Trump Not Running for President: ‘Decision Does Not Come Easily Or Without Regret’  —  ABC News' Michael Falcone, Jennifer Wlach, Sara Just and Devin Dwyer report:  —  After a roller-coaster flirtation with a presidential bid, Donald Trump bowed out of the 2012 contest in true Trump fashion on Monday …

Iowan to Gingrich: Get out now before you make a bigger fool of yourself  —  Dubuque, Ia.  — Newt Gingrich got a not-so-nice welcome here today.  —  As he was getting ready to leave a speaking engagement Dubuque resident Russell Fuhrman approached him in the lobby of the Holiday Inn:

French Shocked by I.M.F. Chief's ‘Perp Walk’  —  As our colleagues Steven Erlanger and Katrin Bennhold report, “The arrest in New York of one of France's leading global figures and a possible next president, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, on charges of attempted rape produced an earthquake of shock …

In for Nasty Weather  —  Maybe it's because tenured professors are so disproportionately white male baby boomers that classic rock seems like a natural way to capture the sense that tenured faculty existence is vanishing.  —  First, summon the image of a tweed-clad, gray-haired professor exiting …

Romney: One-day money haul brings in over $10 million  —  Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) announced a one-day haul of over $10 million to support his presidential campaign.  —  Romney's team said the former governor had brought in $10.25 million in a daylong event …

Obama's Post-Bin Laden Bounce Disappears In Gallup Poll  —  The bump President Obama received after the killing of Osama bin Laden more than two weeks ago in Pakistan has vanished completely, according to the latest Gallup Tracking poll released Monday.  —  At National Journal:

OOPS!  Historic ‘Spending Cut’ Bill Increased Spending By $3 Billion  —  Republicans stormed Capitol Hill in January vowing to slash discretionary spending by $100 billion right off the bat.  In their pledge to America, they promised that, “[w]ith common-sense exceptions for seniors …

Dems' thuggery knows no bounds  —  Orrin Hatch, the senior senator from Utah, didn't mince words the other day on Hugh Hewitt's national radio show.  The Democrats, he said, “play politics very, very tough, they play it well, and they don't give a damn about what's right and what's wrong.”

Confidential Federal Audits Accuse Five Biggest Mortgage Firms Of Defrauding Taxpayers [EXCLUSIVE] … WASHINGTON — A set of confidential federal audits accuse the nation's five largest mortgage companies of defrauding taxpayers in their handling of foreclosures on homes purchased …

Irony Meter Explodes As Jewish Voice For Peace et al.  Stage Al-Nakba Day Protest Against The Museum of Tolerance  —  Sunday was Al-Nakba ("The Catastrophe") Day, and it's not just Arabs who are upset.  Al-Nakba Day commemorates the defeat of the Arab armies in the 1948 Israeli War of Independence …

Why recounts are a vital part of election process  —  The Journal Sentinel Editorial Board is entitled to its own opinions but it is not entitled to its own facts.  The board's speculation about my motives regarding the recount of the vote in the Supreme Court election is inaccurate.

New York Investigates Banks' Role in Fiscal Crisis  —  Eric T. Schneiderman, the New York attorney general, has requested information and documents in recent weeks from three major Wall Street banks about their mortgage securities operations during the credit boom, indicating the existence …

Exclusive: Private letter from CIA chief undercuts claim torture was key to killing Bin Laden  —  CIA chief Leon Panetta has written a private letter to Senator John McCain that offers the most detailed answer yet to questions about the relationship between torture and Osama Bin Laden's death …

LED bulbs hit 100 watts as federal ban looms  —  NEW YORK - Two leading makers of lighting products are showcasing LED bulbs that are bright enough to replace energy-guzzling 100-watt light bulbs set to disappear from stores in January.  —  Their demonstrations at the LightFair trade show …

Tea Party Express backs Jane Corwin in 26th District  —  GREECE — Members of the national Tea Party Express visited the Rochester area this morning to publicly throw their support behind Republican Assemblywoman Jane Corwin's bid for Congress and to excoriate her opponent Jack Davis for co-opting the “Tea Party” moniker as his own.

Chris Murphy: GOP Congressman Told Me He's Afraid To Openly Criticize Afghanistan War … WASHINGTON — While criticism of the war in Afghanistan has slowly been building since Osama bin Laden's death in Pakistan, some Republicans are still uneasy questioning the U.S. strategy out of fear that they will appear unpatriotic.