Top Items:
Gschwarzcnn / CNN:
CNN Poll: Gingrich lead gone, dead even with Romney — Washington (CNN) - Newt Gingrich's lead in the race for the GOP presidential nomination has evaporated, according to a new national survey. — A CNN/ORC International Poll released Monday indicates that 28% of Republicans and independents …
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Jeb Bush / Wall Street Journal:
Capitalism and the Right to Rise — In freedom lies the risk of failure. But in statism lies the certainty of stagnation. — Congressman Paul Ryan recently coined a smart phrase to describe the core concept of economic freedom: “The right to rise.” — Think about it.
Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Paul leads in Iowa — Newt Gingrich's campaign is rapidly imploding, and Ron Paul has now taken the lead in Iowa. He's at 23% to 20% for Mitt Romney, 14% for Gingrich, 10% each for Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, and Rick Perry, 4% for Jon Huntsman, and 2% for Gary Johnson.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, The Politico, Booman Tribune, Unlikely Voter, Washington Examiner, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The BRAD BLOG, USA Today, Bloomberg, Catholic Bandita, New York Magazine, The New Republic, Donklephant, The Caucus, The Other McCain, The Impolitic, Don Surber, The Daily Dish, Gawker, No More Mister Nice Blog, Iowa Caucuses, Hot Air, Firedoglake, Mediaite, Prairie Weather, News Desk, Trail Blazers Blog, Outside the Beltway, Connecting.the.Dots, Swampland, Wonkette, Shakesville, US Politics, Little Green Footballs, Right Wing News, The Raw Story, Ballot Box, American Prospect, The PJ Tatler, Caffeinated Thoughts, Patterico's Pontifications, Hit & Run, Washington Monthly, The Moderate Voice, Campaign 2012, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, 2012 Decoded, americanthinker.com, GOP 12, Talking Points Memo, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Taegan Goddard's … and Political Mojo
Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Romney dominating New Hampshire — Mitt Romney has a significant lead in New Hampshire, getting 35% there to 19% for Ron Paul, 17% for Newt Gingrich, 13% for Jon Huntsman, 5% for Michele Bachmann, 3% for Rick Santorum, 2% for Rick Perry, and 1% for Gary Johnson.
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, Ballot Box, Daily Kos and Donklephant
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Paul Moves Into Lead in Iowa Forecast
Paul Moves Into Lead in Iowa Forecast
Discussion:
Truthdig, Outside the Beltway, Indecision Forever, Daily Kos and The Other McCain
Elise Foley / The Huffington Post:
Mitt Romney Super PAC Ad Attacking Gingrich Sticks In The Minds Of Iowa Voters
Mitt Romney Super PAC Ad Attacking Gingrich Sticks In The Minds Of Iowa Voters
Discussion:
msnbc.com and Washington Post
Lydia Saad / Gallup:
Gingrich's Lead Over Romney Among Republicans Collapses
Gingrich's Lead Over Romney Among Republicans Collapses
Discussion:
Fox News, Hot Air, Los Angeles Times, MyFox Philadelphia, ABCNEWS and Business Insider
Jake Tapper / ABCNEWS:
Two-Month Payroll Tax Holiday Passed By Senate, Pushed By President, Cannot Be Implemented Properly, Experts Say — Officials from the policy-neutral National Payroll Reporting Consortium, Inc. have expressed concern to members of Congress that the two-month payroll tax holiday passed …
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Scott Wong / The Politico:
Brown blasts GOP on payroll tax cut — Fighting for reelection in deep-blue Massachusetts, GOP Sen. Scott Brown ripped into House Republicans on Tuesday after Speaker John Boehner vowed that his caucus would reject the short-term payroll tax cut extension that nearly 90 percent of senators voted for over the weekend.
Josh Lederman / Ballot Box:
DCCC unleashing Carville on House GOP — The House hasn't voted yet on whether to reject a short-term payroll tax cut extension that the Senate passed overwhelmingly on Saturday, but House Democrats are already crying foul. — The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers
Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Tea Party lawmaker: Payroll-tax-cut fight our ‘Braveheart moment’
Tea Party lawmaker: Payroll-tax-cut fight our ‘Braveheart moment’
Discussion:
Gawker, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Daily Kos and The Politico
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
Reid, for now, won't play Boehner's game
Reid, for now, won't play Boehner's game
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, The Hill, tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com and Washington Post
Brian Beutler / tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com:
TPMDC — Standoff: A Guide To The Ongoing Fight Over The Payroll Tax Cut
TPMDC — Standoff: A Guide To The Ongoing Fight Over The Payroll Tax Cut
Discussion:
Angry Black Lady Chronicles and Hullabaloo
Brad Plumer / Washington Post:
Kim Jong Il's economic legacy, in one chart — One easy way to evaluate the legacies of North Korean dictators Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il is to compare their country's economic performance with South Korea's over the past four decades. The difference is stunning.
