Rick Santorum focuses on gay marriage  —  He suggests to a New Hampshire audience that an imprisoned father is preferable to a same-sex parent.  —  Mitt Romney leaves a campaign event outside an old peanut warehouse in Conway, S.C. (David Goldman, AP / January 6, 2012)

All We Are Saying . . .  The establishment usually wins.  That, after all, is what it means to be an establishment.  But not always.  Three of the last six presidents—Jimmy Carter in 1976, Ronald Reagan in 1980, and Barack Obama in 2008—ran against their own party's powerbrokers …

Paul pushback on Huntsman video  —  Ron Paul supporters have pushed back furiously in the last 24 hours on the charge that one Paul backer posted an offensive video questioning Jon Huntsman's national loyalty, and showing clips of Huntsman speaking Mandarin with his adopted Chinese daughter.

Michelle Obama and the Evolution of a First Lady  —  Michelle Obama was privately fuming, not only at the president's team, but also at her husband.  —  In the days after the Democrats lost Edward Kennedy's Senate seat in January 2010, Barack Obama was even-keeled as usual in meetings …

Rep. Elton Gallegly to retire  —  U.S. Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Simi Valley, the longest serving congressional representative in Ventura County history, announced this morning that he will not seek re-election and will retire at the end of the current Congress.

The Left's So-Called Empathy  —  Lest you doubt that we're headed for the most vicious election year in memory, consider the determined effort, within ten minutes of his triumph in Iowa, to weirdify Rick Santorum.  Discussing the surging senator on Fox News, Alan Colmes mused on some of the “crazy things” he's said and done.

The G.O.P.'s ‘Black People’ Platform  —  That didn't take long.  —  As we've gotten around to casting votes to select a Republican presidential nominee, the antiblack rhetoric has taken center stage.  —  You just have to love (and despise) this kind of predictability.

TPM2012  —  Debbie Wasserman Schultz: Romney's A ‘Job Cremator’  —  Democrats are in full force at Saturday night's Republican debate in New Hampshire, ostensibly to rebut the GOP field, but in practice mostly to go after frontrunner Mitt Romney.  —  Well, not necessarily, the frontrunner.