Winning Ugly, but Winning  —  I don't care if you call it a win or a tie.  In Iowa on Tuesday, Mitt Romney had a performance that looks ugly on the stat sheet , but which accomplished quite a bit when you consider it in its broader context.  —  The two most important things that Mr. Romney accomplished are as follows:

Ron Paul May Have Secretly Won The Iowa Caucuses  —  DES MOINES — Ron Paul may have officially come in third tonight, but if the campaign's caucus strategy went off as planned, then Paul may actually be the real winner of the first Republican voting contest.

Conservative elites to huddle  —  A group of movement conservatives has called an emergency meeting in Texas next weekend to find a “consensus” Republican presidential hopeful, POLITICO has learned.  —  “You and your spouse are cordially invited to a private meeting with national conservative leaders …

AP sources: Obama bucks GOP, OKs consumer watchdog  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — In a defiant display of executive power, President Barack Obama on Wednesday will buck GOP opposition and name Richard Cordray as the nation's chief consumer watchdog even though the Senate contends the move is inappropriate …

Release deal for Taliban leaders at Guantánamo  —  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 from Guantánamo Bay …

Bring Back Boring Banks  —  CENTRAL bankers barely averted a financial panic before Christmas by replacing hundreds of billions of dollars of deposits fleeing European banks.  But confidence in the global banking system remains dangerously low.  To prevent the next panic …

Michelle Obama Jokes: “I Kind Of Like” Being Called “Your Excellency”  —  First Lady Michelle Obama is to make a guest appearance on an upcoming episode of the popular Nickelodeon show iCarly.  —  In the episode, which airs on January 16, the First Lady helps the show's title character Carly …