CNN Poll: Romney on top, Gingrich fading & Santorum rising in Iowa  —  Des Moines, Iowa (CNN) - Did Newt Gingrich peak too early?  —  A new survey of people likely to attend Iowa's Republican caucuses indicates that the former House speaker's support in the Hawkeye State is plunging.

Chavez: U.S. May Be Behind Leaders' Cancer  —  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez hinted that the U.S. may be behind a “very strange” bout of cancer affecting several leaders aligned with him in South America.  —  Chavez, speaking a day after Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner …

What We Think About When We Think About the Court  —  Wherever I go these days, someone is bound to ask me how I think the Supreme Court will rule in the challenge to the Affordable Care Act, set for argument over three days during the last week in March.  My response, that I expect the court …

White House Memo: Obama Gains Reputation as Distant in Washington  —  WASHINGTON — Air Force One had just landed in Manchester, N.H., on a brisk Tuesday morning last month when President Obama made an admission to Valerie B. Jarrett, his close friend and senior adviser.  —  “I just called Reggie,” Mr. Obama said.

My Political Prediction for 2012: It's Obama-Clinton  —  My political prediction for 2012 (based on absolutely no inside information): Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden swap places.  Biden becomes Secretary of State — a position he's apparently coveted for years.  And Hillary Clinton, Vice President.

Is the Obama Boomlet Over?  —  Over the last week or so, there has been a lot of news coverage of Barack Obama's comeback in the polls.  I noted his modest bounce here, and Scott Rasmussen wrote us to say that he thought Obama's rise was due to increasing optimism about the economy.

ONLY ONE CANDIDATE IS RIGHT ON THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES  —  In the upcoming presidential election, two issues are more important than any others: repealing Obamacare and halting illegal immigration.  If we fail at either one, the country will be changed permanently.  —  Taxes can be raised and lowered.

Repo Men  —  If you're making money on the Wall Street scale — which is nothing like your boring, middle-management in the Fortune 500, Hamptons-and-Mercedes, barely-a-1 percenter type money — then you can buy basically anything.  When real-estate investor Robert Rosania put part …

Gingrich: Campaign worker's signature fraud cost slot on Virginia ballot  —  Algona, Iowa (CNN) - Newt Gingrich cited fraud Wednesday as the reason he didn't get on the Virginia primary ballot.  —  Last week his campaign acknowledged they used paid volunteers to scramble …

From North Korea, an Altered Procession  —  The funeral of Kim Jong-il on Wednesday called to mind the best stage-managed Communist state productions: the falling snow, the wailing mourners, the perfectly spaced limousines and rows of chest-beating men.  —  So perhaps it was because the scene …

Jon Swift Memorial Roundup 2011  —  Welcome to a tradition started by the much missed Jon Swift/Al Weisel.  He left behind some excellent satire, but was also a nice guy and a strong supporter of small blogs.  As Lance Mannion puts it: … Here's his 2007 and 2008 editions.  Last year's revival is here.

Eric Holder: More cops slain by illegal guns  —  The number of officers killed in the line of duty jumped 13 percent in 2011 compared with the year before — and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder condemned the increase as “a devastating and unacceptable trend” that he blamed on illegal firearms.

Priests brawl in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity  —  Greek Orthodox and Armenian priests and monks came to blows during preparations for Orthodox Christmas celebrations  —  Scuffles have broken out between rival groups of Greek Orthodox and Armenian clerics in a turf war at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity.