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Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter has decided not to run for re-election this November, a Democratic Party source tells CNN.

Washington (CNN) - Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter has decided not to run for re-election this November, a Democratic Party source tells CNN.

Ritter, a Democrat who comfortably won a first term in 2006, was facing a tough re-election battle against former Republican Rep. Scott McInnis.

Both the Cook Political Report and the Rothenberg Political Report, two well respected non-partisan analysts, considered the race a toss up. There are 37 governorships are up for grabs in 2010, with Democrats defending 19 seats and the GOP 18 seats.

Colorado will become the 11th open seat the Democrats have to defend. The Republicans are also defending 11 open seats.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal will announce Wednesday that he'll run for Sen. Chris Dodd's seat.

(CNN) – Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal will announce Wednesday that he'll run for Sen. Chris Dodd's seat, a highly placed Connecticut Democrat tells CNN.

Blumenthal is expected to announce his bid for Senate at a news conference at Connecticut Democratic Party headquarters in Hartford Wednesday afternoon.'

Dodd, a five term Democratic senator, plans to announce his retirement Wednesday, two sources close to the lawmaker told CNN. He plans to announce the decision at a news conference just two and half hours before Blumenthal's scheduled event. Dodd, 65, had been considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats seeking re-election in 2010.

The 63-year-old Blumenthal has been Connecticut's attorney general since 1990 and served in the state legislature from 1984 to 1990.

(CNN) - Rob Simmons, a Republican running for the Senate nomination in Connecticut who has been a fierce critic of Sen. Chris Dodd, said in a statement Dodd's decision to retire does not change his own campaign plans:

"I want to thank Senator Chris Dodd for his long service in Congress. While our disagreements have been profound, Heidi and I wish him and his family all the best. Today's announcement does not change my plan to seek and win the Senate seat from Connecticut.

"Whoever the Democratic nominee is, he or she will have to defend the failed Democratic policies of higher taxes, bigger government, exploding debt, and a misguided approach to national security that treats terrorists as mere criminals rather than the enemy combatants that they are. My entire political career is defined by running in tough races and I expect no less this time around, but I believe voters in Connecticut are seeking real changes in the way government operates and I am the only candidate who has the broad experience and track record to deliver for the state and nation."

Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut, plans to announce his retirement, two sources close to the lawmaker told CNN.

Washington (CNN) - Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut, plans to announce his retirement, two sources close to the lawmaker told CNN.

A news conference is planned for Wednesday to announce the decision, one of the sources said.

Dodd, 65, had been winning congressional elections in his state since 1974, but has recently been considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats seeking re-election in 2010. He has been criticized for ties to the financial industry, and several formidable challengers have been vying to challenge him in the November election.

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The CNN Washington Bureau’s morning speed read of the top stories making news from around the country and the world.

Compiled by Alison Harding

WASHINGTON/POLITICAL
For the latest political news: www.CNNPolitics.com

CNN: Sen. Dodd to retire, sources tell CNN
Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut, plans to announce his retirement, two sources close to the lawmaker told CNN. A news conference is planned for Wednesday to announce the decision, one of the sources said.

CNN: Dorgan announces he won't seek re-election
North Dakota Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan announced Tuesday that he will not seek re-election in 2010.

CNN: Obama, House Dems finalize decision to bypass formal health care conference
President Barack Obama and congressional Democratic leaders finalized a decision Tuesday to bypass a formal House and Senate conference to meld their health care bills, according to two congressional Democratic leadership sources.

The Hill: Pelosi tells C-SPAN: 'There has never been a more open process'
C-SPAN wrote a letter to congressional leaders Tuesday asking that TV cameras be allowed to film negotiations to reconcile the House and Senate versions of healthcare reform legislation. But Pelosi said Congress has already been transparent throughout the process.

USA Today: Congressional 'earmarks' in spending bills cut by a third
The 2010 federal spending bills disclose $10.2 billion for pet projects inserted by members of Congress, a drop of nearly a third since 2008, an analysis of the bills shows.

CNN: Obama: 'System failed' in a major way
President Obama said Tuesday that U.S. intelligence has had considerable success, but that the botched Christmas Day attack shows "the system has failed" in a major way.

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Sen. Byron Dorgan announced Tuesday that he will not seek re-election this year.

Washington (CNN) - North Dakota Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan announced Tuesday that he will not seek re-election in 2010.

"It is a hard decision to make after thirty years in the Congress, but I believe it is the right time for me to pursue these . . . interests," Dorgan said in a written statement announcing his decision.

The Democrat also said Tuesday that his decision had nothing to do with his prospects for re-election this year.

