Amazing though it seems, there won't be another major GOP debate until after the Iowa caucuses. This means we almost certainly won't see at least one (and maybe more) of the contenders on stage next time. It also meant that in last night's debate they had to make a good last impression. So how did they do? Benjy Sarlin sums it up in 100 seconds.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is certainly raising money like a man who expects to face the voters of his state soon.
He's put a cool $5.1 million in the bank since the summer, much of it since the recall drive against him was officially launched last month. And $250k of it has come from Bob Perry -- he of Swift Boat Veterans For Truth infamy.
Top Republican says payroll tax holiday is a terrible idea but he'll vote for it if enough goodies are attached.
Benjy Sarlin reports that Democrats are piling onto Romney for his comments suggesting that he didn't get "all that government stuff"... That stuff being things like the differences between Medicare and Medicaid.
The irony is there's plenty of reason to believe Romney did know those differences, and that what was meant to be an attempt at folksiness has exploded into yet another out of touch moment.
It's gut check time for the Dems on the Hill. McConnell says include Keystone XL or no payroll tax agreement.
Amid the ongoing controversy over the 'Fast and Furious' gun-walking scandal, the NRA has been pushing a much more outlandish conspiracy theory -- that the Obama administration created the program to lay the groundwork for taking away Americans' 2nd Amendment rights. And now Hill Republicans are starting to buy into that conspiracy theory.
This is the last day to get us your nominations for this year's Golden Duke Awards. Those are our annual awards honoring great achievement in scandal, public corruption and all sorts of villainy and betrayals of the public trust. You must have someone in mind, right? Click here to see the categories we're accepting nominations for and how to nominate your favorite.
A scandal involving misuse of government funds has had the side effect of forcing Southhaven, Mississippi Mayor Greg Davis out of the closet. (Southhaven is a suburb of Memphis and Mississippi's third-largest city.) Receipts from a gay sex shop in Canada, revealed by a FOIA request, forced Davis to admit that he is gay.
Said Davis, in an interview with the Commercial Appeal: "At this point in my life and in my career, while I have tried to maintain separation between my personal and public life, it is obvious that this can no longer remain the case. While I have performed my job as mayor, in my opinion, as a very conservative, progressive individual -- and still continue to be a very conservative individual -- I think that it is important that I discuss the struggles I have had over the last few years when I came to the realization that I am gay."
Congressional leaders come up with a deal to prevent a government shutdown. Game-playing continues on payroll tax holiday.
The 'Stop Online Piracy Act' grinds its way through committee. So far not a single amendment proposed by critics has passed. Here's what to expect today.
Newt goes nice, nice, nice in debate post-game.
Vanity Fair just tweeted that Christopher Hitchens has died. 1949-2011.
I find it hard to judge who did well and who didn't in this debate because it comes against a backdrop of public opinion that is in deep flux. There was a lot of evidence in the polls over the last couple days that support for Newt Gingrich has peaked and is starting to drop. And Mitt Romney's unwillingness to attack Newt head-on suggests that his team suspects Newt is already in free-fall. If that's the case maybe Mitt did well by just playing it safe. We'll find out more on that front soon enough.
Read More →Did you miss it? Here's the Debate in 100 Seconds.
10:43 PM: I think Mitt is doing halfway well in fighting back against this fusillade from Chris Wallace. But just how is very hard to figure. Romney has this fugue of words, which together just make no sense at all. Or perhaps it's that each sentence makes logical sense but together the sentences amount to complete nonsense. And yet at the end of the statement, Mitt decides it all makes sense.
10:51 PM: That was a fascinating moment with the heckler. Did everyone see the Fox News security forces scramble to take him out?
The big moment of the debate so far -- when Bachmann put Newt on his heels over Freddie Mac and influence peddling. After the jump ...
Read More →10:14 PM: Ron Paul in prime primal scream mode. But hard not to make sense arguing against a dingbat like Michele Bachmann.
10:16 PM: Axelrod tweets response to Mitt: "Wonder if bin Laden and demolished AQ leadership agree with Mitt that President Obama is timid on national security?"
10:20 PM: Feel like this debate has kind of gone off the rails for the last 45 minutes or so.
10:21 PM: Newt starts having fun. Opens up the full Newt lexicon. Brings down the house.
10:24 PM: Huntsmanspeak is like the anti-dog whistle in these debates. I'm not even sure the audience can hear him speaking.
10:27 PM: If a Rick Perry speaks coherently in the forest but no one hears, did it happen?
Dems and Republicans clinch payroll tax holiday deal to avert government shutdown.
9:58 PM: Anything happen yet?
10:01 PM: Headline from email just out from Bachmann: "K-Street Gingrich: Washington Insider, Crony Capitalist, Unreliable Conservative"
9:29 PM: Newt totally ducked the question. But it seemed to work for him. Meanwhile, Mitt's answer was totally incoherent. Not sure if it will help Newt at this point. But he's brought his A-game.
9:34 PM: Bachmann is far and away the first to lay a glove on Gingrich.
9:37 PM: Politifact just shot down Bachmann's claims about what Politifact said. Too bad Politifact is so lame.
9:40 PM: Hearing folks point out that Mitt's team must really think Newt's sinking fast because he's really not going after Newt at all.
9:42 PM: Sheesh. What happened to Rick Perry? Like someone jammed him with an Epi-pin or something.
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