Ryan, Rubio plot GOP's path  —  Paul Ryan took an unmistakable shot Tuesday at Mitt Romney's assertion that 47 percent of Americans would never vote Republican because they are too dependent on government.  —  “Both parties tend to divide Americans into ‘our voters’ and ‘their voters,’” …

Fox News Puts Karl Rove on the Bench  —  The post-election soul searching going on inside the Republican Party is taking place inside Fox News as well.  Fox News chief Roger Ailes, a canny marketer and protector of his network's brand, has been taking steps since November to reposition Fox …

Republicans not handling election results well  —  PPP's first post election national poll finds that Republicans are taking the results pretty hard...and also declining in numbers.  —  49% of GOP voters nationally say they think that ACORN stole the election for President Obama.

Obama to stress need to raise debt limit “without drama”  —  (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will renew his case for tax hikes on wealthy Americans to avert a year-end fiscal crunch and call for a smooth increase in the nation's borrowing limit in a speech to a business group on Wednesday, a White House official said.

Hillary Clinton Wins High Popularity, Majority Support for a 2016 Bid  —  Carried by a new high in personal popularity and broad approval of her work as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton closes out her diplomatic career with majority support as a candidate for president in 2016.

Detroit councilwoman to Obama: We voted for you, now bail us out  —  DETROIT (WJBK) — The city of Detroit faces a major financial crisis and one member of city council thinks President Barack Obama should step in and help.  —  City Council member JoAnn Watson said Tuesday the citizens support …

Ohio Senator Confronted By Constituents Over Support For Medicare And Social Security Cuts  —  Ohio Senator Rob Portman (R) was one of a handful of Washington, D.C lawmakers and policy experts invited to participate in a panel discussion on the fiscal cliff on Tuesday morning …

Adelson to Keep Betting on the GOP  —  LAS VEGAS—After spending more than $100 million mostly on losing Republican election campaigns this year, casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson said he planned to stay in the game and double down on his political donations.

Praised Be the Glorious Sovereigntists Who Protect the U.S.A. from.... from.... wait, what?  —  I've blogged on occasion about the development of a sovereigntist lobby that reflexively opposes all treaties because they erode U.S. sovereignty.  For these people, any infringement on American sovereignty …

In Tax Fight, Republicans Seeking Fallback Position  —  WASHINGTON — With President Obama insisting on higher tax rates for affluent Americans and winning public support for the idea, Congressional Republicans find themselves in an increasingly difficult political spot and are quietly beginning the difficult search for a way out.

Obama: I'm willing to horse-trade  —  President Obama rejected Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) $2.2 trillion deficit-reduction proposal on Tuesday while signaling he could consider entitlement reforms if congressional Republicans agree to higher tax rates for upper-income households.

Anguished fotog: Critics are unfair to condemn me  —  Ki Suk Han, 58, of Queens frantically tries to climb to safety yesterday as a train bears down on him in Midtown.  He was fatally struck seconds later. … I was on an assignment, waiting for a train at the 49th Street subway platform, when I suddenly heard people gasping.

How The Voter ID Crusade Backfired On Republicans  —  The Republican push to make it more difficult to vote this year — seen by many as a racially tinged attempt to keep Democratic turnout down — could not have failed more spectacularly, a top African American activist told a left-leaning think tank Tuesday.

Democrats to Obamaland: Share your data  —  The hottest property to emerge from Barack Obama's lopsided victory over Mitt Romney is not the president's much lauded campaign team.  Nor is it the shrewd turnout operation that catapulted him to victory.  —  It is something far more valuable that's …

Dick Armey, FreedomWorks president clashed over book deal  —  Dick Armey left the deep-pocketed tea party group he helped build over a clash with a top lieutenant who Armey and others in the organization believed was using the group's resources to pad his pockets, POLITICO has learned.

A Good Deal Will Raise Tax Rates, Fix Entitlements  —  Although it isn't yet time to panic about the fiscal cliff, negotiations so far aren't exactly going well.  The Republicans are committing themselves to an unsustainable principle of no marginal tax-rate increases whatsoever.

French sperm count ‘falls by a third’  —  Chemicals, diet and lifestyle may lower sperm count  —  The sperm count of French men fell by a third between 1989 and 2005, a study suggests.  —  The semen of more than 26,600 French men was tested in the study, reported in the journal Human Reproduction.

47% Of People Think The Deficit Would INCREASE If We Go Over The Fiscal Cliff  —  As the Fiscal Cliff fight rages on, both sides are using the media to position themselves as being serious and reasonable.  —  One big factor is that for all the hype about the issue, very few people really understand what The Fiscal Cliff actually is..