As Florida votes, Romney seems in driver's seat (Reuters)

COCOA BEACH, Florida (Reuters) ? Florida's Republican voters go to the polls on Tuesday in a high-stakes presidential primary election, with former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney holding a commanding double-digit lead in polls over rival Newt Gingrich.

Florida is the largest state to hold a presidential primary so far this year and a Romney victory would give him a big boost in the state-by-state battle to decide who will face President Barack Obama in the November election.

Polls opened at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. local time. Most of the state is on Eastern Time (plus 5 hours GMT), except the western Panhandle region, which is on Central Time and where polls will close an hour later.

Gingrich, a former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, was riding high just 10 days ago after an upset win in South Carolina's January 21 primary and led in Florida polls as recently as early last week.

But the well-funded and well-organized Romney took back the lead after his two strong debate performances and a blizzard of television advertisements attacking Gingrich.

On the stump on Monday, Romney was breezy and Gingrich combative, reflecting the respective states of their campaigns. Romney cancelled a scheduled Tuesday morning campaign event; Gingrich scheduled four appearances in a final appeal for support on primary day.

Gingrich said Republicans needed to shun Romney and unite behind him if they wanted to defeat Democratic President Barack Obama in November's general election.

"If you watch tonight, my prediction is that the conservative vote will be dramatically bigger than Governor Romney's but it will be split, so we've got to find a way to consolidate conservatives and I am clearly the frontrunner among conservatives," Gingrich said on Fox News.

Gingrich has derided Romney as a "Massachusetts moderate" who raised taxes and fees as governor, enforced a healthcare mandate, and will not provide a sharp enough contrast to Obama.

Romney's attacks have focused on Gingrich's work for troubled mortgage giant Freddie Mac, an ethics probe and his resignation as speaker in early 1999. It has also mocked Gingrich's attempt to ride the coattails of former president Ronald Reagan, a conservative hero.

BIG SPENDING

The campaigns and allied Super PAC fundraising groups had until the end of Tuesday to report whose money they are spending, and how, in an increasingly expensive campaign. Campaign finance filings to the Federal Election Commission will for the first time officially show who contributed money to the Super PACs and fueled their multimillion-dollar spending sprees.

Reuters/Ipsos poll data on Monday showed Romney's support in Florida at 43 percent versus Gingrich at 28 percent.

When voters hear Gingrich in person they often come away impressed, praising his intellect and toughness.

"I was a little undecided between Newt and Mitt but I have decided for sure that Newt's going to get my vote. He's forthright. He says what he means and means what he says," Gene Vandevander of Tampa said at a Gingrich rally.

A straw poll of conservative Tea Party sympathizers in the state released on Monday gave Gingrich 35 percent support against former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum at 31 percent, Romney at 18 percent and Texas congressman Ron Paul at 11 percent.

But other major voting blocs in Florida, including Hispanics, seem to be heavily favoring Romney.

Florida allows early voting at polling stations and by mail, and more than one-third, or 35 percent, of respondents in the Reuters/Ipsos poll said they had already voted. They favored Romney by a wide margin, the Reuters/Ipsos poll showed.

As Gingrich vows to keep fighting until the nominating convention in August, some voters worried that a nasty, prolonged primary fight would hurt the eventual nominee.

"We don't want to attack each other, but to focus on the issues," said voter Jonathan Sanchez of Orlando. "We don't want to seem divided."

Florida's 50 delegates are given on a winner-take-all basis. The two other Republicans on the ballot, Santorum and Paul, have moved on to other states.

After Florida's primary, Nevada's February 4 caucuses are the next contest in the process of choosing a Republican nominee.

(Additional Reporting by Steve Holland and Sam Youngman in Florida and Paul Simao in Washington; Writing by Ros Krasny and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Eric Beech and Paul Simao)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120131/ts_nm/us_usa_campaign

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Animals Get The Upper Paw, or Hoof, or Claw (preview)

Antigravity | More Science See Inside

Every so often a critter takes a shot at making headlines

By Steve Mirsky ?| January 29, 2012

Image: Matt Collins

In journalism, there?s what you call your dog-bites-man situation. Which is anything too common and expected to be a good story (unless the dog is one of those Resident Evil hellhounds, or the man is Cesar Millan). An example of a dog-bites-man science story is yet another confirmation of Einstein and relativity.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)

Steve Mirsky has been writing the Anti Gravity column since atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were about 358 parts per million. He also hosts the Scientific American podcast Science Talk.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=bed4ce099317e94960f277119b6827ca

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Romney lead over Gingrich up in Florida: poll (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney's lead over rival Newt Gingrich edged up to 12 percentage points in Florida, according to Reuters/Ipsos online poll results on Sunday, as Romney's front-runner status stabilized and Gingrich continued to slip.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and private equity executive, was supported by 42 percent of likely Florida voters surveyed in the online three-day tracking poll, just down from 43 percent in the same poll on Saturday. Romney was at 41 percent on Friday.

But with just two days before the state's primary on Tuesday, Gingrich's support was at 30 percent, down from 32 percent in Saturday's results and 33 percent on Friday.

The gap between the two was 11 percent when poll respondents were asked about a hypothetical head-to-head race between the rivals in the race for the Republican presidential nomination to oppose President Barack Obama in the general election in November.

If the race were between Romney and Gingrich only, Romney would be at 55 percent to Gingrich's 44 percent, according to the Sunday's results. On Saturday the gap between the two was eight percentage points and on Friday it was just two, when respondents were asked the same question.

"Newt Gingrich's position in the primary race is really starting to lose support," said Chris Jackson, research director for Ipsos Public Affairs.

The poll results, similar to those of several other surveys, illustrated Romney's remarkable turnaround since South Carolina's primary on January 21, which Gingrich won in a surprise upset.

"Gingrich got a big boost out of South Carolina, but he's losing that," said Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak.

"It's clear that Romney's run a much more focused and effective campaign in Florida than Newt," he said. "Newt's playing defense every single day in every way and doesn't seem to be able to make Romney play defense."

Romney had two strong debate performances this week and has jumped to a solid lead over Gingrich, whom he had trailed in earlier opinion polls in Florida. He has taken steady aim at Gingrich on the debate stage and in attack ads as a politician who left government under an ethics cloud and has remained a Washington insider ever since.

GINGRICH FACES TOUGH FEBRUARY

Romney has a solid advantage in money and organization over Gingrich in Florida, and the month ahead does not look much better for the former speaker as the state-by-state race for the Republican nomination continues.

Four states with February contests - Nevada, Maine, Colorado and Minnesota - use caucus systems, which can require greater organization to rally voter turnout. That could help Romney take advantage of his superior financial and staff resources.

On February 28, Michigan and Arizona hold primaries. Romney was raised in Michigan, where his father was a governor and car executive.

"February does not look like a good month for Newt," Mackowiak said.

But his failure to gain more support among likely voters in Florida's primary, which is limited only to registered Republicans, shows that Romney is still not electrifying the party faithful. "He's not the guy that everyone loves and rallies behind," Jackson said. "He's not getting that huge rally of support."

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum trailed well behind with 16 percent support, the same as Saturday's level. Santorum seemed to be gaining momentum as an "alternate" to Romney. Thirty-eight percent of likely voters said he would be their second choice if their first choice left the race, up from 33 percent on Saturday and 30 percent on Friday.

But it is probably too close to the January 31 vote to make a difference, Jackson said.

Texas Congressman Ron Paul, who is not campaigning in Florida, was at 6 percent.

Statistical margins of error are not applicable to online surveys, but this poll of 726 likely voters in the Florida primary has a credibility interval of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points for registered voters.

Sunday's Reuters/Ipsos survey is the third of four daily tracking polls being released ahead of Tuesday's Florida primary.

(Reporting By Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Sandra Maler)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120130/pl_nm/us_usa_campaign_poll

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Obama to senators: Change the way you do business

President Barack Obama waves as he walks off of Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Barack Obama waves as he walks off of Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Barack Obama greets supporters after his speech at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich., Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama is pressing his case for changes in how the Senate does business, hoping to ease the partisan gridlock, and he wants to bar lawmakers from profiting from their service.

In his radio and Internet address Saturday, Obama said many people he met during his five-state tour after his State of the Union address were optimistic but remained unsure "that the right thing will get done in Washington this year, or next year, or the year after that."

"And frankly, when you look at some of the things that go on in this town, who could blame them for being a little cynical?" Obama said.

The president reiterated his calls for government reform made in Tuesday's address, saying he wants the Senate to pass a rule that requires a yes-or-no vote for judicial and public service nominations after 90 days. Many of the nominees, he said, carry bipartisan support but get held up in Congress for political reasons.

Obama noted that "a senator from Utah" said he would hold up nominations because he opposed the recess appointment of the head of the new consumer protection agency and three members of the National Labor Relations Board. Obama put the officials in their post during the Senate's holiday break; many Republicans have called that move unconstitutional. Obama said the American people deserve "better than gridlock and games."

"One senator gumming up the works for the whole country is certainly not what our founding fathers envisioned," the president said.

While Obama did not name the lawmaker, Utah GOP. Sen Mike Lee said Thursday that because of the president's "blatant and egregious disregard both for proper constitutional procedures and the Senate's unquestioned role in such appointments, I find myself duty-bound to resist the consideration and approval of additional nominations until the president takes steps to remedy the situation."

Obama said he also wants Congress to pass legislation to ban insider trading by lawmakers and prohibit lawmakers from owning securities in companies that have business before their committees.

In addition, the president is seeking to prohibit people who "bundle" campaign contributions from other donors for members of Congress from lobbying Congress. Obama urged the public to contact their member of Congress and tell them "that it's time to end the gridlock and start tackling the issues that really matter."

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., delivering the GOP address, said Obama's address to Congress lacked much discussion of the president's achievements "because there isn't much."

"This president didn't talk about his record for one simple reason," Rubio said. "He doesn't want you to know about it. But you do know about it, because you feel the failure of his leadership every single day of your life."

Rubio accused the president of driving up the national debt, failing to reduce high unemployment across the country and offering divisive economic policies.

The Florida senator said there is a growing gap between the rich and the poor but the best way to solve the problem is by embracing the American free enterprise system. Rubio said he hopes 2012 "will be the beginning of our work toward a new and prosperous American century."

___

Online:

Obama address: www.whitehouse.gov

GOP address: http://www.youtube.com/gopweeklyaddress

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-28-Obama/id-2dba09403d564c59bbfec3fae31af81a

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France, Karzai want faster NATO Afghanistan exit (AP)

PARIS ? President Nicolas Sarkozy says France and Afghan President Hamid Karzai will ask NATO to hand over all combat missions in Afghanistan to Afghan troops in 2013 ? a year earlier than planned.

Sarkozy also says France has informed U.S. President Barack Obama of the proposal and will present it at a meeting of NATO defense ministers early next month.

The move, if confirmed, comes at a time of widespread fatigue among European contributors to the 10-year allied intervention in Afghanistan, and would accelerate a gradual drawdown of NATO troops that Obama planned to see through until the end of 2014.

"We have decided in a common accord with President Karzai to ask NATO to consider a total handling of NATO combat missions to the Afghan army over the course of 2013," Sarkozy said.

News of the French-Afghan proposal comes one week after Sarkozy abruptly suspended France's training missions and joint military patrols with Afghan forces following the shooting death of four unarmed French troops by an Afghan soldier on Jan. 20.

Sarkozy announced that the French will resume their training mission as of Saturday and withdraw its own troops by the end of 2013.

With Karzai at his side, Sarkozy also said authority in the strategic province of Kapisa east of Kabul, where nearly all French troops are deployed, will be handed over to the Afghans in March.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_re_eu/eu_france_afghanistan

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Debunked! Oprah Isn't Godmother to Beyonce's Daughter

Of the many rumors to hit the web about Beyonce and Jay-Z's daughter Blue Ivy Carter, the one suggesting that Oprah Winfrey was the tyke's godmother was among the most exciting. Sadly, the rumor, which caught fire on the Web Wednesday and Thursday, just isn't true. At least, that's what Winfrey's BFF Gayle King told CBS' The Early Show Friday morning.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/oprah-isnt-godmother-beyonces-daughter-blue-ivy-carter/1-a-422693?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Aoprah-isnt-godmother-beyonces-daughter-blue-ivy-carter-422693

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Video: Making the Case for Mitt Romney

Defending Mitt Romney's conservative credentials, and his economic experience, with Gov. Bob McDonnell, (R-VA).

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/46156537/

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Video: Remembering actor Robert Heyges

Best known for his role in ?Welcome Back, Kotter,? Heyges died Thursday at age 60. NBC?s Brian Williams reports.

>>> robert hchb egyes has died. he was best known playing the jewish puerto rican student juan epstein alongside john travolta in the '70s in "welcome back cotter." he was later a regular in "cagney and lacy." he passed away thursday morning after suffering cardiac arrest. he was 60 years old.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/46169962/

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Religious slights are the buzz as India marks Republic Day

Followers of India's three main religions - Islam, Hinduism, and Sikhism - have balked loudly at cultural slights this week. There's a reason for it, and it's not all politics.

No one likes to have their religion slighted. This is especially true in India, where there are thousands of gods, and tensions are close to the surface when it comes to ill-considered comments about religion.

Skip to next paragraph

Last week, author Salman Rushdie canceled his much anticipated visit to India?s biggest literary festival because of reported threats of assassination. Many Muslims regard his 1988 novel, "Satanic Verses," to be blasphemous, and some Muslim clerics threatened massive protests if Mr. Rushdie showed up at the festival in Jaipur. A handful of authors attempted to read the book ? which is banned in India ? on Rushdie?s behalf in a form of protest, but organizers stopped them.

Just the day before, American late night talk show host Jay Leno managed to offend India?s Sikh community with a satirical sketch, involving the Sikh faith?s holiest shrine, the Golden Temple. In a video showing the homes of the GOP presidential candidates, Leno showed a photo of the Golden Temple, calling it ?Mitt Romney?s summer home on Lake Winnipesaukee.??

But that wasn?t all.

On Jan. 25, a Chicago-based sports commentator offended Hindus in his post-game description of a hockey match between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Nashville Predators. Sportscasters are famous for stretching metaphors to the breaking point, but the Chicago commentator was quoted by Indian websites as saying the Predators were ?swallowing up space like some weird Hindu god."

The objection is to the word ?weird,? which a Nevada-based Hindu community leader Rajan Zed ? president of the Universal Society of Hindus ? said was hurtful to the feelings of the world?s 1 billion Hindu people.

Offending all three of the main faiths of the world?s second largest country is quite a feat. In hockey games this is called a hat trick.

What outsiders generally don't quite grasp about India is that sacredness is woven into almost every act of every day. Unlike post-religious societies, where Westerners may attend church once a week (or once a year), many Indians are constantly aware of their religious duties at work, at play, at meal times. I can't tell you how many times I've sat in the back of a taxi cab, in fear, as a Delhi taxi driver takes his hands off the wheel and puts them together in a sign of respect as he passes a holy shrine.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/srm12iWmM0k/Religious-slights-are-the-buzz-as-India-marks-Republic-Day

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Active Ingredient in Viagra Shrunk Disfiguring Growths in Kids (HealthDay)

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 25 (HealthDay News) -- A new preliminary report suggests that the active ingredient in Viagra, sildenafil, could reduce the size of large growths that can disfigure the bodies of children.

The findings could point to yet another use for the medicine, which was first developed as a heart medication until researchers noticed that it helped impotent men have erections. This time, researchers stumbled upon an alternate use while using a Viagra-like drug to treat a rare condition that causes high blood pressure in the arteries that lead to the lungs.

There are caveats: The treatment is very expensive, the research is only in its early stages, and the medication may not be a cure. Still, the research raises the prospect that "we could treat some of these little kids who have little or no hope," said report co-author Dr. Alfred Lane, a professor of dermatology and pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine.

The growths in question are known as severe lymphatic malformations. They appear in children, including babies, and create disfiguring growths of fluid and vessels.

The growths can be as big as a volleyball or a basketball, Lane said. They seem to appear when the lymphatic system, a component of the body's immune system, becomes clogged, although the exact cause isn't clear, he said.

In some cases, the growths can be dangerous, such as when they pose a risk of blocking an airway pressuring a nearby organ.

Surgery to remove the growth is one option, although it may not be possible, he said. For some children, "there's not a whole lot you can do about it."

That's where sildenafil may help.

Researchers used a form of the medication called Revatio to treat a baby girl who suffered from pulmonary hypertension, the condition that causes high blood pressure in certain arteries. The investigators found that the medication had another effect: it reduced the size of a lymphatic growth.

The child, who was severely ill, died. But researchers were curious about the effects of the drug, and they tried it on two other children. Their growths shrunk and became softer after 12 weeks.

The parents of the children decided to continue giving the drug to their kids; it's not clear how they're doing now, but Lane will see one of the patients soon.

The drug may not eliminate a growth, "but if it can reduce it to the size that they can remove it, that would be good," Lane said.

Revatio costs $800 to $1,000 a month, Lane said, although the Pfizer drug company is donating the drug for research purposes. While the dose is low, potential side effects include dizziness, eye problems, nosebleeds and nausea, Lane said.

Researchers don't know how the drug works to reduce the size of the growths, Lane noted, although one possibility is that it makes it easier for the lymph system to drain fluid.

A new study of the treatment is underway.

Dr. Richard Smith, a pediatric otolaryngologist who's familiar with the report, said it offers an "exciting and serendipitous finding." But it must still be validated to prove that it truly holds promise, said Smith, vice chair of the University of Iowa's department of otolaryngology -- head and neck surgery.

The report appears in the Jan. 26 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

More information

Children's Hospital Boston has details about lymphatic malformations.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sexualhealth/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120125/hl_hsn/activeingredientinviagrashrunkdisfiguringgrowthsinkids

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The Culture Gabfest, ?Sh*t Tuskegee Airmen Say? Edition

In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner are joined by Slate?s Bryan Curtis to discuss Curtis? New York Times Magazine profile of George Lucas, whose latest film Red Tails, about the Tuskegee airmen in World War II, opened last week. Next, they consider the pros and cons of the collaborative vs. solitary workplace. For their final segment, it?s ?sh*t Gabfesters say? as the new YouTube meme gets thoroughly dissected.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=0e78b1f6e18ed89d355836018d157afb

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Wikileaks announces Julian Assange TV show, world governments fire up their DVRs

Ready or not, Julian Assange is heading toward a TV set near you. Wikileaks announced this week that its controversy-embroiled founder will be getting his own TV show, in which he'll be interviewing "key political players, thinkers and revolutionaries." Information on the series is light at present -- the largely unknown Quick Roll Productions will apparently play a role in its creation. The show is set to begin airing in the middle of March and will run as ten 30 minute weekly episodes. Assange for one, clearly has grand ambitions for the series, stating that it "will explore the possibilities for our future in conversations with those who are shaping it. Are we heading towards utopia, or dystopia and how we can set our paths?" Check out a preview of Dancing with the Leaks after the jump.

Continue reading Wikileaks announces Julian Assange TV show, world governments fire up their DVRs

Wikileaks announces Julian Assange TV show, world governments fire up their DVRs originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 01:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/25/wikileaks-announces-julian-assange-tv-show-world-governments-fi/

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Psychedelic mushroom trips point to new depression drugs

By Kate Kelland

LONDON | Mon Jan 23, 2012 3:46pm EST

LONDON (Reuters) - The brains of people tripping on magic mushrooms have given the best picture yet of how psychedelic drugs work and British scientists say the findings suggest such drugs could be used to treat depression.

Two separate studies into the effects of psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, showed that contrary to scientists' expectations, it does not increase but rather suppresses activity in areas of the brain that are also dampened with other anti-depressant treatments.

"Psychedelics are thought of as 'mind-expanding' drugs so it has commonly been assumed that they work by increasing brain activity," said David Nutt of Imperial College London, who gave a briefing about the studies on Monday. "But, surprisingly, we found that psilocybin actually caused activity to decrease in areas that have the densest connections with other areas."

These so-called "hub" regions of the brain are known to play a role in constraining our experience of the world and keeping it orderly, he said.

"We now know that deactivating these regions leads to a state in which the world is experienced as strange."

In the first study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal, 30 volunteers had psilocybin infused into their blood while they were inside magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners, which measure changes in brain activity.

It found activity decreased in "hub" regions and many volunteers described a feeling of the cogs being loosened and their sense of self being altered.

The second study, due to be published in the British Journal of Psychiatry on Thursday, involved 10 volunteers and found that psilocybin enhanced their recollections of personal memories.

Robin Carhart Harris from Imperial's department of medicine, who worked on both studies, said the results suggest psilocybin could be useful as an adjunct to psychotherapy.

Nutt cautioned that the new research was very preliminary and involved only small numbers of people.

"We're not saying go out there and eat magic mushrooms," he said. "But...this drug has such a fundamental impact on the brain that it's got to be meaningful -- it's got to be telling us something about how the brain works. So we should be studying it and optimizing it if there's a therapeutic benefit."

"FUNDAMENTAL IMPACT"

The key areas of the brain identified -- one called the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and another called the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) -- are the subject of debate among neuroscientists, but the PCC is thought by many to have a role in consciousness and self-identity.

The mPFC is known to be hyperactive in depression, and the researchers pointed out that other key treatments for depression including medicines like Prozac, as well as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and deep brain stimulation, also appear to suppress mPFC activity.

Psilocybin's dampening action on this area may make it a useful and potentially long-acting antidepressant, Carhart-Harris said.

The studies also showed that psilocybin reduced blood flow in the hypothalamus - a part of the brain where people who suffer from a condition known as cluster headaches often have increased blood flow. This could explain why some cluster headache sufferers have said their symptoms improved after taking the psychedelic drug, the researcher said.

The studies, which are among only a handful conducted into psychedelic substances since the 1960s and 1970s, revive a promising field of study into mind-altering drugs which some experts say can offer powerful and sustained mood improvement and relief from anxiety.

Other experts echoed Nott's caution: "These findings are very interesting from the research viewpoint, but a great deal more work would be needed before most psychiatrists would think that psilocybin was a safe, effective and acceptable adjunct to psychotherapy," said Nick Craddock, a psychiatry professor from Cardiff University.

Kevin Healy, chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists' faculty of medical psychotherapy said it was interesting research "but we are clearly nowhere near seeing psilocybin used regularly and widely in psychotherapy practice."

(Editing by Robert Woodward)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/scienceNews/~3/qjqosR3A6SA/us-brain-magic-mushrooms-idUSTRE80M20B20120123

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Dentist accused of paper clip use in root canals

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) ? A former dentist in Massachusetts has pleaded guilty to Medicaid fraud for using paper clips instead of stainless steel posts in root canals.

Michael Clair is scheduled to be sentenced next Monday after pleading guilty last week in New Bedford Superior Court to a variety of charges, including defrauding Medicaid of $130,000 assault and battery, illegally prescribing prescription drugs and witness intimidation.

Prosecutors say the 53-year-old Clair was suspended by Medicaid in 2002, but continued to file claims from August 2003 to June 2005 by using the names of other dentists in his Fall River practice.

Authorities say instead of stainless steel posts for root canals, he used sections of paper clips ? which can cause pain and even infection ? in an effort to save money.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-24-Paper%20Clips-Dentist/id-1923e0c463384cdea615110a828c14df

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Video: Investor Pullback Sends Netflix Lower

Netflix may have made a comeback earlier this year, but today it was another story. CNBC's Julia Boorstin explains what's driving Netflix stock lower.

