Poll: Romney rocks, Perry pops, Bachmann doesn't bounce  —  Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney remains in a commanding position in the first-in-the-nation primary state while Texas Gov. Rick Perry makes a strong first showing in the latest NH Journal survey conducted by Magellan Strategies.

Obama Campaign Staffer Sends Out Email Bashing Paul Krugman And ‘Firebagger Lefty Blogosphere’ … WASHINGTON — The Obama campaign's point person in New Mexico recently sent an email to supporters defending the president's position on the debt deal and bashing the “Firebagger Lefty blogosphere …

New Low of 26% Approve of Obama on the Economy  —  Ratings on Afghanistan and foreign affairs have also declined  —  PRINCETON, NJ — A new low of 26% of Americans approve of President Barack Obama's handling of the economy, down 11 percentage points since Gallup last measured it in mid …

Field of Dashed Dreams  —  The president was in “Afternoon of a Faun” mode, a rural deity playing on his panpipes in the woods.  Then, suddenly, he stood very still as he sensed electoral danger.  —  After assuring Obama that she was a supporter, an Iowa mother named Emily asked the president …

Crashing the Tea Party  —  GIVEN how much sway the Tea Party has among Republicans in Congress and those seeking the Republican presidential nomination, one might think the Tea Party is redefining mainstream American politics.  —  But in fact the Tea Party is increasingly swimming …

Bachmann: I'll get gas under $2  —  Americans will save at the pump if Michele Bachmann is elected president, the Minnesota Republican said Tuesday.  —  “The day that the president became president gasoline was $1.79 a gallon.  Look at what it is today,” she said at an event in Greenville …

Bachmann Staffer Arrested for Terrorism in Uganda in 2006  —  The charges were dropped after he spent more than a month in prison.  Now he's rallying Bachmann's faith-based support and prepping for a movie about his ordeal.  —  Updated 6:35 p.m.  —  The evangelical organizer …

Black caucus: Tired of making excuses for Obama  —  During a sometimes-raucous session of what's being called the “For the People” Jobs Initiative tour, a key member of the Congressional Black Caucus told an audience in Detroit Tuesday that the CBC doesn't put pressure on President Obama because he is loved by black voters.

Pawlenty's gone, so who's the next Republican to fold?  —  Most of the attention on the Black Hawk County Lincoln Dinner Sunday night was focused on two speakers — Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the newest entrant in the Republican presidential race, and Rep. Michele Bachmann, the Waterloo native …

Canucklehead Obama bus-ted!  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama is barnstorming the heartland to boost US jobs in a taxpayer-financed luxury bus the government had custom built — in Canada, The Post has learned.  —  The $1.1 million vehicle, one of two that Quebec-based Prevost sold the government …

Is the SEC Covering Up Wall Street Crimes?  —  A whistleblower claims that over the past two decades, the agency has destroyed records of thousands of investigations, whitewashing the files of some of the nation's worst financial criminals.  —  Imagine a world in which a man …

Rick Perry: Climate Change Is A Hoax Drummed Up By Scientists Looking To Make Money  —  Texas Gov. Rick Perry is a conservative Republican, and as such he does not believe that climate change is caused by human activity.  But Perry went one step further than most in the mainstream climate …

Sarah Palin Is a Tease!  —  Even after Michele Bachmann's win in the Iowa straw poll last weekend, Sarah Palin won't go away.  Is she really serious about running for president?  As Meghan McCain sees it, not a chance.

The Biden ‘terrorist’ story: How it came together  —  Vice President Joe Biden's comparison of tea party negotiators to terrorists during the debt limit crisis is still causing headaches for the White House — and on the campaign trail — more than two weeks after POLITICO reported Biden's comments …

Obama dares Republicans to block his coming jobs package  —  The president, visiting the Midwest, pledges to send Congress a plan in September and challenges Republicans to block it.  Not all Democrats are comfortable with his hard-line stance.  —  Reporting from Davenport, Iowa …

Metaphorically Deaf  —  I heard this the other day and wasn't going to say anything because, well, there's no point in jumping on everything.  But it turns out that this is part of the stump speech —  he said it again today —  and that's a problem: … Where to begin.

Florida Supreme Court rules against Scott, finds he violated separation of powers  —  Gov. Rick Scott overstepped his authority and violated the separation of powers by freezing state agency rulemaking, the Florida Supreme Court ruled today.  —  Shortly after he was sworn in as governor on Jan. 4 …

GOP Bigs Push Paul Ryan to Run  —  Mitch Daniels, Jeb Bush, John Boehner, Jim Jordan, and Bill Bennett encourage Ryan to run for president.  —  As Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan comes to a final decision about running for president, several top national conservatives are encouraging him to join the race.

Presidential vacations: How does Obama compare?  —  President Obama and his family will be staying at the 28-acre Blue Heron Farm in Martha's Vineyard.  (Ivy Ashe for the Vineyard Gazette)  —  Following his three-day bus tour to promote his economic agenda — and not to mention …

FDNY Rescues Driver From Truck Dangling From Sanitation Garage  —  ​This photo just in.  Somehow, a garbage (some are saying a salt) truck managed to get in this precarious position, two stories high, dangling out of a sanitation garage at 58-35 52 Road at 59th Street in Queens.

Firearms from ATF sting linked to 11 more violent crimes  —  Guns from Operation Fast and Furious were found at scenes in Arizona and Texas, the Justice Department acknowledges, widening the scope of the danger posed by the program.  —  Bill Newell, special agent in charge of ATF Phoenix …

Karl Rove: It's ‘Offensive’ To Say We Are A Christian Nation  —  Social conservatives often insist the U.S. was founded to be a “Christian nation,” and they accuse progressives and President Obama of undermining these supposedly core values.  But leading conservative strategist Karl Rove called …

Renegade Miami football booster spells out illicit benefits to players  —  Nevin Shapiro and a second source said this photo of the booster and Kellen Winslow Jr. was taken in Shapiro's VIP section of Opium Garden nightclub in 2003.  —  KEARNY, N.J. - A University of Miami booster …