North Korean Leader Kim Jong Il, 69, Has Died  —  SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Kim Jong Il, North Korea's mercurial and enigmatic leader, has died.  He was 69.  —  Kim's death was announced Monday by state television from the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.

Paul leads in Iowa  —  Newt Gingrich's campaign is rapidly imploding, and Ron Paul has now taken the lead in Iowa.  He's at 23% to 20% for Mitt Romney, 14% for Gingrich, 10% each for Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, and Rick Perry, 4% for Jon Huntsman, and 2% for Gary Johnson.

Newt and the Revenge of the Base  —  WASHINGTON — It is one of the true delights of a bizarrely entertaining Republican presidential contest to watch the apoplectic fear and loathing of so many GOP establishmentarians toward Newt Gingrich.  They treat him as an alien body whose approach to politics they have always rejected.

Payroll Tax Cut Rejected by House Republicans  —  WASHINGTON — The House Republican leader on Sunday flatly rejected a short-term, bipartisan Senate measure to extend a payroll tax break and unemployment insurance, setting the stage for a bitter year-end Congressional collision and the potential loss …

Callista Gingrich: A force behind the scenes for Newt  —  Callista's husband recently suggested to ABC News that she's an amalgamation of Nancy Reagan and Laura Bush, perhaps with a touch of Jackie Kennedy mixed in.  —  Kellyanne Conway, Gingrich's pollster and a friend of the couple, said …

Will China Break?  —  Consider the following picture: Recent growth has relied on a huge construction boom fueled by surging real estate prices, and exhibiting all the classic signs of a bubble.  There was rapid growth in credit — with much of that growth taking place not through traditional banking …

Unemployment Insurance is an Expensive Free Lunch  —  Extending the extra unemployment insurance benefits would be bad for the federal budget and bad for the economy, and there is a better long-term solution for unemployment than the current UI system.  —  With respect to the budget …