First on CNN: Key social conservatives secretly meet to stop Romney in Iowa  —  Des Moines, Iowa (CNN) — Representatives for leading social conservative groups in Iowa held a secret meeting Monday as part of an effort with one main goal: find and support a Republican presidential candidate who can stop Mitt Romney in Iowa.

Team Romney Crows About That Obama Ad: “It Worked” … - Spitzer: How Obama Can Make the Bush Tax Cuts a Winning Campaign Issue  — Why Tiny Thanksgiving Dinners Are Better Than Huge Ones - Exuberant, Sunny, Not a Bit Snarky: The Joy of the New Muppets Movie

Robertson: “What Is This ‘Mac And Cheese,’ Is That A Black Thing?”  —  Pat Robertson continued to amuse on The 700 Club today, asking host Kristi Watts following her interview with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, “What is this ‘mac and cheese,’ is that a black thing?”

German Bond Auction Fails  —  A year ago, Germany and France could probably have saved the euro—at least for a time—by stepping in to guarantee all the debts of the peripheral euro zone nations.  To be sure, this would have created quite a lot of other problems, but it would have saved their banks and their currency union.

‘Company Policy: We are not hiring until Obama is gone’  —  “New Company Policy: We are not hiring until Obama is gone.”  —  “Can't afford it,” explained the employer, Bill Looman, Tuesday evening.  “I've got people that I want to hire now, but I just can't afford it.

U.S. urges Americans to leave Syria “immediately”  —  Anger In The Arab World  —  BEIRUT - The U.S. Embassy in Damascus urged its citizens in Syria to depart “immediately,” and Turkey's foreign ministry urged Turkish pilgrims to opt for flights to return home from Saudi Arabia to avoid traveling through Syria.

Bachmann: Roots Song On Fallon Sexist, Demands NBC Apology … Michele Bachmann has spoken out and demanded an apology for the song played by the Roots, the “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” house band, when she was introduced as a guest Monday night.  Bachmann called the song, “Lyin' Ass Bitch” …

Debunking Obama's So-Called Leadership Failure  —  Various fiscal scolds have been scolding President Obama for failing to use his mind-control powers to force Republicans to accept a tax hike.  Michael Bloomberg sadly attributes the failure of the supercommittee to agree on reducing the deficit to a failure of “leadership.”

Molotov madman who said on YouTube he would bomb Macy's is out of jail and back at Zuccotti Park  —  Nkrumah Tinsley is bailed out by Occupy Wall Street movement and has rejoined protest  —  Activist Nkrumah Tinsley, who was arrested last week after he appeared on video making terrorist threats including …

Wonkbook: The GOP's dual-trigger nightmare  —  Imagine if the Democrats offered Republicans a deficit deal that had more than $3 in tax increases for every $1 in spending cuts, assigned most of those spending cuts to the Pentagon, and didn't take a dime from Social Security, Medicaid or Medicare beneficiaries.

GOVERNOR PATRICK SIGNS TRANSGENDER EQUAL RIGHTS BILL  —  Governor Deval Patrick today signed H.3810, “An Act Relative To Gender Identity,” historic legislation to legally protect transgender individuals from discrimination in housing, education, employment and credit.

CNN Poll: Blue collar Democrats' support for Obama drops  —  Washington (CNN) - Although President Barack Obama's overall approval rating remains steady, his standing among Democrats, and in particular among blue-collar Democrats, appears to have dropped, according to a new national survey.

Post-supercommittee, Senate Dems ready to move $400 billion in new bills  —  After failing to reach a deal to reduce the deficit, the Senate will move next month to take up legislation that could add more than $400 billion to the deficit.  —  All of the proposals, such as the extension …

Jon Huntsman declares war on big banks and Too Big To Fail  —  With a brand new proposal, Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman is the only GOP 2012er to have moved beyond “repeal Dodd Frank” (which sounds like a return-to-the-status-quo) and fashioned a serious and comprehensive — and bold — financial reform plan.

Democrats get big win with Texas court's redistricting map  —  A Texas court released its congressional redistricting plan for the next election cycle, a major victory for Democrats and Latinos who had protested a GOP-drawn map that squeezed both groups.  —  The new map will likely give …

Cross removed at base in Afghanistan  —  A large cross that had been prominently displayed outside a chapel on an isolated military base in northern Afghanistan was taken down last week, prompting outrage from some American service members stationed there.  —  “We are here away from our families …

How Perry's Fading Campaign Upended My Book Deal … Keywords: - Democrats, - Jason Stanford, - Texas Governor Rick Perry, - Perry for President  —  My first book came out last week.  The subject is constantly in the headlines, and the first review called it “wickedly witty” and “engaging, imminently readable.”

Sarkozy: Europe's “Liquidity Run” Has Begun Because There Is An Unsolvable $30 Trillion Problem  —  No, not that Sarkozy.  His half-brother - the one who actually can use a calculator.  In an interview on CNBC, the Carlyle group head had the temerity to tell the truth, the whole truth …

The Average Bush Tax Cut For The 1 Percent This Year Will Be Greater Than The Average Income Of The Other 99 Percent  —  As Occupy Wall Street protestors continue to demonstrate across the country, congress' fiscal super committee failed to craft a deficit reduction package due to Republican refusal …