Rudy gearing up for DC run  —  Confident that he'd have a chance to win, Rudy Giuliani is rounding up his top political advisers for a possible 2012 presidential run, sources tell Page Six.  —  Sources say the tough-talking former mayor “thinks the Republican race will be populated …

Memo to Speaker Boehner: If You Won a Congessional Majority Because You Pledged to Cut Spending and You Can't Think of a Single Program to Cut Now, Please Go Home  —  That Congress botched its first-ever public reading of the Constitution is worrisome, but less so than the fact they've spent …

BREAKING: CBO Says Repealing ObamaCare Would Reduce Net Spending by $540 Billion  —  The Congressional Budget Office, in an email to Capitol Hill staffers obtained by the Spectator, has said that repealing the national health care law would reduce net spending by $540 billion in the ten year period from 2012 through 2021.

Obama mouthpiece Robert Gibbs was forced out by new henchman William Daley  —  I wondered yesterday whether Robert Gibbs jumped or was pushed and noted that President Barack Obama's words indicated that it was “not an entirely voluntary departure”.  —  It's being reported by John King …

EXCLUSIVE: Sonny Bono's Widow - Rep. Mary Bono - In Lurid Photo Scandal With Woman Investigated By FBI  —  Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack has been caught on camera in a lurid scandal where another woman is apparently licking her breast.  —  RadarOnline.com has exclusively obtained the photo …

In U.S., 46% Favor, 40% Oppose Repealing Healthcare Law  —  Three-quarters of Republicans favor repeal; 64% of Democrats oppose it  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Americans do not strongly endorse the new Republican House majority's efforts to repeal the landmark healthcare legislation passed last year.

Levi's Vindication: The Self-Exposure Of Sarah Palin  —  As a long-standing Palin hysteric, I have to confess a mite less concern in 2011 than at any time since she has been farcically commanding the attention of the political class.  Not much has changed essentially: Palin's favorable ratings remain roughly where they have been.

‘Job-killing’ regulation?  ‘Job-killing’ spending?  Let's kill this GOP canard.  —  Republicans these days can't get through a sentence without tossing in their new favorite adjective, “job-killing.”  —  There's “job-killing legislation,” in particular the health-care reform law.

MA Supreme Court Deals Banks a Major Blow on Foreclosure Fraud, in the Ibanez Case  —  In a major ruling in the Massachusetts Supreme Court today, US Bank and Wells Fargo lost the “Ibanez case,” meaning that they don't have standing to foreclose due to improper mortgage assignment.

White Flight  —  President Obama's path to a second term may rely on states shaped by the same social forces he embodies.  —  Right turn: Sen. Marco Rubio's supporters in Florida included many whites who voted for Obama in 2008.  —  By any standard, white voters' rejection of Democrats …

Key Numbers In Unemployment Report Not So Good  —  Needless to say, administration supporters will be touting that the unemployment rate released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics this morning dropped from 9.8% to 9.4%.  Politically, this is good news for Obama, at least in the short run.

Illegal immigration foe passed over for chairman of Judiciary subpanel  —  An avid illegal immigration foe, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) will not continue as the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee's Immigration subcommittee.  —  Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) …

Village Voice Caught in Jayson Blair-Style Fabrication Scandal (Updated)  —  Rob Sgobbo (pictured), a young writer for the New York Daily News, has had a freelance story he wrote yanked from the Village Voice's website.  He apparently fabricated sources and lied about his reporting.

Bachmann's Epiphany and My Own ‘Conversion’  —  What's Your Reaction:  —  Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has recently come under a lot of attention, even ridicule, for telling an audience of Michigan Republicans how she “shed her youthful Democratic roots and became a Republican.”  —  Her story:

The Texas Omen  —  These are tough times for state governments.  Huge deficits loom almost everywhere, from California to New York, from New Jersey to Texas.  —  Wait — Texas?  Wasn't Texas supposed to be thriving even as the rest of America suffered?  Didn't its governor declare …

Egypt threatens to remove Central Park obelisk  —  Archaeologist concerned about damage to hieroglyphic text on Cleopatra's Needle  —  Below:  —  Since 1881, the obelisk known as Cleopatra's Needle has stood in New York's Central Park, but a letter from the secretary general …

Ex-lobbyist seeks light sentence, cites charity  —  Attorneys for one-time superlobbyist Paul Magliocchetti cite his $700,000 in charitable donations as one of the reasons he should not be sentenced to prison on Friday after he pleaded guilty to making hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions.

Egypt's Muslims attend Coptic Christmas mass, serving as “human shields”  —  Muslims turned up in droves for the Coptic Christmas mass Thursday night, offering their bodies, and lives, as “shields” to Egypt's threatened Christian community  —  Egypt's majority Muslim population stuck to its word Thursday night.

Bachmann for President?  'I'm Going to Iowa - There's Your Answer'  —  ABC News' Rick Klein reports: Rep. Michele Bachmann confirmed to ABC News today that she's considering a run for president in 2012 — albeit with a non-traditional sense of her own timeline for making a decision.