends" and not competitors, even though both appeal to the small-government, anti-tax Tea Party movement.

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See photos of: Sarah Palin

FBI investigated Sargent Shriver's links to communists

The FBI investigated R. Sargent Shriver Jr. -- the Kennedy family in-law who founded the Peace Corps -- for alleged ties to communists, but twice concluded that any communist connections were tenuous.

That's the most interesting information in Shriver's FBI file, recently released under the Freedom of Information Act following his death in January at age 95.

Shriver somehow managed to elude a full FBI background check even as President John F. Kennedy appointed him first director of the Peace Corps in 1961, and President Lyndon Johnson tapped him to head his "War on Poverty" in 1964. But when Johnson considered him for ambassador to France in 1968, the State Department requested a full work-up from the FBI.

The first "Red flag" came in an urgent teletype a week later from the FBI's Albany office, which found that Shriver traveled to Germany and Austria in 1934 with a youth group through the Experiment in International Living. The group was led by progressive educator Carmelita Hinton and included her two children, William and Jean Hinton, whom the FBI had investigated for their sympathies with Chinese communists.

The FBI investigated the 1934 trip, but did not pass along that information to the State Department. "Since investigation does not indicate any association between Shriver and those people and since the tour occurred 34 years ago when he was 18 years of age, the information is not being disseminated," an FBI memo concluded.

But as late as 1986, the FBI investigated an informant's tip that a Soviet agent was on Shriver's campaign payroll when he ran for vice president in 1972, under Democrat George McGovern. The FBI concluded that David Karr, who had a "particularly close personal and business relationship" with Shriver, probably wasn't a full-fledged KGB agent but likely provided information to the Russian spy service. Karr died in 1979.

See photos of: John F. Kennedy, Sargent Shriver

Jon Huntsman to ride Harley in N.H. motorcycle rally

Republican Jon Huntsman is hitting the road in New Hampshire -- on the back of a Harley.

The potential GOP presidential candidate is going to take part this weekend in Laconia Motorcycle Week, a Granite State staple since 1923. He'll ride from Manchester to Laconia, with a stop in Concord.

The former U.S. ambassador to China plans to meet with potential supporters at the Harley-Davidson dealership in Manchester and a sports bar in Concord, plus speak at the state's annual Veteran of Foreign Wars convention.

Huntsman is a true motorcycle enthusiast. As governor of Utah, he'd hop on his own Harley and travel the state's open roads with business leaders. Huntsman even has his own leather motorcycle jacket, with the state crest and his name and "governor" stitched on the sleeve.

Before leaving his post in China to explore a presidential campaign, Huntsman was spotted cruising the streets of Shanghai on a bike that Harley-Davidson let him take out for a spin.

Huntsman, however, is not taking part in the GOP presidential debate in New Hampshire on Monday that's sponsored by CNN because he's not yet officially a candidate.

Romney: Mormon faith wouldn't guide presidency

Updated at 8:51 a.m. ET

Republican Mitt Romney said he won't apply the tenets of his Mormon faith to his work leading the nation if he is elected president, drawing a sharp distinction between leadership and religion.

The comments from Romney, made in an interview with CNN, come as a new poll today shows nearly four in 10 voters are uncomfortable with the idea of having a president who is Mormon.

"You don't begin to apply the doctrines of a religion to responsibility for guiding a nation or for guiding a state," the ex-Massachusetts governor told CNN's Piers Morgan, in an interview that aired Tuesday.

Romney said: "I'm not a spokesman for my church."

A Quinnipiac Poll released this morning shows 36% of Americans say they are "somewhat" or "entirely" uncomfortable with having someone of Mormon faith as president. That's higher than having a leader of any religion other than someone who is Muslim. Nearly six in 10, or 59%, say they'd be uncomfortable with a Muslim president.

Sixty percent say they would be "entirely" or "somewhat" comfortable with a Mormon president.

