Kodachrome Color Motion Picture Tests, 1922.

Given up yet? No, it's not that all three films were described by Rex Reed as "a genre-bending tour de force." These movies, along with 22 others, were just inducted into the National Film Registry, which chooses a select 25 films a year to preserve in case of an apocalyptic scenario, for the aliens to find in a time capsule when they discover the scorched earth of this planet and wonder what our society worshiped as gods. As The Week noted, Librarian of Congress James M. Billington has said that these 600-plus films are not "the best American films of all time," but are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" to Americans.

And yet The Big Lebowski is not even on there! Check out the full list below, along with clips of the features.

1. The Corbett-Fitzsimmons title fight (1897)
http://youtu.be/7GPv8x-LHgk

2. Uncle Tom's Cabin (1914)
http://youtu.be/0M7sDoydlzc

3. The Wishing Ring: An Idyll of Old England (1914)

4. Kodachrome Color Motion Picture Tests (1922)
http://youtu.be/J_RTnd3Smy8

5. Sons of the Desert (1933)
http://youtu.be/jmS5QG9oaic

6. The Middleton Family at the New York World's Fair (1939)
http://youtu.be/XMKGkO6uk2Q

7. The Kidnappers Foil (1930s-1950s)
http://youtu.be/IGPJ8yTg4vw

8. The Augustas (1930s-1950s)
Click here for video

9. Born Yesterday (1950)
http://youtu.be/upJ5pZdyZlM

10. 3:10 to Yuma (1957)
http://youtu.be/ZeroJ1BK6GQ

11. Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
http://youtu.be/54muV-xIhIU

12. Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
http://youtu.be/urQVzgEO_w8

13. Parable (1964)
http://youtu.be/vT3ymkNcedU

14. They Call it Pro Football (1967)
http://youtu.be/MfwI_WrG7yk

15. Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
http://youtu.be/JKcIGPQST9s

16. Dirty Harry (1971)
http://youtu.be/8Xjr2hnOHiM

17. The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973)
http://youtu.be/tsH8Y5wpDSs

18. Hours for Jerome: Parts 1 and 2 (1980-1982)

19. A Christmas Story (1983)
http://youtu.be/uvMLfSQrHKE

20. The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
http://youtu.be/Jet-Ubwk5l8

21. Samsara: Death and Rebirth in Cambodia (1990)

22. Slacker (1991)
http://youtu.be/r9f9M6UAYb0

23. A League of Their Own (1992)
http://youtu.be/rWoD2sQ9LiU

24. One Survivor Remembers (1995)
http://youtu.be/8zQvxDbCztw

25. The Matrix (1999)
http://youtu.be/PkFyGNjaQ8k

Affleck in Argo.

In a time of cultural anemia and economic crisis, everything else in the arts may be slowing down, but at the Toronto International Film Festival (a k a TIFF), it’s full-speed ahead. Cannes and Berlin have gone on a diet. Even Venice, the oldest film festival in the world, scaled back this year’s program dramatically, showing a total of 82 movies instead of last year’s 104—only 18 of them considered good enough to compete for prizes. But now, in its 37th year, TIFF is like a goose stuffed for foie gras until its insides explode, showing no sign of trimming the fat from its over-stuffed schedule. By stubbornly trying to be everything to everybody, TIFF has drawn sharp criticism from veteran journalists who accuse it of losing focus and prestige, but the excess rages on. This year, the Toronto programming committee, oblivious to the darts, brags about a bloated schedule of 372 films in 10 days—289 features and 83 shorts from 72 countries, 146 of them world premieres—undaunted in the festival’s power to lure stars, directors and films of dubious quality. “It’s too much!” is the constant cry from everyone suffering from bloodshot eyes, sudden strangers to nutrition and sleep, walking around in a daze with scorepads like spectators at a roulette wheel, living on pizza and NoDoz. 

Beginning at 8 a.m. and ending the next morning at 2, after the zombies, aliens and serial killers roll out in the late-night screamfest called “Midnight Madness,” the movies come at you in sections. You get the serious stuff that usually ends up at Lincoln Center, like the latest films from Marco Bellocchio, Bernardo Bertolucci and Spike Lee—all vying for attention between red-carpet arrivals of Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley and Ryan Gosling. Gebo and the Shadow is an overdose of tedium by Portugal’s Manoel de Oliveira, who has directed a new film at age 103 with Jeanne Moreau and Claudia Cardinale, and I walked out in the middle of a thing by South Korean Hong Sang-soo called In Another Country about three women in the seaside town of Mohang, all named Anne, and all played by Isabelle Huppert. The thing that makes TIFF so popular is the diverse menu that satisfies every palate—commercial narrative films for the black-tie galas, experimental works about digital technology, weightier subjects that run the gamut from pedophiles and incest to imprisoned Iranian filmmakers, global change and savage criminals littering the streets with corpses, and art-house puzzlements nobody will ever see again, even in an art house. Just when you think you can’t see one more decapitated head, viral epidemic or cancer patient dying of Alzheimer’s, help arrives in the guise of Tommy Lee Jones in the rousing war saga Emperor, playing granite-faced, pipe-smoking General Douglas MacArthur as he decides the fate of Japan’s Emperor Hirohito following his surrender to Allied forces in 1945, and, on a lighter note, Bill Murray doing an awesome impersonation of none other than—get ready—President Franklin D. Roosevelt when he hosted the King and Queen of England in 1939 on the first visit of a reigning British monarch to the U.S.A. The film is Roger Michell’s Hyde Park on Hudson, and it’s one of the don’t-miss events of the forthcoming movie season. Packed with details, insights and historical footnotes, including an amorous relationship at FDR’s upstate New York manor with his second cousin Daisy Suckley (Laura Linney), it’s a charming film of elegance and humor, but never played for obvious laughs. I enjoyed it immensely.

