Gingrich or Romney: McCain prepares to play kingmaker  —  Arizona Sen. John McCain, the GOP presidential nominee in 2008, is moving toward endorsing a candidate for 2012.  —  Republican sources familiar with his thinking say he will probably endorse his onetime political enemy, Mitt Romney.

Remarks by the President on the Economy in Osawatomie, Kansas  —  THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, everybody.  Please, please have a seat.  Thank you so much.  Thank you.  Good afternoon, everybody.  —  AUDIENCE: Good afternoon.  —  THE PRESIDENT: Well, I want to start by thanking a few folks who've joined us today.

TV News Programs Ignore Obama Administration's Landmark LGBT Announcement  —  Yesterday, the Obama administration announced a landmark full government strategy for advancing equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in its foreign policy and called on nations around the world …

At White House press briefing, reporter asks if Obama approves of bestiality  —  At White House press briefings, you don't normally hear questions about bestiality.  Today was not normal.  —  On Monday, press secretary Jay Carney fielded an unusual question from World Net Daily reporter Lester Kinsolving.

Tennessee family home burns while firefighters watch  —  A Tennessee couple helplessly watched their home burn to the ground, along with all of their possessions, because they did not pay a $75 annual fee to the local fire department.  —  Vicky Bell told the NBC affiliate WPSD-TV …

Crystal Cox, Oregon Blogger, Isn't a Journalist, Concludes U.S. Court—Imposes $2.5 Million Judgement on Her  —  ​A U.S. District Court judge in Portland has drawn a line in the sand between “journalist” and “blogger.”  And for Crystal Cox, a woman on the latter end of that comparison, the distinction has cost her $2.5 million.

Restoring Robust Growth in America  —  Why has the recovery been so slow?  What can we do about it?  Alan Greenspan, George Shultz, Ed Prescott, Steve Davis, Nick Bloom, John Cochrane, Bob Hall, Lee Ohanian, John Cogan and I recently met at the Hoover Institution at Stanford to present papers …

Newt Gingrich strong with Iowa evangelicals, Tea Partiers  —  CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto.  —  Newt Gingrich's14-point lead over Mitt Romney among likely Iowa Republican caucus-goers is grounded …

Quarter-Billion Taxpayer Dollars Spent on Penis Pumps  —  Benjamin Domenech is managing editor of Health Care News and a research fellow at The Heartland...  (read full bio)  —  TWITTER  —  According to data collected by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) …

Gingrich struggles on state deadlines for filing  —  May not make ballot in Ohio  —  Newt Gingrich is surging in the presidential polls, but his campaign organization has not caught up - making it possible he'll miss Wednesday's deadline to file enough signatures to even appear on Ohio's primary ballot.

Welcome to Texas!  —  Campaigning in Kansas today, President Obama momentarily forgot which of the 57 states he was in:  —  But that was just a slip of the tongue.  The really dumb thing he said is that the internet is causing unemployment: … This is one more reminder-as if we needed …

Senate G.O.P. Blocks Confirmation of Caitlin Halligan as Judge  —  WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked confirmation of Caitlin J. Halligan, a prominent New York lawyer, to be a federal appeals court judge, raising the question of whether a political deal to prevent the filibuster …

House redistricting maps would add Hispanic seats  —  TALLAHASSEE - The Florida House released its first drafts of congressional and legislative maps Tuesday, formally beginning the long and politically perilous process of carving out new electoral turf.  —  Like proposed Senate maps released …

American Economy Rebounding as Investor Favorite in Global Poll  —  Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. receives its highest rating from international investors in more than two years on new optimism that the world's largest economy will weather the financial crisis in Europe and avoid a recession in 2012, according to a Bloomberg poll.

President Zardari suddenly leaves Pakistan — is he on the way out?  —  Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari left Pakistan suddenly on Tuesday, complaining of heart pains, and is now in Dubai.  His planned testimony before a joint session of Pakistan's parliament on the Memogate scandal is now postponed indefinitely.

Why Newt's surge is for real  —  Washington is waking up to a prospect that a week ago seemed far-fetched.