Santorum Catches Up With Romney in New Poll  —  After his surprise triple victories in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri, Rick Santorum has begun soaring among Republican primary voters, erasing Mitt Romney's lead in the race for the party's presidential nomination.

Media Matters memo called for hiring private investigators ‘to look into the personal lives’ of Fox employees  —  A little after 1 p.m. on Sept. 29, 2009, Karl Frisch emailed a memo to his bosses, Media Matters for America founder David Brock and president Eric Burns.

Apple, Suppliers Test Tablet With Smaller Screen  —  By By LORRAINE LUK in Taipei and JESSICA E. VASCELLARO in San Francisco  —  TAIPEI-Apple Inc. is working with component suppliers in Asia to test a new tablet computer with a smaller screen, people familiar with the situation said …

House GOP leaders drop demand that payroll tax cut be offset  —  House Republicans said Monday that they would offer a measure to extend the current payroll tax cut for the rest of the year, dropping a previous demand that the tax break be offset.  —  The move marks a sharp turnaround for GOP leaders …

Protesters Shout Down Santorum As He Speaks Against Marriage Equality In Washington State  —  Occupy Wall Street protesters nearly drowned out Rick Santorum for 44 minutes as he tried to deliver remarks at the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma, Washington on Monday night.

WBUR Poll: Brown, Warren Running Neck And Neck In Senate Race  —  BOSTON — A new WBUR-MassINC poll shows U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren running neck and neck.  Forty-six percent of people polled said they would vote for Warren compared to 43 percent for Brown.

Romney op-ed: Taxpayers should get GM shares' proceeds  —  Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney campaigns in Portland, Maine.  The candidate contends that the Obama administration should sell its ownership in GM and return the money to taxpayers.  (Robert F. Bukaty / Associated Press)

Political Punch — “Dogs Against Romney”?  Democrats Say Unleash the Hound!  —  Tomorrow outside the Westminster dog show at Madison Square Garden at noon the group “Dogs Against Romney” will protest “to ensure pet lovers are aware that Mitt Romney is mean to dogs,” according to the group's press release.

Thank you! … Rating Action: Moody's adjusts ratings of 9 European sovereigns to capture downside risks  —  As anticipated in November 2011, Moody's Investors Service has today adjusted the sovereign debt ratings of selected EU countries in order to reflect their susceptibility …

Republican Women Senators Breaking Ranks With Party, Come Out In Favor Of Obama Contraception Rule  —  While GOP senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has pledged to fight the Obama's administration's modified regulation requiring health insurers and busnisses to offer contraception …

TPMDC  —  How Obama's Budget Throws A Big Punch At The GOP  —  President Obama's fiscal year 2013 budget envisions the economy healing steadily after years of hemorrhaging and stagnation — and key government services surviving mostly despite the violence done to the federal ledger by the Bush tax cuts …

Police: Iranian blows off legs in Bangkok blast  —  BANGKOK (AP) — An Iranian man carrying grenades blew off his own legs and wounded four civilians in a trio of blasts that shook a busy Bangkok neighborhood on Tuesday, Thai authorities said.  —  The explosions came a day after an Israeli diplomatic car …

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 …

Obama hikes subsidy to wealthy electric car buyers  —  The White House intends to boost government subsidies for wealthy buyers of the Chevy Volt and other new-technology vehicles — to $10,000 per buyer.  —  That mammoth subsidy would cost taxpayers $100 million each year if it is approved by Congress …

Norquist: Romney Will Do As Told  —  Is Mitt Romney so weak he won't be able to stand up to Congress?  —  Grover Norquist, head of the Americans for Tax Reform advocacy group, speaks at a session entitled “Scrap the Code: Towards Pro-Growth Tax Reform” at the conservative Americans for Prosperity …

The Bishops' Obsession With The Sex Lives Of Others  —  They've been dominating the news, haven't they?  And they are prepared to go down screaming over contraception in health insurance plans handled between patient and insurer.  Letters were read recently in every parish.

Clinton: We need Assad's consent to put troops in Syria  —  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had a clear and unified message coming out of their meeting in Washington, D.C. Monday: They are looking for a political solution in Syria …