In the pile of pretentious, incomprehensible gibberish that keeps film festivals going and multiplex audiences heading for the exit doors, make a note to avoid Terrence Malick’s To the Wonder,a lethally boring 112-minute fiasco that is like watching milk curdle. As much as I hated last year’s Malick Muddle, The Tree of Life, this simpering dreck makes that one look like an action epic with Stallone and Schwartzenegger combined. Plotless and almost mute, it features Ben Affleck as a meandering misfit in Paris who meets a woman and returns with her to Oklahoma for the wedding, but the relationship peters out and he wafts into the arms of an old childhood sweetheart, played by gorgeous Rachel McAdams. No Tree of Life dinosaurs this time, but nothing else happens either, and you can count the lines of dialogue on one hand. It usually takes Mr. Malick an average of 10 years between films. In four decades, he’s only made four. This one he should have burned after four days. More cinematic novocaine arrives with The Master, the latest hyperthyroidal discharge from Paul Thomas Anderson, arguably the biggest phony working in films today. Except for his 1997 debut feature, Boogie Nights, I have loathed every loopy, sensationalistic thing he’s done. This one is no exception. It pretends to be about a violent, dimwitted, unfocused mental case (Joaquin Phoenix, in a projectile fit of hysterical overacting that is laughable) who falls into the clutches of a smarmy religious cult leader (Philip Seymour Hoffman does L. Ron Hubbard). The wags predict it will blow the lid off Scientology. But The Master is not really about anything. It opens next week at home, so the firing squad can wait. Another grueling fiasco auditioning for American apathy and empty box-office receipts is a three-hour ordeal called Cloud Atlas,co-directed by Germany’s Tom Tykwer and Lana and Andy Wachowski, the freaky team responsible for the forgettable trio of Matrix pictures. It’s based on a sprawling novel of time-traveling, mind-bending, millennia-hopping pretentious excess by David Mitchell that everybody called “unfilmable.” They were right. A ridiculously bewigged Tom Hanks, looking like Elton John with steel-framed specs and long blonde curls, heads a befuddled cast that includes Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Jim Sturgess, Hugh Grant and Susan Sarandon—all playing five or six different roles of both genders in disconnected narratives set on 19th century slave ships, on the streets of modern crime-riddled California, on a doomed planet in a futuristic galaxy in outer space, in the music world of 1931 Belgium, in a retirement home near London and amid the rocky ruins of a post-apocalyptic country (Hawaii, anyone?) populated by tattooed natives babbling a language that has not been invented yet. You sit there, slack-jawed and worn out after three hours of zoned-out twaddle, waiting for something to make sense, but nothing ever does. “Ambitious” is the word they’ve been tossing around at TIFF, but the nouns that most accurately describe Cloud Atlas are too rude to use in public.

The best film I have seen is Argo, a brilliant and complex enactment of the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, compellingly directed by and starring Ben Affleck as CIA “exfiltration” agent Tony Mendez, who rescued six members of the American Embassy in Tehran and sneaked them past the machine guns and out of the country by disguising them as a Hollywood film crew. A great film and a total triumph for Mr. Affleck, Argo is destined to be one of the year’s biggest hits. Close but no cigar, the vigorous, violent but ultimately disappointing cop-buddy drama End of Watch also opens this week at home. Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena are officers Taylor and Zavala, two gung-ho ghetto cops patrolling the back alleys, train tracks and crack dens of South Central L.A., where the Latinos have moved in on the blacks, the fried chicken takeout joints have been replaced with taco stands, and everybody is killing everybody else in sight. The protagonists hate their perps, and they hate their fellow officers, but they love their jobs, relishing every opportunity to bash heads, spill blood and destroy as much property as the law allows. In fact they take their jobs so seriously that the Mexican drug cartel orders a contract on their lives, and the tragedy is inevitable. It ends with a hero’s funeral, but there’s a ritual for that, too. Meanwhile, the exploits are harrowing and never dull—endangered infants tied and locked in a closet by crack dealers, two kids trapped in a burning building, heads severed by vengeful thugs and dialogue so filthy it turns the air blue. There’s a pattern to the violence and a feeling of creepy authenticity as End of Watch keeps tabs on the ironic, irrevocable mix of danger and boredom in a cop’s day-to-day routine driving a squad car in a battle zone. But there’s nothing in it we haven’t seen in better, hard-assed cop movies like Woody Harrelson’s Rampart and the partnership of veteran renegade Denzel Washington and rookie Ethan Hawke in the gritty Training Day. This is probably as it should be, since the movie marks the directorial debut of David Ayer, who wrote Training Day. The brutality is intense, but it’s ugly to look at, seen in dizzy hand-held camera angles and close-ups of profiles shot through windows and windshields with camera lenses mounted on car hoods. There isn’t much trajectory or plot, and despite the obvious thrills, End of Watch doesn’t stretch far. The acting is first-rate, but is there any reason why Jake Gyllenhaal has to be bald?

Redford in The Company You Keep.

