HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Gov. Tom Corbett said Tuesday he plans to sue the NCAA in federal court over stiff sanctions imposed against Penn State University in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal.

The Republican governor scheduled a Wednesday news conference on the Penn State campus in State College to announce the antitrust filing in U.S. District Court in Harrisburg.

The sanctions, which were agreed to by the university in July, included a $60 million fine that would be used nationally to finance child abuse prevention grants. The sanctions also included a four-year bowl game ban for the university's marquee football program, reduced football scholarships and the forfeiture of 112 wins but didn't include a suspension of the football program, the so-called death penalty.

The governor's office announced the news conference late Tuesday afternoon. His spokesman did not respond to repeated calls and emails seeking to confirm a Sports Illustrated story that cited anonymous sources saying a lawsuit was imminent.

Corbett's brief statement did not indicate whether his office coordinated its legal strategy with state Attorney General-elect Kathleen Kane, who is scheduled to be sworn in Jan. 15.

Kane, a Democrat, ran on a vow to investigate why it took state prosecutors nearly three years to charge Sandusky, an assistant under former football coach Joe Paterno. Corbett was the attorney general when that office took over the case in early 2009 and until he became governor in January 2011.

State and congressional lawmakers from Pennsylvania have objected to using the Penn State fine to finance activities in other states. Penn State has already made the first $12 million payment, and an NCAA task force is deciding how it should be spent.

The NCAA, which did not respond to calls seeking comment Tuesday, has said at least a quarter of the money would be spent in Pennsylvania.

Republican U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent called that an "unacceptable and unsatisfactory" response by the NCAA to a request from the state's U.S. House delegation that the whole $60 million be distributed to causes within the state.

Last week, state Sen. Jake Corman, a Republican whose district includes Penn State's main campus, said he plans to seek court action barring any of the first $12 million from being released to groups outside the state.

Sandusky, 68, was convicted in June on charges he sexually abused 10 boys, some on Penn State's campus. He's serving a 30- to 60-year state prison term.

Eight young men testified against him, describing a range of abuse they said went from grooming and manipulation to fondling, oral sex and anal rape when they were boys.

Sandusky did not testify at his trial but has maintained his innocence, acknowledging he showered with boys but insisting he never molested them.

BALTIMORE — Same-sex couples in Maryland were greeted with cheers and noisemakers held over from New Year's Eve parties, as gay marriage became legal in the first state south of the Mason-Dixon Line on New Year's Day.

James Scales, 68, was married to William Tasker, 60, on Tuesday shortly after midnight by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake inside City Hall.

"It's just so hard to believe it's happening," Scales said shortly before marrying his partner of 35 years.

Six other same-sex couples also were being married at City Hall. Ceremonies were taking place in other parts of the state as well.

The ceremonies follow a legislative fight that pitted Gov. Martin O'Malley against leaders of his Catholic faith. Voters in the state, founded by Catholics in the 17th century, sealed the change by approving a November ballot question.

"There is no human institution more sacred than that of the one that you are about to form," Rawlings-Blake said during the brief ceremony. "True marriage, true marriage, is the dearest of all earthly relationships."

Brigitte Ronnett, who also was married, said she hopes one day to see full federal recognition of same-sex marriage. Maryland, Maine and Washington state were the first states to approve same-sex marriage by popular vote, in November, a development Ronnett said was significant.

"I think it's a great sign when you see that popular opinion is now in favor of this," said Ronnett, 51, who married Lisa Walther, 51, at City Hall.

Same-sex couples in Maryland have been able to get marriage licenses since Dec. 6, but they did not take effect until Tuesday.

In 2011, same-sex marriage legislation passed in the state Senate but stalled in the House of Delegates. O'Malley hadn't made the issue a key part of his 2011 legislative agenda, but indicated that summer that he was considering backing a measure similar to New York's law, which includes exemptions for religious organizations.

Shortly after, Archbishop Edwin O'Brien of Baltimore wrote to O'Malley that same-sex marriage went against the governor's faith.

"As advocates for the truths we are compelled to uphold, we speak with equal intensity and urgency in opposition to your promoting a goal that so deeply conflicts with your faith, not to mention the best interests of our society," wrote O'Brien, who served as archbishop of the nation's first diocese from October 2007 to August 2011.

