• Former and future Rep. Alan Grayson of Florida calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about Newt Gingrich’s failures

• Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the 2012 election and Komen’s decision to de-fund Planned Parenthood

• Donald Trump formally endorsed Mitt Romney for president on Thursday, describing the former Massachusetts governor as “tough” and “smart” and the best pick in the GOP primary.

• Supporters are rallying around Planned Parenthood after renowned breast cancer charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure decided to cut breast screening grants to the reproductive health organization.

• The Obama administration on Wednesday detailed its latest plan to help millions of homeowners refinance their mortgages to today’s historically-low rates. The plan would allow some borrowers who are current on their mortgage to save an average of $3,000 a year.

• President Barack Obama is unveiling a new jobs initiative geared toward veterans Friday that the administration says will put thousands of former men and women in uniform back to work.

• Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the economy, jobs, the 2012 election, and healthier eating

• Investigative journalist Greg Palast (author of “Vulture’s Picnic”) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about how Mitt Romney and those around him are vultures

• Fresh off a momentum-building victory in the Florida primary, Mitt Romney made a potential speaking gaffe Wednesday when he said he “wasn’t concerned about the very poor” because there is a safety net in place for them.

• President Barack Obama on Wednesday called on Congress to approve a $5 billion to $10 billion effort to help U.S. homeowners refinance as part of a wider package of proposals to shore up the depressed housing market.

• Senate Democrats formally unveiled The Buffett Rule, legislation designed to ensure that all millionaires would pay a minimum federal tax of 30 percent.

• The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation revealed Tuesday it was cutting funds to Planned Parenthood, sparking an outcry from abortion rights advocates blaming “political pressure” and praise from an anti-abortion group.

• Political Strategist David Bender calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the ramifications of yesterday’s Florida primaries and what’s next for Nevada

• Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney coasted to a first-place victory in Florida’s primary Tuesday, laying claim to all of the state’s 50 delegates in the winner-take-all contest. “A competitive primary does not divide us, it prepares us,” he said, speaking from a rally at the convention center in Tampa, Fla

• Newt Gingrich claimed Tuesday’s results solidified the 2012 primary as a “two-man race” between a “conservative leader” and a “Massachusetts moderate.” He vowed to remain in the race for the duration.

• After a bruising 10 days in Florida, Newt Gingrich wasn’t conceding anything to Mitt Romney after his loss in the state’s primary. Gingrich didn’t congratulate his opponent; he didn’t even utter his name. Nor did he make the traditional congratulatory phone call to Romney after it became clear he wouldn’t be able to win.

• Ron Paul was setting his sights on Nevada’s upcoming caucuses, telling an enthusiastic crowd of supporters in Nevada that “we’ve only gotten started” despite his fourth-place finish in the Sunshine State.

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire.com’s politics blog, calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about today’s primary in Florida

• Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the economy and the Florida primary

• With a healthy lead in final polls the day before the Florida primary, Mitt Romney depicted chief rival Newt Gingrich on Monday as increasingly desperate in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

• A new national poll released Monday shows Newt Gingrich has essentially lost his lead over Mitt Romney during the last few days. According to Gallup’s daily tracking poll, the former House speaker now has a 28%-27% edge over his chief GOP presidential opponent among registered Republicans nationwide.

• Newt Gingrich threatened Monday to skip any debate as the Republican nominee versus President Obama that’s moderated by a member of the media. The threat is in keeping with the scorn with which the former House speaker has treated the press throughout the campaign, particularly at debates.

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Mitt Romney may be on his way to a decisive victory in the Florida GOP primary Tuesday, according to a new NBC/Marist poll. Romney leads Newt Gingrich by 15 points, 42 percent to 27 percent in the crucial state. Rick Santorum is third with 16 percent, followed by Ron Paul with 11 percent. Just 4 percent said they were undecided.

• Speaking from the hospital room where he said his ailing 3-year-old daughter is making a “miraculous turnaround,” Rick Santorum said that he would resume his campaign on Monday with stops in western caucus states.

• Former presidential candidate Herman Cain, who last week endorsed “the American people,” announced his support on Saturday of another entity — this time a Republican hoping to win the White House. “I hereby officially and enthusiastically endorse Newt Gingrich for president of the United States,” Cain said at a GOP fundraiser.

• Oakland City Hall was set to reopen Monday after municipal employees worked to clean up damage they said was caused over the weekend by Occupy protesters, about 400 of whom were arrested following clashes with police in this Northern California city.

• Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the racial code language and rhetoric used by the GOP in this election

• Political Strategist David Bender calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about last night’s debate and Tuesday’s Florida Primaries

• Republican presidential hopefuls headed into the homestretch of the critical Florida primary campaign Friday after a debate last night that analysts believe gave Mitt Romney a boost over fellow front-runner Newt Gingrich.

• Newt Gingrich leads Mitt Romney among Republicans, but he is the weakest of the Republican candidates tested against President Obama, according to an NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll released Thursday evening.

• Mitt Romney is revising his federal ethics forms to report more than a half dozen offshore holdings, including income from a multi-million dollar Swiss bank account that was not disclosed last year.

• Retiring Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank (D) will marry his longtime partner Jim Ready of Maine. An aide to the congressman says the wedding will be in his home state.

• Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leads former House Speaker Newt Gingrich by two points in a new CNN / Time Magazine poll in Florida, a margin well within a new poll’s margin of error, reflecting a close race in the key primary.

• Republican presidential hopefuls will get a chance for some last jabs at each other before the pivotal Florida primary at tonight’s debate at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. The debate airs at 8pm ET on CNN.

• President Barack Obama yesterday launched a three-day visit to five battleground states in the November election by pressing State of the Union themes of core American values and having the wealthy pay more taxes.

• Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who moved the nation with an improbable comeback after a gunman shot her in the head last year, formally resigned Wednesday in an emotional appearance in the U.S. House of Representatives.

• Newt Gingrich promised Wednesday on Florida’s space coast to create a moon colony by 2020 if elected president. The former House speaker said the current space program in the country is a “tragedy” and believes his “grandiose” ideas can help fix it.

• Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the president’s State Of The Union address and her healthcare advocacy

• Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ) calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the president’s State Of The Union Address

• With an unfinished legislative agenda from last year and with Election Day nine months from now, President Barack Obama went before a joint session of Congress last night to offer his proposals for economic growth and to draw sharp contrasts with his Republican foes in his State Of The Union Address.

• The state of the union is “grave,” Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels asserted Tuesday evening in the Republican response to President Obama’s State of the Union address. Daniels pledged the GOP would offer a more upbeat alternative for voters in the coming election season.

• U.S. military forces flew into Somalia in a nighttime helicopter raid Wednesday, freed an American and a Danish hostage, and killed nine pirates in a mission President Obama referenced before his State of the Union speech.

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire.com’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the GOP primary going into Florida

• In the spirited Monday night debate at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Mitt Romney questioned former House speaker Newt Gingrich over his record in Congress and alleged lobbying after getting out of government.

• Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney released tax records this morning indicating he will pay $6.2 million in taxes on a total of $42.5 million in income over the years 2010 and 2011. Romney’s 2010 returns show the candidate is among the top 1 percent of taxpayers.

• In his last State of the Union speech before the 2012 election, President Barack Obama will pitch a series of proposals tonight and will address the topics of economic inequality and a government that should ensure “a fair shake for all.”

• The office of Illinois Republican Sen. Mark Kirk announced on Monday that the first term senator checked himself into a Illinois hospital Saturday and was diagnosed with a stroke.

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Political Strategist David Bender calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about this past weekend’s South Carolina primaries

• Newt Gingrich has won the South Carolina Republican primary, held this past Saturday. Gingrich spent most of his speech Saturday night lashing out at “media elites” in New York and Washington, D.C., while castigating President Obama.

• Mitt Romney says that he will release his 2010 tax return and an estimate of his 2011 tax liability tomorrow. This is a big change in his plans for handling an issue that dogged his campaign last week and follows his big loss in the South Carolina primary.

• Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D) will resign from Congress this week, she announced in a video message posted Sunday. “I have more work to do on my recovery, so to do what is best for Arizona I will step down this week,” she said in a video message posted to YouTube.

• After winning their respective playoff games this weekend, The New England Patriots and the New York Giants will meet in Super Bowl XLVI.

• GOP Strategist Rich Galen calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to go over last night’s GOP debate and preview tomorrow’s South Carolina primaries

• Andrew Harmon, Washington correspondent for The Advocate magazine, calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the social issues that are front and center in South Carolina

• Newt Gingrich opened a pivotal Republican presidential debate in South Carolina last night with a fiery attack on the media for publishing stories regarding new allegations made against him by an ex-wife.

