Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof

Unemployment Claims Up - so much for the good news ringing in the new year. The latest figures from the U.S. Labor Department indicate filings had risen to a six week high, further illustrating the economy remains fragile. Reuters.com has more here.

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Obama Campaign Raises 68 Million Last Quarter - anyone for campaign finance reform? 42 million was raised for the campaign, 25 million for the Democratic National Committee and 1 million for state parties in key states.

Overall, the Obama campaign raised over 220 million in 2011. in contrast, the Republican frontrunner; Mitt Romney's campaign raised 56 million in 2011.

The Obama campaign raised 750 million for the 2008 election, fueling speculation one billion will be raised for the 2012 election. You can read more here.

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Red, White and Blue Fund To Spend 600K To Support Santorum in S. Carolina - the super-pac will spend the money on ads supporting Rick Santorum in the state.

CNN.com has more here.

Anyone for campaign finance reform?

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Bolton Endorses Romney - former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton has endorsed Mitt Romney for president.

“I think Gov. Romney is the person who can best lead the party, best articulate our conservative principles and is most likely to beat Barack Obama.”

Politico.com has more here.

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Romney-Bain and the Republican Party - interestingly, it was Romney's statement "I enjoy firing people" which has drawn the most attention in the Republican primary to date. Leading candidates trailing the eventual Republican nominee to criticize Romney for his capitalistic statement.

Newt Gingrich reacted by saying “I think, there's a real difference “between people who believed in the free market and people who go around, take financial advantage, loot companies, leave behind broken families, broken towns, people on unemployment”.

Problem is, this has been a long time Republican Party mantra. It makes for interesting times when you have a Newt Gingrich, who is battling for the conservative vote in S. Carolina, take a Democratic Party position on an issue.

It is doubtful attacking Romney over firing people will win you votes from the conservative voters in S. Carolina.

Democratic party operatives have to be smiling....

E.J. Dionne Jr. has a good read in The Washington Post today.

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Keystone XL Pipeline - The Next Battle - the agreement on the two month payroll tax extension included a provision President Obama decide within the 60 days on whether to move forward on the controversial pipeline.

Republican leaders plan to exploit the split between Obama backers. Union leaders say the project will create jobs while environmentalists say the project is fraught with problems.

TheHill.com has more here.

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U.S. Needs To Stay Focused On Pakistan - a critical country and fragile ally in a world region beset by change. Who's in charge is the volatile question to be decided.

The NY Times has an excellent editorial here.

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