The governor was not persuaded. He held a news conference in July 2011 to announce that he would make same-sex marriage a priority in the 2012 legislative session. He wrote back to the archbishop that "when shortcomings in our laws bring about a result that is unjust, I have a public obligation to try to change that injustice."

The measure, with exemptions for religious organizations that choose not to marry gay couples, passed the House of Delegates in February in a close vote. O'Malley signed it in March. Opponents then gathered enough signatures to put the bill to a statewide vote, and it passed with 52 percent in favor.

In total, nine states and the District of Columbia have approved same-sex marriage. The other states are Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont.

Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe
SOUTH CAROLINA'S conservative Republican governor, Nikki Haley, is the daughter of Sikh immigrants from Punjab. US Representative Tim Scott of Charleston, a Tea Party hero who was raised in poverty by a divorced single mother, is South Carolina's first black Republican lawmaker in more than a century. To anyone who shares the ideals that animate modern conservatism "“ limited government, economic liberty, color-blind equality "“ it stands to reason that Haley and Scott are conservatives. And their Republican affiliation should surprise no one familiar...

WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is asking Hawaii's governor to act before the end of the year to fill the Senate vacancy created by the death of Daniel Inouye of Hawaii.

Reid says he's asked Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie to appoint Inouye's successor "with due haste." Reid says he wants to ensure Hawaii is fully represented "in the pivotal decisions" the Senate will be making.

Inouye died of respiratory complications last week, leaving Democrats down one seat as the Senate prepares for the possibility of voting on a measure that would avoid a "fiscal cliff" of tax hikes and spending cuts.

Hawaii Rep. Colleen Hanabusa is the favorite for the post. Inouye, a fellow Democrat, endorsed Hanabusa in a letter he sent to Abercrombie on the day he died.

New Jersey Democratic Senate President Stephen Sweeney responded strongly to charges by openly gay Assemblyman Reed Gusciora that he's stalling on a veto override of a marriage equality bill in the New Jersey legislature, saying that he is “truly offended” by the claim, and that he also disagrees with Gusciora’s proposal to bring marriage equality to the ballot in New Jersey after the wins in Maryland, Maine and Washington state. Sweeney also discussed a bill he is spearheading that would ban therapists in New Jersey from performing so-called “reparative therapy” on minors, saying it’s about making children feel valued. (Listen to the full interview below)

“You have kids killing themselves because they think there is something is wrong with them,” Sweeney said while discussing the bill to ban therapies that claim to turn young people from gay to straight. A similar bill was signed into law in California this year, though in recent days a federal appeals court issued an emergency order putting the law, which was to take effect on Jan. 1, on hold until it hears and rules on a challenge to the law.

“The supporters of this bill are people who love their children and understand that you can’t make your children something they’re not born to be,” Sweeney said this week in an interview on my SiriusXM radio program. “You’re born to be what you are. Religious organizations -- no one -- should be involved in this type of behavior. I have a child who is disabled. And I love my daughter as much as I love my son. Because my daughter’s different, it doesn’t make her less valued. Why some religious groups would make someone feel they’re less valued, less of a person, is really troubling to me.”

Sweeney wasn’t sure of GOP Gov. Chris Christie’s position on the bill. Christie had signed anti-bullying legislation in 2011, but vetoed a marriage equality bill earlier this year.

“Something like this, he wouldn’t express it until it’s time for him to act,” he said. “When he vetoed marriage equality, that was a loud statement of indifference. I’m not sure where the governor will be on this.”

Regarding a veto override of the marriage bill, Sweeney said, “I’m three votes short right now, but we’ve moved the bill early on. We think we’ve got a shot at overriding the governor because it’s a civil rights issue.”

But Sweeney is strongly opposed to bringing marriage equality to the ballot, as Christie had urged and as Gusciora recently proposed, introducing a bill in the legislature.

“Civil rights is not something that should voted on,” said Sweeney. "I wholehearted disagree with that approach. We’re not in a liberal state. We’re in a moderate state. In California they voted to make marriage equality illegal, in the most liberal state in the country. I understand [Gusciora’s] frustration. But I cannot in good conscience put this up for a ballot vote, see it go down, and then New Jersey is viewed as a conservative state. You know, New Jersey, back in 1915, voted against a woman’s right to vote. Now, people say, 'We won in the three states [Maryland, Maine and Washington].' And millions of dollars were spent. And they won. But they lost in 30 states before. I’m not willing to put something on the ballot and allow someone to choose civil rights.”

Gusciora had also called for a vote on the veto override now, even if it doesn’t pass, and charged that the Democratic leadership doesn't want to move for an override of Christie's veto now because Democrats want to wait in order use the issue of marriage equality against Republicans in the elections in the fall.

“I’m offended by the statement,” Sweeney responded. “I am truly offended by his position and statement. The assemblyman has never spoken to me or reached out to me to ask what our strategy or plan is. This is not political. This is about civil rights. Who says we’re not going to vote after the election? Look, we wanted to give our Republican colleagues who are supportive the chance to get beyond the primaries, where they’ve been threatened, in primaries. You saw what happened in New York State, where people were primaried out of office. I’m not looking to lose people because of this issue. I’m not one to do that to my colleagues because I want to work with them to get this done. Unfortunately it’s the assemblyman who has not spoken to anyone on this issue. The difference is, I have been speaking to the leading groups on marriage equality.”

Listen to the full interview here:

Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) will seek the open congressional seat in his home state, CNN reported Thursday.

A Republican source tells CNN that the former governor is likely to announce any day that he will run for the seat left vacant by Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who was appointed by Gov. Nikki Haley (R) to replace outgoing Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) in the upper chamber early next year. DeMint announced earlier this month that he was leaving the Senate to become the president of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

Goose Creek Patch confirmed CNN's report.

"Sanford is dead serious about this run," a former aide told Patch. "His dire predictions on America's fiscal future have come true. I wouldn't want to be running against him."

A primary will be held in early March. Teddy Turner, a Republican, announced his intention to run earlier this week, and several others have hinted at entering the race.

Sanford, who left office in 2011, had his political ambitions derailed in 2009 when his extramarital affair with an Argentinian woman came to light. Earlier this month, Sanford told the Wall Street Journal that he was open to a political comeback.

"Second acts are what marks the American experiment and is something at one level or another we all hope for," Sanford said. "If there's anything that I've learned in life, it has many surprises, strange turns and twists ... You never say never."

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich sat down with Sam Stein and Marc Lamont Hill at HuffPost Live Wednesday to talk gun control days after the tragic shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. The former presidential hopeful said he agreed with Virginia governor Bob McDonnell that arming teachers might be a solution to the problem of school shootings saying "school administrators should be trained and should have arms that are available under lock and key."

"If that principal who lost her life had been able to step in the door and kill him," Gingrich continued, "we would have saved a tremendous number of lives."

Gingrich dismissed immediate calls for new gun legislation, however.

"More gun control might be good PR, it might make people feel better," he said, but he later pointed out that even in states with strong laws, "there are thousands of people killed annually by criminals who apparently don't pay attention to gun control."

Watch the full segment at HuffPost Live.

U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) had a letter delivered to the state's governor before his death Monday, indicating his preference for a successor.

Inouye's letter to Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D) said he wanted the governor to name Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D) to fill the Senate seat until a 2014 special election. Abercrombie told the Honolulu Star Advertiser Monday that he received the letter earlier in the day, but declined to reveal the contents. An Inouye spokesman confirmed that Inouye recommended Hanabusa's appointment as a "last wish."

Inouye, who was elected to the Senate in 1962, died Monday afternoon at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland.

Hanabusa, a former president of the state Senate, was first elected to Congress in 2010, representing a district based in Honolulu's urban core. Hanabusa unseated Rep. Charles Dijou (R), who had defeated her in a special election earlier in 2010 to succeed Abercrombie, who resigned to run for governor. Hanabusa was reelected last month.

If appointed, Hanabusa would be Hawaii's second female senator, after Sen.-elect Mazie Hirono (D), who won election last month. Hanabusa would also be the nation's second Buddhist and Asian-American woman senator, after Hirono. The last Hawaiian appointed to the U.S. Senate was Sen. Daniel Akaka (D), who is retiring in January.

Abercrombie's appointment would serve until a 2014 special election to fill the remaining two years of Inouye's term. The appointed senator would join South Carolina Republican Tim Scott as one of two appointed senators in the next Congress. Scott was appointed to succeed retiring Sen. Jim DeMint (R) on Monday by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R). Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) is expected to appoint a senator to replace Sen. John Kerry (D) if Kerry is named secretary of state.

