Roses are red, Violets are blue, Valentine's Day Can be about the men too! It's a day where flowers, chocolate and jewelry purchases sky-rocket. Dinners by candlelight and millions of romantic cards are sent out sealed with a kiss.

WASHINGTON - Mitt Romney's recent losses to Rick Santorum in Colorado, Missouri and Minnesota revealed a truism that Romney might want to study - but not too much! Parting with one's dreams isn't only sweet sorrow, it also can be liberating.

WASHINGTON - It's nine months until Election Day, but President Obama is already bringing out the big guns. Specifically, he is shouldering the Extreme Marshmallow Cannon.

WASHINGTON - Most Americans can hardly believe we're having a national debate about birth control in the 21st century - more than 50 years after The Pill became available and decades after condoms became as commonplace as, well, balloons.

Minnesota Republicans on Tuesday showed they weren't ready to hand the nomination over to the former Massachusetts governor. The Crow Wing County tally at Tuesday's caucus was: Rick Santorum-310. Ron Paul-137. Mitt Romney-104. Newt Gingrich-88.

WASHINGTON - In 2011, Gallup's polling showed that President Obama averaged an 80 percent approval rating among Democrats and 12 percent among Republicans, making his third year in office one of the most polarizing on record.

WASHINGTON - Fallen super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff is out of prison now but still doing penance.

WASHINGTON - Park Romney says some pretty wild things. Mormonism, he claims, is "an insidious contemporary fraud." The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is "an American cult," he professes.

WASHINGTON - Two of the top news stories this past week have revolved around reproductive rights, though both raise far more troubling issues than a woman's right to contraception or abortion.

WASHINGTON - When a friend was writing a novel, he was concerned that his protagonist was too perfect. People can't identify with perfection, he said. For the character to be sympathetic, he needs to have a flaw.