Lest you think that all Tea Party types are joining the bandwagon that’s growing for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich for the 2012 Republican nomination, here’s a bit of news: Christine “I’m Not a Witch” O’Donnell is endorsing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney: Former tea party candidate and U.S. Senate hopeful Christine O’Donnell has cast a, er, endorsement Mitt Romney’s way. O’Donnell, who had indicated she was leaning Romney’s way...

HILLSBORO, Missouri — What if a state held a non-binding Presidential primary and the current front-runner for the Republican Presidential nomination wasn’t on the ballot? That’ll happen in Missouri on March 17 and just weeks ago the always correct (except when it’s wrong) conventional wisdom insisted this illustrated how former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had no “ground game.” And so, it was implied, Gingrich was doomed in his battle against his prime challenger, former Massachusetts...

Let me say at the outset: I think Christiane Amanpour got a bum rap from many critics, partisans and bloggers. She was a highly informed, outward looking and thinking host of ABC’s “This Week” and it was refreshing to see someone on American television whose focus was not soley on our domestic political horse races. That being said, this does not surprise me one bit: Christiane Amanpour is leaving the anchor chair of ABC’s “This Week” and returning to her old network home,...

And so the game of political brinksmanship continues. The House has passed a version of the payroll tax plan that sticks it to President Barack Obama, thus ensuring the continuation of the seemingly nonstop partisan struggle: Another Washington political showdown took shape Tuesday as the House of Representatives passed a Republican plan that would extend the payroll tax cut and speed the process for government approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. The bill, approved on a 234-193 vote largely...

Is Ron Paul — the Republican Party’s REAL maverick — posed to win the Iowa cauces? It sounds that way. A new poll shows him within striking distance of winning and it also underscores a fact that brings bit of deja vu for those who’ve watched the Republican race: all the news in recent weeks has been about the steady ascent of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich as the new Anti-Romney. The poll suggests Gingrich is now starting to lose a bit of ground: There has been some...

This news is like hearing the clown act won’t appear after all. After it became clear that the bulk of Republicans running for President — except former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Senator Rick Santorum — felt appearing at a debate hosted by the modern P.T. Barnum might not help them politically, Donald Trump has “I quit” versus “You’re fired.” He won’t host the debate after all. And now, America, let’s all give a collective...

Our political Quote of the Day comes from Pajamas Media’s Roger L. Simon, who explains why he finds former House Speaker Newt Gingrich so politically attractive as potential head of the GOP ticket in 2012: Now I am not a Beltway person. I am something even worse — a Hollywood & Vine person — so everything I say is suspect and should be. But allow me to chime in on why Newt is attractive to some of us at this juncture. Let’s begin here: America is in a slough of despond. In fact,...

It is getting heated out there in the battle for the 2012 Republican nomination — with signs of if not a party split, then high passions. The latest instance: conservative talker Michael Savage has offered former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, the party’s current front-runner, $1 million to drop out of the race. Savage writes this kind of the way he speaks on his show IN UPPER CASE. Here’s part of it: SAVAGE OFFERS GINGRICH $1 MILLION TO DROP OUT OF THE RACE — WILL ANNOUNCE...

SNL had a satire of MSNBC’s Al Sharpton and his show. The video:

It’s getting hot now in the battle between the former presumptive front-runner for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and the current front-runner who shows signs of not going anywhere and quite possibily going all the way to the Republican nomination, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Today they engaged in an exchange that could portend a)how the rest of their battle will go b)how it’ll play out if one of them — Gingrich in particular...

President Barack Obama was on 60 Minutes last night and the big news tidbit is he claimed that it really didn’t matter who the Republican nominee was since they all think about the same and will be stark contrast to the way he see things. There will likely be commentary and writing about the interview, so rather than tell you what he said, here’s the report so you can watch it in full and make your own decision. The interview is about his record, his leadership or lack of it, his Presidency...

Some new poll results are out and let’s just say it’s good news for Newt Gingrich. I’ll bet Mitt Romney three strings of used dental floss (I don’t have $10,000) that he considers the poll results bad news. And as Andrew Sullivan points out, it’s clear how the Republican establishment must be reacting when the polls pitt Gingrich and Romney against Obama.

Say “Hi” to Mitt Romney’s new surrogate: conservative author Ann Coulter. Talking Points Memo from Iowa: Turn on the radio here and you’re going to get a taste of how hard Mitt Romney is working to stamp out Newt Gingrich’s support with conservatives. In a new radio ad launched by the Romney campaign in Iowa last week, Romney turns to conservative fire-breather Ann Coulter to make the case that he’s the most electable candidate in the Republican race. Having made a living...