Inouye was succeeded Monday in his post as president pro tempore of the U.S. Senate by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). Leahy is also expected to succeed Inouye as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Josh Kraushaar, National Journal
Question? Call us at 800-207-8001 | Sign In | Learn About Membership By Josh Kraushaar South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley announces that Rep. Tim Scott will replace Jim DeMint in the Senate during a news conference at the South Carolina Statehouse on Monday.For Republicans who believe the tea party is responsible for the GOP's struggles, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley's decision to choose Rep. Tim Scott to replace Jim DeMint in the Senate would have come as a stunner. The nation's second Indian-American governor appointed the only African-American who will be...

Steve Benen, MSNBC
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's (R) school voucher scheme has been plagued by a series of problems, culminating in a legal defeat in a state court two weeks ago. But in a Brookings speech yesterday, the Republican governor said he still sees his plan as a national model."I think there is a moral imperative that it's not right that only wealthy parents get to decide where their kids go to school," Jindal told an audience at Washington's Brookings Institution. [...]

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) may find same-day voter registration inefficient, but his son apparently finds it quite convenient.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Matt Walker, a freshman at Marquette University, went to vote in Wauwatosa for the presidential election and registered while at the polls. A witness at the polling place said the governor accompanied his son.

Wisconsin has had same-day registration since 1976. But at a recent speech in California, Walker said he would like to get rid of this law, citing the burden it placed on poll workers.

"States across the country that have same-day registration have real problems because the vast majority of their states have poll workers who are wonderful volunteers, who work 13-hour days and who in most cases are retirees," he said. "It's difficult for them to handle the volume of people who come at the last minute. It'd be much better if registration was done in advance of election day. It'd be easier for our clerks to handle that. All that needs to be done."

Poll workers and election clerks have disputed Walker's characterization of same-day registration, and on Wednesday, he walked back his remarks.

"This is a ridiculous issue. My priority is about jobs, creating jobs," he told reporters. He did not, however, specify whether he would still sign a repeal bill if it came to his desk from the GOP-controlled legislature.

Jocelyn Webster, a Walker spokeswoman, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Walker still believes ending same-day registration would make the electoral process easier for poll workers.

"At the same time, he believes people can and should use any registration opportunity legally available to them, and same-day registration currently is," Webster added. "All this said, the governor has repeatedly said legislation on this issue is not a priority for him. If Matt did register on election day, I think it would highlight that point."

Former Republican Governor Charlie Crist has officially joined the Democratic Party, he announced on Friday evening.

Crist, who served as governor of Florida from 2007 to 2011, left the Republican Party after losing a Senate primary battle to Marco Rubio in 2010 -- switching his party affiliation to independent in order to run against now-Senator Rubio in the general election. (Crist lost that race by 19 points.)

The newly christened Democrat tweeted the big announcement Friday evening:

The change became official at a White House Christmas reception, the Tampa Bay Times reports, where "President Obama greeted the news with a fist bump."

Crist was a high-profile campaign surrogate for Obama this past election cycle, speaking at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte this September in support of the president. "I didn't leave the Republican party," Crist said in his speech. "It left me."

According to the Times, the move foreshadows Crist's next big political undertaking:

The widely expected move positions Crist, 56, for another highly anticipated next step: announcing his candidacy for governor, taking on Republican incumbent Gov. Rick Scott and an untold number of Democrats who would challenge him for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

McKay Coppins, BuzzFeed
The last year has been a bad one for many Republicans, but 2012 was exceptionally kind to Bobby Jindal.The 41-year-old Louisiana governor ends the presidential campaign cycle as a staple on the Sunday talk shows, a regular subject of 2016 speculation, and a legitimate contender to become the next standard-bearer of a party that once again finds itself leaderless.And the former Rhodes Scholar has Rick Perry to thank for it all.

WASHINGTON -- Stephanie Cutter still doesn't understand why Mitt Romney's campaign did not more forcefully defend its candidate's business experience.

Cutter, who served as President Barack Obama's deputy campaign manager in the 2012 election, said on Friday that the Romney campaign's failure to aggressively respond to the attacks on Bain Capital was one of its biggest mistakes.

