Obama Said to Name Jack Lew to Replace Geithner at Treasury  —  Obama Said to Name Lew Tomorrow to Replace Geithner  —  President Barack Obama plans to name White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew tomorrow as his choice for Treasury secretary, replacing Timothy F. Geithner, a person familiar with the process said.

Rage Against the Coin  —  (From Talking Points Memo).  —  Well, the trillion-dollar-coin thing — deal with the debt ceiling by exploiting a legal loophole to have the Treasury mint one or more large-denomination coins, deposit them at the Fed, and use the cash in the new account to pay bills — has really taken off.

In U.S., Democrats Re-Establish Lead in Party Affiliation  —  In 2012, 47% identified or leaned Democratic, 42% Republican  —  PRINCETON, NJ — An average of 47% of Americans identified as Democrats or said they were independents who leaned Democratic in 2012, compared with 42% who identified as or leaned Republican.

Hagel pick: Final snub of George W. Bush  —  The final insult to George W. Bush's foreign policy may have come in the form of a Republican ex-senator from Nebraska.  —  Chuck Hagel's nomination for secretary of defense has stirred opposition on both the left and the right …

At 100, still little love for Nixon  —  Richard Nixon would have turned 100 Wednesday, but about the only people marking the occasion are historians, family members and loyalists from the disgraced 37th president's administration.  —  And even they're slowly dying off.

McConnell to take entitlement talks lead, Boehner in back seat  —  Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell is poised to play a bigger role in negotiations to reform entitlement programs in the wake of the tax deal he helped forge last week.  —  Lawmakers see the passage of a bill to extend …

Transcript of Nate Silver's ‘Ask Me Anything’ on Reddit  —  Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight took questions Tuesday on the popular social news site Reddit's “Ask Me Anything” section.  What follows is an edited transcript, with the questions and answers sorted into several subject areas.

Why can't Republicans enforce law against Harry Reid?  —  WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 11: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) arrrives for a weekly policy luncheon with Democratic members of the U.S. Senate December 11, 2012 in Washington, DC.  The U.S. Congress is still negotiating pending …

Ferry Crashes in Lower Manhattan, Dozens Injured  —  A rush hour commuter ferry with more than 300 passengers aboard crashed Wednesday as it approached a Wall Street pier, injuring more than 50 people, police said.  —  Officials had initially said the injuries were minor …

Chuck Hagel Expanded On ‘Aggressively Gay’ Slur In 1998  —  Then-Sen. Chuck Hagel's remark to the Omaha World-Herald in 1998 that Clinton ambassadorial nominee James Hormel was “openly aggressively gay” was only a part of what Hagel told the paper about his opposition to Hormel's nomination.

Can Chris Christie rescue the GOP?  —  A pair of polls out this week shows the dire state the Republican Party finds itself in — and a way out of the wilderness, should Republicans choose to take it.  —  Poll No. 1: Rasmussen Reports found that views of the tea party …

Scalpers hawking members' inaugural tickets online  —  Free presidential inauguration tickets given out by Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Sen Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and other lawmakers are being hawked online for thousands of dollars.  —  The scalping of the tickets technically is not illegal …

DC Sex Workers Prepare for Huge Influx of Inauguration Partiers  —  If you require the services of a stripper or dominatrix over inauguration weekend, be prepared to pay extra.  —  Image by Shutterstock  —  When Steve Baker talks about the inauguration, he gets a little giddy.

Iowa lawmaker calls for retroactive gun ban, confiscation of semi-automatic weapons  —  In an interview with the Daily Times Herald in Caroll, Iowa, state Rep. Dan Muhlbauer said governments should start confiscating semi-automatic rifles and other firearms.

Not Even Close: 2012 Was Hottest Ever in U.S.  —  The numbers are in: 2012, the year of a surreal March heat wave, a severe drought in the Corn Belt and a huge storm that caused broad devastation in the Middle Atlantic States, turns out to have been the hottest year ever recorded in the contiguous United States.

Now Gossip site Gawker publishes names of ALL licensed gun owners in New York City  —  A gossip site has taken the controversial decision to post the name of every licensed gun owner in New York City online as the debate over gun control rages on.  —  Gawker posted the list of names, which is already publicly available, today.

Employers, educators search for answers to technical jobs issue  —  RACINE COUNTY — The challenge of finding good employees is so long-standing and pervasive that Racine Metal-Fab has revised its hiring approach.  —  “If we see behaviors we don't like, we fire faster and hire slower,” …

Shimon Peres on Obama, Iran and the Path to Peace  —  Referring to the continuing tension between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama, Peres said: “I cannot tell you what Bibi's considerations are on the subject of Iran.  I am not his spokesman and also not [Defense Minister Ehud] Barak's.

Barney Frank: Why I want to be senator  —  Former Rep. Barney Frank says it was the year-end standoff over the fiscal cliff that prompted him to seek an appointment to John Kerry's Senate seat and then to go public with hopes for his next career move.  —  Asked why he changed his mind …