Mitt Romney builds case for inevitability  —  HANOVER, N.H - Hours after Chris Christie signaled he believes Mitt Romney is the Republican party's inevitable nominee, Romney and the rest of the GOP field went about proving him right.  —  Romney again outclassed the opposition in Tuesday's Bloomberg/Washington Post debate.

After another bad debate, is Rick Perry finished?  —  HANOVER, NH — It would be an understatement to say that Texas Gov. Rick Perry's top aides are unhappy with press reports casting Tuesday night's Republican debate as a make-or-break moment for the Texas governor.

Who is Rich Lowrie?  —  Herman Cain says his much-touted “9-9-9” plan is the product of extensive testing and thinking, but the only man he cited as involved with its research — Rich Lowrie, of Cleveland, Ohio — is not a trained economist.  —  Instead, Lowrie — who's the only economic adviser Cain …

Herman Cain consultant: 9-9-9 wouldn't be accepted  —  Herman Cain expressed confidence at Tuesday's debate that his much-touted “9-9-9” plan to revamp the tax code would pass Congress, but the paid campaign consultant who scored the plan for Cain said the idea was more of a theory …

Obama's jobs plan blocked in Senate  —  President Obama received a slap from members of his own party Tuesday as the Senate voted 50-49 to block his $447 billion jobs package.  —  The jobs plan, which the president has spent much of the last month touting on a cross-country tour, fell well short of the 60 votes it needed to proceed.