"I never understood why they never pushed back on our attacks on his business experience," Cutter said at the seventh annual RootsCamp conference for progressive organizers in Washington, D.C. "He ran largely on an argument that, 'I understand the real economy, I know how to fix this and the president doesn't -- he's never been in the real economy,' with his only credential his Bain experience."

The Obama campaign hammered Romney on Bain during the campaign, essentially painting the former Massachusetts governor as a corporate takeover artist who founded a firm that specialized in outsourced U.S. jobs.

While some prominent Democrats initially criticized the Obama campaign for "attacking private equity," the campaign didn't back down.

"We weren't making an argument ... that Bain was bad," Cutter said on Friday. "We were making an argument that this experience does not qualify you to be president of the United States or to understand the real economy. We obviously worked hard to tear that down, and they never built it back up. I never understood why."

Cutter isn't alone in her confusion on the Romney strategy. GOP political strategist Karl Rove, whose Crossroads groups spent more than $300 million in the 2012 election on candidates -- who, for the most part, lost -- also said on Fox News after the election that the Romney campaign should have fought back faster.

"The first group to respond to the attacks on Bain Capital was not the Romney campaign, it was American Crossroads with an ad in July. We don't do defense all that well," Rove said, adding that it was sometimes more effective to have the candidate appear in an ad and respond directly to the charges being leveled.

"I don't know if they didn't have a good understanding as to the deals that we were talking about, or the history of Romney at Bain, but I never understood why they didn't make a counter-argument to what we were saying -- which was his sole credential," Cutter said. "Remember, it was really the only thing he put on the table to qualify him as president."

Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom did not return a request for comment on Cutter's remarks.

After months of fervently trying to move the conversation away from Bain, the Romney campaign did finally bring it back in August. The Republican National Convention highlighted individuals connected to Bain who all portrayed Romney as a strong leader with integrity, and as someone who would be able to save a struggling U.S. economy just as he turned around failing businesses.

Cutter also pointed to Romney's rightward shift in the GOP primary as a problem, noting he was never fully able to recover.

Michael Cannon, LA Times
Republicans believed a Mitt Romney win would seal Obamacare's fate. Democrats "” or rather, the lonely two-fifths of Americans who support the president's beleaguered healthcare law "” believed an Obama win would secure its future. Both sides were kidding themselves.Romney may have pledged to repeal the law, but his positions on Obamacare had the life span of a rainbow. He supported an identical law when he got the credit for signing it as governor of Massachusetts. He then opposed Obamacare when that's what GOP primary voters wanted to...

When I was governor of Michigan, we worked with private companies and the legislature to apply for federal government stimulus grants to be the place where the electric car, and its guts, the battery, would be built. Amazingly, we received 12 grants worth $1.35 billion -- more than half of the total awarded nationally. For just the lithium-ion battery alone, we were able to attract 18 companies to the state to build the various parts, with a potential boost of 63,000 jobs. That's 63,000 jobs!

I know the only reason those jobs were even possible is because the federal government, led by our president, made a commitment to battery technology. But as we've heard, there are huge challenges facing the industry. If we don't get this right, we'll lose a lot of those high paying, advanced manufacturing jobs. Forever.

That's where the government can do even more, with policies to encourage demand. George W. Bush created a tax break for SUVs, we should extend the one we have for electric cars. We need tax credits for these early electric vehicles until the price of making an electric vehicle comes down to the price for making a regular internal combustion engine. Not a permanent commitment -- but a glide path to energy independence, to jobs, to national security, to reducing climate change.

Anti-Obama partisans and those who are beholden to the oil industry need to get over it: Get over the election. Get over it, Rush Limbaugh, and support American products and American jobs. Get over it, Neil Cavuto, and support the great American manufacturing sector. Quit aiding and abetting our economic competitors, and start and abetting our economic growth.
The progress in electric cars is a true American success story. Those who want General Motors or electric vehicles to fail are motivated by nothing but partisan politics. Come on, you naysayers. Let's innovate, and support the innovators -- yes through government policy. Let's manufacture, and support the manufacturers. Let's win the race for clean energy jobs, and support those job providers.

Those who know me know about my love affair with my Chevy Volt. And I take no small degree of pride knowing it was all built in America, at the hands of about 1,000 U.S. workers in Hamtramck, Michigan. Although it's a green product, it doesn't get any more red, white and blue than that.