"[M]y decision has no relationship to the prospect of a difficult election contest this year. Frankly, I think if I had decided to run for another term in the Senate I would be reelected," Dorgan said.

Two well-respected, nonpartisan political reports, the Cook Political Report and the Rothenberg Political Report, had rated Dorgan's seat as safe in the 2010 elections, and Dorgan won re-election by a large margin in 2004.

North Dakota's other senator, Kent Conrad, is also a Democrat. Conrad predicted Tuesday that Dorgan's exit from the political stage was a temporary one. "Although Senator Dorgan is leaving the Senate at the end of 2010, I have a feeling that this will not be the last of his public service," he said in a statement. "It is my guess he will be on a short list of future Cabinet nominees to the Obama Administration in the coming years."

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Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama and congressional Democratic leaders finalized a decision Tuesday to bypass a formal House and Senate conference to meld their health care bills, according to two congressional Democratic leadership sources.

The two told CNN that Obama and Democratic congressional leaders will instead hold informal negotiations to sidestep possible Republican delays of the process.

Avoiding a formal conference has long been expected, but one of the Democratic leadership sources said the president used Tuesday evening's White House meeting with Democratic congressional leaders to formally clear the idea.

To hold a formal conference, conferees - members of the House and Senate - must be appointed by both bodies with resolutions passed by the Senate and the House. Democratic leadership aides said getting those resolutions passed could delay and even derail Democratic efforts, because Republicans would be allowed to offer amendments and hold lengthy debates on the resolutions to appoint conferees.

Instead, White House, House and Senate Democratic leaders and their key committee chairmen will informally meet to find compromise between the two health care bills.

In fact, the White House, criticized by many Democrats for months for having too much of a hands-off approach to health care, has promised that the president and his aides will take a more "prominent role" in the final health care talks, according to a Democratic leadership source.

Obama aides will begin convening and coordinating initial discussions with House and Senate Democratic aides, the source said. The first will take place Wednesday at the White House.

Another Democratic leadership source said house Democratic leaders, who huddled Tuesday in the House speaker's office, will hold a follow-up meeting at the Capitol on Wednesday morning, then go to the White House on Wednesday afternoon.

House Democratic leaders returned a week early from congressional recess to start plotting strategy in resolving what House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer acknowledged Tuesday are "significant differences" between the House and Senate health care bills.

Washington (CNN) - Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele modified his prediction that the GOP will not take control of the House in 2010 - this far in advance, he told CNN Tuesday, no one knows what will happen.

Steele responded to a question about GOP prospects in 2010 Monday night by telling Fox News that Republicans were unlikely to take back the House: "Not this year," he said. But the GOP leader told CNN's Wolf Blitzer Tuesday that he simply isn't ready to make any kind of prediction and that Republicans now are trying to "put in place good candidates to win and winning as if we will take the House in the fall."

"No one is right now declaratively stating that we will win the House back in this November," Steele said. "If they are saying that, I'd like to see the crystal ball they are looking through, because there is a lot of politics to unfold here, and a lot of races to be settled on both sides of the political tracks."

Earlier Tuesday, the National Republican Congressional Committee aimed to negate Steele's comments, with spokesman Ken Spain saying he thinks the GOP can win back the majority in the House in the upcoming midterm elections.
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Sen. Lindsey Graham was censured Monday by a county party in South Carolina.

(CNN) – South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham defended his record as a consensus-builder on Tuesday and said the Lexington County Republican Party's decision to censure him on Monday was the work of a few angry Ron Paul supporters intent on purifying the GOP.

The resolution, which censured Graham for supporting the 2008 financial bailout and working towards a compromise on cap-and-trade legislation, passed Monday night by a 13-7 vote.

"I have tried my best to be a conservative that can grow and build this party," Graham said, according to The State newspaper. "They have no desire to do that - I do."

South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson, who became a conservative hero after he shouted "You lie!" at President Obama during a major speech last year, hails from Lexington County. He also defended Graham.

“Lindsey Graham has been a great leader for our state and party," Wilson said in a statement to CNN. "I appreciate everything he has done for me and his tireless work in helping Republicans at all levels of government. He’s a team player. Ronald Reagan always said that people who agree with you 80 percent of the time should be considered a good friend. Reagan was a wise man and if we want to build a strong, vibrant Republican Party we should follow his advice.”

Shortly after Graham's comments about the censure on Tuesday, former leaders of the Lexington County Republican Party in South Carolina contacted the current party chairman to question the censure effort.

Four former Lexington County GOP chairs co-wrote an e-mail to party chairman Rich Bolen claiming that Graham was "ambushed" by the vote because party members were not told ahead of Monday's meeting that any resolutions would be considered - especially one censuring the state's senior senator. As a result, they wrote, not all members of the county party attended the meeting to express their views.

