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Farfield, Iowa (CNN)The stakes for Ted Cruz heading into the Iowa caucus are getting higher. Donald Trump's decision to skip Thursday's Fox News Channel Republican debate puts Cruz in the spotlight -- for better or worse. Should Cruz do well and end up winning Iowa, he'll have momentum heading into contests past New Hampshire. But should he lose, he may never be able to break through as GOP voters look elsewhere for an anti-Trump candidate. A growing number of Cruz's campaign donors, allies and associates are considering what the road ahead would look like should the Texas senator lose to...

Fox News Sunday‘s Chris Wallace was a little baffled this morning as he confronted Ben Carson over whether he would get rid of Medicare. Carson insisted he would do no such thing and is merely proposing health savings accounts to “eliminate the need” for Medicare. Reports last week said that Carson would have the government put $2000 a year into everyone’s accounts. Wallace asked him if that means giving everyone the same amount of money. Carson said no, but Wallace said, “That’s what you were saying, sir.” When Wallace pressed him on his past indication he would eliminate Medicare, Carson...

Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.), a onetime rising star who came to Congress 20 years ago as a next-generation reformer, was charged Wednesday with racketeering related to an off-books $1 million loan to his unsuccessful campaign for Philadelphia mayor in 2007. The Justice Department charged Fattah, a senior member of the powerful Appropriations Committee, and four supporters with 29 counts that included bribery, bank fraud and other corruption charges. “The public expects their elected officials to act with honesty and integrity,” said U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. “By misusing campaign funds, misappropriating government funds, accepting...

At a town hall meeting at the Institute of Politics at New Hampshire’s Saint Anselm’s College Tuesday, Rick Perry asked that all of the college students in the crowd who will be 21 by Nov. 12 support his bid for the presidency. Say what? The voting age in the United States is, of course, 18. And the 2012 election will be held on Nov. 6, 2012. (The New Hampshire Republican primary, which brought Perry to the state, will take place on Jan. 10). “Those who are going to be over 21 on November 12th, I ask for your support,” Perry...

A poll unveiled by the American Research Group (ARG) on Thursday found that businessman Herman Cain, who won the Presidency 5 straw poll last month in Orlando, now led the pack of Republican presidential candidates in Florida. Cain topped the poll with 34 percent followed by former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, who placed second in the 2008 Florida presidential primary, with 28 percent. Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich placed third with 11 percent. The rest of the field lagged behind in single digits. Despite finishing second in the Presidency 5 straw poll, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas took...

A new Rasmussen poll is pouring salt on Texas Gov. Rick Perry's wounds. The struggling one-time front-runner is now trailing President Barack Obama in a head-to-head matchup 49 percent to 35 percent. Obama was leading Perry six or fewer points in two recent Rasmussen polls — and Perry narrowly polled ahead of Obama in early September. Perry would fare worse than businessman Herman Cain, who in a poll last week trailed Obama 42 percent to 39 percent. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney polls even with Obama — the best of the Republican presidential candidates.

Merck is bankrolling efforts to pass state laws across the country mandating Gardasil for girls as young as 11 or 12. It doubled its lobbying budget in Texas and has funneled money through Women in Government, an advocacy group made up of female state legislators around the country. ...SNIP... Perry has ties to Merck and Women in Government. One of the drug company’s three lobbyists in Texas is Mike Toomey, Perry’s former chief of staff. His current chief of staff’s mother-in-law, Texas Republican state Rep. Dianne White Delisi, is a state director for Women in Government. The governor also received...

This week, Republican campaign veteran Ed Rollins signed on to run Rep. Michele Bachmann's presidential operation, ahead of what is expected to be her official declaration later this month in Waterloo, Iowa, the city where she was born. Rollins is a seasoned political consultant who knows conservative GOP politics. He worked on Ronald Reagan's 1984 re-election bid, and in 2008 he steered Mike Huckabee's campaign to an upset victory in the Iowa caucus. So it's significant that Rollins praised Bachmann, a tea party favorite, on Tuesday as a contender who can appeal to the religious right and be "a very...

This is a follow-up to my post yesterday, Michele Bachmann's First Big Mistake - Hiring Ed Rollins, regarding Rollins out-of-the-gate attacks on Sarah Palin: Hiring Rollins is an enormous mistake for Bachmann. It could be campaign killing. The people who hate Palin are the same people who hate Bachmann, and no amount of trashing of Palin by Rollins will change that. Bachmann needs to focus on building, not tearing down.The profound mistake Bachmann made by bringing Ed Rollins on board cannot be overstated..  (Several commentators to my prior post think Bachmann is a stalking horse, but I'll prefer to call the...

Tonight—on the same day that President Obama endorsed his rally—Jon Stewart came out swinging with his strongest anti-Obama Daily Show segment to date. Inside, video of the unexpected segment, during which Stewart basically called Obama a dishonest idealist.

