Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof

Unemployment Claims Drop to 4 Year Low - the Labor Department reports claims fell 50,000 to the lowest level since April of 2008. Reuters.com has more here.

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GOP Presidential Candidate Debate Tonight - 4 Candidates Remain as Perry Drops Out - will a desperate Newt Gingrich continue his vicious attacks on Mitt Romney? The debate comes just days before the S. Carolina primary to be held Saturday. It begins at 8:00 PM ET and will be hosted by John King.

Texas Governor Rick Perry polling poorly in S. Carolina will announce this morning he was dropping out of the race. Stay tuned to see if Perry will endorse.
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Gingrich Closes in on Romney in S. Carolina - Politico.com reports in a poll released today, Newt Gingrich is at 30%, just 7 points behind Mitt Romney who received 37%. Texas Representative Ron Paul has 11%, Rick Santorum 10% and Texas Governor Rick Perry 4%. Politico.com has more here.

The Evangelical support for Santorum did not appear to help him and you can color Perry gone after the S. Carolina primary on Saturday (Perry announced he was dropping out this morning).

Gingrich and Santorum have to be hoping the supporters of Perry will go their way. It is more likely, they will be split.

Let's see if ABC Nightline airs the interview with Gingrich wife number two, and if so, if it has any affect on the results in the primary Saturday.

If, Romney win the S. Carolina primary, it could all be over after the Florida primary scheduled for the end of this month.

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Iowa Caucus Results in Question - certification, (sort of-see below) will come today and show Rick Santorum with a 34 vote lead over Mitt Romney. Romney was declared the winner by 8 votes on the night of the caucuses.

However, results from 8 caucuses are missing and will never be certified. TheHill.com has more here.

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Obama Announces Keystone XL Pipeline Decision - in a widely expected announcement, the president said he will not be able to approve the project in the narrow two month window given him by Congress when they passed the two month payroll tax extension.

TPM.com has a good read here on how Republican angling led to the president rejecting the project. Obama had previously delayed a decision, wanting more study before making a decision after the politics of an election year.

The Washington Post has a good read here on Five Myths About The Keystone XL pipeline.

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Pakistan Supreme Court Gives Prime Minister Two Weeks To Respond - at issue is the Supreme court's desire to proceed with old charges of corruption against Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has two weeks to present his defense of contempt of court charges. You can read more here.

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