Cain Trips Over Libya Question

But Obama leads Romney in general election polling

(NEWSER) - Mitt Romney leads Rick Santorum 40% to 33% in Wisconsin, according to a new NBC News-Marist poll . Ron Paul follows in third with 11% and Newt Gingrich is last with 8%. Romney leads the way with moderate and liberal Republicans, conservatives, and those earning more than $75,000 per year. Santorum, however, leads with very conservative voters, evangelical Christians, and Tea Party supporters. More»

Americans like Obama but fear for country: poll

(NEWSER) - If a national poll can combine devastating news and a bright ray of sunshine for President Obama, this is it. A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey shows that about 75% of respondents don't like Obama's economic policies and fear the country is headed in the wrong direction. But in hypothetical match-ups, Obama leads Mitt Romney by 6 points and Herman Cain by 15 points. “Is he [Bill] Clinton or [Jimmy] Carter? I don’t think you can answer it right now,” one pollster tells MSNBC . More»

Death marks end of 'long and painful chapter,' he says

(NEWSER) - President Obama this afternoon praised the news of Moammar Gadhafi's death , calling it "the end of a long and painful chapter for the people of Libya," reports AP . "Today we can definitively say that the Gadhafi regime has come to an end." And to the Libyan people, he added, "You have won your revolution." Obama also praised the NATO mission that led to the dictator's downfall: "Without putting a single US (service member) on the ground, we achieved our objective, and the NATO mission will soon come to an end." See Hillary Clinton's early reaction here . More»

Orthodoxy vies with electability among party faithful

(NEWSER) - Herman Cain's surprise win in Florida's straw poll yesterday shows how unpredictable this election cycle is—but it also provides some valuable lessons about that state of the GOP nation, reports the St. Petersburg Times .

• The top GOP contender is still Not-Mitt-Romney: Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry—Republicans are still waiting for the great candidate who can lead them to the chosen land. All they know for now is that frontrunner Romney is not him. Next up ... Chris Christie? .
• It's too late for a new candidate: A major reason Perry imploded was that he just did not have enough time to get the infrastructure in place that he needed. Money, volunteers, the whole process takes way too much work to ramp up so late in the game. So maybe Christie is not an option, after all.

Battered morale, bigger classes trigger retirements

(NEWSER) - In the wake of Wisconsin's political dust-up over collective bargaining this year, more teachers than ever there are calling it quits. Teachers are retiring at about double the usual rate rather than face battered morale, bigger classes, trimmed pay, greater health care costs, and more pay funneled into retirement funds, the Christian Science Monitor reports. One tally has roughly 5,000 teachers retiring this year. "Many of us felt very bittersweet about it," says Thomas Howe, one teacher who hung 'em up. More»