Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof

Gingrich Leads Romney By 17 Points - in latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll of Republican presidential contenders. Newt Gingrich received 40%, Mitt Romney 23%, Ron Paul 9% and Bachmann at 8%. MSNBC.com has more here.

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Reuters/Ipsos Poll Has Gingrich By 1o Points - over Mitt Romney. But, President Obama beats both Newt Gingrich 51-38% and Mitt Romney 48-40%. Reuters.com has more here.

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Romney Says Gingrich "Unreliable" Conservative Leader - in an interview with the Washington Post, Mitt Romney criticizes Newt Gingrich and President Obama. You can read it here.

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O'Donnell Endorses Romney - not sure I would publicize the endorsement from Christine O'Donnell, the former U.S. Senate candidate from Delaware. The tea party darling received the most attention from her "I am not a Witch" campaign ad. The NY Times has more here.

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Payroll Tax Extension, Omnibus Spending Bill Stuck in Partisan Fighting - no reason to believe 2011 would end in a conciliatory manner. House Republicans, passed a payroll tax extension by a vote of 234-193. TheHill.com has more here.

The extension included provisions unacceptable to Democrats, who responded by not voting in the Senate on a previous House vote on a 1 Trillion Omnibus Spending bill. Does this mean government will shut down. Unlikely, such a draconian action will take place during the Holidays, but it clearly shows how dysfunctional Congress has become.

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Planned Meeting With Democratic Progressive Caucus and Occupy Activists Canceled - Democrats are not in agreement with embracing Occupy Wall Street. A planned meeting with 10 New York Occupy activists and the Congressional Progressive caucus was canceled yesterday. Stay tuned... RollCall.com has more here.

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Stephanopoulos Returns To "This Week" - Christiane Amanpour will host a weekly CNN International show and also continue as Global affairs Anchor for ABC News. politico.com has more here. Amanpour is a favorite of mine, excelling in International political news.

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Technology Impacting Presidential Campaigns - now, more than ever, computer software engineers are employed by presidential campaigns looking to gain an edge in what has become razor thin elections. Bloomberg.com has a good read here.

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