Originally aired on "The War Room with Jennifer Granholm." "The War Room" airs weeknights on Current TV. Follow Jennifer Granholm on Facebook and Twitter, and "The War Room" on Facebook and Twitter.

MIDDLETOWN, N.J. -- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie plans to spend the next year leading efforts to rebuild his home state after Superstorm Sandy – and running for re-election.

Christie announced his intention to seek a second term Monday, after telling his campaign treasurer to file papers so he can begin hiring campaign staff, selecting a headquarters and raising money toward his re-election. A formal announcement is expected in January.

"It would be wrong for me to leave now. I don't want to leave now," Christie, 50, said Monday. "We have a job to do. That job won't be finished by next year."

"The public needs to know that I'm in this for the long haul, that the person who has helped to lead them through the initial crisis wants to help lead them through the rebuilding and restoration of our state," he said at a news briefing at a fire house in Middletown, where he had come to thank first responders and volunteers.

The gubernatorial election is a year from now. The governor said he talked it over with his wife and four children, ages 9 to 19, over the weekend, and the decision that he should run was unanimous.

So far, no one has stepped forward to challenge him as governor. Several Democrats, most prominently Newark Mayor Cory Booker, have been thinking aloud about running for their party's nomination. Christie said he hadn't spoken with Booker other than by text in about 10 days and he didn't know the mayor's political intentions.

One recent public opinion poll ranked Booker as the Democrat who could come closest to beating the Republican governor.

But a new poll released Tuesday shows six out of 10 registered voters now support a second term for Christie, up 15 points since September.

The Rutgers-Eagleton poll also found the number of voters opposed to Christie's re-election declined from nearly half in September to about a third now.

Christie wins every hypothetical head-to-head matchup measured in the poll, including against Booker, who the poll has losing 34-53 percent with 13 percent choosing neither.

Christie carried the Democratic-leaning state by 86,000 votes in 2009, an upset win over Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine.

Christie, who has become a national figure during his first term, is riding an unprecedented wave of popularity because of how he handled the storm, which he said Friday had caused more than $29 billion in damage in New Jersey. Even Democrats have applauded his hands-on response. He appeared on "Saturday Night Live" in his trademark fleece pullover this month to lampoon his own nationally televised storm briefings.

About the only criticism directed his way since Superstorm Sandy attacked the coast in late October has come from fellow Republicans who have lambasted him for embracing President Barack Obama as the two toured New Jersey's ravaged coastline six days before the presidential election. Some even blame Christie for tipping a close election to the president.

Christie was the first governor to endorse Mitt Romney; he raised $18.2 million for the GOP nominee and crisscrossed the country as an in-demand surrogate for Republican candidates. Some are still questioning his party loyalty, however, as they did after Christie delivered the keynote address at the party's nominating convention in Tampa. Critics saw that August speech as too much about Christie and not enough about Romney.

The prospect of Christie seeking a second term became likely after he spurned overtures by Republican bigwigs to enter the 2012 presidential contest and more so when he later ruled himself out as vice presidential material with a resounding "I love the job I have now." Buzz over a Christie 2016 run has become muted since the governor boarded Marine One with Obama.

Christie's reputation for bluntness and penchant for confrontation have made him a YouTube sensation and sometimes obscured policy changes he has championed.

With the help of Democrats who control both houses of the state Legislature, Christie took on public worker unions, enacting sweeping pension and health benefits changes that cost workers more and are designed to shore up the underfunded public worker retirement and health care systems long term. He also enacted a 2 percent property tax cap with few loopholes to try to slow the annual growth rate of property taxes, already the highest in the nation at an average of $7,519 when adjusted for rebates.

Christie's education reforms have been slower to accomplish, and Democrats have refused to budge on his signature issue for this year, a phased-in 10 percent tax cut. With tax collections underperforming the administration's projections and storm rebuilding threatening to eat further into revenues, Democrats are unlikely to waver on their position that the state can't afford the cut.

Christie's handling of the state's struggling economy, a potential Achilles heel, has taken a back seat to the storm recovery. But unemployment remains a stubborn 9.7 percent, or 1.6 percent above the national jobless rate, and it's too early to tell whether tax collections will rebound to match administration projections for the fiscal year that began in July.

