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The Left Column

CLOWN CAR UPDATE

The Caucuses Are Here! Cue A Bunch Of Desperate Twits Yelling "You're Too Liberal" At One Another

CNN - Ron Paul dinged rival Rick Santorum Monday for being a "very liberal" candidate, saying the former Pennsylvania senator and staunch social conservative voted for too much spending during his time in Congress. Meanwhile... Rick Santorum, who's been knocking "pundits" lately for long dismissing his now-surging candidacy, took specific aim Monday at his old employer, Fox News. "I've seen the media completely try to shape this race," Santorum told radio host Mike Gallagher. "It's not just the liberal media. It's also Fox News. Bill O'Reilly has refused to put me on his program. As far as he was concerned, I wasn't a worthy enough candidate to earn a spot to sit across from him and be on his program."

HAHAHA!! Ron Paul calls Dick Santorum "Very Liberal" while Dick calls Fox News "Liberal"

A PIECE OF MITT

One Day Early, Romney Calls Iowa For Romney

The Ticket - Appearing before a jubilant crowd at a rally here, Mitt Romney appeared to predict a victory in Tuesday's Iowa caucuses - surprising his own advisers in the process. "We're going to win this thing with all of our passion and strength and do everything we can to get this campaign on the right track to go across the nation and pick up other states, to get the ballots I need, the votes I need, to become our nominee," the former Massachusetts governor declared. His statement, delivered in the final moments of a rally in a city that Romney overwhelmingly won back in 2008, took his campaign advisers by surprise.

Mitt Romney on Iowa: "We're going to win this thing"

A TASTE OF SANTORUM

Santorum Goes Full Racist

Raw Story - Speaking to Republicans in Iowa on Monday, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) said his administration would reform welfare to the point that it would offer no welfare at all. After suggesting that an expansion of Medicare is really just a plot to make voters more "dependent" on Washington, Santorum added: "I don't want to make black people's lives better by giving them other people's money." One thing he likely overlooked: white Americans account for the largest percentage of welfare payments each month, mostly because they make up the largest sector of the population.

Santorum tells Iowans: "I don't want to make black people's lives better"

CLOWN CAR UPDATE

Lazy GOP Candidates Out Of Luck In Virginia

National Journal - Virginia's top lawyer on Sunday announced he will not proceed with his plan to file emergency legislation to change the Virginia law that has kept most of the GOP candidates off the primary ballot, the Richmond-Times Dispatch reports. "I obviously feel very strongly that Virginia needs to change its ballot-access requirements for our statewide elections," Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said in a statement. "However, after working through different scenarios with Republican and Democratic leaders to attempt to make changes in time for the 2012 presidential election, my concern grows that we cannot find a way to make such changes fair to the Romney and Paul campaigns that qualified even with Virginia's burdensome system.

Virginia Attorney General Drops Effort to Get GOP Candidates on Primary Ballot

A TASTE OF SANTORUM

Pizza Ranch Manager Fails To Google Candidate

TPM - A Pizza Ranch manager in Boone, Iowa, has renamed the restaurant's chicken salad "Santorum Salad," after Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum.

"Santorum Salad" added to restaurant menu. No, this is not a joke.

BYE BYE BACHMANN

Sinking Bachmann Compares Herself To Margaret Thatcher

AP - Desperate for a late lift in Iowa, Republican Michele Bachmann is increasingly stressing a distinction in the presidential field: She's the only woman competing for the nomination. The Minnesota congresswoman has made the gender card central to her closing argument. She's urging voters to embrace the idea of a "strong woman in the White House" and is molding herself as "America's Iron Lady" in the vein of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Bachmann plays gender card as Iowa GOP vote nears

A TASTE OF SANTORUM

People With No Apparent Self-Control Endorse Santorum

USA Today - Rick Santorum is getting a boost today from the Duggars, the family featured on the TLC reality show, 19 Kids and Counting. Jim Bob Duggar, the family patriarch, campaigned with the former Pennsylvania senator today at a pizza parlor in Boone "asking Christians in America to get behind Santorum."

Reality TV's Duggars endorse Rick Santorum

THE GASBAG DEFLATES

Gingrich: The Anti-Comeback Kid

Politico - The high water mark of Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign may have been Nov. 27, the day the New Hampshire Union Leader endorsed his candidacy for president. The famously conservative paper's endorsement was a priceless gift. The former House Speaker proceeded to squander it. In doing so, Gingrich revealed that he learned all the wrong lessons from his campaign's collapse this summer and none of the right ones from his remarkable comeback.

How Newt Gingrich blew it: An Iowa road map