"The resolution should have been added to the agenda and sent out in advance, and every member of the committee should have been given a chance to participate in the process," they wrote.

The e-mail, provided to CNN by a source close to Graham, was written by former Lexington GOP leaders Scott Malyerck, Katrina Shealy, Butch Wallace, and Lyman Whitehead.

(Full text of e-mail after the jump)

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South Carolina First Lady Jenny Sanford's memoir will now hit stores February 5 instead of the original April release date.

(CNN) – South Carolina First Lady Jenny Sanford's memoir, "Staying True," has been fast-tracked and will now hit bookstores on February 5 instead of the original April release date.

Sanford's publisher, Ballantine Books, announced the new date on Tuesday.

Sanford landed the book deal in September, just a few months after her husband, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, admitted to an affair with an Argentine woman. In December, Sanford released a statement saying she is filing for divorce "after many unsuccessful efforts at reconciliation."

According to a synopsis of the book on the publisher's Web site, her memoir "reveals the private ordeal behind her very public betrayal - and offers inspiration for anyone struggling to keep faith during life's most trying times."

"She chose to let Mark Sanford deal with the embarrassment and political fallout from his own actions while focusing her own efforts privately on raising their children to be men of character, even in the face of the lies their father has told," the synopsis reads.

U.S. intelligence had uncovered numerous "red flags" prior to the attack, Obama said, but failed to connect the dots.

The government's inability to stop the attack does not represent a failure to collect intelligence, the president argued. Rather, it represents a failure to integrate different intelligence strands.

The fact that intelligence was not fully analyzed, Obama said, is unacceptable. The president called for reforms to prevent such an incident from recurring to implemented immediately.

Obama reiterated, however, his intention to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Full story

House Minority Leader John Boehner said Tuesday that he supports C-SPAN's efforts to broadcast health care negotiations.

Washington (CNN) - The top Republican in the House of Representatives is backing a move by C-SPAN to allow television coverage of House-Senate health care reform negotiations.

In a December 30 letter to Democratic and Republican congressional leadership, C-SPAN Chairman Brian Lamb requested that they "open all important negotiations, including any conference committee meetings, to electronic media coverage."

C-SPAN is a non-profit cable entity largely devoted to coverage of Congress.

House Minority Leader John Boehner supports C-SPAN's move, saying "hard-working families won't stand for having the future of their health care decided behind closed doors."

"Secret deliberations are a breeding ground for more of the kickbacks, shady deals and special-interest provisions that have become business as usual in Washington. Too much is at stake to have a final bill built on payoffs and pork-barrel spending," added Boehner, in a letter to Lamb that was released Tuesday.

Democrats say it's impossible to predict what kind of media coverage might be possible, given that it is unclear at best if there will be any formal negotiations between the House and Senate to merge the two chambers' health care reform bills into one piece of legislation.
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(CNN) - The New Jersey state Senate will vote Thursday on a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage in the state, the senate president said.

Senate President Richard J. Codey, a Democrat, has scheduled the vote for 2 p.m. Thursday, according to a Tuesday statement from his office.

"Given the intensely personal nature of this issue, I think the people of this state deserve the right to a formal debate on the Senate floor," he said.

The bill would likely need to pass both of New Jersey's legislative bodies - the Senate and the Assembly - soon to become law, as Republican Gov.-elect Chris Christie, who takes office January 19, has said he would veto it. Outgoing Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine has vowed to sign it.
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Steele is dialing down expectations for his party's performance in this year's midterm elections.

(CNN) - Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele is dialing down expectations for his party's performance in this year's midterm elections, predicting that the GOP will not retake the House in 2010.

Speaking to Fox News host Sean Hannity Monday night, Steele suggested the Democrats' current 79-seat advantage in the chamber is too big a hurdle to overcome.

"We are beginning to do assessments on the individual races, but I think overall, given what this administration's proclivities are, we are going to see nice pick ups in the House," he said.

But asked directly if the party had a shot at taking over the House, Steele responded: "Not this year."

But a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee vigorously disagreed with Steele's assessment, saying the GOP has a "very real shot" at wining the chamber.

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The United States is halting for now its plans to continue transferring terror suspects detained at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, facility to Yemen.

Washington (CNN) – The United States is halting for now its plans to continue transferring terror suspects detained at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, facility to Yemen, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday.

