Top Items:
NBC's Mark Murray / msnbc.com:
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 …
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Justin Sink / Ballot Box:
Gingrich tears up while discussing his mother at Iowa town hall — Newt Gingrich choked up while discussing his mother's struggle with mental illness during a town-hall meeting in Des Moines. — Gingrich was asked to speak about a time his mother affected him at the event sponsored by CafeMom …
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, Little Green Footballs and CNN
Cameron Joseph / Ballot Box:
Iowa kingmaker rips Ron Paul, hints at late endorsement in attempt to stop him — Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) blasted Ron Paul's foreign policy views Friday in an interview with The Hill and hinted that he might endorse someone else in order to try and stop Paul from winning the Iowa caucuses.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, GOP 12, CNN and NewsMax.com
Molly Ball / The Atlantic Online:
Frank Luntz Always Makes Newt Gingrich Cry — Recalling his late mother, the former House speaker gets emotional — not the first time he's been brought to tears lately, and hardly out of character. — DES MOINES — At an Iowa campaign stop Friday morning, Newt Gingrich got all choked up remembering his late mother.
Discussion:
C-SPAN Video Library, The Raw Story and Guardian
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Iowa Update: Slow and Steady May Win the Race for Romney
Iowa Update: Slow and Steady May Win the Race for Romney
Discussion:
weaskamerica.com, PoliPundit.com and Big Government
Jeremy W. Peters / The Caucus:
Ads and 30-Minute Special Will Promote Gingrich
Brian Bakst / Associated Press:
GOP's Bachmann limps to Iowa caucus finish line
GOP's Bachmann limps to Iowa caucus finish line
Discussion:
Boston Globe, ABCNEWS, Saint Petersblog, msnbc.com, New York Times and Yahoo! News
Emily Schultheis / The Politico:
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:
Discussion:
ABCNEWS, Gawker, CNN, The Caucus, Ballot Box, The Raw Story, Washington Post, National Review, Guardian, Daily Kos and Connecting.the.Dots
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Alexander Burns / The Politico:
Mitt Romney's rivals try to slow him ahead of Iowa, N.H. — DES MOINES, Iowa - Mitt Romney is under direct attack on the airwaves for the first time in the 2012 presidential primary, as a super PAC supporting Jon Huntsman's underdog campaign launches television ads in New Hampshire searing Romney as a political “chameleon.”
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
What's the Deal with Romney's Taxes? — So what's the deal with Romney's tax returns? Or more specifically, what's the deal with Mitt Romney letting himself get more and more nippy press by refusing to release his tax returns when virtually every serious presidential candidate of the last 40 years has done it?
Discussion:
Hullabaloo
Ryan O'Connor / concord-nh.patch.com:
The rest of the story follows below:
The rest of the story follows below:
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online and Washington Wire
CNN:
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.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Raw Story, The Daily Dish, Daily Kos and RedState
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Leon H. Wolf / RedState:
Ron Paul: Know Who's Really Behind Islamic Terrorism? The Jews. — One of the more insane claims in Ron Paul's newsletters was that the Israelis were behind the WTC bombings in 1993: … This claim is of course so ridiculous and absurd that even Paul has to protect himself by claiming that “a Jewish friend” told him about it.
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, The Gateway Pundit, Pirate's Cove, Outside the Beltway and The PJ Tatler
Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:
Ron Paul Claimed An AIDS Patient Is ‘A Victim Of His Own Lifestyle’ In 1987 Book
Ron Paul Claimed An AIDS Patient Is ‘A Victim Of His Own Lifestyle’ In 1987 Book
Discussion:
Iowa Caucuses and Blag Hag
James Hohmann / The Politico:
Ron Paul slams Barack Obama on drone strikes
Ron Paul slams Barack Obama on drone strikes
Discussion:
Sultan Knish, The PJ Tatler, Weasel Zippers, Pat Dollard and The Gateway Pundit
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
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 …
Discussion:
Cafe Hayek, Campaign 2012, Weasel Zippers, Daily Kos, The Lonely Conservative and Vox Popoli
Amar C. Bakshi / Global Public Square:
Have the youth given up on Obama? — Editor's Note: Brad Chase is a partner with Capitol Media Partners, a Los Angeles-based communications and public affairs consultancy. — By Brad Chase - Special to CNN — In 2008, the youth vote helped sweep Barack Obama into office.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, The Lonely Conservative and John Lott's Website
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Norman Lear / Los Angeles Times:
Norman Lear on fighting the good fight — The Occupy Wall Street movement has unleashed patriotic outrage. If you don't want to camp out or protest in the street, find another way to let your voice be heard in the new year. — Occupy Wall Street protesters carry American flags up Seventh Avenue toward Times Square.
Discussion:
The Political Carnival and The New Editor
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Jonah Goldberg / National Review:
2011: You Can't Win for Losing — Charlie Sheen was clearly the man of the year.
2011: You Can't Win for Losing — Charlie Sheen was clearly the man of the year.
Discussion:
Don Surber, Betsy's Page, Cold Fury and Ed Driscoll
Josh Lederman / Ballot Box:
Ohio Rep. Steve Austria to retire, sparing GOP a primary showdown — Rep. Steve Austria (R-Ohio), forced by redistricting into a primary scuffle against a fellow Republican, announced Friday that he will not seek reelection to the House. — The decision spares the GOP a potentially chaotic intraparty showdown for the seat.
Discussion:
CNN and The Politico
Washington Examiner:
York: Romney briefed church on abortion stance — In 1993, Mitt Romney was a successful businessman with an urge to enter public life and a plan to challenge Ted Kennedy for a Senate seat from Massachusetts. — Romney was also a high-ranking official in the Mormon church …
Discussion:
Daily Kos, The Daily Caller, ThinkProgress, Saint Petersblog and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
Nando Di Fino / Mediaite:
Fox Apologizes For Poll Asking If Jews Killed Jesus Christ — Fox Latin America was trying to promote a National Geographic Christmas special on Facebook. So a staffer set up a poll for users to drum up some interest ahead of the program. The problem? The staffer who set up the poll …
Discussion:
The Raw Story and NewsHounds blog
Jon Ward / The Huffington Post:
Mitt Romney: ‘I Am Not A Wall Street Guy, Classically Defined’ … 2012 Election , Mitt Romney , Elections 2012 , Iowa Caucuses , Mitt Romney Iowa , Mitt Romney Iowa Caucus , Romney Iowa , Caucus , Iowa Caucus , Iowa Caucus 2012 , Iowa Caucuses 2012 , Mitt Romney 2012 , Mitt Romney Wall Street …
Discussion:
Daily Kos, PERRspectives, The Hill and THEROOT.COM
Andrew Restuccia / The Hill:
Electric car company that received a $529M federal loan recalls vehicles — An electric vehicle manufacturer that received a $529 million loan from the Energy Department is recalling 239 vehicles. — The Transportation Department's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) …
Jed Babbin / American Spectator:
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 …
Wall Street Journal:
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.”