Scott Conroy, RCP
As his advisers spread word that Chris Christie will seek re-election in 2013, the New Jersey governor's prospects in his home state have never looked brighter.A Farleigh Dickinson University poll of Garden State voters released Monday showed that 77 percent of respondents approve of his job performance, including 67 percent of the Democrats surveyed. In the previous Farleigh Dickinson poll (released in October), just 26 percent of state Democrats and 56 percent of overall voters had rated his job performance positively. The earlier poll was pre-Hurricane Sandy, however, and it's...

Political campaigns are designedly made into emotional orgies which endeavor to distract attention from the real issues involved, and they actually paralyze what slight powers of cerebration man can normally muster. -- James Harvey Robinson, The Human Comedy

Herewith an update on the presidential election of 2016. Although it may seem to some a bit early to focus on such things given the fact that it is less than one month since the last election, news events suggest the next campaign is in full swing. The new season started less than a week following the election.

On November 11, 2012, a piece by Steve Holland published by Reuters had the eye catching headline "2016: Who's in play?" For those suffering political withdrawal it was like a drink from the fountain of eternal campaigns. It named six Republicans who might become candidates with a brief description of their qualities and five Democrats with similar descriptions. The named Republicans were Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan, Chris Christie, Bobby Jindal and Condoleezza Rice. The Democrats were Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Martin O'Malley, Mark Warner and Andrew Cuomo. With the publication of those 11 names political junkies get an idea of whom they should be tracking during the next four years. Of course, there is still the possibility that an outsider not yet identified will enter the arena but anyone who hasn't already made his/her intentions known will be at a distinct disadvantage.

In addition to the identification of candidates by Mr. Holland, another indication of presidential intentions can be found by keeping track of who's going to Iowa. A visit to Iowa by a politician gives a clear indication of the visitor's interest in things presidential since no one goes to Iowa in November as a tourist. In connection with the 2016 presidential election, the first politician to indicate his interest in being the next president of the United States (rather than simply being identified in the Reuters piece) is Marco Rubio of Florida. Before all the recounting of disputed ballots from the 2012 election had been completed, he packed his suitcase, left sunny Florida and went to Iowa. He said he was going to Iowa to participate in a birthday celebration for Iowa governor Terry Branstad who turned 66. Mr. Rubio carefully explained that his visit had nothing to do with any presidential ambitions. According to Governor Branstead, the event raised more than $600,000, more than the governor said he "had raised before in any single event." Observers said this was the first chance Mr. Rubio had to "woo" Iowa voters and the governor said he "hit a homerun." Although it is too soon to anoint him the Republican nominee since the other five may also be planning on heading for Iowa, being the first to make the pilgrimage it certainly gives him a leg up, more especially since he hit a "homerun."

I would be remiss if I did not address the equally important question of who is likely to be the Democratic candidate out of the five identified above. For the answer to that question we turn to the Buffalo News. Six days after the election the paper made its formal endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president in 2016. And Hillary didn't even have to go to Iowa. In an editorial published exactly one week after the election the Buffalo News said "It's not too early to be thinking about who would make an excellent candidate for the presidency in 2016." Since the editorial was accompanied by a picture of Hillary Clinton it was not necessary to read to the end to figure out of whom the editors were thinking. For the slow of wit, however, the editors made it plain when, after listing all her accomplishments the editorial concluded: "For the country's sake, and because she clearly is the best candidate, we hope the competing factions in national Democratic politics will coalesce to make her the nominee." With than endorsement virtually clinching it for Hillary (if the suggested coalescence takes place as one would hope) the country will be spared a divisive and extended campaign on the Democratic side. That will enable the country to focus all its attention on the Republican contest and if Republicans are as tired as the rest of us at the prospect of four more years of campaigning they might decide to reward Marco for his early visit to Iowa by simply agreeing that he will be their candidate.

The only downside to such early selections would be that they deprive us of the opportunity to learn what the positions of the other candidates might have been had they been permitted to participate. Given the lack of substance in the 2012 campaigns and the likelihood of a similar lack in connection with the 2016 election, that is a small price to pay for political silence.

Christopher Brauchli can be emailed at brauchli.56@post.harvard.edu. For political commentary see his web page at http://humanraceandothersports.com

Did President Barack Obama poke fun at Mitt Romney's infamous "gifts" comment at the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation on Wednesday?