"While we remain committed to closing the (Guantanamo) facility, the determination has been made that right now, any additional transfers to Yemen is not a good idea," Gibbs told his daily media briefing. Critics of the Guantanamo transfers have raised concerns over political instability in Yemen and the presence of al Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula, noting that some previous detainees released to Yemen by the Bush administration have renewed their terrorist ties.

Gibbs said Yemen is "not capable of handling" additional returned detainees now.

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Washington (CNN) – Top Democrats are prepared to short-circuit the traditional legislative process and exclude their GOP counterparts during final congressional health care deliberations, senior Democratic sources have told CNN.

Democrats are trying to prevent the Republicans from using Senate rules to slow the push for final passage of a comprehensive reform bill, the sources added.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is set to discuss the politically contentious health care issue when she huddles in her office with other House Democratic leaders Tuesday afternoon. The House Democratic leadership is also likely to meet with President Barack Obama, and plans to hold a conference call with their entire caucus.

The full House of Representatives is not scheduled to return from vacation until January 12; the Senate meets January 19. Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, however, have already discussed the issue over the phone, aides said.

Congressional leaders are working to merge an $871 billion Senate bill and $1 trillion House bill that differ on several critical details.

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Jim Greer (left), the outgoing chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, said his opponents want to 'burn the house down.'

(CNN) – Florida Republican Party chairman Jim Greer announced his resignation on a conference call with reporters Tuesday, accusing his conservative critics of being purists who are "shredding and tearing the fabric" of the GOP.

For months, Greer has been assailed by GOP activists accuse him of mismanaging party finances and favoring Gov. Charlie Crist in his Senate primary bid against Marco Rubio, the more conservative former House Speaker.

Greer said his opponents want to "burn the house down and destroy the Republican Party."

"I am not a purist," he said in describing his vision for the party. "I have never been a purist. I believe that our party stands for principles and values and that anyone who has an interest in our party should be able to participate."

Greer, who was appointed to his post by Charlie Crist in 2007, stressed that he has worked to create a more inclusive party in Florida and urged the GOP "to stop the fight between moderates and conservatives and put the focus on electing Republicans in 2010."

Greer avoided criticizing Rubio during his salvo.

"At the end of the day, the voters will decide what the Republican Party should look like," he said.

Washington (CNN) - The FBI received "actionable intelligence" from Nigerian bombing suspect Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab in the first hours after his arrest, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday.

According to authorities, AbdulMutallab tried to detonate explosives hidden in his underwear as a flight from Amsterdam, Netherlands, made its final approach to Detroit, Michigan, on Christmas Day. The device failed to fully detonate, instead setting off a fire at the man's seat.

AbdulMutallab was arrested on charges of attempting to destroy an aircraft. He will face his first court hearings Friday.

U.S. authorities have said AbdulMutallab may have received training from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which is based in Yemen.

Paul is taking aim at Cheney.

(CNN) – Dick Cheney is taking criticism from at least one member of his own party over the former vice president's recent and persistent criticisms of the Obama administration's handling of national security issues.

Ron Paul, the Texas congressman and upstart 2008 presidential candidate, told CNN's Larry King Monday night Cheney is in no place to criticize Obama's handling of the war on terrorism.

"I think he had his eight years, and he's caused a lot of trouble for our country and perpetuated a war in Iraq unnecessary and wrong-headed," said Paul. "I would say it would be best he not be so critical right now."

Paul was a constant critic of the Iraq war during his unsuccessful presidential run. While he is currently not seeking a higher office, his son, Rand, is seeking the Republican nomination for Senate in Kentucky.

Paul's comments come several days after Cheney released a tough-worded statement criticizing the president's response to the attempted terrorist attack on Christmas Day.

"He seems to think if he gives terrorists the rights of Americans, lets them lawyer up and reads them their Miranda rights, we won't be at war," Cheney said in the statement. "He seems to think if we bring the mastermind of 9/11 to New York, give him a lawyer and trial in civilian court, we won't be at war. He seems to think if he closes Guantanamo and releases the hard-core al Qaeda trained terrorists still there, we won't be at war."'

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Jim Greer (left), the embattled chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, will resign Tuesday.

(CNN) – Jim Greer, the embattled chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, will resign Tuesday, two sources close to the party confirm to CNN.

Greer will discuss his decision with members of the Republican State Executive Committee around noon, and will hold a conference call with reporters at 1 p.m. ET.

The longtime ally of Gov. Charlie Crist has been under fire for his management of party money and his involvement in contested primaries. Critics of the chairman - including backers of Marco Rubio, Crist's conservative rival for the GOP Senate nomination - have been demanding his ouster for months. Greer was appointed by Crist in 2007.

Greer was also one of Michael Steele's top allies during last year's tumultuous race for the Republican National Committee chairmanship.