NBC poll: Mitt Romney, Ron Paul neck-and-neck in Iowa; Newt Gingrich in 5th  —  In the past two weeks, support has fallen sharply in Iowa for Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich.  NBC's Chuck Todd reports.  —  By NBC's Mark Murray  —  Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney …

Latest Florida poll: Mitt Romney 27%, Newt Gingrich 26%; no one else in double digits  —  As Florida voters begin to focus on the state's pivotal GOP presidential primary at the end of January, the leading contenders are former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich …

TRENDING: In early book, Rep. Ron Paul criticized AIDS patients, minority rights and sexual harassment victims  —  Des Moines, Iowa (CNN) - Texas Rep. Ron Paul has distanced himself from a series of controversial newsletters from the 1980s and 1990s that bore his name and included inflammatory and racially charged language.

Keynes Was Right  —  “The boom, not the slump, is the right time for austerity at the Treasury.”  So declared John Maynard Keynes in 1937, even as F.D.R. was about to prove him right by trying to balance the budget too soon, sending the United States economy — which had been steadily recovering …

An Uproar on the Web Over $2 Fee by Verizon  —  The Web lit up with howls of protest on Thursday as word of a planned new Verizon Wireless fee spread wildly — and somewhat inaccurately.  —  The $2 monthly fee, which takes effect Jan. 15, will apply to people who make one-time credit or debit card payments on the phone or online.

WordPress Takes Down “Bare Naked Islam” Blog After Threats From CAIR  —  WordPress took down Bare Naked Islam Blog today after threats from CAIR.

2011: The Year the Wheels Fell Off  —  The coming year will not give us a break from the steady stream of political knavery, green graft and governmental stupidity that 2011 delivered, though it will surely provide a flood of politically-induced comedy.  —  JANUARY: An enterprising BBC reporter …

An Election Year Dawns Without Keith Olbermann  —  Keith Olbermann, who came to Current TV this year to remake the channel and compete against his old home, MSNBC, is sitting out the biggest political nights of the season.  —  Despite being the biggest star on the fledging channel …

Gingrich Is Making Romney Better  —  The most memorable campaign line so far isn't ‘9-9-9’ or ‘Oops.’  —  So the first third of the Republican presidential race is ending.  The first third is the introduction: “This is who I am, this is what I want to do, this is why you want to choose me.”

12/30: Romney, Paul Battle for Lead in Iowa...Santorum Surges, Perry in Mix, Gingrich Stumbles  —  With just days until the Iowa caucus, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul are in a virtual dead heat.  Romney receives the support of 23% to Paul's 21%, well within this NBC News/Marist Poll's margin of error …

Muslim villagers burn houses of Christian family Upper Egypt  —  Average:  —  ShareThis  —  views:  —  Send to friend  —  Dozens of residents of the village of Baheeg in Assiut, Upper Egypt, burnt three houses owned by a Christian family after a Christian villager allegedly published …

Gingrich Floats Choosing Sarah Palin as Vice President, Energy Secretary  —  Last night during a tele-town hall hosted by Ralph Reed's Faith and Freedom Coalition, a caller asked Newt Gingrich if he would consider choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate if he wins the Republican nomination.

Obama visits Pearl Harbor for first time since entering office  —  President Obama on Thursday evening made his first trip to Pearl Harbor since becoming commander-in-chief.  —  The president and first lady Michelle Obama visited the USS Arizona Memorial, where they observed a moment …

Tax Benefits From Options as Windfall for Businesses  —  The stock market's rebound from the financial crisis three years ago has created a potential windfall for hundreds of executives who were granted unusually large packages of stock options shortly after the market collapsed.

Romney son makes Obama birth certificate joke  —  After getting a question about whether Mitt Romney will release his income tax returns in Concord, N.H., Romney's son Matt made a crack about President Obama's college grades and birth certificate: