By Steve Huff 2/04/12 6:56pm

Campaign 2012

Old friends at their umpteenth reunion these past few months.

Newt Gingrich Schedules Press Conference in Nevada, Prompting Rumors [Updated]

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, in Nevada for the Republican primary caucuses, has scheduled a mysterious press conference in Las Vegas later tonight. Active candidates typically hold a rally regardless of voting results; Mr. Gingrich’s presser has prompted The New York Times to report via its political blog The Caucus that “rumors have been flying” in Nevada that Mr. Gingrich will cease his run for the presidency. Read More

By Steve Huff 1/29/12 3:39pm

2012

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich

Gingrich Backer Sheldon Adelson Faces Questions About Chinese Business Affairs

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is having a tough enough time with front-runner Mitt Romney surging in the polls prior to the upcoming Florida primary. Now he may also have to contend with pesky questions about a government probe into the overseas business affairs of Las Vegas billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who may be the financial savior of  Mr. Gingrich’s campaign. Read More

By Kat Stoeffel 1/28/12 6:19pm

Mitt Romney Makes Tom Brokaw ‘Extremely Uncomfortable’

NBC and Tom Brokaw have criticized Mitt Romney’s campaign for using NBC Nightly News footage from 1997 in a Newt Gingrich attack ad.

“The NBC Legal Department has written a letter to the campaign asking for the removal of all NBC News material from their campaign ads,” NBC News said in a statement to Politico, adding that a similar note had gone out to all other campaigns that had used NBC materials. Read More

By The Editors 1/24/12 7:27pm

Opening Shot

Old friends at their umpteenth reunion these past few months.

SOPA, Santorum and Seal

If you’re feeling withdrawal symptoms from reduced doses of Occupy Wall Street rabble-rousing (we hear they’re just hibernating), the success of last week’s SOPA blackout ought to cheer you up. Read More

By The Editors 1/10/12 7:48pm

Opening Shot

Beyonce wearing Babyonce. (Getty)

Seven Days of Social Networking

How can you tell 2012 has begun with a bang? Just log onto Twitter: the hot topics since Jan. 1 are a Venn diagram of American life—from pop culture to politics, to sports and even race relations. It’s beginning to feel an awful lot like looking into a microcosm not too dissimilar to those sea monkey kits we cried enough about to have Mom and Dad buy one, only to have it sitting in garage next to whatever Santa had brought us the year before. In fact, Twitter has morphed into This American Life. Well, again, for sea monkeys. At least there’s a community spirit in the barrage of 140-character thought bubblettes: it’s one of the few times that you’ll find New Yorkers venturing outside their insular world and joining in the national dialogue ­… even if it’s only online and it turns out that our sea monkeys are just brine shrimp with great marketing.

So here was your week on Twitter. Read More

By The Editors 12/13/11 8:00pm

Opening Shot

Romney and Gingrich.

The Ties That Blind US

In this modern world of supposed transparency in all things, it’s sometimes hard to see the correlation between seemingly random events. Butterfly wings in Africa and all that. Read More

By The Editors 8/02/11 7:44pm

Opening Shot

Boehner and Obama.

As the Debt Ceiling Rises, the Dow Drops

It would almost seem that the stars had finally aligned. After weeks of stalled talks and contentious meetings between House Republicans and Democrats that escalated into a public spat between Speaker John Boehner and President Obama, a bill finally made it through the House and into the Senate, where it was speedily approved Tuesday morning Read More

By Reid Pillifant 3/23/11 1:44am

From the Paper

Rudy's Last Gasp

On Friday evening, after a cup of broccoli soup, a plate of chicken and a few sips of red wine, Rudy Giuliani took to the stage in the ballroom of the Executive Court banquet hall and prepared to let loose.

With Mitt Romney leading the primary polls by a mile in New Hampshire, and Barack Read More

By Joe Conason 8/03/10 10:53pm

Op-Ed

Defending the Mosque

No recent controversy has so plainly revealed the hollow values of the American right than the effort to prevent the construction of a community center in Lower Manhattan because it will include a mosque. Arguments in opposition range from a professed concern for the sensitivities of the 9/11 victims’ families to a primitive battle cry Read More

By Staff 11/03/09 7:39pm

And Now They’re Coming for Newt

When Newt Gingrich warns Republicans that they are making a grave “mistake” by driving out moderates and enforcing the bizarre orthodoxy of the far right, the novelty of his remarks alone is stunning. This is a politician who is no stranger himself to the wilder shores of extremism, a populist and a purist who rose Read More