An unusually emotional moment occurred on the campaign trail today: Former House speaker Newt Gingrich teared up during an Iowa town hall while talking about his late mother. Republican pollster Frank Luntz, who moderated the event, asked Gingrich, with reference to the impact on his policies and beliefs, “When you think of your mom, what special moment comes to mind?” Read full article > >

Follow this link:
Gingrich tears up talking about mother (video)

Pundits say the darndest things on television. Take, for example, the genius who said in January that “the president has a fairly easy” reelection ahead of him. Or the guy who said in June that Newt Gingrich was “finished, whether he knows he is or not.” How about the talking head who said in July that House Speaker John Boehner had suffered a “mortal wound” at the hands of fellow Republicans? Or the one who predicted in August that Rick Perry would “hold his own” in the presidential debates? Read full article > >

See the rest here:
A few cracks in my crystal ball

Pundits say the darndest things on television. Take, for example, the genius who said in January that “the president has a fairly easy” reelection ahead of him. Or the guy who said in June that Newt Gingrich was “finished, whether he knows he is or not.” How about the talking head who said in July that House Speaker John Boehner had suffered a “mortal wound” at the hands of fellow Republicans? Or the one who predicted in August that Rick Perry would “hold his own” in the presidential debates? Read full article > >

Visit link:
A few cracks in my crystal ball

Both the House and Senate approved a measure Friday morning to extend the payroll tax cut through February. The action ends a bitter, weeks-long partisan stalemate and barely escapes a deadline to keep 160 million workers from seeing smaller paychecks after the new year. The Senate passed the bill first, taking a little more than a minute to complete a simple voice vote attended by a handful of members. About a half-hour later, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) presided over a brief session, and lawmakers took only a few minutes to approve the measure. Read full article > >

See more here:
House, Senate pass 2-month extension of payroll tax cut

President Obama called House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) on Wednesday to urge him again to allow a vote on a Senate-passed measure that would extend a payroll tax holiday for two months, as Democrats and Republicans sought to step up pressure on each other over an impasse that risks hitting millions of Americans in their pocketbooks next year. Read full article > >

Read this article:
Obama presses Boehner to allow vote on Senate payroll tax measure

House Speaker John Boehner gave a spirited reply when asked recently about whether his party’s resistance to middle-class tax cuts risked making Republicans appear to be lackeys of the rich. “I’ve got 11 brothers and sisters on every rung of the economic ladder, all right?” Boehner said . “My dad owned a bar. I know what’s going on out in America.” Read full article > >

See the article here:
On tap: Radical Republican Winterfest

House Speaker John Boehner gave a spirited reply when asked recently about whether his party’s resistance to middle-class tax cuts risked making Republicans appear to be lackeys of the rich. “I’ve got 11 brothers and sisters on every rung of the economic ladder, all right?” Boehner said . “My dad owned a bar. I know what’s going on out in America.” Read full article > >

Read more from the original source:
On tap: Radical Republican Winterfest

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Monday morning that the House is poised to defeat a Senate-passed bill to extend the payroll tax cut for two months and instead will send the bill to a bicameral conference committee, because, Boehner said, the Senate bill “creates uncertainty” for the U.S. economy. Read full article > >

View original post here:
Boehner reaffirms that House will defeat Senate payroll tax bill, sending it back to conference committee

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Mitt Romney swooped into South Carolina on Friday to pick up the endorsement of Gov. Nikki Haley, a tea party star whose backing was intended to signal growing acceptance of Romney among conservative Republicans. The endorsement comes at a critical time, as the surge of Newt Gingrich has forced Romney, the establishment front-runner, to navigate the most treacherous stretch of his campaign so far. Romney’s strategists believe the former House speaker’s momentum has been blunted, not only by attacks launched by Romney, but also by Thursday night’s debate that saw Gingrich come under fire from several other candidates. Read full article > >

The rest is here:
Mitt Romney tries to build momentum with Nikki Haley endorsement

It is a curious case in the annals of the FBI: The bureau considered a sting operation against then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich after sifting through allegations from a notorious arms dealer that a $10 million bribe might get Congress to lift the Iraqi arms embargo. The FBI ended up calling off the operation in June 1997. It decided there was no evidence that Gingrich knew anything about the conversations the arms dealer was secretly recording with a man who said he was acting on behalf of Gingrich’s then-wife, Marianne, according to people with knowledge of the investigation. Read full article > >

Originally posted here:
FBI considered a sting aimed at Newt Gingrich in 1997

Republicans on Capitol Hill are increasingly worried about the potential of a Newt Gingrich presidential nomination, fearful that the former House speaker’s reputation for volatility could drive away independent voters and jeopardize GOP prospects for controlling Congress in 2013. Just a few months ago, Gingrich was an afterthought in the campaign. But his sudden rise over the past month has given pause to congressional Republicans who thought President Obama’s troubles with the economy could firm up their majority in the House and a new majority in the Senate. Read full article > >

Visit link:
Some Republican lawmakers wary of Newt Gingrich presidential nomination

In another test of House Speaker John A. Boehner’s leadership of his restive Republican majority, the House is expected to vote Tuesday on a GOP plan to extend a one-year reduction in the payroll taxes paid by 160 million workers. Republicans have been divided over whether to extend the tax cut, as President Obama has urged, or allow it to revert to 6.2 percent in January from 4.2 percent. Read full article > >

See more here:
House to vote on extension of payroll-tax reduction

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Saturday sharply criticized Newt Gingrich’s remark this week that the Palestinians are an “invented” people , calling the statement by the former House speaker and GOP presidential contender “divisive and destructive.” “Next Gingrich is wrong to think his attempt to turn the Palestinians into a non-people with no claim to a state will appeal to his audience on the Jewish Channel, on which they are apparently to be aired on Monday,” Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said in a statement. Read full article > >

More:
Gingrich remarks on Palestinians ‘divisive and destructive,’ Levin says

DES MOINES — Propelled by his debate performances and the demise of Herman Cain’s candidacy, former House speaker Newt Gingrich sits atop the Republican presidential field in Iowa with a clear lead over his closest competitors, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll . Gingrich, according to the survey, has advantages that extend well beyond the horse race that put him in an enviable position in the final weeks before the state’s Jan. 3 caucuses, which serve as the formal start of the long nominating season. On electability, empathy and handling the economy, he does as well as or better than former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who has long been described as the nominal front-runner for the nomination, or Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.). Read full article > >

See the original post:
Gingrich emerges as clear front-runner in Iowa

PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz. — Mitt Romney previewed his “closing argument” to Republicans here Tuesday and said he will begin a more aggressive campaign as he tries to regain his lead in the presidential field with just four weeks until voting begins in Iowa. Romney, who has been overtaken in polls by former House speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.), promised a new wave of television advertisements and media appearances. Although he declined to participate in a Dec. 27 debate that will be moderated by real estate mogul Donald Trump, Romney plans to make his first Sunday talk show appearance in nearly two years on Dec. 19, on “Fox News Sunday.” Read full article > >

See the rest here:
Mitt Romney to make ‘closing argument’ and mount more aggressive campaign