First on CNN: Key social conservatives secretly meet to stop Romney in Iowa  —  Des Moines, Iowa (CNN) — Representatives for leading social conservative groups in Iowa held a secret meeting Monday as part of an effort with one main goal: find and support a Republican presidential candidate who can stop Mitt Romney in Iowa.

German Bond Auction Fails  —  A year ago, Germany and France could probably have saved the euro—at least for a time—by stepping in to guarantee all the debts of the peripheral euro zone nations.  To be sure, this would have created quite a lot of other problems, but it would have saved their banks and their currency union.

Team Romney Crows About That Obama Ad: “It Worked” … - Spitzer: How Obama Can Make the Bush Tax Cuts a Winning Campaign Issue  — Why Tiny Thanksgiving Dinners Are Better Than Huge Ones - Exuberant, Sunny, Not a Bit Snarky: The Joy of the New Muppets Movie

Medicare chief Don Berwick steps down in standoff with GOP senators over his confirmation  —  WASHINGTON — The point man for carrying out President Barack Obama's health care law will be stepping down after Republicans succeeded in blocking his confirmation by the Senate, an official said Wednesday.

Robertson: “What Is This ‘Mac And Cheese,’ Is That A Black Thing?”  —  Pat Robertson continued to amuse on The 700 Club today, asking host Kristi Watts following her interview with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, “What is this ‘mac and cheese,’ is that a black thing?”

Molotov madman who said on YouTube he would bomb Macy's is out of jail and back at Zuccotti Park  —  Nkrumah Tinsley is bailed out by Occupy Wall Street movement and has rejoined protest  —  Activist Nkrumah Tinsley, who was arrested last week after he appeared on video making terrorist threats including …

Katehi: Campus police were told not to use force against students  —  As the tent city on the University of California, Davis, tripled in size, Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi insisted Tuesday that the school's police department defied her orders when it used force against students in last week's pepper-spray fiasco.

Wonkbook: The GOP's dual-trigger nightmare  —  Imagine if the Democrats offered Republicans a deficit deal that had more than $3 in tax increases for every $1 in spending cuts, assigned most of those spending cuts to the Pentagon, and didn't take a dime from Social Security, Medicaid or Medicare beneficiaries.

Michele Bachmann Demands Apology From NBC for Vulgar Song Played During Her Appearance on ‘Late Night With Jimmy Fallon’  —  GOP candidate Michele Bachmann joined America's Newsroom Wednesday morning and addressed the controversy surrounding her appearance on 'Late Night With Jimmy Fallon …

Debunking Obama's So-Called Leadership Failure  —  Various fiscal scolds have been scolding President Obama for failing to use his mind-control powers to force Republicans to accept a tax hike.  Michael Bloomberg sadly attributes the failure of the supercommittee to agree on reducing the deficit to a failure of “leadership.”

Democrats get big win with Texas court's redistricting map  —  A Texas court released its congressional redistricting plan for the next election cycle, a major victory for Democrats and Latinos who had protested a GOP-drawn map that squeezed both groups.  —  The new map will likely give …

Cross removed at base in Afghanistan  —  A large cross that had been prominently displayed outside a chapel on an isolated military base in northern Afghanistan was taken down last week, prompting outrage from some American service members stationed there.  —  “We are here away from our families …

CNN Poll: Blue collar Democrats' support for Obama drops  —  Washington (CNN) - Although President Barack Obama's overall approval rating remains steady, his standing among Democrats, and in particular among blue-collar Democrats, appears to have dropped, according to a new national survey.

Sarkozy: Europe's “Liquidity Run” Has Begun Because There Is An Unsolvable $30 Trillion Problem  —  No, not that Sarkozy.  His half-brother - the one who actually can use a calculator.  In an interview on CNBC, the Carlyle group head had the temerity to tell the truth, the whole truth …

The GOP needs a brokered convention  —  New rules mean Romney's rivals can save the party from an unpopular nominee  —  Mitt Romney and the candidates of the Not Mitt Romney movement (Credit: Chris Keane / Reuters)  —  It has been a tumultuous year for those eager to handicap the 2012 GOP race for president.

Jon Huntsman declares war on big banks and Too Big To Fail  —  With a brand new proposal, Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman is the only GOP 2012er to have moved beyond “repeal Dodd Frank” (which sounds like a return-to-the-status-quo) and fashioned a serious and comprehensive — and bold — financial reform plan.