"They say that life is all about second chances," Obama said to laughter, his daughters, Sasha and Malia at his side. "And this November, I could not agree more. So in the spirit of the season, I have one more gift to give, and it goes to a pair of turkeys named Cobbler and Gobbler."

Video of the event shows that Obama's remark elicited no laughter, so if the president was trying to make a joke, it's unlikely to be remembered as one of his greatest hits.

On a conference call with donors last week, Romney said that the president was reelected because of "gifts" to Latinos, African Americans and young voters.

"The president's campaign, if you will, focused on giving targeted groups a big gift," Romney said during the call. "He made a big effort on small things."

Romney's comment drew criticism not only from the administration, but from members of his own party.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) were among the GOP politicians who said that they didn't agree with his comment.

Bobby Jindall, the Republican governor of Louisiana, called Romney's remark "absolutely wrong," while former presidential candidate Newt Gingrich called it "nuts" and "insulting."

Carlos Gutierrez, who was Romney's director of Hispanic outreach, said he was "shocked" when he heard what the former governor said.

Obama, for his part, was able to get some laughs during the turkey pardon when he dropped Nate Silver's name, saying that The New York Times polling whiz was able to correctly predict which bird would be the named the 2012 National Thanksgiving Turkey.

According to the Associated Press, the turkey pardoning tradition began with President John F. Kennedy in 1963.

[H/T BuzzFeed.]

Gov. Martin O'Malley has postponed his planned post-Thanksgiving economic development trip to the Middle East, saying he does not want to create a distraction during the conflict between Israel and Palestinian as in the Gaza Strip.

The governor's office released a statement Tuesday saying O'Malley would reschedule his planned mission, which would have taken him to Israel, Jordan and Ramallah on the West Bank.

"Not wanting to be a distraction from the urgent cause of peace, I look forward to visiting Israel in the months ahead with Maryland business, research and academic leaders," O'Malley said.

O'Malley had been scheduled to lead a delegation of about 60 for a weeklong trip to the region starting Saturday, said Karen Glenn Hood, spokeswoman for the Department of Business and Economic Development. The group was to have included business and academic leaders, members of the Baltimore Jewish Council and one other elected official, Del. Sandy Rosenberg, a Baltimore Democrat.

Takirra Winfield, a spokeswoman for O'Malley, said the governor made the decision to postpone the trip after consulting with members of the delegation and people in the host countries. She said it would have been hard to keep the focus on economic development at a time when officials were preoccupied by matters of war and peace.

"I don't think he felt like the timing was right," Winfield said.

Michael.dresser@baltsun.com ___

(c)2012 The Baltimore Sun

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"It" governor Chris Christie made a surprise drop-in on "SNL's" Weekend Update with Seth Meyers on Saturday to comment on the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

In addition to thanking the Red Cross and complimenting the people of New Jersey on their patience, Christie took the opportunity to poke fun at himself, spoofing his famous brash attitude, his "Chris Christie Governor" fleece, and his Bruce Springsteen fandom.

Weekend Update also featured Jay Pharoah as legally-challenged comedian Katt Williams and Seth Meyers analyzing the winners and losers in the Petraeus scandal.

Video will be embedded as soon as it's available.

Jennifer Granholm, Politico
The Republican Party is looking for a new identity. And they’re looking, literally, everywhere.At the Republican Governors Association in Las Vegas, former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour was the most … shall we say … direct, proclaiming, “We’ve got to give our political organizational activity a very serious proctology exam. We need to look everywhere.”

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) � Gov. Dannel P. Malloy says the cost of damage to Connecticut businesses and homes by Superstorm Sandy is more than $360 million and climbing.

Malloy tells the Connecticut Post (http://bit.ly/ZPulAj ) that the sum includes damage in all eight counties and that applications for assistance will keep growing.

He also said the state faces big challenges to strengthen roads, transportation systems and other public works to avoid similar storm damage in the future.

The governor says Connecticut has some "real big infrastructure issues."

Earlier this week, the Federal Emergency Management Agency reported that more than 7,270 property owners in the state have applied for assistance, including 6,000 along the shoreline. About $4 million in federal funding has been awarded to residents affected by the storm, mostly for temporary housing costs.

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Information from: Connecticut Post, http://www.connpost.com