“Politics” on The Daily Caller

Newt Gingrich has won the South Carolina primary, and won big. But will the former House Speaker’s new momentum be enough to stop the Mitt Romney juggernaut? (more)

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — A federal court in northeastern Brazil has sentenced a politician to 103 years in prison for killing his running mate so that he could take her place in Congress. (more)

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Congressman Ron Paul’s election party on Wednesday was packed with children and college and high school students eager to witness and celebrate the ” Ron Paul Revolution.” (more)

The Kennedy-Nixon presidential debate of 1960 awakened Americans to the power of a good political hairdo (and a bad five-o’clock shadow). Those who listened to the debate on the radio thought Nixon performed better. But Kennedy’s suave good looks and smooth coiffure won over the TV watchers. (more)

With all the yelling and debating that goes on on the House floor, have you ever wondered how former Speaker Nancy Pelosi manages to maintain such a stoic face? (more)

NEW YORK (AP) — Rick Perry had barely gotten through his gaffe in Wednesday’s Republican primary debate when a rolling commentary on the TV screen declared his campaign on life support. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration said Tuesday it is negotiating a possible reduction in U.S. intelligence operatives and special operations officers in Pakistan as the two countries try to mend relations badly strained by the arrest and detention of a CIA security contractor for killing two Pakistanis. (more)

Throughout the 2010 election cycle and at the beginning of the new Congress this year, the Republicans had promised $100 billion in budget cuts. However, after the budget deal struck late on Friday, there was only $38 billion in cuts to show. (more)

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — The elected president of this West African nation heralded “the dawn of a new era of hope” Monday when a bloody, four-month standoff ended with the capture of his rival, the longtime strongman who lost the vote but refused to give up power. (more)

4-3, or 3-3-1? Unofficial results in the big Wisconsin judicial election have Dem-backed JoAnne Kloppenburg beating Scott Walker’s candidate, incumbent conservative David Prosser, by 204 votes. (“We’re all a little disappointed (the vote) wasn’t four to one,” John Kamerling of Madison, a Walker opponent, told the Appleton Post-Crescent.) Recount and appeal procedures are outlined in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s story. … (more)

It may be helpful, at a time like this — when Congress is threatening to shut down the U.S. government in a dispute over a tiny fraction of the federal budget — to think of legislators like a lost forest tribe. (more)

Sometimes It’s Simple: When I heard pollster Pat Caddell–who usually blasts Dems these days–say on Saturday that Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget plan was a near-suicidal act leading Republicans “off the cliff,” my initial instinct was to agree, especially regarding Ryan’s proposed Medicare changes. Here Republicans were winning the grinding debate over relatively small cuts in the federal discretionary budget. Democrats–the party that desperately needs to convince voters it can be trusted to get rid of $1.6 trillion annual deficits–seemed to be reflexively defending government bloat, measuring success by the amount of spending preserved the way antipoverty activists measure success by the number of people on the dole.  (more)

Has California’s shiny new independent redistricting commission already been captured by the left? That’s what Republicans are charging. I’m highly receptive to that kind of complaint, but this one is … incompletely convincing. For one thing, the commission’s rules (requiring three votes from the five Republicans on the commission, and the four independent commissioners) seem to prevent an effective capture by one party. For another, what would Democrats do if they did control the commission? Draw lines to maximize the Dem legislative majority? That would seem to require creating at least a few districts Dems would win only be a relatively small margin–which means they would be more competitive than the vast majority of districts now,  which would in turn open up the possibility of a moderate Democrat winning under California’s new “top two” open primary system, no? (Similarly, it would seem to increase opportunities for moderate Republicans who could appeal to centrists in a “top two” runoff.) … The worst the panel could do is decide to protect all incumbents, which is basically the status quo. But it’s hard to believe incumbents will be able to lobby and negotiate with the panel the way they could lobby a party leader like the late Phil Burton or a Dem operative like Michael Berman. And even random changes in the current arrangement would seem to be an improvement. … P.S.: However the lines are drawn, California’s legislative delegations will be heavily majority-Dem because the state is heavily majority Dem. That’s not the point. (The point, or points, are a) more moderates from both parties; b) more competition, within the parties and between them, translating into c) less incumbent lock-in, more voter ability to throw a bum out) … (more)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel said Sunday it was launching an international campaign to push the United Nations to rescind a scathing report on Israeli war conduct in the Gaza Strip two years ago, after the report’s author backtracked from key allegations against the Jewish state. (more)

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., raised a combined total of $2.2 million in the first quarter of 2011, outgaining presumed presidential contender Mitt Romney who raised $1.9 million over the same period. (more)

“Who makes even Charlie Sheen’s rockstar spending look tame? Washington.” (more)

The Obama administration has sent teams of CIA operatives into Libya in a rush to gather intelligence on the identity, goals and progress of rebel forces opposed to Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, according to U.S. officials. (more)

Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson will announce a run for president in April, according to a report from Fox News on Friday. Johnson served two terms as governor in the 1990s and early 2000s and has often been cited a a potential presidential candidate, including for the Libertarian Party. (more)

The US and Britain have raised the prospect of arming Libya’s rebels if air strikes fail to force Muammar Gaddafi from power. (more)

Reporting from Bin Jawwad, Libya— A sustained counterattack by Libyan government forces sent overmatched rebel fighters fleeing eastward through this desert crossroads early Tuesday as heavy fighting engulfed the battered town. (more)