Poll: High Marks for Obama's State of the Union Speech  —  CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto.  —  An overwhelming majority of Americans approved of the overall message in President Obama's State of the Union speech …

Pelosi's office says she has no new dirt on Newt Gingrich  —  Rep. Nancy Pelosi's office on Wednesday said the minority leader doesn't have any dirt on Newt Gingrich.  —  Pelosi has suggested in two interviews that she knows something that could prevent Gingrich from becoming president …

Rubio scolds Gingrich camp, says ad bashing ‘anti-immigrant’ Romney is ‘inaccurate, inflammatory’  —  Sen. Marco Rubio scolded Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign over a Spanish-language radio ad that accuses rival Mitt Romney of being “anti-immigrant”  —  “This kind of language is more than just unfortunate.

American hostage in Somalia rescued by US Navy SEALs in overnight raid  —  WASHINGTON — In a daring nighttime raid Tuesday, U.S. Navy SEALs rescued two hostages, including one American, who were being held by kidnappers in Somalia, U.S. officials tell NBC News.

Awkward Family Photos: Mitt Laundry  —  Mitt Romney's hurdle in winning the love/respect/admiration/fear of his party can be summed up in one photo: It was taken by his son, Tagg (doesn't Sarah Palin have a kid with that name?) and put on Twitter this week.  It's of Romney and his wife Ann …

Obama's Schneiderman Gambit: Financial Fraud Unit Appears Designed to Fail, Grease Skids for Foreclosure Fraud Settlement  —  I'll pepper in my thoughts on the State of the Union Address throughout the day, but I would be remiss if I didn't start with the announcement of a Unit on Mortgage Origination …

When Fact Checkers Go Bad...Very Bad  —  OMG...this is beyond preposterous.  —  Politifact—the self-anointed fact checkers—grade this statement from the President speech tonight as “half-true:” … This is not half true or two-thirds true.  It is just true.  —  So why, I ask you, why do they go where they go?

Newt slams Romney's ‘world of Swiss bank accounts’  —  Via Ginger Gibson in Miami — if you thought the tax return issue was over and done with, think again:

Female driver who defied Saudi motoring ban dies in fatal road accident  —  A woman who defied a driving ban on female motorists in Saudi Arabia has died in a car crash.  —  Another was hurt in the crash in the only country in the world where females are banned from getting behind the wheel.

House Democrats spell Keystone ‘K-O-C-H’  —  House Democrats are using the billionaire Koch brothers to score political points in their fight against the Keystone XL oil pipeline.  —  Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) suggested at a hearing Wednesday that Koch Industries …

When Gingrich Tried, and Failed, to Intimidate Tom Coburn  —  On Twitter today, I've noted that Romney's seeming squeamishness might make him less likely to sell out conservatives as president than Newt Gingrich.  It's far from the most inspiring rallying cry, but I conclude …

Will Israel Attack Iran?  —  As the Sabbath evening approached on Jan. 13, Ehud Barak paced the wide living-room floor of his home high above a street in north Tel Aviv, its walls lined with thousands of books on subjects ranging from philosophy and poetry to military strategy.

PRESS FREEDOM INDEX 2011/2012  —  Syria, Bahrain and Yemen get worst ever rankings  —  “This year's index sees many changes in the rankings, changes that reflect a year that was incredibly rich in developments, especially in the Arab world,” Reporters Without Borders said today as it released its 10th annual press freedom index.

Updating our privacy policies and terms of service  —  In just over a month we will make some changes to our privacy policies and Google Terms of Service.  This stuff matters, so we wanted to explain what's changing, why and what these changes mean for users.  —  First, our privacy policies.