The trouble with my uncle, Rick Santorum  —  If you want another big-government politician who supports the status quo to run our country, you should vote for my uncle, Rick Santorum.  America is based on a strong belief in individual liberty.  My uncle's interventionist policies …

Rick Santorum's curious closing argument  —  POLK CITY, Iowa — Nothing fires up a crowd like cloture.  —  Rick Santorum, the man who has improbably become a contender in Tuesday's Iowa caucuses, was making his closing argument to a sea of TV cameras here on Monday when he swerved into a thicket of Senate trivia.

Gingrich: Mitt Romney is a liar  —  PLAY CBS NEWS VIDEO  —  Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, whose support in Iowa has withered after riding on top of the polls, today called former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney a liar who would lie to the American people if elected to the White House …

Workers of the World, Unite!  —  The Republican Party is the party of the white working class.  This group — whites with high school degrees and maybe some college — is still the largest block in the electorate.  They overwhelmingly favor Republicans.  —  It's a diverse group, obviously …

Santorum: States Should Have The Right To Outlaw Birth Control  —  Rick Santorum reiterated his belief that states should have the right to outlaw contraception during an interview with ABC News yesterday, saying, “The state has a right to do that, I have never questioned that the state has a right to do that.

Taliban leaders held at Guantánamo Bay to be released in peace talks deal  —  US agrees in principle to releasing top officials from Afghanistan insurgent group in exchange for starting process of negotiations  —  The US has agreed in principle to release high-ranking Taliban officials …

W.H. to Boehner: Ditch the GOP, pass bills  —  John Boehner walks to a news conference on the payroll tax cut with Eric Cantor on Capitol Hill on Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011.  AP Photo  —  A senior White House official challenged House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to buck his own Republican conference …

Krugman - Nobodys Understands Debt (But Now I Do!)  —  Let's start the New Year by breaking a resolution.  Here we go with Krugman v. Krugman, with yet another illustration of how Krugman's economic theories are dictated by the residency of the White House.

Bad-Faith Journalism  —  PolitiFact tacks right, further illustrating why its approach is wrong.  —  It's not as eagerly awaited as Time's “Man of the Year” was back when people paid attention to Time, but PolitiFact's “Lie of the Year” nonetheless manages to generate a lot of chatter, aimed as it is at those who chatter for a living.

Perry: ‘This is Omaha Beach’  —  WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — With a sense of history on the biggest political day — to date — of the 2012 cycle, Texas Gov. Rick Perry today compared the GOP's quest to defeat President Barack Obama to one of the deadliest battles of the D-Day landings in Normandy in 1944.

Michelle Obama's backside is your business how?  —  Can you imagine how the incident would play out if an African American congressman made a crude remark about First Lady Laura Bush's body?  It certainly would have taken more than an insincere apology to wash that sin away.

Huckabee: Rs more interested in defeating Obama than in rebuilding USA (audio)  —  Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, victor in the 2008 Iowa Caucuses, called into the Radio Iowa newsroom this morning for a chat.  I'll be posted snippets over the next few hours.

The Next War: Pentagon to Present Vision of Reduced Military  —  WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta is set this week to reveal his strategy that will guide the Pentagon in cutting hundreds of billions of dollars from its budget, and with it the Obama administration's vision …

Romney Gets More Tart on Newt with Sean  —  On Hannity's radio show Tuesday afternoon, Bay Stater says, “Newt's obviously a very angry person.”  —  Ex-MA Guv: “I'm glad that Newt is no longer relentlessly positive.  Now apparently he's going to try the relentlessly negative.

China's President Pushes Back Against Western Culture  —  BEIJING — President Hu Jintao of China has said that the West is trying to dominate China by spreading its culture and ideology and that China must strengthen its cultural production to defend against the assault …

Why Iowa gets to go first, and other facts about tonight's caucus  —  (Jessica Reilly) David Redlawsk is a political scientist at Rutgers University and co-author of “Why Iowa?  How Caucuses and Sequential Elections improve the Nominating Process.”  We spoke earlier today …

Gingrich: I 'Wouldn't Make Exceptions' For Abortions In Cases Of Rape Or Incest  —  Newt Gingrich explicitly told a voter in Iowa this afternoon that he opposes all abortions, even in cases of rape and incest, joining fellow GOP presidential candidates Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann …

Double Barrel Blast From Big Sky Country: Montana Rejects Citizens United  —  On December 30, 2011, by a vote of 5 to 2 the Montana Supreme Court decided that Montana's ban on corporate political expenditures dating back to 1912 could stand.  In a hard hitting decision …

Un-American Activities  —  In the tenth paragraph of a page A15 Times piece, Rick Santorum accuses Barack Obama of engaging in “absolutely un-American activities.”  What are they?  The article doesn't say.  The quote appears without explanation or comment, in an article entitled …