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Okla. Democrat Dan Boren to retire from House

Updated at 5:06 p.m. ET

Rep. Dan Boren, the only Democratic member of Congress from Oklahoma, says he will not seek a fifth term in the U.S. House.

Boren made his intentions known during a news conference today in Muskogee.

Boren, son of former U.S. senator and Oklahoma governor David Boren, was first elected to the House in 2004. Republicans gained ground in Oklahoma in the last election, winning the governorship among other races.

President Obama saluted Boren, saying he "exemplified a commitment to creating jobs and economic opportunity for his constituents and rural communities" while continuing his family's legacy of public service.

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Pressure builds on Rep. Weiner to quit over scandal

Updated at 3:27 p.m. ET

Can Rep. Anthony Weiner remain in Congress after admitting he sent a lewd photo of himself via Twitter to a young Seattle woman?

That's the question of the day.

The New York Democrat insists he's not going to quit and will work to earn back the trust of his constituents, saying what he did was a "dumb" and "hurtful" thing.

Today, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi formally requested an investigation by the ethics committee. The California Democrat wrote to Reps. Jo Bonner, R-Ala., and Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., the committee's top leadership:

On June 6, 2011, Representative Anthony Weiner disclosed conduct which he described as inappropriate.

An investigation by the Ethics Committee to determine whether the Rules of the House of Representatives have been violated is warranted.

A senior Democratic aide told USA TODAY that the House leadership is "quite furious" over Weiner's actions. The Pelosi "letter contributes to the pressure for him to leave," said the aide, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose internal discussions.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus today called on Weiner to resign and bemoaned that the congressman, as a Democrat, is being held to a different standard. Republican Chris Lee resigned in February hours after it was revealed he sent a racy photo of himself to a woman he met on Craigslist.

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See photos of: Nancy Pelosi

Fact check: Sarah Palin's account of Paul Revere

Much has been written about Sarah Palin's remarks about Paul Revere's midnight ride. Here's what non-partisan, independent sources are saying:

"Sarah Palin's much-ridiculed story of Paul Revere isn't entirely wrong, but it's badly twisted," writes Brooks Jackson on FactCheck.org, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

This storyline began when Palin was captured last week on video, now gone viral on the Internet, saying Revere "warned the British that they weren't going to be taking away our arms" on his famous midnight ride of April 18, 1775.

FactCheck.org and PolitiFact.com, a fact-checking project of the St. Petersburg Times, both cite accounts given by Revere that are kept at the Massachusetts Historical Society.

Revere said in a 1798 letter that he was riding to Lexington to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams that the British Army was coming to arrest them.

In the same letter, Revere describes how he told British officers after he was captured that "there would be five hundred Americans there in a short time" for he had "alarmed" the countryside on his ride.

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See photos of: Sarah Palin

Breitbart won't release X-rated photo of Weiner

Updated at 9:26 a.m. ET

Andrew Breitbart, the conservative blogger who first reported on the lewd photo of Rep. Anthony Weiner, said he has an X-rated picture of the Democratic congressman that he's keeping as "an insurance policy" against any reprisals.

Breitbart of BigGovernment.com made his comments this morning on NBC's Today show.

After days of vehement denials, Weiner admitted on Monday that he sent a photo of a man's crotch to a Seattle woman. The married congressman also said he had engaged in inappropriate contact with six women through Twitter and Facebook.

"If Anthony Weiner decides to make it a jihad against me," Breitbart said, adding: "I will take that ... as you said an insurance policy, maybe." He said he could not see a circumstance in which he would release the X-rated image.

"I don't think I want to put his family through that type of thing," Breitbart said when asked why he doesn't release the photo. "I could put that out there and his career would have been over today."

Weiner said he will not resign from the Brooklyn-based seat he has held since 1998. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she is "disappointed" in Weiner and has called for an ethics committee investigation.

In a bizarre twist, Breitbart took to the microphone at Weiner's news conference in New York City on Monday and proclaimed: "I'm here for some vindication."

The New York Times has more on Breitbart's quest for legitimacy from mainstream news organizations.

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