CNN/Time Poll: Dead heat in Florida ahead of debate  —  Jacksonville, Florida (CNN) - One day before the final GOP presidential debate in Florida, it's all tied up between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, according to a new survey.  —  A CNN/Time/ORC International Poll also indicates …

Pelosi's office says she has no new dirt on Newt Gingrich  —  Rep. Nancy Pelosi's office on Wednesday said the minority leader doesn't have any dirt on Newt Gingrich.  —  Pelosi has suggested in two interviews that she knows something that could prevent Gingrich from becoming president …

“My Message is Simple”: Obama's SOTU Written at 8th Grade Level for Third Straight Year  —  Obama's SOTU addresses have the lowest average Flesch-Kincaid score of any modern president; Obama owns three of the six lowest-scoring addresses since FDR  —  For the third consecutive State of the Union Address …

Watch Mitt Spin: Romney Claims His Real Tax Rate Is ‘Closer To 45 Or 50 Percent’  —  During an interview with Univision, Romney was pressed on whether it was fair for him to pay about 13 percent of his income in taxes — as he did in 2010, according to his recently released tax returns — when many middle class families pay far more.

Geithner: Obama Wouldn't Ask Me to Stay in a Second Term  —  Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said he doesn't expect President Barack Obama to ask him to stay in office if he's re-elected, and dismissed Wall Street's concerns about financial regulations.

Gingrich and Reagan  —  In the increasingly rough Republican campaign, no candidate has wrapped himself in the mantle of Ronald Reagan more often than Newt Gingrich.  “I worked with President Reagan to change things in Washington,” “we helped defeat the Soviet empire,” and …

Wonkbook: Five policies to watch from Obama's State of the Union  —  Last night's State of the Union will not take a place alongside Barack Obama's 2008 speech on race.  It won't be mentioned in the same breath as his 2004 speech in Boston.  It didn't even have the intellectual scope …

Awkward Family Photos: Mitt Laundry  —  Mitt Romney's hurdle in winning the love/respect/admiration/fear of his party can be summed up in one photo: It was taken by his son, Tagg (doesn't Sarah Palin have a kid with that name?) and put on Twitter this week.  It's of Romney and his wife Ann …

State of the Republicans  —  Gail Collins: David, I have to apologize.  For the last few weeks I was somewhat snarky about my having more faith than you did in the Republican voters being too sane to nominate Newt Gingrich.  My confidence in their rationality was, at best, premature.

Obama's Schneiderman Gambit: Financial Fraud Unit Appears Designed to Fail, Grease Skids for Foreclosure Fraud Settlement  —  I'll pepper in my thoughts on the State of the Union Address throughout the day, but I would be remiss if I didn't start with the announcement of a Unit on Mortgage Origination …

Who Is Sheldon Adelson, the Gingrich Super PAC's Billionaire Backer?  —  The casino magnate is reshaping the 2012 presidential race, just as he did the landscapes of Las Vegas and Macau.  —  The shadowy billionaire bankrolling Newt Gingrich's super PAC is a Las Vegas casino magnate who's given tens …

When Fact Checkers Go Bad...Very Bad  —  OMG...this is beyond preposterous.  —  Politifact—the self-anointed fact checkers—grade this statement from the President speech tonight as “half-true:” … This is not half true or two-thirds true.  It is just true.  —  So why, I ask you, why do they go where they go?

Santorum hints at leaving FL before Tuesday primary  —  NAPLES, FL — Failing to show early signs of momentum in the Sunshine State, presidential hopeful Rick Santorum on Wednesday signaled he may be cutting out of Florida before the state's Jan. 31 primary.

American hostage in Somalia rescued by US Navy SEALs in overnight raid  —  WASHINGTON — In a daring nighttime raid Tuesday, U.S. Navy SEALs rescued two hostages, including one American, who were being held by kidnappers in Somalia, U.S. officials tell NBC News.

GOP prepares bill to replace Obama's Supreme Court-bound healthcare law  —  House Republicans will be ready with a plan to replace President Obama's healthcare law once the Supreme Court determines the law's fate this summer, Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) told reporters Wednesday.

Female driver who defied Saudi motoring ban dies in fatal road accident  —  A woman who defied a driving ban on female motorists in Saudi Arabia has died in a car crash.  —  Another was hurt in the crash in the only country in the world where females are banned from getting behind the wheel.

House Democrats spell Keystone ‘K-O-C-H’  —  House Democrats are using the billionaire Koch brothers to score political points in their fight against the Keystone XL oil pipeline.  —  Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) suggested at a hearing Wednesday that Koch Industries …