Discussion:
Hit & Run and Business Insider
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Martin Fackler / New York Times:
Young Heir Faces Uncertain Transition in North Korea
Young Heir Faces Uncertain Transition in North Korea
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, ThinkProgress, News Desk, BBC, Washington Post, CNN, Reuters, Political Mojo, Via Meadia, Firedoglake, The New Republic and TalkLeft
New York Times:
Kim Jong-il, North Korean Dictator, Dies Suddenly
Kim Jong-il, North Korean Dictator, Dies Suddenly
Discussion:
World Now, msnbc.com, Washington Post, Associated Press, The Atlantic Online, American Prospect, New York Magazine, A Blog For All, Indecision Forever, CNN, Scared Monkeys, The Other McCain, NO QUARTER, Towleroad News #gay, Bloomberg, Taylor Marsh, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers and Michelle Malkin
Leslie H. Gelb / The Daily Beast:
Joe Biden On Iraq, Iran, China and the Taliban — The United States won't spend a dime to bail out Europe. The Taliban is not our enemy. And nobody's easing up on Iran's nukes. The vice president lets fly. — On Thursday, Dec. 15, Vice President Joe Biden sat down in his sunlit White …
Discussion:
ABCNEWS, RealClearPolitics Video Log, Mediaite, Weekly Standard, Weasel Zippers, Jihad Watch, The Right Scoop and The Gateway Pundit
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New York Times:
Retirement Deal Keeps Bain Money Flowing to Romney — Almost 13 years ago, Mitt Romney left Bain Capital, the successful private equity firm he had helped start, and moved to Utah to rescue the Salt Lake City Olympic Games and begin a second career in public life.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Fox News, Washington Monthly, DealBook, American Prospect, The Impolitic, The New Republic, Daily Kos, Business Insider, New York Magazine, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Crooks and Liars, Balloon Juice, Hullabaloo, Campaign 2012, The Maddow Blog, No More Mister Nice Blog, Gothamist and US Politics
Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:
14-Year-Old Challenges Perry's Anti-Gay Views — A 14-year-old bisexual high school student challenged Rick Perry on his support for reinstating Don't Ask, Don't Tell during an event in Decorah, Iowa, asking the Texas governor why he is “so opposed to gays serving openly in the military …
Discussion:
ABCNEWS and Towleroad News #gay
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Rebecca Kaplan / NationalJournal.com:
Perry's Day Ends in Confrontation Over Fracking, Gays in the Military
Perry's Day Ends in Confrontation Over Fracking, Gays in the Military
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs, The Raw Story, Washington Post and Trail Blazers Blog
Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:
Pro-Adultery Website Endorses Gingrich — A website that promotes adultery has endorsed Newt Gingrich for president, and even erected a giant billboard in Pennsylvania to announce it. Next to a picture of Gingrich making a “shh” gesture, the billboard reads: “Faithful Republican, Unfaithful Husband.”
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs and Mediaite
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Matthew Boyle / The Daily Caller:
Justice Dept silent as Holder charges critics with racism — Attorney General Eric Holder accused his growing chorus of critics of racist motivations in a Sunday interview published in the New York Times. When reached by The Daily Caller Monday morning, the Department of Justice provided …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, The PJ Tatler, The Right Scoop and The Lonely Conservative
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Mary Chastain / Big Journalism:
The New York Times Paints Holder As A Victim Of Fast And Furious
The New York Times Paints Holder As A Victim Of Fast And Furious
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, NewsBusters.org, Townhall.com, Hot Air, Big Government and Bob Owens
New York Post:
Professor claims NYU fired him after he gave James Franco a ‘D’ — James Franco's tired James Dean act got an NYU professor booted from the school last year — after the teacher dared to give the overhyped Hollywood hunk a “D” for blowing off class, a lawsuit charges.
Discussion:
Ricochet Conversations Feed, Runnin' Scared, New York Magazine and Gawker
Katha Pollitt / thenation.com/blogs/164:
Regarding Christopher — Christopher Hitchens, my colleague for twenty years, was clever, hilarious, generous to his friends, combative, prodigiously energetic and fantastically productive. He could write with equal ease about Philip Larkin, capital punishment, Henry Kissinger and having his balls waxed.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, ECHIDNE of the snakes and Hullabaloo
Andrew Mytelka / The Ticker:
Appeals Court Rejects Christian Student's Bid for Reversal of Her Expulsion — A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a lower court's ruling against a graduate student who had sought a court order preventing Augusta State University from expelling her from its school-counseling program.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Truth Wins Out and Joe. My. God.
Barry Ritholtz / The Big Picture:
Gingrich Implodes in Iowa — I don't know about Conservatives, but Republicans should be relieved. — So much for the Gingrich juggernaut . . . Please use the comments to demonstrate your own ignorance, unfamiliarity with empirical data, ability to repeat discredited memes, and lack of respect for scientific knowledge.
Discussion:
Boing Boing
Brian Stelter / New York Times:
For Election Year, MTV Drops ‘Choose or Lose’ Slogan — After nearly 20 years of “Choose or Lose,” MTV is changing the name of its election season campaign. — The youth cable channel's coverage will be labeled “Power of 12,” a nod to both the election year and the notion that 18 …
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, Big Hollywood, Michelle Malkin, Hotline On Call, Gothamist, The Right Scoop and The Daily Caller
George Russell / Fox News:
EXCLUSIVE: EPA Ponders Expanded Regulatory Power In Name of ‘Sustainable Development’ — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wants to change how it analyzes problems and makes decisions, in a way that will give it vastly expanded power to regulate businesses, communities and ecosystems in the name of …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, The PJ Tatler, americanthinker.com, Weasel Zippers and The Daily Caller
John C. Goodman / Wall Street Journal:
Why Mandated Health Insurance Is Unfair — There's an easier way to solve the ‘free-rider’ problem. — Should all Americans be required to have health insurance? ObamaCare said yes, and the issue is now central to the Republican presidential primary. Mitt Romney championed an individual mandate as governor of Massachusetts.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress and The Volokh Conspiracy
Sam Baker / The Hill:
Supreme Court sets aside three days for arguments on healthcare reform law — The Supreme Court will hear arguments on President Obama's healthcare law over a three-day span in late March. — The schedule further confirms the universal expectation that the court will issue a ruling …
Discussion:
Hot Air, nation.foxnews.com and Outside the Beltway