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 …

“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 …

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 …

Romney blasts Gingrich over attacks on debate moderators, news media  —  Mitt Romney attacked his GOP presidential rival Newt Gingrich over what has to date been one Gingrich's most effective debate methods - going after the moderators and the media for questions he deems inappropriate.

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 …

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.

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.

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 …

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?

Newt slams Romney's ‘world of Swiss bank accounts’  —  Via Ginger Gibson in Miami — if you thought the tax return issue was over and done with, think again:

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.

Fidel Castro: GOP race is ‘idiocy, ignorance’  —  The Republican presidential race is “the greatest competition of idiocy and ignorance that has ever been,” former Cuban president Fidel Castro wrote in an opinion piece on Wednesday.  —  Castro made his comments in his latest column of …

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.

When Gingrich Tried, and Failed, to Intimidate Tom Coburn  —  On Twitter today, I've noted that Romney's seeming squeamishness might make him less likely to sell out conservatives as president than Newt Gingrich.  It's far from the most inspiring rallying cry, but I conclude …

Will Israel Attack Iran?  —  As the Sabbath evening approached on Jan. 13, Ehud Barak paced the wide living-room floor of his home high above a street in north Tel Aviv, its walls lined with thousands of books on subjects ranging from philosophy and poetry to military strategy.