• The 1040 tax return for 2010 that Newt and Callista Gingrich released Thursday night shows that they are paid very well – in the top three-tenths of one percent of all tax filers. Their total income in 2010 was more than $3.1 million.

• President Barack Obama called Thursday for America to become the world’s top travel destination, making an economic pitch to Florida voters from Walt Disney World ahead of an upcoming Republican presidential primary.

• Texas Governor Rick Perry announced Thursday morning that he is dropping out of the presidential race and is endorsing Newt Gingrich for the Republican nomination.

• Rep. Steve Israel, Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the 2012 landscape and the new Dem candidates

• Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the payroll tax extension and the 2012 election

• Ari Berman of “The Nation” and author of “Herding Donkeys” calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about the South Carolina primary and the GOP’s race problem

• With two days until South Carolina’s GOP presidential primary, former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney holds a 10-point lead over former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, according to a new NBC News/Marist poll of the GOP contest in that state.

• Although it is not apparent on his financial disclosure form, Mitt Romney has millions of dollars of his personal wealth in investment funds set up in the Cayman Islands, a notorious Caribbean tax haven, according to ABC News.

• The Obama administration rejected a bid to expand the controversial Keystone oil sands pipeline Wednesday, saying the deadline imposed by Congress did not leave sufficient time to conduct the necessary review.

• Sexy Liberal Hal Sparks joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 9am ET / 6am PT for all three hours of Humpdays With Hal

• Mitt Romney estimated Tuesday that he pays about a 15 percent effective tax rate on his earnings, a much lower rate than many middle-class Americans pay. “my last 10 years, I’ve — my income comes overwhelmingly from investments made in the past, rather than ordinary income, or rather than earned annual income,” Romney said.

• Opponents of Wisconsin’s Republican Gov. Scott Walker submitted one million signatures, nearly twice as many signatures Tuesday as required to force a recall election, but still face the challenge of transforming public outrage over his moves against unions into actual votes to oust him from office.

• Sixty-eight percent of Americans in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll still say the country’s headed seriously off on the wrong track. But that’s down from 77 percent in September, and “right direction” ratings, at 30 percent, while weak, are their best since June.

• Wikipedia was one of several websites that shut down at midnight in protest of anti-piracy bills that critics say could amount to censorship. The protest is in response to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) bill, a piece of proposed legislation that is working its way through the Congress.

• Graeme Zielinski of the Wisconsin Democratic Party calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to talk about the latest in the Gov. Scott Walker recall

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire.com’s Politics Blog calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the GOP field going into South Carolina

• Ruth Coniff of The Progressive Magazine calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about the recall of Scott Walker in Wisconsin

• In the sixteenth debate of the 2012 campaign in South Carolina Monday night, Mitt Romney emerged with a steady if unspectacular performance, fending off criticism from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich over his tenure as head of Bain Capital.

• Coming off his eight-vote victory in Iowa and strong showing in New Hampshire, a vast 72 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents in a new ABC News poll now expect Romney to be their nominee — up by 32 points from mid-December.

• Jon Huntsman ended his campaign for president Monday on a cautionary note to fellow Republicans, urging them to abandon negative campaigning or risk fostering a “toxic” political environment.

The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the GOP race for president

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman will drop out of the race today and endorse Mitt Romney, a senior official with the former Utah governor’s campaign told members of the press.

• A meeting of Christian conservative leaders resulted in the group backing GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins announced Saturday. The group of conservative leaders was meeting at a Texas ranch to discuss the 2012 race.

• President Barack Obama asked Congress Friday for more power to streamline and reorganize the federal government, a move designed to claim the political middle ground in an election likely to be dominated by questions about Washington’s role in the economy.

• Rescue workers searching the half-submerged hulk of an Italian cruise ship for missing passengers and crew recovered a sixth body on Monday, more than 48 hours after the vessel capsized off Italy’s west coast. The captain of the 114,500-ton Costa Concordia, arrested on Saturday, was accused of manslaughter and abandoning his ship.

• GOP presidential front-runner Mitt Romney on Thursday aggressively defended his tenure as head of Bain Capital, asserting again that his private-equity career resulted in the net creation of over 100,000 jobs while also calling any job losses an unfortunate fact of life in the private sector.

• Republicans attacking Mitt Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital got a stern rebuke Thursday from the Chamber of Commerce. Chamber president Tom Donohue said the attacks on the Republican frontrunner by Perry and Gingrich are “foolish” during the group’s “State of American Business 2012″ event in Washington.

