(CNN) - Rick Perry doubled down on his religion-based attack of President Barack Obama Wednesday, saying the president was preventing students from celebrating Christmas in schools. But just last year, Perry issued a holiday statement as governor of Texas that omits any mention of the Christian holiday.
In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Perry said Obama and the political left were waging a "war on religious traditions," including preventing students from praying in schools and having Christmas parties.
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TOPICS: GOP horse race in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida
(CNN) - Newt Gingrich tops the field of Republican presidential candidates by double digits in three of the four states to first hold contests in the race for the GOP nomination, according to new surveys in those states.
The CNN/Time/ORC International Polls, released Wednesday, indicate that strong support from the tea party movement is contributing to the former House speaker's surge among likely Republican primary voters and caucus-goers. But the poll also suggests that this race is far from over, with less than half the people questioned in each state saying their minds are made up.
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(CNN) - President Barack Obama said Wednesday that he will veto any attempt by Republicans to link approval of a major oil pipeline from Canada or other unrelated measures with the payroll tax cut extension issue currently before Congress.
Washington (CNN) - A prominent Republican senator called Wednesday for a top Justice Department figure to resign, saying Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer was dishonest to Congress about his knowledge of the gun-running Operation Fast and Furious.
Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa conservative, said Breuer misled Congress about his awareness of a February 4 letter that denied any gun-running operation existed.
FULL STORY(CNN) - Newt Gingrich has at least one name on his list of potential running mates: GOP rival Mitt Romney.
"I think Mitt Romney is a very admirable person, and I'm not going to pick a fight with Mitt Romney," Gingrich said in an interview Wednesday with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
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Minneapolis, Minnesota (CNN) - Mitt Romney is doubling down in New Hampshire with another visit to the state Sunday and a new batch of targeted direct mail.
The campaign will send New Hampshire voters a postcard featuring Sen. Kelly Ayotte - who was perhaps the most sought after politician in the state and endorsed Romney in November - as well as a picture of Romney with one of ten local officials.
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(CNN) – "Joe the Plumber" took another step Wednesday in his Congressional bid.
Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, who gained notoriety during the 2008 presidential election after challenging then-presidential candidate Barack Obama on his small business tax plan, filed paperwork in Cleveland, Ohio to appear on the ballot in the GOP primary.
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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) - After weeks of speculation about how more than a billion dollars in customer money went missing at MF Global, former CEO Jon Corzine will give his side of the story on Capitol Hill Thursday.
Corzine, also a former senator and governor of New Jersey, has been called to testify before the House Agriculture Committee as it investigates what went wrong at the brokerage firm, which went bankrupt in late October after disclosing bets on risky European debt that sparked a panic among investors.
FULL STORYWashington (CNNMoney) - The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - a point of pride in the Obama administration's efforts to reform Wall Street - faces a key test in the Senate on Thursday over whether it will have a director with real power.
No one in Washington expects the Senate to muster the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster against confirming former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to be the first director of the bureau. Senate Republicans have vowed since May to block confirmation of any director unless they get structural changes to the bureau, which was formed as part of the Wall Street reform law passed last year.
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