Because you demanded it… an update from my mentor, nicknamed Obi-Wan Kenobi. Jim: So I’ve been getting a lot of e-mails lately, all asking, ‘What does Obi-Wan Kenobi think?’ Obi-Wan Why wouldn’t they want to know what somebody from a galaxy far, far away thinks? With each passing day, this election looks more and more like it’s not of this earth. I thought things were finally starting to make sense when I saw the bad news in the Boxer and Rand Paul polls, Boxer going up 8 and Rand Paul’s lead shrinking to 2. Jim: That made sense to you?...

Meet your new GOP nominee for Governor, New York! Behold, Carl Paladino, who will presumably ensure that we no longer have to worry about being left behind when it comes to nutty politicians who will say anything. Paladino’s day-after victory rounds made a stop by Rick Sanchez’s show this afternoon and the results were…eye-opening. Fireworks might be the best way to describe the interview. The interview spanned two segments and certainly covered a lot of ground. Including Ground Zero. Which Paladino defined as “the extended site over which the dust cloud containing human remains traveled.” Talking Points Memo zeroed in...

Marshall Auerbuck at New Deal2.0, a blog for the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute (just so you know where they stand), sees dramatic consequences if California is allowed to continue printing IOUs and then use them to collect taxes. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Republicans and Democrats alike embraced legislation last Friday that would make California IOUs legal tender for all taxes, fees and other payments owed to the state - an action that effectively would mean that California is entering the currency business . . .

If you have any qualms about the morality of intentionally defaulting on your mortgage - not because you can't pay, but because the value of your house has declined to less than you owe, listen up: “I can make the payments. That’s not the issue. It’s a business decision,” Watts said. “I tried to work with the lender. The lender didn’t help. They said, go ahead, do a short sale. It’s strictly business.” Who is this guy?  He is not Joe. K. Random. Watts, the chief prognosticator for the Orange County Association of Realtors, once was one of local...

The Battleground poll on the generic ballot puts Republicans within four percent. (At RCP, it's listed as 43-40, though.) According to this chart, their last poll on that question in September of 2006 put it at 8 percent. The final numbers from other pollsters had it from 4 percent to 16 percent. Some interesting recent polling results in some House races, too. These results don't indicate, "hey, the Republican is definately going to win", but they indicate that if this is a Democratic wave year, some districts with close races just aren't showing it. In New Hampshire, Rep. Carol Shea-Porter...

Just how bad has the presidential campaign coverage been this year? So bad that popular online columnist Michael S. Malone, aka ABC.com's "Silicon Insider," wrote Friday, "I’m deeply ashamed right now to be called a 'journalist.'” So strong were his words that they should be required reading for all the Obama-loving media members that have disgraced themselves as well as their industry this year, especially if Malone's assertion that they're doing this to protect their own careers via a reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine that will "crush the alternative media" is correct (h/t LGF via NBer Paul Wright, picture courtesy...

COLUMBUS - The Buckeye Institute, a Columbus-based think tank, today filed a state RICO action against the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) on behalf of two Warren County voters. The action filed in Warren County Court of Common Pleas alleges ACORN has engaged in a pattern of corrupt activity that amounts to organized crime. It seeks ACORN's dissolution as a legal entity, the revocation of any licenses in Ohio, and an injunction against fraudulent voter registration and other illegal activities. Plaintiffs Jennifer Miller of Mason, Ohio and Kimberly Grant of Loveland, allege that ACORN's actions deprive them...

FNC Embed Producer Mosheh just sent me this info…..scroll down to the bottom and you will see what Senator McCain says about ACORN (but he discusses other matters here as well): From: Oinounou, Mosheh To: Sent: Fri Oct 10 21:17:18 2008 Subject: URGENT: MCCAIN TRIES TO TAMP DOWN SUPPORTERS SAYING TAKE DOWN OBAMA FNC LIVE Lakeville, MN Town Hall Meeting McCain is trying to tone down the over-the-top, extremist and bigoted rhetoric coming from his supporters with a simple message “it’s got to be respectful.” It did not go over that well among some of his hardcore Republican base who...

According to people who actually know, I'm told $1,878,138 has been raised since the debate on December 12 from 24,949 people, including $719,534 from 10,237 people. For the week before, week of and week after Christmas, I think that’s pretty good. The Politico might not think so, but I think it gets Fred to South Carolina. Frankly, regardless of the results today in Iowa (and he's going to do better than some are expecting), I think Fred Thompson needs to pull a Reagan '81 (i.e. make a big, bold "I ain't going anywhere" stand), march to South Carolina, and start...

Fellow Iowa GOP chairpersons, If you are like me, you are excited about the upcoming caucuses while at the same time, can’t wait to get them over with. I have had 16 messages from candidates, supporters of candidates, supporters of specific party platforms, etc. just in the last 2 days. I won’t miss those when they are gone. I am sending this message on my own without the request or assistance of anyone. It contains my opinions – so if there is something factually incorrect, you can blame me. Since your email address is posted on the Iowa GOP web...