• President Obama formally asked Congress Thursday to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, stating the country’s debts have fallen within $100 billion of the current debt limit and an increase is needed to meet “existing commitments.”

• Iran’s top cleric has blamed the CIA and Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, for killing an Iranian nuclear scientist, Iran’s state broadcaster said.

• Two of the four Marines shown in a video urinating on dead bodies sprawled out on the ground have been identified by the Marine Corps, a Marine Corps official told CNN Thursday.

• Comedian Carlos Alazraqui joins us in the Los Angeles Bureau at 11am ET / 8am PT for some fun and frivolity

• President Barack Obama said Wednesday he wants to reward companies that invest in America and eliminate tax breaks for companies that don’t, and he’s planning new tax proposals to do it.

• Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum on Wednesday hit his Republican rivals for their critiques of frontrunner Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital, calling their criticisms of the former Massachusetts governor an attack on capitalism.

• The war between the Gingrich and Romney camps is escalating over the former speaker’s threats to sue TV stations that continue to air attack ads by a Romney super PAC claiming that he was “fined” $300,000 for ethics violations.

• An Internet video showing what appear to be U.S. forces in Afghanistan urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters will not affect efforts to broker peace talks, a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban said Thursday.

• Mississippi Circuit Judge Tomie Green has temporarily blocked the release of 21 inmates who’d been given pardons or medical release by Republican Haley Barbour in one of his final acts as governor.

• Political Strategist David Bender calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the results of last night’s New Hampshire primaries

• All six Republican contenders are heading to South Carolina on Wednesday to contest the next presidential primary despite Mitt Romney’s convincing victory in New Hampshire.

• Texas Rep. Ron Paul finished second in last night’s New Hampshire primaries, ahead of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who came in third. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich trail.

• A super PAC backing Mitt Romney has just made nearly $6 million in new ad buys in South Carolina and Florida in an apparent attempt to blow away the GOP frontrunner’s opponents by the end of the month.

• U.S. presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has sailed farther ahead of rival Republican candidates nationally and narrowed President Barack Obama’s lead in the White House race, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll on Tuesday. The survey showed Obama leading the Republican front-runner by 48 percent to 43 percent.

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in from New Hampshire at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about today’s primaries

• David Shuster of Current TV and KPWC-AM 1480 in Washington DC calls in from New Hampshire at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about today’s primaries

• Two tiny New Hampshire towns voted last night at midnight. The winners in in Dixville Notch: Jon Huntsman and Mitt Romney, with two votes each; the winner in Harts Location: Romney, with 5 votes. Ron Paul came in close second with 4 votes, followed by Huntsman with 2.

• Mitt Romney, already under intense scrutiny for his leadership at venture capital group Bain, inadvertently gave his rivals new material yesterday when he said that he likes “being able to fire people.”

• President Barack Obama announced Monday that White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley is stepping down and will be replaced by Office of Management and Budget Director Jack Lew. Daley will serve as one of the co-chairs for Obama’s re-election campaign.

• Alabama exacted revenge and clinched the Bowl Championship Series title on Monday night, besting Louisiana State University 21-0 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Front-runner Mitt Romney came under attack Sunday in the second Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire in two days, with rivals saying he would be unable to defeat President Barack Obama.

• GOP candidates Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum quarreled over their credentials to be president and their capacity to defeat President Obama during a debate on Saturday night in which all the candidates squabbled over spending, leadership, national security and military service.

• Citing his own “peace with God,” Rick Perry says he’s pressing forward with his battered presidential campaign because he will not “quit on the future of America.” Perry made those remarks at a rally in South Carolina.

• Rep. Gabrielle Giffords led a crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance, her words ringing out across a cold Tucson night in a rare public appearance Sunday evening at a candlelight vigil one year after surviving a deadly shooting that killed six.

• Former and future Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) calls in at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the GOP race, and the Sexy Liberal Tour in Florida

• President Barack Obama unveiled his administration’s plan Thursday for a leaner, cheaper military, a reflection of Washington’s fiscal belt-tightening and slower national economic growth.

• With GOP presidential front-runner Mitt Romney feeling comfortable enough to campaign in South Carolina, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum on Thursday scoured New Hampshire for votes and hammered away at each other’s congressional record.