Of course it doesn’t matter how much movies change. For better or worse, there will always be directors and writers obsessed with the classics. So we have new takes on Great Expectations—starring Ralph Fiennes as the terrifying convict Magwitch, the too-handsome-to-live Jeremy Irvine (War Horse) asPip, Helena Bonham-Carter as a demented Miss Havisham replete with creeped-out cobwebs in her hair—and Anna Karenina, in a lavish production that teams director Joe Wright for the third time with his muse, Keira Knightley. The former gets a brand new ending. Director Mike Newell explains: “Well, Dickens has two, and I didn’t like either one.” But purists will be happy to know that despite Ms. Knightley’s beauty, Tolstoy’s Anna still ends up on the same railroad tracks. One of my favorite books-on-film at TIFF transports the dysfunctional characters in Henry James’ What Maisie Knew to contemporary Manhattan with wrenching success. In the story of a little girl 6 years old trapped between two sets of parents separated by divorce, Julianne Moore weaves an indelible tapestry of motherhood in peril as a pop singer too self-absorbed to take care of the child who loves her, but it is really Alexander Skarsgard, as the new husband she selfishly marries to be a babysitter, and incandescent newcomer Joanna Vanderham, as the child’s new stepmother, who become surrogate parents and steal the movie in the process. I also loved actor-director Robert Redford’s The Company You Keep—a galvanizing dossier on what happened to the radical terrorists on the FBI’s Most Wanted List known as “Weathermen” who have spent the last 30 years in hiding after they killed American citizens in the 1960s to protest the war in Vietnam. In his best role in years, Mr. Redford plays a former nonviolent member of the Weather Underground, now an Albany lawyer and single dad whose orderly world is turned upside down when he is exposed by an ambitious reporter (Shia LaBeouf), falsely accused of robbery and the murder of a bank guard, and judged guilty by association. To clear his name, he is forced to root out the friends in the underground movement from his past who are all fugitives. His cross-country search grows from one phone call into a mystery of epic twists and relentless thrills. Proving again that good movies can offer extensive entertainment value and say something valid about history at the same time, Mr. Redford directs a sprawling canvas of diverse characters and heads a cast that includes Julie Christie, Susan Sarandon, Nick Nolte, Chris Cooper, Sam Elliott, Brendan Gleeson and Stanley Tucci.

Toronto wouldn’t be the same without the kink factor. Yesterday I saw a man on roller skates in a vampire costume, passing out leaflets for an animated cartoon featuring the voice of Adam  Sandler as Dracula, and after dinner with the fabulous Marion  Cotillard, who plays a double amputee in love with an illegal bare-knuckle fighter in a new film about sex and the disabled called Rust and Bone, I dropped in at a party plugging a grim horror about a heroin dealer, where Jell-O shots were served in hypodermic needles. Sometimes you avoid a potential disaster like an outbreak of mad cow disease just by reading the synopsis. Example: something Canadian (always a risky sign) called Tower. “34-year-old Derek, who lives at home with his parents, is single and without a career. Although he aspires to be a graphic animator, he works part-time at his uncle’s construction company. He wanders the street alone and frequents nightclubs in search of companionship. When a neighborhood raccoon becomes a constant nuisance by tearing up his family’s garbage, Derek sets out to catch it. It will change his life forever.” They stayed away in droves.

But long lines persist for 29 documentaries, about everything from political prisoner Angela Davis on the 40th anniversary of her acquittal as a terrorist, to Marilyn Monroe and Snoop Dogg. There’s Caught in the Web by Kaige Chen (Farewell, My Concubine),about China in the Internet age, and Storm Surfers in 3-D,which captures the breathtaking adventures of the surfing cultists who risk their lives riding the waves during hurricanes and other disasters at sea. One of the best is Barry Avrich’s long-awaited Show Stopper, a fascinating chronicle of the rise and fall of disgraced Canadian producer Garth Drabinsky, who masterminded Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals, entertained glamorous friendships with Diahann Carroll, Elaine Stritch and Chita Rivera, and landed in prison for what the court called “avant-garde bookkeeping.” Penetrating stuff, as is Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out, about one of the longest running sagas in  the history of the California criminal justice system—the never-ending legal battle to lure a once-great director out of exile and back to the U.S. after 30 years. The case just drags on and on, altering the lives of both Polanski and Samantha Geimer, the underage girl he is accused of raping, who just prays for peace and wishes it would all go away, like a bad movie. Or a bad cocktail—every year there’s a new one. This year, Bruce Willis, Jennifer Lawrence, Viggo Mortensen, Hugh Grant, Mark Ruffalo and Bradley Cooper are scarfing down a concoction named after Gwyneth Paltrow—Tromba tequila, cassis and ginger beer with blackberries and a splash of Tabasco for 20 bucks a belt.

Then you stagger past the big stone church on the corner of Bloor and Avenue Road where every year the pastor posts a talisman to live by. This year, in big letters: “The world is bad enough. Let’s make it better. Think simplicity.” Whoever wrote that has never been to the Toronto Film Festival.

rreed@observer.com

RoseanneWorld.com (screengrab)

Political gray eminence and true living symbol of dignity and propriety Roseanne Barr announced Thursday that she will be a Green Party candidate for president. Ms. Barr, noted for her sober and rational public persona, has been a strong supporter of the party for years.

According to Ms. Barr neither major party is doing the job. Republicans and Democrats, said Ms. Barr in a widely-reported statement, "are servants--bought and paid for by the 1%--who are not doing what's in the best interest of the American people."

