Nashville (CNN) - It's a role that's still on the mind of actress Ashley Judd.

At an education event hosted by President Barack Obama in Nashville, Judd, who considered and then decided against a campaign to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, said she may decide to run for political office in the future.

All are catnip for the political left, and all were highlighted by President Barack Obama this week as he informally launched the November election campaign for 36 Senate seats and a new House of Representatives.

CNN's GUT CHECK | for January 30, 2014 | 5 p.m.
– n. a pause to assess the state, progress or condition of the political news cycle

BREAKING …. JAKE TAPPER EXCLUSIVE: OBAMA SAYS WALMART, APPLE, FORD AND MORE PLEDGE HELP FOR LONG-TERM JOBLESS ... CNN’s Jake Tapper & Sherisse Pham report: - The White House has secured commitments from some of the nation's largest companies, signing on to a plan to boost hiring of the long-term unemployed "What we have done is to gather together 300 companies, just to start with, including, some of the top 50 companies in the country, companies like Walmart, and Apple, Ford and others, to say let's establish best practices," President Barack Obama told CNN chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper in an exclusive interview.

"Because they've been unemployed ... so long, folks are looking at that gap in the resume and they're weeding them out before these folks even get a chance for an interview," said Obama. As the economy slowly recovers from the recession, the number of workers who have not found a job for at least six months or more has grown. "Do not screen people out of the hiring process just because they've been out of work for a long time," said the President.

Gut Check DVR: Watch the entire exclusive interview with President Barack Obama on CNN's "New Day" Friday at 6 a.m. ET and "The Lead With Jake Tapper" at 4 p.m. ET.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) – Sandra Fluke, the women’s rights activist who rose to stardom during the debate over Obamacare’s contraception coverage, tells CNN she is “strongly considering” running for Congress now that Rep. Henry Waxman is retiring from his California House seat.

“I’m flattered that I’m being discussed as a potential candidate, especially for Rep. Waxman's seat, considering his incredible legacy,” Fluke, 32, said in a statement. “A number of folks I respect very deeply have reached out today and encouraged me to run.”

Cambridge, Maryland (CNN) – House Republican leaders unveiled on Thursday an outline of immigration "standards," saying there "will be no special path to citizenship" for the country's estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants.

The document says, "These persons could live legally and without fear in the U.S., but only if they were willing to admit their culpability, pass rigorous background checks, pay significant fines and back taxes, develop proficiency in English and American civics, and be able to support themselves and their families (without access to public benefits)."

Watch the entire exclusive interview with President Barack Obama on CNN's "New Day" Friday at 6 a.m. ET and "The Lead With Jake Tapper" at 4 p.m. ET

(CNN) - The White House has secured commitments from some of the nation's largest companies, signing on to a plan to boost hiring of the long-term unemployed.

"What we have done is to gather together 300 companies, just to start with, including, some of the top 50 companies in the country, companies like Walmart, and Apple, Ford and others, to say let's establish best practices," President Barack Obama told CNN chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper in an exclusive interview.

(CNN) – Staten Island Congressman Michael Grimm – who threatened to hurl a reporter off a Capitol Hill balcony earlier this week – has received some unsolicited crisis management advice from a fellow New Yorker who knows a thing or two about life in the glare of an unfriendly media spotlight.

Former Rep. Anthony Weiner – aka “Carlos Danger” – offered the advice in an op-ed published Thursday in the New York Daily News.

Washington (CNN) - The end of 2013 may have been rough going for President Barack Obama, but political strife over Obamacare’s botched rollout and NSA spying didn’t cross over into his family life, according to the first lady.

When Obama got his “butt kicked,” his daughters didn’t offer too much sympathy, Michelle Obama told Ryan Seacrest Thursday in a radio interview.

(CNN) – MSNBC President Phil Griffin apologized Thursday for what he called an "offensive" network tweet, which suggested that conservatives may “hate” a Cheerios Super Bowl ad featuring a racially mixed family.

Griffin said the person responsible for the tweet was fired.

"The tweet last night was outrageous and unacceptable,” Griffin said in a written statement. “We immediately acknowledged that it was offensive and wrong, apologized, and deleted it. We have dismissed the person responsible for the tweet.”