Polling the Occupy Wall Street Crowd  —  In interviews, protesters show that they are leftists out of step with most American voters.  Yet Democrats are embracing them anyway.  —  President Obama and the Democratic leadership are making a critical error in embracing the Occupy Wall Street movement …

Cain Used Campaign Funds to Buy Autobiography  —  Republican presidential contender Herman Cain used campaign funds to buy his own books from his motivational speaking company, Federal Election Commission records show.  —  Although his autobiography was published by a division of Simon & Schuster Inc. …

Thieves steal truck with President's equipment  —  HENRICO, VA (WWBT) - NBC12 has uncovered one of those stories that makes you think: “How in the world does that happen?!”  A truck filled with President Obama's podiums and audio equipment was stolen in Henrico just days before his visit to Chesterfield.

Huntsman called Cooper ahead of debate  —  Anderson Cooper is in Las Vegas at the moment, getting ready for moderating tonight's CNN and Western Republican Leadership Conference debate.  Last night, his publicist managed to pull him away from a pack of screaming fans - it sounded like Beatlemania …

What the CLASS Act says about health-care reform  —  Back in January, I published an “omnibus” look at the various criticisms conservatives were lobbing at the Congressional Budget Office's score of the health-reform law.  Only one, I concluded, had real merit: the case against the CLASS Act.

An architect of Cain's 9-9-9 plan says he should drop sales tax  —  Superstar WaPo blogger Jen Rubin is not a fan of Herman Cain's tax plan and its VATastic aspect: … A few thoughts here: a) I come down on the side that the Europe has embraced value-added taxes to fund its love of big government …

Gilad Shalit reunited with family in Israel; Palestinian prisoners freed  —  TEL NOF AIR FORCE BASE, Israel — Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit returned to Israel Tuesday morning after five years of captivity in the Gaza Strip, gaunt and frail-looking but apparently healthy.

New Mortgage Plan Floated  —  Underwater Borrowers Current on Payments Would Get Help  —  State and federal officials are pushing a plan that could help some “underwater” borrowers get refinancing assistance in the latest government bid to break a legal impasse with big banks …

On GOP jobs plan, an epic media fail  —  Look, I know this sounds terribly earnest.  And I know I'm repeating myself.  But still: Many major news organizations and neutral commentators are simply not engaging on one of the central questions at the heart of our politics right now …

It's Not How Many Followers You Have, It's Who Follows You  —  Felix Salmon adds to the growing legend of the world's least-likely protest sign: … But herein lies one of the secrets of the faux-meritocracy of the internet.  Furnas may appear to be a mild-mannered law student with only 325 Twitter followers.

Jesse Jackson Occupies OWS Medical Tent, Saves it from Being Evicted by NYPD  —  A little after 11:25PM, there was a big commotion on the south side of Zuccotti Park as someone mic checked that the NYPD was moving into to remove the “medical tent” (tents are a violation of the park's rules.).

Administration Seeks to Roll Back Hospital Rules  —  WASHINGTON — The Obama administration moved Tuesday to roll back a number of rules governing hospitals and other health care providers after concluding that the standards were obsolete or overly burdensome to the industry.

Senate GOP takes Geithner to task on jobs: ‘Rome is burning’  —  Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner tried to sell the president's $447 billion jobs plan to skeptical lawmakers Tuesday, even as he had to defend underwhelming previous efforts to boost employment.

Gal lashes out at spanking by the AG  —  She'll beat you.  She'll bite you.  And she can get you locked up for 15 to life.  —  Former state prosecutor Alisha Smith, a k a the feared dominatrix Alisha Spark, looked ultra-demure in a black pants suit accented by a coquettish pink blouse yesterday …

Our Blogs, Ourselves  —  Ryan Avent and I have been corresponding about the role of the economics blogosphere, for the Christmas issue of The Economist.  I don't know what parts of our conversation will actually show up there, but having assembled my thoughts I might as well put some of them up here.