Ms. Barr is serious about her candidacy, stating in paperwork submitted to the Green Party that she will "barnstorm American living rooms" and that the "mainstream media" will not be able to ignore her.

Roseanneworld.com, Ms. Barr's website, has been converted to a red, white and blue design with a link at the top of the page to the Green Party Watch Presidential Poll--in which Ms. Barr is currently running second to Jill Stein of Massachusetts.

Just below Roseanne World's link to the Green Party poll is the following statement, related to this blog post: "Mayan prophecy told us that Decenber 21st, 2011 was the date when Patriarchy would completely die off the face of the earth, and that January 24th, 2012 - Divine Matriarchy would descend upon humanity. 'The Temple of The Great Mother' is the first sacred woman space to be dedicated in this new Time."

Ms. Barr has begun answering questions on her Twitter feed regarding plans for her administration, should she win:

@jadedamber i will use the powers of the presidency to make sure that every american has a job and free health care.

— Roseanne Barr (@TheRealRoseanne) February 3, 2012

We can only hope Ms. Barr will be included in as many debates as possible during the long run up to November.

[CBS Washington]

Screengrab from Spaceweather.com

New York has become a tundra ripe for thundering herds of resurrected woolly mammoth, Newt and Mitt came close to initiating Hamageddon at a rather confusing event in South Carolina today and the Sealpocalypse is upon us, but don't worry about something NASA has charmingly dubbed a "Double-barreled solar event"--we'll be fine. It'll even be pretty:

An active region on the Sun unleashed two blasts in quick succession (Jan. 19, 2012), which have sent particle clouds headed towards Earth. The images combine the wider field of view from SOHO's C2 coronagraph with the Sun itself as seen in extreme UV light by Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). The initial burst above the Sun is from the sar side of the Sun and not headed our way. The next two bursts, one quickly following the other, are from the bright active region seen near the 10 o'clock position. A series of coronal loops rise up above the active region after these events. The impact on the geomagnetic storm Earth may cause some bright auroras...

This nifty graphic pointed out by SpaceWeather.com apparently indicates the geomagnetic storm will strike the Earth's atmosphere sometime today anywhere between 6 p.m. and midnight.

Other than juicing auroras in the northern hemisphere, this Coronal Mass Ejection wasn't strong enough to, say, rip away the atmosphere or at least destroy most power grids. That'd take an event like the Carrington Super Flare of 1859, which was a monster but did relatively little damage compared to what a similar blast might do today.

Still, we were advised years ago that 2012 will be a year of peak sunspot activity, so there will be plenty of fodder to come for those who don't realize those silly Mayans just ran out of calendar pages and called it good.

[SOHO Pick of The Week]

Mayor Bloomberg and Lady Gaga ringing in the new year.

It’s 2012, and according to the Mayan calendar and that documentary about John Cusack trying to save his family by piloting a plane out of New York, we’ve come to the tail end of mankind’s history on this planet. Since we don’t know exactly how many more months (or weeks? or—gasp!—days!?!) we have left until the meteor strikes and obliterates us like it did those dinosaurs in Jurassic Park (here’s hoping some mosquitoes carrying our DNA get trapped in amber!) we’ve decided to look on the bright side of this new year. After all, it may be the last one we’ve got.

And what a New York New Year’s Eve it was! Mayor Michael Bloomberg even invited Lady Gaga to be his date for the midnight ball drop—a match made in some weird, David Lynchian heaven. We were racking our brains trying to think of what those two might have in common except a penchant for wearing questionable sweaters, but couldn’t think of anything. Ms. Gaga’s 2011 campaign was all about anti-bullying, while Mayor Bloomberg sent police in riot gear to end a two-month stand-off with some hippies in a small park. Oh, who can blame him? So he’s part of the 1 percent. Baby, he was born that way. (Perhaps that’s what Mayor Bloomberg and Ms. Gaga actually share in common: a shared tax bracket and love of fine Manhattan apartments.)

Sadly, the Bloomberg-Gaga combo wasn’t the strangest thing as the clock struck midnight. Kathy Griffin, once again appealing to the lowest common denominator of CNN viewers who are home alone on New Year’s, actually took off her shirt during her annual hosting gig. BFF Anderson Cooper’s tittering response after he stopped pretending to be shocked by Ms. Griffin’s yearly ploy for attention? “You’ve got a rocking bod.”

On the other hand, ABC—which usually keeps New Year’s Eve slightly more classy—flashed an odd image in-between shots of the cheering crowds in Times Square. Was that ... why, yes, it is! Jenny McCarthy, ladies and gentlemen, gently sucking face with a member of New York’s finest. This image was replayed on loop for approximately the next three hours, and later Ms. McCarthy was even interviewed holding hands with the uncomfortable-looking NYPD officer. Don’t worry officer, if Jim Carrey comes after you, you always have your Taser. Actually, that’s not terrible advice for the next time a crazy lady who believes that innoculating children against horrible diseases causes autism (a disease that can be cured by love and a good diet!) tries to wiggle her tongue down your throat in a desperate bid for attention.

