(CNN) - If Jeb Bush runs for President, it will be based on two things - his family and whether he can lift America's spirit.
"I don't wake up each day saying, 'what am I going to do today to make this decision?'" the former Florida governor told CNN affiliate WFOR in a suburb of Miami on Wednesday.
(CNN) - It looks like the White House may have to weigh in on the Biebs.
A petition calling for the deportation of Canadian-born Justin Bieber surpassed the 100,000 signature threshold, meaning the White House must, by its own rules, issue a response.
Titled, "Deport Justin Bieber and revoke his green card," was created less than a week ago and quickly amassed the required signatures long before the 30 day deadline for the "We the People" petition program.
Washington (CNN) - As House Republicans headed to Maryland's eastern shore to discuss their immigration reform principles, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi drew a bright line on the most contentious issue in the debate, insisting, "In our caucus, there has to be path to citizenship."
House Speaker John Boehner and a group of top Republican leaders, including GOP 2012 vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, are expected to release a set of principles this week to chart the party's strategy forward on immigration legislation.
Washington (CNN) - It was a crowning achievement, but he wasn't sure that he wanted to be there. He wasn't sure he could make it through the speech without running out of the House chamber in panic. And he didn't know how many of his country's leaders cared.
Matt Cooke wore his camouflage combat uniform, surrounded by lawmakers, innovators and a few celebrities, and he stepped into a room that would hold the world's greatest concentration of power per square inch for an hour or so.
FULL STORYCNN's GUT CHECK | for January 29, 2014 | 5 p.m.
– n. a pause to assess the state, progress or condition of the political news cycle
LIBERALS CLAIM MOMENTUM FROM OBAMA ADDRESS ... Two big themes coming out of Tuesday's address are economic populism and a "new willingness to fight" entrenched conservative interests, said Adam Green of the Washington-based Progressive Change Campaign Committee. Obama is sounding "more and more" like freshman Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a rising star on the left, Green told reporters on a conference call. And that is a "good thing for America" and "great for Democrats." – Alan Silverleib
AND IN RELATED NEWS …. THE RADIOACTIVE PRESIDENT: SEN. MARK BEGICH, D-ALASKA, IN AN INTERVIEW WITH CNN’S JAKE TAPPER & DANA BASH: "I'm not really interested in campaigning" with Obama if the President came to Alaska. "If he wants to come up there and learn about Alaska, bring it on. I'll drag him around, I'll show him what he ever he wants to see, but I want to show him and convince him some of his policies are not the right direction. I don't need him campaigning for me. I need him to change some of his policies."
SEN. MARK UDALL, D-COLORADO, IN AN INTERVIEW WITH CNN’S DANA BASH TUESDAY: "We'll see what the President's schedule is, what my schedule is. But Coloradans are going to re-elect me based on my record, not the President's record … Let's see what the schedule allows. I'm running for re-election, not the President."
LIMBAUGH: OBAMA SHOULD HAVE GIVEN THAT SPEECH FIVE YEARS AGO … “This was a campaign speech without an election. It was pure denial. The president last night was pretending to run for office in the hopes of winning an election, so at some point in the future he can govern. The whole night I kept saying, ‘Wait a minute. We're five years into this. This speech is a speech that should have been given five years ago.’"
THE STATE OF THE JELLY: CNN Chief Washington Correspondent Jake Tapper asked people on the social media app Jelly to weigh in on President Barack Obama's State of the Union address. Jelly is a new app from Twitter co-founder Biz Stone that lets users ask questions using pictures. Replies can be drawn right on top of the image (think Perez Hilton). First, Tapper reached out before the big speech to find out what issues people wanted Obama to touch on. Many Jelly users asked for topics that did indeed make Obama's address but others weren’t mentioned at all. (Click to see pics.)
THE BUZZ: EL PAPA IS A ROLLING STONE
Pope Francis makes the cover of the Rolling Stone: “It's a funny thing, papal celebrity. As the archbishop of Buenos Aires, Bergoglio had never been an especially gifted public speaker. But now that he's Pope Francis, his recognizable humanity comes off as positively revolutionary. Against the absurd, impossibly baroque backdrop of the Vatican, a world still run like a medieval court, Francis' election represents what his friend Elisabetta Piqué, an Argentine journalist who has known him for a decade, calls ‘a scandal of normality.’" – Mark Binelli
MARKET WATCH: U.S. stocks skid on emerging market fears and Fed stimulus reduction. Dow sheds 183 points. NASDAQ, S&P lose 1%.
(CNN) - The nation's chief law enforcement officer said Wednesday that any drug, including alcohol, "is potentially harmful." Attorney General Eric Holder comments follow an interview where the commander in chief appeared to express a more lenient view of smoking marijuana.
Holder was asked on Capitol Hill if he agreed with the President's sentiments on marijuana use, published in an interview with the New Yorker, where he said the smoking pot was actually less dangerous than alcohol "in terms of its impact on the individual consumer," and that overall, the drug didn't carry the social stigma that it did in the past
(CNN) - CNN Chief Washington Correspondent Jake Tapper became the first journalist to tap into the social media app Jelly, asking people to weigh in on President Barack Obama's State of the Union address.
Jelly is a new app from Twitter co-founder Biz Stone that lets users ask questions using pictures.
(CNN) - One's in and one's out.
Oklahoma House Speaker T.W. Shannon officially announced his bid Wednesday for the U.S. Senate seat in his state that's opening up due to Sen. Tom Coburn's early retirement.
FULL POST
Washington (CNN) - New York Rep. Michael Grimm’s threat to heave a reporter off a balcony in the Cannon House office building rotunda, caught on a still-hot mic Tuesday night after the State of the Union Address, has only brought more attention to an investigation into his campaign finances.
Well done, sir.
After initially defending his tirade, Grimm apologized. But the Staten Island Republican is just the latest in an increasingly long line of New York congressmen behaving badly - on and off Capitol Hill.
Here are five other impulsive New Yorkers who sealed their political fates with dumb decisions:
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