Newt Gingrich wins the endorsement of the influential Union-Leader newspaper in Manchester, NH. The paper chose to back Gingrich, even as polls show Mitt Romney is a prohibitive favorite in the first-in-the-nation primary state. What does this say about Romney? And is the White House happy to see someone other than Romney emerge? By the way, here's what the New York Times' Nate Silver says about the value of the Union-Leader endorsement.
Speaking of Mitt Romney, if you don't do anything else today, watch this DNC video ridiculing Mitt Romney's flip-flops. And if that's not bad enough, Bloomberg has unearthed yet another flip-flop on a major policy issue -- Romney in 2006 was for amnesty for illegal immigrants.
The big policy debate in Washington this week is one Democrats feel good about: the extension of the payroll tax holiday. Republicans have argued forever that lower taxes are good, and that's it's never the right time to raise taxes. So why are they on the wrong side of this issue? Why do they want to let the payroll tax holiday expire and see higher taxes on the middle class workers? They say it's because it doesn't help "job creators" but maybe it's because President Obama is for it. This is a good fight for the White House.