(CNN) - Christine O'Donnell, a tea party favorite who ran an unsuccessful U.S. Senate bid in 2010, announced her support Tuesday night for Mitt Romney, a GOP presidential candidate lacking fanfare among the conservative grassroots movement.

"It is my hope that my endorsement of Gov. Mitt Romney will cause others to give him a second look," she said in a statement.
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(CNN) – One day after Mitt Romney blasted Newt Gingrich for showing "erratic outspokenness," the former Massachusetts governor again leveled another verbal affront on Tuesday, this time calling his opponent an "extraordinarily unreliable" conservative.

Romney's comments follow a string of attacks exchanged between him and the former House speaker, a battle that took center stage at a Republican presidential debate on Saturday and continued during the following two days.
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Washington (CNN) - All politicians disappoint their supporters. It is a relentless truth in D.C.

They make pledges they can't keep, say things they don't mean, and encounter stiff headwinds in office that were just distant breezes on the campaign trail. The bigger their failed promises, the bigger the disappointment.

(CNN) – Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich may be the top choice for Republican primary voters according to a survey released Tuesday, but in a hypothetical matchup with President Barack Obama, he’d be defeated if the general election were held today.

But former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who trails Gingrich by double digits in the poll, fares better against the incumbent president, with only two points separating him from an Obama win in the hypothetical race.
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(CNN) – Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who's polling in the single digits in the GOP presidential race, said he's confident about a last-minute surge before the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3.

"Right now I think the expectation is pretty low for us, and that's an advantage," Santorum told CNN's Chief National Correspondent John King. "You've got six people in this race. If we can finish above two or three, that's a huge deal."

(CNN) - Craig Bergman, Iowa campaign director for GOP presidential front-runner Newt Gingrich, stepped down from his role Tuesday amid reports he made a controversial comment about Mormonism.

"He made a comment to a focus group prior to becoming an employee that is inconsistent with Newt 2012's pledge to run a positive and solutions orientated campaign," said R.C. Hammond, press secretary for Gingrich.
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Washington (CNN) – Another Washington political showdown took shape Tuesday as the House of Representatives passed a Republican plan that would extend the payroll tax cut and speed the process for government approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

The bill, approved on a 234-193 vote largely on party lines, now goes to the Senate, where it was unlikely to pass due to strong opposition from Democratic leaders.

(CNN) – The Democratic National Committee continued its offense against Mitt Romney with a new web video on Tuesday, pointing to comments he made nearly 10 years ago saying he held "moderate" and "progressive" views.

The remarks, which he made as a candidate for Massachusetts governor at the time, made a splash when they resurfaced online Tuesday, and the DNC quickly pounced to turn them into an ad targeting the GOP presidential candidate.
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(CNN) - Start with "No Budget, No Pay!" That's the first recommendation of a group looking to get Congress to be more productive and collegial.

It means if Capitol Hill legislators cannot work out a complete budget on time - something that has not been done in years - they should not get paid. That radical notion is the first of a dozen suggestions from No Labels, a bipartisan grassroots organization started a year ago.
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Washington (CNN) - From the beginning, the Keystone XL oil pipeline project presented President Barack Obama with a choice certain to anger part of his political base.

Now at the center of a political showdown over extending the payroll tax cut, the pipeline that would run from northern Alberta in Canada to the Gulf coast of Texas is supported by unions eager to get their members working on construction jobs under the project.