Rahm Leads List of DC Power Hitters

Eric Cantor, Mitch McConnell top the list

(NEWSER) - Who are the real power brokers in Washington? GQ names the top 50 in its biennial list of the most powerful people in DC—although, the magazine notes, "People with the last names Obama and Biden not included." The top five:

• Eric Cantor: The House majority leader is definitely the Democrats' least favorite Republican; you can thank him for Washington's hyper-partisanship and inability to compromise. GQ notes that he is widely expected to follow—or even push aside—John Boehner as speaker of the House.
• Mitch McConnell: "Even Cantor has to go through this guy eventually," thanks to his position as Senate minority leader.

'Buffett Rule' finds no fan in Budget Committee chair

(NEWSER) - The so-called Buffett Rule, President Obama's pending plan to raise taxes on the rich named for Warren Buffett , found an outspoken critic in Paul Ryan today, Politico reports. "Class warfare might make for good politics, but it makes for bad economics," the House Budget Committee chairman tells Fox News Sunday, warning that such a move would drag down job creation and send the economy reeling backward. "We think this is going in the wrong direction," Ryan said. Elsewhere on your Sunday dial, as per Politico: More»

Gossip: Axelrod, Jarrett, and Emanuel ticked off over his op-ed

(NEWSER) - From the White House gossip mill: Three top Obama advisers will skip the wedding of ex-budget director Peter Orszag this weekend in a tiff over the Bush tax cuts, the New York Post reports in its Page Six column. As the tale goes, David Axelrod, Valerie Jarrett, and Rahm Emanuel abruptly canceled after Orszag wrote an op-ed about keeping all the cuts in place for the time being. "Basically they want to show a unified front, that they are not hanging out with the enemy," says an administration source. Politico says it's not quite the case. More»

He'll go to Chicago to work on Obama's re-election campaign

(NEWSER) - The exodus continues, sort of: David Axelrod will leave his White House post sometime next year, reports the Chicago Tribune . But he's not going far from the president—he'll return to his beloved Chicago to work on Obama's re-election campaign. Axelrod is one of the president's top advisers and strategists, notes the Tribune. One of his main duties is overseeing the speechwriting team to make sure the president's message is on point. Buddy Rahm Emanuel is also expected to leave soon for the Chicago mayor's race. More»

Apple's 'magical' device a hit at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave

(NEWSER) - Known as technophiles during the 2008 campaign, Barack Obama's top advisers have a "magical" new gadget to geek out on: The iPad, which has become a staple in the White House. The Washington Post undertook the important journalistic endeavor of exposing early adopters like Rahm Emanuel (who has "all the newspaper apps" and iBooks) and Larry Summers (Bloomberg app, Scrabble, and a free copy of The Federalist Papers.) More»