• Five days before New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary, The Boston Globe gave its nod to Republican presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman, saying he offers the Republican Party an opportunity to “renew itself.”

• Rep. Ron Paul’s presidential campaign raised $13 million the past three months, a top campaign aide confirmed to CNN. The impressive haul far exceeds the $8.2 million the longtime congressman from Texas brought in over $8 million in the third quarter of 2011.

• Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) calls in at 11:20am ET / 8:20am PT to talk about the Iowa Caucus results

• Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about the Iowa Caucuses, the New Hampshire Primaries, and Obama’s recess appointments

• Rick Perry is staying in the presidential race despite a fifth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses. The Republican wrote on his Twitter account on Wednesday: “Here we come South Carolina!!!” He attached a photo of himself jogging near a lake showing a thumbs-up.

• Mitt Romney on Wednesday accepted an endorsement from Arizona Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, as he pushed for an overwhelming victory in next week’s New Hampshire primary.

• Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann has suspended her campaign for the White House. Bachmann said she leaves the race knowing the campaign was run “with integrity.”

• President Obama announced a recess appointment to name Richard Cordray as the nation’s chief consumer watchdog despite strong GOP opposition, bypassing Senate approval. “I refuse to take `no’ for an answer,” the president said told a cheering crowd in Ohio.

• Political Strategist David Bender calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to recap last night’s Iowa Caucuses

• Mitt Romney defeated Rick Santorum in Tuesday’s Iowa caucuses by eight votes, the state GOP said early Wednesday, clinching what appears to be the closest-ever margin of victory in a Republican presidential contest.

• Ron Paul finished a close third in last night’s Iowa Caucuses, according to the state GOP. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who placed fifth, said late Tuesday that he would return to his home state to consider whether his campaign would continue.

• Senator John McCain will endorse Mitt Romney as the Republican party’s presidential candidate, multiple sources close to the 2008 nominee told NBC News. McCain was expected to make the announcement in New Hampshire Wednesday, according to the sources.

• President Obama addressed via video conference several Democratic caucus sites in Iowa Tuesday, four years after winning the state’s contest in a victory that fueled his campaign on a path to the nomination. “We’ve still got a lot of work to do. But think about the change that was accomplished because of those caucuses four years ago,” Obama said.

• Charlie Pierce of Esquire’s Politics Blog calls in from Iowa at 10:30am ET / 7:30am PT to talk about the craziness behind the Iowa Caucuses

• Richard Wolffe, author of “Revival 2.0: How The Obama White House Is Making Its Political Comeback,” calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about today’s Iowa Caucuses

• Caucus time is upon us, and tonight more than 100,000 Iowans will trek to their local schools, churches and community centers to kick off the GOP presidential campaign, producing 2012′s first round of winners and losers.

• Candidates have campaigned across Iowa in the final hours before tonight’s contests, with the top three trading barbs and former front-runner Newt Gingrich conceding he won’t win Iowa but asserting he is a survivor and will be in good shape for the long run.

• 24-year-old Harry Burkhart from Germany, the man who was arrested in connection with a string of arson fires across the Los Angeles area, reportedly told police officers, “I hate America,” when they put him in handcuffs on Monday.

• WVKO-AM 1580 in Columbus, OH starts today!!!

• The Rude Pundit calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about tomorrow’s Iowa Caucuses

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Mitt Romney holds a slight edge over rival Ron Paul in recent polls in Iowa. Rick Santorum, a former senator, has surged past Newt Gingrich into third place in polls, building momentum in the final days of a close race that has seen a series of candidates rise and fall.

• Almost two-thirds of Iowa’s Republican political pros predict that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will win the state’s caucuses on Tuesday, but his campaign’s margin for error over Texas Rep. Ron Paul is slim.

• Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said he feels “Romney-boated” by the barrage of negative ads run against the former House speaker by a super PAC that supports rival candidate Mitt Romney.

• Los Angeles police were investigating nine new fires overnight that could be connected to a string of nearly four dozen arson blazes that have hit the Hollywood and Valley areas since last Friday.

• If you’d like to contact Green 960 in San Francisco and let them know how you feel about their programming changes, please do so RESPECTFULLY at http://www.green960.com/pages/contact.html or by calling 415-975-5555

• House Speaker John Boehner announced Thursday that he had agreed with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on a two-month extension of a package including a payroll tax cut and an extension of unemployment benefits.

