Sadly, the primary process might help Sarah Palin  —  It is difficult to believe, but the first election for the next president of the United States is less than a year away.  —  The New Hampshire primary is alive and well and headed toward a date of Valentine's Day next year …

Emergency Cooling Effort at Reactor Is Failing, Deepening Japanese Crisis  —  TOKYO — Japan's struggle to contain the crisis at a stricken nuclear power plant worsened early Tuesday morning, as emergency operations to pump seawater into one crippled reactor temporarily failed …

Fox News Signs Former Senator Evan Bayh As A Contributor … UPDATE: Fox News officially announced on Monday afternoon that former Democratic Senator Evan Bayh is becoming a contributor to the network.  —  Michael Clemente, the network's senior vice president for news, announced the move in a statement.

Fiddling While Libya Burns  —  PRESIDENT Obama says the noose is tightening around Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.  In fact, it is tightening around the Libyan rebels, as Colonel Qaddafi makes the most of the world's dithering and steadily retakes rebel-held towns.

Conservative bloc leader to oppose GOP bill with ‘bite-sized’ cuts  —  Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the head of the powerful conservative Republican Study Committee, will vote against the three-week House spending bill Tuesday.  —  Jordan's decision will put pressure on other conservative members …

Japan, Reno humor in Barbour's shop  —  Every morning, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour's press secretary sends to Barbour's staff and other allies a list of press clippings, along with a daily compendium of birthdays, historical notes, and jokes — which have recently included humor …

NPR: O'Keefe ‘Inappropriately Edited’ Video; Exec's Words Still ‘Egregious’  —  An update on our post from Sunday about the questions that have been raised regarding conservative political activist James O'Keefe's editing of his secretly recorded video of then-NPR chief fundraiser Ron Schiller slamming conservatives.

Hackers Just Released What They Say Is A Damning Trove Of Emails About Bank Of America And Its Mortgage Practice  —  Hacker group Anonymous (aka OperationLeaks on Twitter) just released what they say is a trove of damning documents on Bank of America.  —  You can find them here: bankofamericasuck.com

Michele Bachmann's Historical Blunder  —  ABC New's Amy Walter and Amy Bingham report:  —  A blunder of historical fact - not proportions - tainted Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann's first visit to New Hampshire this weekend.  Speaking to students and conservative activists in Manchester …

Source of the Kaine Senate buzz  —  The rumor floating around Twitter is that Tim Kaine told his class at the University of Richmond that he planned to run for Senate.  The origin of this still-unconfirmed rumor is a student identified only as “Greg” “Gray” calling into Rob Schilling's radio show on WINA.

Iowa Woman Jailed for Thinking about an Abortion  —  Sounds far-fetched, right?  Well it isn't.  The anti-choice zealots aren't content to limiting a woman's access to safe and legal abortion, they're now thought police: … Yes, as if Ms. Taylor's existing problems weren't enough …

Why is there no looting in Japan?  —  The landscape of parts of Japan looks like the aftermath of World War Two; no industrialised country since then has suffered such a death toll.  The one tiny, tiny consolation is the extent to which it shows how humanity can rally round in times of adversity …