Poll: Obama holds edge over GOP hopefuls  —  CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto.  —  President Obama holds a significant lead over each of his potential Republican opponents in the general election …

Romney's electability argument weakening?  —  One thing that has remained constant in the ever changing GOP Presidential race is that Mitt Romney is the strongest candidate against Barack Obama...at least until now.  PPP's newest national poll finds Romney trailing Obama by 7 points at 49-42 …

Rick Santorum Wants to Fight ‘The Dangers Of Contraception’  —  Candidates often say things when polling in the single digits that come back to haunt them when they start leading the polls.  Last October, Rick Santorum gave an interview with an Evangelical blog called Caffeinated Thoughts …

Alan Dershowitz: Media Matters could become Rev. Wright of 2012 for Obama  —  Liberal Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz says Media Matters could become the Rev. Jeremiah Wright of 2012 for the Obama campaign if the White House and the Democratic Party don't clearly distance themselves from the organization.

Preschooler's Homemade Lunch Replaced with Cafeteria “Nuggets”  —  State agent inspects sack lunches, forces preschoolers to purchase cafeteria food instead  —  RAEFORD — A preschooler at West Hoke Elementary School ate three chicken nuggets for lunch Jan. 30 because a state employee told …

When STDs Are Untreatable  —  One of the first places that penicillin ended up being used was to cure the rampant STD infections among US troops.  The infections were a serious problem for armies in the pre-antibiotic era, which produced some pretty amazing propaganda aimed at persuading soldiers …

CPAC: Not Quite Like the Media Matters Communications Room.  But Still, Grow Up.  —  UPDATE: Melissa Clouthier has taken on the task of writing the same point about the young women, too many of whom were even more scantily clad than some of Fox News hosts.  —  Stephen Glass was a fabulist.

Pressure mounting for GOP caucus reconsideration  —  AUGUSTA, Maine — Pressure is on the Maine Republican Party to reconsider its weekend declaration that Mitt Romney won the state's caucuses.  —  The Maine GOP announced Saturday that Romney narrowly edged Ron Paul, 39 percent to 36 percent …

People Are Human  —  David Brooks is unhappy with the turn the conversation over the white working class has taken; that's his right, although I think he's caricaturing my position.  But I do want to make a point about the nature of social explanation.  —  David says, … True enough.

Oliver Stone's son converts to Islam in Iran  —  US filmmaker Sean Stone, son of Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone, converted to Islam on Tuesday in Iran, where he is making a documentary, he told AFP.  —  “The conversion to Islam is not abandoning Christianity or Judaism, which I was born with.

Christie's Valentines Message To Gays In New Jersey: Your Marriages Are ‘A Good Bunch Of Theater’  —  New Jersey governor Chris Christie (R) described yesterday's vote in favor of marriage equality in the state Senate as “a good bunch of theater” and predicted that the legislature …

Obama's epic blunder on birth-control mandate  —  Before Barack Obama can defeat his opponents, he must first be rescued from his friends.  —  Some of them are now suggesting that his contraceptive mandate on religious institutions was a skilled political stratagem.

Facing objections from left and right, Boehner splits up transportation bill  —  Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Tuesday moved to split up a major House transportation bill as Republicans looked to smooth its passage over objections from the right and left.

Despite birth control controversy, Obama suffers no erosion among Catholics  —  Since the birth control controversy broke, it has been an article of faith among even some neutral commentators that the battle would cause Obama to lose crucial support among Catholic swing voters.

Payroll tax cut, unemployment benefits: Tentative deal reached  —  Congressional leaders broke an impasse Tuesday that threatened both the finances of millions of Americans and further damage to an institution that couldn't drop much lower in public esteem.  —  A tentative deal reached …

The George Washington Candidate  —  For a time, it looked as though Newt Gingrich would be the Romney alternative that the religious right and Tea Partiers would coalesce around.  Now Rick Santorum has taken that spot after a string of victories in primaries last week and a huge rise in national polls.

Republicans Send Valentine's Day Cards To Obama And Democrats  —  Partisan and funny.  “This Valentine's Day, love is definitely in the air at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  President Obama is in love with making speeches, spending money we don't have and campaigning non-stop to save …

Exclusive: Yahoo Asia Deal Talks Off for Now  —  According to sources close to the situation, the discussions between Yahoo and its Asian partners have hit a potentially deal-breaking impasse over the efficacy of the centerpiece of the complex negotiations — a cash-rich split-off — and several other issues.

FIFTY MEDICAL DOCTORS FOR SINGLE PAYER URGE SUPREME COURT TO STRIKE DOWN INDIVIDUAL MANDATE  —  Fifty medical doctors who favor a single payer health insurance system today urged the US Supreme Court to strike down the individual mandate.  —  In a brief filed with the Court …

Fox News ‘course correction’ rankles some  —  As a white, male, middle-aged conservative talk radio host from Virginia, John Fredericks is something close to the Platonic ideal of a Fox News fan.  —  And until last year, he was one.  But then Fox's treatment of the Republican primary race …

California's high-income taxpayers dropped sharply  —  Gov. Jerry Brown wants to hit California's highest-income taxpayers with billions of dollars in new taxes, and is jousting with other groups with their own tax-the-rich measures over which, if any, will win voter approval.