Majority of Conservatives See Romney as “Acceptable”  —  Only Romney now seen as acceptable by majority of Republicans  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Mitt Romney is the now the only candidate that a majority of conservative and moderate/liberal Republicans nationwide see as an “acceptable” GOP nominee for president.

Lots of people can't fire their insurance companies  —  Governor Romney is getting a lot of heat for a line that appears to have been taken out of context.  I'd like to talk about it in context.  I think that's much more illuminating: … Gov. Romney is not saying that he enjoys telling people that they no longer have a job.

A Slate resident feminist hears Gov. Christie talking about oral sex when he's obviously not.  —  What a joke!  Christie — responding to hecklers who used the words “going down” in connection with jobs — said: “You know, something may be going down tonight, but it ain't going to be jobs, sweetheart.”

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.

Obama picks immigration reform advocate to lead domestic policy  —  President Obama has picked a strong advocate of immigration reform to head the Domestic Policy Council.  —  The White House announced Tuesday that Cecilia Muñoz, a former senior vice president of the National Council of La Raza …

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 …

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.

Mitt Romney and 100,000 jobs: an untenable figure  —  “In the business I had, we invested in over 100 different businesses and net-net, taking out the ones where we lost jobs and those that we added, those businesses have now added over 100,000 jobs.”  —  Last week, when we first looked …

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 …

Candidates begin filing for 2012 ballot  —  Tim Manchin denies Web report that he'll seek 1st District seat  —  FAIRMONT — Contrary to a post on a national political website, Tim Manchin said he won't run for Congress.  —  But that doesn't mean he's ruled out the possibility of a future run for a federal office.

U.S. Economic Confidence Rises to Seven-Month High  —  Americans' outlook for the economy is improving faster than their ratings of current conditions  —  PRINCETON, NJ — The Gallup Economic Confidence Index improved to -27 in the week ending Jan. 8, continuing the steady improvement …

NC Elections Official Resigns Rather than Facilitate the Marriage Discrimination Amendment  —  This thunderous letter of support for equality was sent to PHB and BlueNC by Sherre Toler, who, until last week was the director of elections for Harnett County in my state.

BREAKING: 10th Circuit Court Of Appeals Declares Oklahoma's Sharia Ban Unconstitutional  —  The 10th Circuit Court Of Appeals struck down Oklahoma's ban on Sharia law today, declaring that the Sooner State's move violated the United States Constitution.  —  In November 2010 …

Romney's Profitable Past  —  Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, and Jon Huntsman seem to be engaged in a perverse contest to be the Republican presidential candidate to say the most asinine thing about Mitt Romney's tenure at Bain Capital, the private-equity firm at which he served as chief executive …

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 …

Businessmen and Economics  —  A brief thought on something I'll try to expand on later.  Leaving aside all the questions about what Mitt Romney did or didn't do at Bain — and about his self-aggrandizing double standard — there's an even broader question: why does anyone believe that success …

A Big Check, and Gingrich Gets a Big Lift  —  MANCHESTER, N.H. — For weeks this winter, as Newt Gingrich's presidential hopes faltered under the weight of millions of dollars in attack ads paid for by backers of Mitt Romney, a small group of Gingrich supporters quietly lobbied for help …

City: Rat population has ‘exploded’ around Occupy D.C. camps  —  The rat population around the two Occupy D.C. camps at McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza has “exploded"since protesters began their vigil in October, according to Mohammad N. Akhter, the director of the District's Department of Health.

The Crisis We Should Have Had … - Ron Paul's Quest for Victory, Also Known As “Second Place” - Lithwick: The Pressure Is on the Supreme Court To Solve the Nutty Texas Redistricting Fiasco  — Why the Economy Is Still Such a Mess: Banks Won't Give Loans to Small Businesses …

Obama 2012: 'Osama Bin Laden Will Never Again Walk the Face of This Earth.  That's What Change Is.'  —  At a campaign event this evening at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C., President Obama indicated that he had successfully brought about “change”—an ambiguous 2008 campaign promise …

Man in custody after shootout with police in Alabama City  —  A man thought to be an Islamic extremist is believed to have shot the windows out of at least two businesses in Alabama City early Sunday to lure police officers to the area and engage them in a shootout.

A Contradiction, Without Comment  —  Without issuing an explanation, yesterday the Supreme Court upheld a federal law banning resident aliens from making campaign contributions.  It is regrettable but perhaps telling that the Court chose not to explain why it agreed with the lower court …