FIRST ON CNN: Obama, Dems drop millionaire surtax to pay for payroll tax cut  —  (CNN) - In what would be a major concession, President Obama and Senate Democrats will drop their insistence that a surtax on millionaires pay for extending the payroll tax cut, a Democratic source tells CNN.

Winnowing the Field  —  A hard-fought presidential primary campaign is obscuring the uncharacteristic degree of unity within the Republican party.  It has reached a conservative consensus on most of the pressing issues of the day.  All of the leading candidates, and almost all of the lagging ones, support the right to life.

In a Tactical Shift, Romney Trains Sights on Gingrich  —  Mitt Romney, his presidential aspirations suddenly endangered by Newt Gingrich's rapid resurgence, is employing aggressive new arguments in an effort to disqualify Mr. Gingrich as a credible choice to Republicans, calling him “zany” …

U.S. Officially Ends Its Mission in Iraq  —  BAGHDAD — The United States military officially declared an end to its mission in Iraq on Thursday even as violence continues to plague the country and the Muslim world remains distrustful of American power.  —  In a fortified concrete courtyard …

NBC News Brass Reportedly Furious Over Handling Of Romney KKK Slogan Story  —  As if former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney didn't have enough problems already, a story that connects him to the Ku Klux Klan has now entered the cable news bloodstream.  AmericaBlog noticed that a phrase Romney has used …

Commander in Creep  —  Got a friend who backs Obama?  They have a list of people like you.  —  Somewhere along the line, somebody signed us up for the Barack Obama campaign emails.  Normally we don't care for spam, political or otherwise, but these are so odd that we've kept them coming out of curiosity.

The Wyden-Ryan Breakthrough  —  A better, bipartisan Medicare future.  —  Democrats are running on Mediscare in 2012 and President Obama has all but called the “premium support” reform un-American, if not the decline and fall of Western civilization.  That would seem to put the issue …

Tom Friedman, hitting rock bottom  —  Today's Tom Friedman's column has set off a firestorm.  Now, he says and writes many wrong-headed things, about China and other dictatorial regimes, primarily.  But today he hits rock bottom: … You see, in Friedman's eyes, the entire U.S. Congress is bought and paid for by a cabal of Jews.

Romney is GOP's best choice  —  Mitt Romney participates in a wide-ranging interview with members of The Washington Examiner editorial board on Dec. 7.  (Graeme Jennings/Examiner)  —  The only Republican who can beat Obama  —  The headlines Wednesday morning brought the stunning news …

Documents Show Justice's Breuer Misled On ‘Furious’  —  Ethics In Government: Attorney General Eric Holder insists “nobody at the Justice Department has lied” about the gun-running scandal Fast and Furious.  That in itself is a lie, as his deputy's emails prove.

Exclusive: Regulators know where MF Global funds went  —  (Reuters) - Regulators now have a more complete picture of money transfers in the final days of bankrupt brokerage MF Global, but must sort out which transactions were legitimate before more money can be released to customers, a top official told Reuters on Wednesday.

Marines' Haditha Interviews Found in Iraqi Junkyard  —  BAGHDAD — One by one, the Marines sat down, swore to tell the truth and began to give secret interviews discussing one of the most horrific episodes of America's time in Iraq: the 2005 massacre by Marines of Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha.

Marines promoted inflated story for Medal of Honor recipient  —  WASHINGTON — With Dakota Meyer standing at attention in his dress uniform, sweat glistening on his forehead under the television lights, President Barack Obama extolled the former Marine corporal for the “extraordinary actions” …

A Bipartisan Way Forward on Medicare  —  Allowing private plans to compete with traditional Medicare will help lower costs and spur innovation.  —  Few issues draw more heated partisan rhetoric than the future of Medicare.  Seniors are a reliable and powerful voting bloc …

Opponents in Philadelphia say bill on Sharia law unfair to Muslims  —  A bill in Harrisburg that opponents say is targeted against Muslims has followers of that faith upset.  —  House Bill 2029 would ban Pennsylvania courts from considering any foreign legal code or system that isn't identical with the Constitution.

Staying true to the Tea Party  —  Glenn Beck dishonors Gingrich supporters  —  If you like Glenn Beck, you probably hate women.  Sounds outlandish, I know, but if you apply Mr. Beck's own twisted logic, it follows.  Glenn Beck recently accused millions of Tea Partyers of racism.

The scandal of the Alabama poor cut off from water  —  Sheila Tyson, a community activist in the deprived West End area of Birmingham, tells the BBC how her community has been affected  —  Banks stand to lose millions of dollars in debt repayments if the biggest municipal bankruptcy in American history is allowed to proceed.

Speaking of People Whose Models Have Failed  —  The latest polls show Newt slipping in Iowa — but not to the benefit of Mitt Romney.  Instead, it now seems possible that Ron Paul will win the caucuses.  —  Now, Paul is unique among the GOP contenders, or for that matter among politicians in general …

TPMDC  —  Dems Consider Dropping Demands As Republicans Risk A Shutdown  —  If it weren't for the filibuster, Democrats would have the GOP neatly over a barrel.  But Republicans believe they've regained the upper hand — and two developments suggest they're right.