Florida shows perils of Gingrich for GOP  —  If the Newt surge persists over the next few months the biggest winner is going to be Barack Obama.  We can see that pretty clearly in our newest Florida poll.  —  If Mitt Romney's the Republican nominee, Obama's in a lot of trouble in the Sunshine State.

How Republicans are being taught to talk about Occupy Wall Street  —  ORLANDO, Fla. — The Republican Governor's Association met this week in Florida to give GOP state executives a chance to rejuvenate, strategize and team-build.  But during a plenary session on Wednesday, one question kept coming up …

China's Superior Economic Model  —  The free-market fundamentalist economic model is being thrown onto the trash heap of history.  —  Andy Grove, the founder and chairman of Intel, provocatively wrote in Businessweek last year that, “Our fundamental economic beliefs, which we have elevated …

Islamists Say They Have Mandate in Egypt Voting  —  CAIRO — Islamists claimed a decisive victory on Wednesday as early election results put them on track to win a dominant majority in Egypt's first Parliament since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, the most significant step yet …

Huntsman offers a ‘Mittstant Replay’  —  Honestly, is there any entity in politics more effective in slamming Mitt Romney than Jon Huntsman's presidential campaign?  —  In this new video, Team Huntsman not only draws additional attention to Romney's awful interview with Fox News, but also fact-checks Romney's denials about flip-flops.

Michele Bachmann debates same-sex rights with high-school students in Waverly  —  Waverly, Ia.  - Amidst a breezy appearance before an enthusiastic crowd at pizza restaurant here, presidential candidate Michele Bachmann debated two high school students over whether civil rights included the right of same-sex couples to marry.

A Banker Speaks, With Regret  —  If you want to understand why the Occupy movement has found such traction, it helps to listen to a former banker like James Theckston.  He fully acknowledges that he and other bankers are mostly responsible for the country's housing mess.

Barack Obama and blue-collar Pennsylvania voters : Take 2  —  SCRANTON, Pa. — They were never a natural fit.  —  President Barack Obama lost white working-class voters in this Rust Belt state during the 2008 Democratic primary, after describing them as bitter people who “cling” to God and guns.

Cheapest Primary in a Decade Defies Campaign Spending Prediction  —  Even as experts predict that the 2012 presidential race will be the most expensive in U.S. history, a funny thing is happening on the way to the Republican nomination: It's becoming one of the cheapest primaries in a more than a decade.

OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA  —  In response to this letter, written by former general partner of Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, and current Investment Fund Manager at Omega Advisors …

Rick Perry 2012 video: 'I'm Rick Perry and...what's that line again?'  —  Rick Perry is heading to Jay Leno's couch tonight, and he's making the most of it - airing this campaign ad in Iowa, in which he takes on his own “oops” moment from the CNBC debate in which he couldn't remember the third agency he'd cut …

AT&T Response to FCC Staff Report  —  The following may be attributed to Jim Cicconi, AT&T Senior Executive Vice President of External & Legislative Affairs:  —  We expected that the AT&T-T-Mobile transaction would receive careful, considered, and fair analysis.

Bachmann Campaign In Hot Water Over Misuse of Homeschooler Email List  —  The Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators (NICHE) has sent out an email to its members that says Michele Bachmann's campaign uploaded the group's email list into their campaign database without permission.

Unearthed: Gingrich Makes the Case for GSE's on Freddie Mac's Web Site in 2007/2008  —  I'm a little late with this - it's been at least a couple of weeks since Bloomberg broke the story that Newt Gingrich received $1.6 million in consulting fees from Freddie Mac over a decade or so.

The strange GOP embrace of Simpson-Bowles  —  The Republican National Committee today sent out what has to be the strangest press release I've seen in a long while.  The RNC, in turns out, is outraged that President Obama hasn't embraced the Simpson-Bowles debt-reduction plan.

Pawlenty Explains his Campaign-Ending “Obamneycare” Whiff … - Gingrich Is the Only Candidate Who Talks About How He'd Govern the Country.  Good for Him.  - The Senate's Gruesome Decision To Allow the Military To Detain Citizens Without a Trial Forever - The Artist Is Slight …

Raise Taxes on Rich to Reward True Job Creators: Nick Hanauer  —  It is a tenet of American economic beliefs, and an article of faith for Republicans that is seldom contested by Democrats: If taxes are raised on the rich, job creation will stop.  —  Trouble is, sometimes the things that we know to be true are dead wrong.

Gingrich Doubles Down On Child Labor: Poor Kids Should ‘Clean The Bathroom’  —  Conceding ever so slightly to flak he's taken for calling child labor laws “stupid” and suggesting that schools fire janitors and replace with them poor kids, GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich got more specific today …

In High-Profile Matchup, UMass Amherst Poll Finds Elizabeth Warren in Dead Heat with Incumbent Sen. Scott Brown  —  AMHERST, Mass. - A political poll conducted by the University of Massachusetts Amherst finds that Elizabeth Warren, the leading Democrat in the field of challengers …

Group calls for Bush arrest  —  Amnesty International is calling for the arrest of former President George W. Bush while he is travelling overseas in Africa.  —  The human rights group issued a statement Thursday calling for the governments of Ethiopia, Tanzania or Zambia to take the former president into custody.

New Hampshire GOP Speaker Discourages Students From Voting Because They'll Vote ‘Liberal’  —  New Hampshire Speaker William O'Brien (R)  —  As ThinkProgress has been reporting, the slew of unnecessary voter ID laws passed by Republicans in many states this year are a transparent attempt …