But there was one weekend treat to cause New Yorkers to cheer for something other than an arbitrary date on a calender marking their slow progression toward extinction: the New York Giants made it into the playoffs! Hoorah! It was a post-Christmas miracle to see the otherwise Scroogey Tom Coughlin break into a smile after his team decimated the Dallas Cowboys. And hey, maybe that means that Victor Cruz’s little salsa dance after every touchdown will replace Tebowing as this season’s most imitated maneuver by impressionable high school students. At least the wide receiver’s little shimmy-shake isn’t indicative of his steadfast belief that Jesus hates gay people and abortions.

So as you begin to stockpile food, Manolo Blahniks and Champagne in preparations for the end of the world, remember, it’s not over yet. We still have a whole lot of crazy to get through first.

Also: the long-awaited fourth installment of Robert Caro's biography of Lyndon B. Johnson.

Governor Cuomo promised, in essence, that there would be. During his successful campaign in 2010, Mr. Cuomo said he would fight for the creation of an independent commission that would be given power to redraw the state’s legislative and congressional districts, a process that unfolds every 10 years. Traditionally, both houses of the Legislature handle this task, and critics have charged that the legislators draw maps that insulate incumbents from serious challenges. Congressional incumbents and state legislators rarely are turned out of office in New York, the result, critics say, of unfair district maps.

Not surprisingly, legislative leaders haven’t jumped at the opportunity to turn over their map-making power to an independent commission. The result is a stalemate between Mr. Cuomo, who is attempting to make good on his promise, and both parties in the Legislature. Republicans and Democrats may not agree on everything, but leaders of both parties are of one mind when it comes to protecting incumbents.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has proposed a compromise that has possibilities: he suggested an eight-person commission—four Democrats and four Republicans—chosen by legislative leaders but made up of citizens, not lawmakers. The compromise needs some refinement, including assurances that the nonlawmakers have genuine independence and aren’t simply stand-ins for legislative leaders.

But if no such assurances are possible, the courts may have to step in to supervise the process. That would be unfortunate, but it may also be necessary. Primary elections will be held in June; the lines must be drawn by then.

Lawmakers shouldn’t have the power to draw legislative maps. That’s the not-so-simple principle that needs to be at the heart of this process.

In a match-up with President Obama, Trump trails the incumbent by 15 points, 49% to 34%. Regardless of which Republican is matched against the president, Obama earns between 42% and 49% support. Trump doesn't run as well against the president as the top tier of GOP candidates.

Having Obama hover at or below 50 percent means there's an opening for a GOP candidate -- any candidate, really. And without being able to argue that Trump is uniquely positioned to take on Obama in the general, there's even less of a reason for primary voters to forgive his less-than-loyal political history.

Trump, who is the father-in-law of Observer publisher Jared Kushner, is defiant. An aide brushed off the latest controversy -- to have him removed as celebrity race car driver at the Indianapolis 500 -- saying it is politically motivated. 

Donald Trump. Photograph by Michele Asselin

Nearly 60 percent of those surveyed fall into that category, while only 9 percent say thay they are enthusiastic about voting for him. A mere quarter of voters say they would even consider voting for Trump. By comparison, only 26 percent of voters say they would never vote for Mitt Romney, who has struggled in some head-to-head surveys, and nearly 40 percent say they would consider voting for him.

"It is difficult to get a handle on the 2012 Republican race. Many contenders are not well known and many who are known are not liked, making their candidacies problematic. You could call this the 'No Way' measure," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee are in the best shape. Sarah Palin and Donald Trump suffer from the reality that, as our mothers told us, 'You never get a second chance to make a first impression.'"

In a head-to-head match-up, Trump still scores well with 12 percent of the vote, behind Mitt Romney with 18 percent, and Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin, who each score 15 percent.

Trump has said he will announce whether or not he will run by June, but has added that he knows in his head what his ultimate decision will be.

Full Results below:

                                       Enthusiastic                Would consider voting           Would never vote

Huckabee                        13%                                      34%                                         32%

Romney                           15%                                      38%                                         26%

Palin                                15%                                      24%                                         58%

Trump                              9%                                       26%                                         58%    

Newt Gingrich                  9%                                       29%                                         42%

Ron Paul                         10%                                      25%                                         27%

Michelle Bachman            6%                                       21%                                         29%

1. (Republican & Republican Leaners) It is a long way off but I would like to ask you some questions about the 2012 Presidential election....  If the 2012 Republican primary for President were being held today, and the candidates were Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Mitch Daniels, Tim Pawlenty, Ron Paul, Michelle Bachman, Gary Johnson, Rick Santorum, John Huntsman, and Donald Trump, for whom would you vote?

                     Tot    Men    Wom

Palin                15%    11%    20%

Huckabee         15     16     13

Gingrich              5      6      5

Romney             18     20     15

Daniels               5      6      4

Pawlenty           4      5      3

Paul                  5      6      4

Bachman           4      6      1

Johnson             1      -      1

Santorum          1      2      -

Huntsman           1      1      1

Trump                12      9     15

DK/NA                15     12     19

TREND: (Republicans and Republican Leaners) If the 2012 Republican primary for President were being held today, and the candidates were Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Mitch Daniels, Tim Pawlenty, Ron Paul, Michelle Bachman, Gary Johnson, Rick Santorum, John Huntsman, and Donald Trump, for whom would you vote?

(*na=not asked in survey reported)

                     REPUBLICANS..........................................

