Politics

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, is seen during a Feb., 16, 2012, news conference on Capitol Hill about an accord on the payroll tax cut negotiations. (Associated Press)

An Airport Security officer talks Feb. 17, 2012, to a tourist during a patrol at Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok. Thai police said they are searching for two more suspects, including a possible explosives specialist, in a botched terror plot against Israeli diplomats that has been blamed on Iran. (Associated Press)

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** FILE ** In this April 7, 2011, file photo, New York Times Beirut Bureau Chief Anthony Shadid discusses his capture by Moammar Gadhafi's forces in Libya, during a talk at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum in Oklahoma City. The New York Times said Shadid died Thursday, Feb. 16, 2012, apparently of an asthma attack, while on assignment in Syria. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)

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German President Christian Wulff announces his resignation at the Bellevue Palace in Berlin on Friday, Feb. 17, 2012. (AP Photo/dapd, Timur Emek)

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Delegate Don H. Dwyer, Jr., Anne Arundel Republican (left), a vocal opponent of the proposed same-sex marriage bill, confers with fellow Republican Delegate Richard K. Impallaria on the House floor Thursday. The bill could go to a vote Friday. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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Delegate A. Wade Kach (left), Baltimore County Republican, threw his support behind the same-sex marriage bill on Thursday. He's shown with Delegates Ariana B. Kelly and Nathaniel T. Oaks, both Democrats. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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** FILE ** Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

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Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (left) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp raise their hands Thursday on Capitol Hill. Congressional leaders gathered to sign off on a final deal to extend the payroll-tax cuts through the rest of this year. (Associated Press)

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Former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, a Republican presidential candidate, speaks during an Economic Club of Detroit luncheon on the campaign trail on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2011. (Associated Press)

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**FILE** Libyan militias from towns throughout the country's west parade through Tripoli, Libya, on Feb. 14, 2012. (Associated Press)

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Joseph Kennedy III exchanges a greeting with 3-year-old Matthew Olsen, of Attleboro, Mass., during a campaign stop Thursday. Mr. Kennedy is running for the congressional seat held by retiring U.S. Rep. Barney Frank. (Associated Press)

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Families gather at a shelter in the Baba Amr neighborhood of Homs province in central Syria to hide from shelling by the Syrian government. As Syrian forces have stepped up their assault on rebellious cities, President Bashar Assad ordered a referendum on a new constitution that would create a multiparty system in a country that has been ruled by his autocratic family dynasty for 40 years. (Associated Press)

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Government army soldiers on top of an armored personnel carrier patrol a street at the mountain resort town of Zabadani, Syria, near the Lebanese border. A human rights group said Syrian troops "committed a new massacre" near the northwestern town of Jisr al-Shughour, killing 19 people - 11 of them from the same family. The report was impossible to confirm.

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In this photo taken Monday, Feb. 13, 2012, a mask of Barack Obama, worn by then candidate Obama on "Saturday Night Live," is part of the exhibit, "Every Four Years: Presidential Campaigns and the Press," at the Newseum in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

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Emma Krebs, a collections technician with the Newseum, dusts a map of Florida, which played a pivotal role in the 2000 election. (Associated Press)

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House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, talks about an accord on the payroll-tax cut on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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** FILE ** Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2012, before the Senate Finance Committee hearing on President Obama's fiscal 2013 federal budget. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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President Obama pauses Feb. 10, 2012, while announcing at the White House the revamp of his contraception policy requiring religious institutions to fully pay for birth control. (Associated Press)

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Kansas state Rep. Jim Ward (left), Wichita Democrat, asks questions during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on a bill that supporters will say will protect religious freedoms, as Rep. Jan Pauls (right) Hutchinson Democrat, follows the proceedings on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2012, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. (AP Photo/John Hanna)