2012 | featured news

Frank and Louie the cat was born with two faces, two mouths, two noses, three eyes - and lots of doubts about his future. Now, 12 years after Marty Stevens rescued him from being put to sleep because of his condition, the exotic blue-eyed rag doll cat is not only thriving but has made it into the 2012 Guinness Book of World Records as the longest surviving member of a group known as Janus cats, named for a Roman god with two faces.

Another poll with similar results: President Obama is struggling in key states, but so are the Republicans who want to replace him.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, facing a conservative backlash over his labeling as heartless those who oppose his state law giving college tuition breaks to the children of illegal immigrants, said Wednesday that the tone of his remarks was “inappropriate.”

In an on-camera interview with Newsmax.com, a conservative media outlet, Perry said he had been “over-passionate” in his answer to a question about the law during last week’s GOP presidential candidates debate.

A legal move Monday by the Obama administration greatly increases the odds that the US Supreme Court will take up the contentious issue of the new health care law during the court term that starts next week. And if it does, that would mean a ruling from the Supreme Court by next spring -- as the presidential campaign is well underway.

Rick Santorum has lost control of his online identity, a predicament that stands as a chilling example of what it means to be at the mercy of the Google algorithm.

Of all the punches thrown at Gov. Rick Perry during last week's Republican presidential debate, few landed harder than questions about Perry's support for a Texas bill allowing in-state college tuition for illegal immigrants.

President Barack Obama is swiping at Texas Gov. Rick Perry, criticizing him as "a governor whose state is on fire, denying climate change."

The state backed him in 2008 but is unlikely to do so in 2012, analysts say, because he's lost the support of working-class voters. That dissatisfaction could hamper his broader Midwest campaign. Since her husband lost his job at the RV factory, Lorena Rodriguez has been holding tag sales on the dry lawn outside their modest ranch house on the edge of town. As she hawked her four children's outgrown clothing and bicycles on a recent Friday afternoon, Rodriguez said the family had to turn to food stamps briefly to get by.

Former pizza executive Herman Cain surprised rival Rick Perry with an upset victory on Saturday in a Republican presidential straw poll in Florida, dealing a disappointing loss to the Texas governor two days after a shaky debate performance.

In a fiery summons to an important voting block, President Barack Obama told blacks on Saturday to quit crying and complaining and "put on your marching shoes" to follow him into battle for jobs and opportunity....