• Former President George H.W. Bush backs Mitt Romney for president, the Houston Chronicle reported on Thursday, an important boost for Romney from the Republican establishment less than two weeks before the Iowa caucuses.

• A new spot from a pro-Mitt Romney Super PAC starts with the simple question: “Know what makes Barack Obama happy?” The answer: “Newt Gingrich’s baggage.” In the ad, luggage bearing the names of the former speaker’s past liabilities then spills out onto an airline baggage carousel.

• A series of strong earthquakes struck the New Zealand city of Christchurch on Friday, rattling buildings, sending goods tumbling from shelves and prompting terrified holiday shoppers to flee into the streets.

• David Bender of the Progressive Voices Smartphone App calls in at 9:30am ET / 6:30am PT to talk about the possibility of a third party candidate

• President Barack Obama called House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Wednesday as part of an ongoing — and so far unsuccessful — effort to resolve a partisan standoff over how best to extend the expiring payroll tax cut, according to the White House.

• According to the most recent NBC/WSJ poll, 42% called this Congress’ performance “one of the worst” ever, the highest percentage on this question that dates back to 1990. Another 33% called the Congress “below average.” So that’s three-quarters of the public giving the Congress unsatisfactory grade.

• Mitt Romney addressed Newt Gingrich’s complaints about negative ads by saying, “If you can’t handle the heat in this little kitchen, the heat that’s going to come from Obama’s Hell’s Kitchen is going to be a heck of a lot hotter.”

• The famously mistake-prone Gov. Rick Perry said Wednesday that he prayed before a campaign event in Iowa to ask God to help him deliver an error-free performance. “I pray a lot,” he continued, “because I’m prone to make a lot of mistakes.”

• Ari Berman of The Nation calls in at 11am ET / 8am PT to talk about the Iowa Caucuses and the payroll tax cut extension fight

• The GOP-controlled House voted yesterday to reject a Senate compromise that would have extended a federal payroll tax holiday for two months, continued unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless and averted a cut in the reimbursement rate for doctors who treat Medicare patients. The House then went on vacation.

• Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona said Tuesday the battle on Capitol Hill between Democrats and Republicans over extending the payroll tax cut was causing damage to the GOP.

• A growing number of voters, 50% compared to 44% in March, trust Obama to solve the nation’s problems while the percentage of those with faith in congressional Republicans is slipping, according to a CNN/ORC International Poll.

• Newt Gingrich accused Mitt Romney Tuesday of running “negative smear campaigns,” and challenged the former Massachusetts governor to speak out publicly against Super PACs running negative ads.

• Environmental activist Erin Brockovich calls in at 11:30am ET / 8:30am PT to talk about her new book, “Hot Water”

• Republicans on the House rules committee have voted to prevent a direct vote today on a Senate plan favored by Dems and Senate GOP to extend the payroll tax cut for two months. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told reporters that the effort by House GOP to avoid a direct vote on the Senate measure probably meant they lacked enough support from their own members to defeat it.

• A CNN/ORC International Poll released yesterday indicates nationally that 28% of Republicans and independents who lean towards the GOP say that Newt Gingrich is their choice for their party’s nominee, with an equal amount supporting Mitt Romney.

• Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said he personally pocketed about $35,000 per year for his work with mortgage giant Freddie Mac. His namesake firm, the Gingrich Group, earned at least an estimated $1.6 million.

• North Koreans poured into the streets on Monday to mourn the death of leader Kim Jong-il and state media hailed his untested son as the “Great Successor” of the reclusive state whose atomic weapons ambitions are a major threat to the region.

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 10am ET / 7am PT to co-host Right Wing World

• Kim Jong Il, North Korea’s longtime dictator, has died of heart failure. His death sparked immediate concern over who is in control of the reclusive state and its nuclear program. Kim Jon Un, Kim’s youngest son, was named successor.

• Despite not spending much time or resources in the first-in-the-nation caucus state, Mitt Romney won the endorsement Saturday of Iowa’s largest newspaper, The Des Moines Register.

• The Senate’s two-month payroll tax extension is dead on arrival in the House. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, made that perfectly clear Sunday morning as he said that Congress will have to negotiate a deal closer to the House-passed one-year extension before members leave for the holidays.

• Early Sunday, as the sun ascended to the winter sky, the very last American convoy made its way down the main highway that connects Iraq and Kuwait. With it came to an end a deadly and divisive war that lasted almost nine years, its enormous cost calculated in blood and billions.