                     May 04  Nov 22

                     2011    2010

Palin                15      19

Huckabee             15      17

Gingrich              5      15

Romney               18      18

Daniels               5       2

Pawlenty              4       6

Bachman               4      na

Johnson               1      na

Santorum              1      na

Paul                  5      na

Huntsman              1      na

Trump                12      na

Barbour              na       2

Thune                na       2

SMONE ELSE(VOL)      na       1

WLDN'T VOTE(VOL)     na       1

DK/NA                15      17

8a. SPLIT SAMPLE A - Sarah Palin

Turning to the November 2012 general election for President

I am going to name some candidates who might run for President in 2012, and for each one I read tell me whether you ...

A) Would never vote for that candidate

B) Would consider voting for that candidate

C) Would enthusiastically vote for that candidate

D) Haven't heard enough about the candidate to say yet

E) If you have never heard of someone I name, please just say so

Sarah Palin          Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

A) Never             58     24     91     58     54     61

B) Consider          24     42      2     29     29     20

C) Enthusiastically  15     31      3     10     15     15

D) Hvn't hrd enough   2      1      2      2      1      3

E) Never heard of     1      1      1      -      -      1

REFUSED               1      1      -      1      1      -

9a. SPLIT SAMPLE A - Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney          Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

A) Never             26      3     50     25     22     29

B) Consider          38     53     21     39     44     32

C) Enthusiastically  15     32      2     11     17     13

D) Hvn't hrd enough  11      5     11     15      7     14

E) Never heard of    10      6     15      9     10     11

REFUSED               1      1      -      -      -      1

10a. SPLIT SAMPLE A - Newt Gingrich

Newt Gingrich        Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

A) Never             42     12     72     42     43     42

B) Consider          29     53      5     31     31     26

C) Enthusiastically   9     19      2      6     12      7

D) Hvn't hrd enough  11      8     13     11      9     13

E) Never heard of     7      7      9      8      5     10

REFUSED               1      1      -      2      -      2

11a. SPLIT SAMPLE A - Michelle Bachman

Michelle Bachman     Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

A) Never             29      9     50     29     31     27

B) Consider          21     38      3     22     28     14

C) Enthusiastically   6     13      1      4      8      4

D) Hvn't hrd enough  17     18     13     21     13     22

E) Never heard of    27     21     33     23     20     33

REFUSED               -      -      -      -      -      0

12a. SPLIT SAMPLE A - Gary Johnson

Turning to the November 2012 general election for President

I am going to name some candidates who might run for President in

2012, and for each one I read tell me whether you ...

A) Would never vote for that candidate

B) Would consider voting for that candidate

C) Would enthusiastically vote for that candidate

D) Haven't heard enough about the candidate to say yet

E) If you have never heard of someone I name, please just say so

Gary Johnson         Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

A) Never              9      3     17      8     11      7

B) Consider           9     16      3      7     12      5

C) Enthusiastically   2      1      -      4      2      2

D) Hvn't hrd enough  27     30     25     26     26     28

E) Never heard of    53     50     55     55     49     57

REFUSED               -      -      -      -      -      -

8b. SPLIT SAMPLE B - John Huntsman

Turning to the November 2012 general election for President

I am going to name some candidates who might run for President in

2012, and for each one I read tell me whether you ...

A) Would never vote for that candidate

B) Would consider voting for that candidate

C) Would enthusiastically vote for that candidate

D) Haven't heard enough about the candidate to say yet

E) If you have never heard of someone I name, please just say so

John Huntsman        Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

A) Never             12      3     20     11     12     12

B) Consider          12     19     10     10     14     11

C) Enthusiastically   2      3      -      4      3      2

D) Hvn't hrd enough  24     32     17     25     24     23

E) Never heard of    49     40     53     51     46     52

REFUSED               1      2      -      -      1      -

9b. SPLIT SAMPLE B - Tim Pawlenty

Tim Pawlenty         Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

A) Never             20      5     36     15     19     20

B) Consider          16     28      7     14     18     14

C) Enthusiastically   6     15      -      4     11      3

D) Hvn't hrd enough  22     23     18     29     23     21

E) Never heard of    35     25     39     37     28     41

REFUSED               1      3      -      -      1      1

10b. SPLIT SAMPLE B - Mitch Daniels

Turning to the November 2012 general election for President

I am going to name some candidates who might run for President in

2012, and for each one I read tell me whether you ...

A) Would never vote for that candidate

B) Would consider voting for that candidate

C) Would enthusiastically vote for that candidate

D) Haven't heard enough about the candidate to say yet

E) If you have never heard of someone I name, please just say so

Mitch Daniels        Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

A) Never             17      5     31     12     17     16

B) Consider          15     22      7     20     18     12

C) Enthusiastically   4     10      -      1      6      2

D) Hvn't hrd enough  22     27     18     25     24     20

E) Never heard of    42     34     44     42     33     50

REFUSED               1      2      -      -      1      0

11b. SPLIT SAMPLE B - Ron Paul

Ron Paul             Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

A) Never             27     11     46     25     25     29

B) Consider          25     40     12     27     32     20

C) Enthusiastically  10     17      3      9     15      5

D) Hvn't hrd enough  19     19     17     22     16     20

E) Never heard of    18     10     22     16     10     24

REFUSED               1      3      -      -      1      1

12b. SPLIT SAMPLE B - Mike Huckabee

Mike Huckabee        Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

A) Never             32     10     53     29     31     32

B) Consider          34     51     18     37     37     32

C) Enthusiastically  13     28      -     14     18      9

D) Hvn't hrd enough  11      7     13     12     10     12

E) Never heard of     9      2     15      7      4     14

REFUSED               1      2      -      1      1      1

13b. SPLIT SAMPLE B - Rick Santorum

Rick Santorum        Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

A) Never             22      3     40     19     23     21

B) Consider          15     31      5     13     19     12

C) Enthusiastically   4     10      1      3      8      2

D) Hvn't hrd enough  23     28     21     24     25     21

E) Never heard of    35     28     34     41     26     44

REFUSED               -      -      -      -      -      0

14b. SPLIT SAMPLE B - Donald Trump

Turning to the November 2012 general election for President

I am going to name some candidates who might run for President in

2012, and for each one I read tell me whether you ...

A) Would never vote for that candidate

B) Would consider voting for that candidate

C) Would enthusiastically vote for that candidate

D) Haven't heard enough about the candidate to say yet

E) If you have never heard of someone I name, please just say so

Donald Trump         Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

A) Never             58     32     81     59     55     61

B) Consider          26     44      9     28     28     25

C) Enthusiastically   9     17      2      8      9      8

D) Hvn't hrd enough   4      5      4      3      6      3

E) Never heard of     1      -      2      2      1      2

REFUSED               1      2      1      -      2      1

34a. SPLIT SAMPLE A

What do you think is more important - Reducing the federal budget deficit or reducing unemployment?

                     Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

Reducing deficit     35%    52%    20%    35%    38%    31%

Reducng unemplymnt   54     40     64     57     51     57

DK/NA                11      8     16      8     11     12

TREND: What do you think is more important, reducing the federal budget deficit or reducing unemployment?

                     May 04  Jan 18  Jul 22  Feb 11

                     2011    2011    2010    2010

Reducing deficit     35      31      30      23

Reducing unemploy    54      63      64      71

DK/NA                11       6       6       6

34b. SPLIT SAMPLE B

What do you think is more important - Reducing federal government spending or reducing unemployment?

                     Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

Reducing spending    46%    67%    24%    45%    47%    45%

Redcing unemplymnt   47     29     69     46     47     48

DK/NA                 7      4      7      9      6      7

43a. SPLIT SAMPLE A INTRO TO QUES 43a-46a

About sixty percent of the federal budget goes toward defense, social security, medicare and medicaid. Please tell me whether you would support or oppose each of the following in order to reduce the federal budget deficit.

Would you support or oppose - cutting the growth of spending on Medicare benefits, which is the government program which pays for health care for the elderly?

                     Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

Support              27%    42%    16%    21%    33%    23%

Oppose               70     54     84     75     65     75

DK/NA                 2      4      -      4      2      2

44a. SPLIT SAMPLE A

Would you support or oppose - cutting the growth of spending on Social Security benefits?

                     Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

Support              26%    39%    16%    22%    31%    21%

Oppose               72     59     82     76     67     76

DK/NA                 2      2      2      2      2      2

45a. SPLIT SAMPLE A

Would you support or oppose - cutting the growth of spending on Medicaid benefits, which is the government program which pays for health care for low income people?

                     Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

Support              40%    59%    24%    36%    48%    33%

Oppose               57     37     74     60     49     63

DK/NA                 4      4      2      4      3      4

46a. SPLIT SAMPLE A

Would you support or oppose - cutting defense spending?

                     Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

Support              54%    40%    70%    52%    59%    50%

Oppose               43     57     28     45     39     46

DK/NA                 3      2      3      3      2      4

43b. SPLIT SAMPLE B INTRO TO QUES 43b-46b

Please tell me whether you would support or oppose each of the following to in

order to reduce the federal budget deficit.

Would you support or oppose - cutting the growth of spending on Medicare benefits, which is the government program which pays for health care for the elderly?

                     Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

Support              23%    32%    11%    28%    33%    13%

Oppose               75     65     87     70     66     84

DK/NA                 2      3      3      2      1      3

44b. SPLIT SAMPLE B

Would you support or oppose - cutting the growth of spending on Social Security benefits?

                     Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

Support              24%    32%    17%    25%    32%    17%

Oppose               72     65     80     73     65     79

DK/NA                 3      3      3      3      2      4

45b. SPLIT SAMPLE B

Would you support or oppose - cutting the growth of spending on Medicaid benefits, which is the government program which pays for health care for low income people?

                     Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

Support              38%    50%    20%    48%    42%    33%

Oppose               59     44     79     49     55     62

DK/NA                 4      5      1      4      3      4

46b. SPLIT SAMPLE B

Would you support or oppose - cutting defense spending?

                     Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

Support              47%    34%    53%    53%    55%    39%

Oppose               49     63     39     46     43     53

DK/NA                 5      3      8      1      2      8

47. In order to reduce the federal budget deficit do you support or oppose - raising income taxes on households making more than $250,000?

                     Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

Support              69%    49%    86%    72%    64%    73%

Oppose               28     48     12     25     34     23

DK/NA                 3      4      2      3      2      4

48. I'm going to read you two statements about the future of the Medicare program.  After I read both statements, please tell me which one comes closer to your own view.

A) Medicare should remain as it is today, with a defined set of benefits for seniors. OR

B) Medicare should be changed so that seniors who join Medicare in 2022 receive a fixed

amount of money from the government each year that they can use to shop for their own

private health insurance policy.

                     Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

A) Remain as is      60%    46%    75%    57%    57%    62%

B) Should be changed 34     49     19     36     38     31

DK/NA                 6      5      6      7      6      7

49. There is a proposal to gradually increase the age of Medicare eligibility from 65 to 67 in the year 2033, Do you think that is a good idea or a bad idea?

                     Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

Good idea            51%    65%    38%    54%    58%    44%

Bad idea             46     31     58     43     39     51

DK/NA                 4      4      4      3      3      4

50. There is a proposal to overhaul Medicaid so that more of the responsibility for providing health care for low income people would shift from the federal government to the states.  Supporters say this is necessary to control costs. Opponents say that such a change will hurt the poor because states might not provide the same coverage now available. Do you think that this proposal to overhaul Medicaid is a good idea or a bad idea?

                     Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

Good idea            38%    60%    19%    37%    43%    34%

Bad idea             54     29     76     55     52     56

DK/NA                 8     11      5      8      6     10

51. To combat rising gasoline prices, some have urged President Obama to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the government's oil stockpile, set aside for emergencies and shortages. Some say that gasoline prices don't justify tapping the reserve at this time. Others say gas prices are high enough that the reserves should be used. Do you support or oppose releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve?

                     Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

Support              41%    43%    37%    44%    34%    47%

Oppose               54     52     57     54     63     47

DK/NA                 5      5      6      2      3      6

TREND: To combat rising gasoline prices, some have urged President Obama to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the government's oil stockpile, set aside for emergencies and shortages.  Some say that gasoline prices don't justify tapping the reserve at this time.  Others say gas prices are high enough that the reserves should be used.  Do you support or oppose releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve?

                     May 04  Mar 31

                     2011    2011

Support              41      38%

Oppose               54      56

DK/NA                 5       6

52. How much of a problem has the price of gasoline been for you and your family lately - a very serious problem, a somewhat serious problem, a not too serious problem, or not a problem at all?

                     Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

Very serious         27%    26%    25%    26%    22%    31%

Smwht serious        40     43     35     43     42     38

Not too serious      24     22     28     21     25     22

Not a problem         9      8     11      9     11      7

DK/NA                 1      1      1      -      -      1

53. As a result of the recent rise in gas prices, have you - cut back significantly on your household spending or not?

                     Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

Yes                  54%    57%    47%    58%    51%    57%

No                   45     43     52     42     49     42

DK/NA                 -      -      -      1      -      1

TREND: As a result of the recent rise in gas prices, have you cut back significantly on your household spending or not?

                     May 04  May 15  Jun 14  Jun 2

                     2011    2008    2007    2006

Yes                  54      57      48      50

No                   45      42      51      49

DK/NA                 -       1       1       1

54. As a result of the recent rise in gas prices, have you - cut back significantly on how much you drive or not?

                     Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

Yes                  60%    64%    53%    64%    54%    66%

No                   39     35     46     35     46     33

DK/NA                 1      1      1      1      1      1

TREND: As a result of the recent rise in gas prices, have you cut back significantly on how much you drive or not?

                     May 04  May 15  Jun 14  Jun 2

                     2011    2008    2007    2006

Yes                  37      61      58      56

No                   60      37      41      43

DK/NA                 4       2       1       1

55. As a result of gas prices, have you - changed your summer vacation plans?

                     Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

Yes                  37%    43%    30%    35%    34%    38%

No                   60     56     67     60     62     58

DK/NA                 4      1      3      5      3      4

56. Who do you blame the most for the recent increase in gasoline prices; Oil producing countries, Oil companies, President Obama, Americans who drive vehicles that use a lot of gasoline or Normal supply and demand pressures?

                     Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

Oil prodcg countries 21%    24%    21%    20%    20%    22%

Oil companies        40     24     55     39     37     43

Obama                15     29      2     14     18     12

American Drivers      2      2      3      2      2      3

Supply and demand    14     14     14     15     16     12

DK/NA                 8      8      6     10      8      8

TREND: Who do you blame the most for the recent increase in gasoline prices - oil producing countries, oil companies, President ****, Americans who drive vehicles that use a lot of gasoline or normal supply and demand pressures.

(* President Bush)

                     OBAMA   BUSH..........

                     May 04  May 15  Jun 14

                     2011    2008*   2007*

Oil prodcg countries 21      19      11

Oil companies        40      35      43

President XXX        15      23      20

American Drivers      2       3       4

supply and demand    14      14      13

DK/NA                 8       6       9

58. Do you think Congress should try to repeal the new health care law, or should they let it stand?

                     Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom

Repeal               44%    80%    12%    44%    50%    39%

Let it stand         45     15     77     40     42     47

DK/NA                11      5     11     16      8     14

TREND: Do you think Congress should try to repeal the new health care law, or should they let it stand?

                     May 04  Jan 18

                     2011    2011

Should repeal it     44      48

Should let it stand  45      43

DK/NA                11       8

"I want to personally congratulate President Obama and the men and women of the Armed Forces for a job well done," he said.

Obama's announcement last night came during the middle of Trump's TV show "The Celebrity Apprentice," leading to some snickering on social networks (prior to the news leaking out on what actually the president would be speaking about) that Obama, was trying to one-up Trump again after some merciless teasing at the White House Correspondents Dinner over the weekend.

Trump went on to echo President Obama's call last night for a moment of national unity.

"I am so proud to see Americans standing shoulder to shoulder, waving the American flag in celebration of this great victory," he said, adding. "We should spend the next several days not debating party politics, but in remembrance of those who lost their lives on 9/11 and those currently fighting for our freedom. God Bless America!"