Poll: Among GOP hopefuls, Romney fares best against Obama  —  CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto.  —  Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney holds a two-point lead against President Obama …

New Hampshire polls open in Dixville Notch — with nine votes  —  DIXVILLE NOTCH, N.H. — The voters of this tiny hamlet, all nine of them, have spoken.  Very briefly.  —  The polls opened here at midnight and closed less than a minute later, and the tally was final by 12:05 a.m. On the Republican side …

Bill Daley resignation: Why he had to go  —  The Bill Daley era on Monday screeched to a jarring, clattering conclusion.  —  Daley, who departs after a little more than a year as President Barack Obama's chief of staff, was never a great fit inside the West Wing — and Obama …

Why You Cannot Say You ‘Like’ Firing People  —  As Derek Thompson points out on our site, and as the Romney campaign will be fully justified in reiterating, obviously Mitt Romney did not mean that he enjoys the process of telling people “you're gone!” when he made his infamous “I like being able to fire people” remark in New Hampshire.

N.J. Gov. Chris Christie Responds to Female Hecklers With Offensive Oral Sex Joke … - New Hampshire Debate: Gingrich Attacks Romney for His “Pious Baloney” - CBS Stakes Its Claim as the Adult Contemporary of the Network Morning Shows  — Chris Christie Responds to Female Hecklers With Lame …

Texas Voting Rights Case Heard by Supreme Court  —  WASHINGTON — Several members of the Supreme Court appeared frustrated on Monday as they surveyed the available options and looming deadlines in a major voting rights case from Texas that could help decide control of the House.

Poll: Americans, 2-1, Fear Obama's Reelection  —  When it comes to how Americans view President Obama going into the new year, there appears to be very little spirit of Auld Lang Syne.  Instead, according to the new Washington Whispers poll, many voters aren't forgetting what they dislike about Obama and want him out office.

Pain: The David Gregory Solution  —  Before we leave the weekend's debates behind, and in keeping with the blog's first rule of economics — Fk The Deficit.  People Got No Jobs.  People Got No Money.  — I would be remiss not to mention the performance on Sunday of Dancin' Dave Gregory …

UPDATED: Herger to announce retirement; LaMalfa to run for his seat  —  After a quarter century representing the north state, U.S. Rep. Wally Herger will announce today he is planning to retire at the end of his current term and state Sen. Doug LaMalfa will be running for his seat.

Obama re-election effort picks up speed amid noise of NH primary  —  President Obama's re-election campaign appears to be picking up speed.  —  Just days after administration officials said Obama wouldn't be doing much campaigning, the president appears to be doing just that and he's using …

Gayest Cities in America, 2012  —  It's no secret that megalopolises New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles have robust LGBT life — and we've even heard tell of little queer hoods like the Castro and P-Town.  This isn't that list.  —  There's the official census with information …

N.J. Assemblyman Alex DeCroce collapses, dies in Statehouse after long legislative session  —  TRENTON — Longtime Assemblyman Alex DeCroce, the leading Republican of the state's lower house who represented Morris County for 23 years, collapsed and died in a bathroom inside the Statehouse late Monday night …

The name ‘Jew’ lands Christian in trouble  —  A man wrote that his name was ‘Jew Jurian’ on his national identity card form.  The data entry clerk then assumed he was a Jew.  Thus for the first time in the history of Computerised National Identity Cards (CNIC), a Pakistani was officially declared a Jew.

Deadly blast hits bus terminal in Khyber, Pakistan  —  The BBC's Aleem Maqbool: “Pakistanis over the last couple of years have become used to atrocities like this”  —  At least 30 people have been killed after a bomb exploded near a bus terminal in a tribal region of north-west Pakistan, officials say.