2012 Republican Race: The Field May Not Be Closed  —  Conventional wisdom is that the Republican presidential field is set, and that it is much too late for a new candidate to enter the race.  —  In years past, that would be absolutely correct.  Over the last few decades …

Tweets from Congressional Staffers Describe On-Job Drinking in Office of Congressman Larsen  —  For young men and women with ambitions toward a career in politics, working in a Congressional office can be a heady, almost dreamlike experience.  Left unsupervised, the combination of youth indiscretion …

Rick Perry's Anti-Gay Iowa Ad Divides His Top Staff … 2012 Election , Log Cabin Republicans , Elections 2012 , Rick Perry , Video , Iowa Caucuses , Fabrizio Perry , Iowa Caucus 2012 , Perry Ad , Perry Dadt , Rick Perry 2012 , Rick Perry Ad Campaign , Rick Perry Don't Ask Don't Tell …

Dems' payroll tax cut extension goes down again in Senate  —  Senate Republicans blocked the latest installment of President Obama's jobs plan — a bill to extend the payroll tax cut — for the second week in a row on Thursday.  —  The bill, titled the Middle Class Tax Cut Act, was shot down 50-48.

Corzine: ‘I Simply Do Not Know Where The Money Is’  —  A contrite Jon S. Corzine will express both sorrow and a firm defense of his actions Thursday in his first public appearance since the collapse of MF Global Holdings Ltd. in late October.  —  “Recognizing the enormous impact …

Winning the argument  —  Just one more quick point about that new poll casting doubt on whether efforts to tar Elizabeth Warren with Occupy Wall Street are working.  —  A few weeks ago, the Rove-founded Crossroads GPS spent six figures on an ad that was all about Occupy Wall Street …

VIDEO: Bill O'Reilly Hits Community Organizer with Umbrella, Tries to Get Him Arrested  —  Anyone who has watched the footage of Bill O'Reilly's infamous meltdown on the set of Inside Edition knows that the Fox News personality has a hot temper.  But you would expect the Fox News personality …

Ann Coulter Newt Presents a Fresh New Virtual Face  —  Before you newly active Republicans commit to Newt Gingrich as your presidential nominee on the basis of the recent debates, here's a bit of Newt history you ought to know.  I promise you, it's going to come up if he's the candidate.

Senate Blocks Obama Choice for Consumer Panel  —  WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday blocked President Obama's nominee to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, as filibustering Republicans who oppose the very powers of the new agency successfully challenged one of the administration's main responses to the financial crisis.

Sensenbrenner floats impeachment of Obama admin. officials as ‘Fast and Furious’ response  —  Wisconsin Republican Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, a former chairman of the House Judiciary Committee where Attorney General Eric Holder testified on Thursday, suggested that impeachment …

Republicans Less Enthusiastic About Voting in 2012  —  Republicans' enthusiasm gap over Democrats narrows  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Republicans' enthusiasm about voting in the election for president next year has decreased, with 49% of Republicans and independents who lean Republican now saying …

TWITTER AND THE CAMPAIGN  —  HOW THE DISCUSSION ON TWITTER VARIES FROM BLOGS AND NEWS COVERAGE AND RON PAUL'S TWITTER TRIUMPH  —  A detailed examination of more than 20 million Tweets about the race for president finds that the political discussion on Twitter is measurably different …

The Coming GOP Gingrich Freakout  —  Today's question is: will the Gingrich balloon deflate like all the previous Not Mitt balloons?  —  The answer is: yes of course-but given that these balloons take typically 6-8 weeks to shrivel, the impending Gingrich bust may not arrive soon enough to save Romney.

Iran shows film of captured US drone  —  The BBC's James Reynolds says the video appears to support Iran's claims  —  Iranian TV has shown the first video footage of an advanced US drone aircraft that Tehran says it downed near the Afghan border.  —  Images show Iranian military officials inspecting …

Virginia Tech Police officer, one other, killed on campus  —  A Virginia Tech police officer was fatally shot Thursday during a routine traffic stop on the Blacksburg campus and a second person was found slain in a nearby parking lot after the gunman fled, the university reports.

Rick Perry to Roll Through 42 Cities in Iowa on December Bus Tour  —  In the final three weeks leading up to the Iowa caucuses, Rick Perry will crisscross the state in a bus, hitting 42 different cities, even visiting two twice over the two-week period.  —  The 14-day bus tour kicks off …

Eric Cantor smacks down ‘insider’ Spencer Bachus  —  A day after Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus said he would move forward on an insider-trading bill, Majority Leader Eric Cantor stopped him dead in his tracks.  —  In a Wednesday meeting described by one source as …

Live Coverage: Prop 8 Hearing on Trial Video, Judge Vaughn Walker's Same-Sex Relationship  —  Today a 9th Circuit Court panel hears oral arguments on two ancillary issues in the long-lasting legal battle to decide the fate of Proposition 8, California's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage …