The Golden Report

23 DAYS UNTIL IOWA

BIG PICTURE- “Political winds shift to Democrats”- The Hill-

“President Obama is in better shape at the prospect of a prolonged GOP primary battle between former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and Mitt Romney. Democrats in the House have been buoyed by a series of court decisions on redistricting and Senate Democrats have recently landed potentially strong recruits in conservative-leaning states.

Democrats on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue have seized on the payroll tax extension, which has divided the GOP Voter angst at Washington is extremely high, though it is unclear which party will feel the most of the public’s wrath next November.

The political atmosphere is clearly volatile. A couple months ago, Republicans were optimistic that they had a good chance of running the White House and both chambers of Congress in January, 2013. But since then, that optimism has waned.”

PRESIDENT OBAMA was interviewed by Steve Kroft on 60 Minutes tonight.

Excerpts:

OBAMA: Look, the problem is, is that our politics has gotten to the point, where we can’t have an honest conversation about the greatest income inequality since the 1920s. And we can’t have an honest conversation about the irresponsibility that resulted in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, without somebody sayin’ that somehow we’re bein’ divisive. No, we’re bein’ honest about what happened and we’ve gotta be honest about how we move forward.

KROFT: Well, do you think that you might have the unemployment rate down to eight percent by the time the election rolls around?

OBAMA: I think it’s possible. But, you know, I’m not in the job of prognosticating on the economy.

KROFT: There’s a general sense that the stimulus didn’t work…

Obama: Let me stop you there, Steve. First of all, there’s not a general perception that the stimulus didn’t work. You’ve got John McCain’s former economist and a whole series of prominent economists, who say that it created or saved three million jobs and prevented us from goin’ into a Great Depression. That works. So that’s not true.

KROFT: Why do you think you deserve to be re-elected? What have you accomplished?

OBAMA: Not only saving this country from a Great Depression. Not only saving the auto industry. But putting in place a system in which we’re gonna start lowering health care costs and you’re never gonna go bankrupt because you get sick or somebody in your family gets sick. Makin’ sure that we have reformed the financial system, so we never again have taxpayer-funded bailouts and the system is more stable and secure.

Ending Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Decimating al Qaeda, including Bin Laden being taken off the field. But when it comes to the economy, we’ve got a lot more work to do. And we’re— we’re gonna keep on at it.

MEANWHILE..in IOWA, the Republican Presidential Candidates debated on Saturday night, their 12th debate of the primary season. Maggie Habberman in POLITICO has seven takeaways

1. Mitt Romney had a $10,000 unforced error
2. Newt Gingrich accomplished what he needed to
3. Gingrich is testing how far right a GOP candidate can go on Israel
4. Rick Perry still has some game
5. Michele Bachmann is the only one invoking Herman Cain
6. The Jon Huntsman-Newt Gingrich debate just got more interesting [this is happening tomorrow night in New Hampshire]
7. Ron Paul gets his due

BIG PICTURE- “Gingrich and Romney poised for drawn-out primary fight for delegates”- Alexander Bolton- The Hill-

“A little-noticed change in Republican Party rules last year means almost all of the states holding caucuses and primaries before April 1 will allocate their delegates proportionally.

This will make it very difficult for Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney to land a lights-out punch early in the contest. Unless one candidate dominates the first several caucuses and primaries, the race could easily stretch into April and beyond, say GOP veterans.Of the states holding primaries or caucuses before March, only Florida and Arizona will allocate all delegates to the candidate who wins the state.

This will make the Sunshine State a big prize in the race for delegates. But will not give Gingrich, Romney or any other candidate who may surge to the front a decisive advantage. The winner of Florida will collect 50 delegates, instead of the state’s usual 99, because of a penalty imposed on the state for advancing its primary to Jan. 31.

Arizona lost half of its 58 delegates by moving its presidential primary to February 28.  There too the winner will collect them all, according to a state party spokesman.

To clinch the nomination, a candidate will need 1143 delegates, according to a Republican National Committee memo.

By March 1, only 146 delegates will have been allocated from the primaries in Arizona, Florida, Michigan, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Candidates will lay claim to a portion of the 156 delegates in Iowa, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota and Nevada but these are caucus states and they will not set the final allocation of delegates until state conventions set for later 2012.

BUSINESS BRIEF- Lehman to use liquidation money to increase share in Archstone- Business Week-

“Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., which has court approval for a $65 billion liquidation plan, will ask a judge to let it use $1.3 billion of estate money to increase its stake in Archstone, its biggest real estate asset, according to a person familiar with the planned bid.”

AT THE BOX OFFICE this weekend

1/ New Year’s Eve- $13.7 million
2/ The Sitter- $10 million
3/ Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn- $7.9 million
4/ The Muppets- $7 million
5/ Arthur’s Christmas- $6.6 million

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL- In the 3rd, it’s Giants 15/Cowboys 20

SI.COM- “Broncos’ spectacular, improbable run continues”-

“Sometime down the road, when all the Tim Tebow hysteria wears off a bit — maybe when Denver gets knocked out of the playoffs or in the lull of the offseason — we’ll all look back and appreciate this Broncos run for what it really is:

A spectacular, if not wholly unexplainable, sports experience.

This is right up there with Butler making a run to the NCAA Tournament final or that wild, ridiculous final day of the 2011 baseball season. Whether you love or hate Tebow and the Broncos, there is just no way you can sit still and watch these games without showing any emotion.

It defies explanation how Denver has risen to 8-5, and Sunday’s 13-10 overtime win over the Bears has to rank at the top of the Broncos’ list of miraculous outcomes…

Before, when Tebow pulled rabbit after rabbit out of his hat, it was easy enough to chalk it up to Denver’s new quarterback giving the entire team a jolt — more confidence that, no matter what, the game was never out of reach. That’s all still true, but the reason this Broncos run has continued goes beyond that.

What’s happening now is that opposing teams are starting to buy in, too. No one will ever admit to it, of course, but Tebow is in the league’s head.”