Souring U.S. Pakistan relations are now poised to get much worse: Pakistan is vowing to shoot down U.S. drones that it sees in its airspace: Pakistan will shoot down any U.S. drone that intrudes its air space per new directives, a senior Pakistani official told NBC News on Saturday. According to the new Pakistani defense policy, “Any object entering into our air space, including U.S. drones, will be treated as hostile and be shot down,” a senior Pakistani military official told NBC News....

Hey: whoever said you can’t go home again? Panama’s ex-dictator Manuel Noriega is going home again to Panama so there’s hope for us all. Well, it is a bit more complicated than that: he’s going from a prison in France to a prison in Panama (you can’t win them all). He is quite ill. Former dictator Manuel Noriega left France for Panama on Sunday, nearly 22 years after U.S. forces forcibly removed him from office. The 77-year-old is expected to arrive in Panama City on...

When I lived in Spain from May 1975 through December 1978 and was Special Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor one of my favorite records (the days before CDs) was a collection of old songs from the 30s and 40s on an album called “Canciones Para Despues de una Guerra.” One was Que Se Mueran Los Feos (the literal translation is “to die the ugly” or thereabouts but a friend of mine in Spain at the time who is now a diplomat said it means “Let the Ugly Die”...

Here is live blogging of tonight’s economy-driven ABC Yahoo Republican Presidential Debate from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. All attention tonight will be on the new front-runner, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is zooming in the polls and the former front runner Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney who many believe must take off the globes to cut Gingrich down and build his own stagnant support. The other candidates will try to boost themselves as the new anti-Romney in case Gingrich...

I never thought I would see the day, but here it is: our political Quote of the Day is from Glenn Beck who wonders how Tea Party members can possibly continue to flock to former House Speaker and ultimate Washington insider Newt Gingrich as the possible (and at this point increasingly probable) 2012 Republican Presidential nominee: “If you have a big government progressive, or a big government progressive in Obama… ask yourself this, Tea Party: is it about Obama’s race? Because that’s what...

The prime focus of political junkies, commentators and participants in tonight’s 2012 Republican Presidential contenders’ debate will be on former House Speaker Newt Gingrich who continues to skyrocket in polls as the clear anti-Romney, shattering the conventional wisdom that he’s through and that Romney is the “inevitable” nominee. And now Gingrich has given a taste of how he’d dominate the headlines with his comment that the Palestians are an “invented...

Yet another sports child abuse sex scandal is breaking and whether it turns out to be valid or not, it’s clear sports officials will face very hesistant parents in the future and that organizations will start to put a bunch of safeguards in place. This time the allegations are coming via ESPN from Memphis. CNN reports: The Memphis police and the Amateur Athletic Union have launched an investigation after two players alleged that the leader of a local youth sports organization molested them...

Our political Quote of the Day comes from columnist David Brooks who contrasts former Republican front runner for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with the current front runner for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination former House Speaker Mitt Romney. Brooks makes it clear that he most agrees with Gingrich on issues but is not excited by the surge. And the reason boils down to one word: temperament. Then there is his rhetorical style. He [Gingrich]...

They’re piling on former House Speaker and front runner for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination. Who are they? They conservative intellectual pundits (“intellectual”: that lets talk show hosts out..).

As the Republicans eat each other up or engage in the eternal quest for an Anti-Romney, polls continue to show the GOP is being handed a historic opportunity: President Barack Obama’s poll numbers are setting records for their lowness — and the latest CBS News poll says voters don’t believe he deserves a second term: Less than one year out from Election Day 2012, voters remain overwhelmingly pessimistic about the economy, and their concerns are taking a toll on President Obama’s...

Why doesn’t he just have as his campaign slogan: “Duh…”: His recent anti-gay ad has also lead to some spoofs and has become an Internet sensation (we’ll just give you the LINK HERE since some of it is somewhat less family friendly than we embed on TMV).

NEWS FLASH: Toss out the conventional wisdom. There is an epedmic (on this subject at least) of good sense spreading in the GOP among the 2012 Presidential wannabes: now Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Rep. Michele Bachmann have nixed participating in a debate that’ll be televised on ION TV hosted by reality show and famous birther Donald Trump: Gov. Rick Perry of Texas and Representative Michele Bachmann have joined other candidates, including Mitt Romney, in passing on Donald Trump‘s Dec. 27...