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• DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Never mind that he lost.
• Tea party Sen. Ted Cruz took nothing short of a victory lap in his state of Texas this week, appearing before wildly supportive crowds that overlooked the fact that the Republican who led the charge to kill money for President Barack Obama's health care law had failed.
• Now he's coming to Iowa, where Republicans who will have the first say in the next presidential race are certain to view him more skeptically than GOP loyalists do back home.
• In Iowa and across the nation, the GOP is in the midst of an internal war pitting tea partyers like Cruz who argue for ideological purity against more mainstream Republicans advocating a more pragmatic, inclusive party approach to governing.
• The two sides will be on display Friday night when Cruz -- an untraditional Republican who hasn't ruled out running for president -- gives the keynote address at a very traditional gathering: the Iowa Republican Party's annual fall fundraiser.
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• OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Darren Black Bear hasn't thought too much about his upcoming nuptials. Maybe khaki pants, and he doesn't mind if guests show up in Halloween costumes even though the wedding will be a rare sight: He and his partner are getting legally married in Oklahoma even though the state bans same-sex marriage.
• How? His bloodline.
• Black Bear and his partner of nine years, Jason Pickel, plan to walk each other down the aisle Thursday, surrounded by family and friends, before signing a marriage license granted by the Cheyenne Arapaho Tribes. Black Bear, 45, is a member of the Oklahoma-based tribe, which is among the few Native American tribes in the U.S. that allow same-sex marriage.
• Like all federally recognized tribes, the Cheyenne Arapaho can approve laws for its land and members. Its code regarding marriage doesn't address gender, referring to the parties simply as "Indians," and requires that one person be a member of the

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