The New Republic

Ah, Iowa. I arrive in Des Moines late this evening, pull into the Best Western that I selected partly because Newt Gingrich is supposed to be at an event in the motel in the morning, and who do I see lounging in the lobby but Jesse Jackson. Gingrich, Jackson -- who's next, Gary Hart? READ MORE >>

There hasn't been much reason these past few weeks to dig back into the vast landscape of unsavory dealings in Rick Perry's Texas, given the governor's increasing irrelevance in the GOP primary. But his new attack on Rick Santorum -- the candidate who seems poised to steal whatever social conservative thunder Perry has been seeking -- demands a quick return to the Lone Star State to address the hypocrisy. I'll let CNN describe Perry's new attack ad: READ MORE >>

Amid all the talk of Rick Santorum's surge in Iowa, I'm a little surprised more people aren't noting that he has something in common with 2008 caucus winner Mike Huckabee other than the obvious, their shared base of support among the state's social conservatives. Namely, that Santorum, like Huckabee, is coming the closest to articulating an economically populist in a message in a field that is otherwise in thrall to tax-cutting, upper-crust orthodoxy. READ MORE >>

How can you know for sure that Barack Obama has regained the upper hand in the political messaging department as we head into the 2012 reelection year? The other side is talking about the need to reframe its case in "moral" terms. And when's the last time we heard a party doing that? The Democrats, after George W. Bush's dispiriting reelection in 2004. READ MORE >>

Rick Perry is getting grief for his conversion on the proverbial road to Dubuque -- announcing this week that he now opposes abortion even in the case of rape or incest, not because he is desperately appealing to evangelical voters in the Iowa caucuses, but because he watched a movie. What, has Perry been kicking back with "Juno" in the Hampton Inn? No, hardier stuff than that: "The Gift of Life," produced by David Bossie, the conservative activist behind the Citizens United campaign finance case. It features Mike Huckabee and profiles people who say they were the result of rapes. READ MORE >>

You may well have missed it while steeped in eggnog and wrapping paper this past weekend, but Bob Woodward returned to the pages of the Washington Post with a big double-truck piece on Newt Gingrich's revolt against President Bush Senior's deficit-reduction deal in the fall of 1990. READ MORE >>

Many reported today on Mitt Romney's refusal to release his tax returns, but the Boston Globe went a step further and zeroed in on Romney's strong hint that he is, in fact, taking advantage of the loophole on "carried interest," which allows his income from Bain Capital to be taxed at only 15 percent rather than the 35 percent rate for ordinary income. READ MORE >>

Given how much attention the Union Leader's endorsement of Newt Gingrich last month received, it's worth at least noting that the second highest-profile paper in New Hampshire today endorsed...Jon Huntsman! The Concord Monitor declared that the Harley-driving former Utah governor READ MORE >>

What does one do as a nationally syndicated columnist if one has dedicated oneself to defending a certain presidential candidate but do not want to become too repetitive about it? Well, one could do as Kathleen Parker, and mix things up by going after the wife of your favorite's chief rival. READ MORE >>

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