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Environmentalism and the Leisure Class (Powerlineblog)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/189067401?client_source=feed&format=rss

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AP: Pa. House leader working on run for US House (AP)

HARRISBURG, Pa. ? Pennsylvania's state House majority leader is telling top Republican Party officials that he plans to run for a U.S. House seat.

Two party activists said Friday that Mike Turzai is informing key people of his decision before he makes a public announcement.

The activists who spoke to The Associated Press did not want to be named talking about the subject before Turzai publicly announces his candidacy.

Asked about it by telephone Friday, Turzai said he was in a meeting and couldn't talk.

Turzai, of Allegheny County, would run for the 12th District seat whose suburban Pittsburgh boundaries were dramatically redrawn in December by Turzai and other top Republicans.

Its new boundaries combine portions of districts currently represented by two Democratic incumbents, Mark Critz and Jason Altmire.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_on_el_ho/us_turzai_congress

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Marianne Gingrich Says Newt Wanted Open Marriage, Lacks Moral Character to Be President

Just 48 hours before the critical South Carolina primary, Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's ex-wife Marianne is criticizing the former House Speaker's character.

Marianne Gingrich says, in an interview airing tonight on Nightline, that Newt's professed positions on marriage and family values do not line up with his actions.

Their 18-year marriage ended in 1999, and during that span, Marianne says Newt Gingrich admitted to her about a six-year affair with a Congressional aide.

That woman is now Newt's third wife, Callista Gingrich. This is well documented, but it's a comment Newt allegedly made about it that's raising eyebrows:

He asked his wife if she would share him with Callista, according to Marianne.

"I just stared at him and he said, 'Callista doesn't care what I do.' He wanted an open marriage and I refused," Marianne Gingrich tells ABC News.

Marianne also details how Newt was conducting this affair while publicly condemning the unfaithful President Clinton for his lack of moral leadership.

“How could he ask me for a divorce on Monday and within 48 hours give a speech on family values and talk about how people treat people?” she said.

“Truthfully, my whole purpose is to get out there about who I am, so Newt couldn’t create me as an evil, awful person, which was starting to happen.”

It gets worse. Newt divorced Marianne months after she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, she says, and began dating her almost as scandalously.

Her relationship with Newt started before his divorce from his first wife, Jackie, was finalized. And he left Jackie while she was undergoing cancer treatment.

Political pundits call this "baggage." Can he overcome it? Newt, who is trying to sustain recent momentum, responded to this interview on Today, saying:

"I'm not going to say anything negative about Marianne."

"My two daughters, Kathy and Jackie, have sent a letter to the president of ABC News saying from a family perspective, they think this is totally wrong."

"They think that ABC should not air anything like this. And that intruding into family things that are more than a decade old are simply wrong."

"I think that my two daughters are very credible on my character, I think the people who have known me a long time are credible on my character."

"We have lots of folks willing to speak on this, I'm not going to."

The letter of which he speaks that his daughters wrote says, "The failure of a marriage is a terrible and emotional experience for everyone involved."

Newt "regrets any pain he may have caused in the past to people he loves," they say, echoing sentiments Newt has made on the campaign trail.

Gingrich often speaks of his mistakes, admitting he is imperfect. The question is now much baggage is too much for voters to potentially take.

He should get a modest boost from Rick Perry dropping out of the race today, and has another debate tonight to make his case in South Carolina.

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/marianne-gingrich-newt-gingrich-ex-wife-says-he-wanted-open-marr/

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Romanian riots reveal growing gloom in region (AP)

BUCHAREST, Romania ? Romanian cities are gripped by the worst street violence in over a decade. Slovaks seem poised to re-elect a confrontational and divisive populist. Hungary alarms the European Union with laws that erode democratic rights.

In former Soviet bloc nations now part of the EU, frustration is mounting due to economic stagnation and worrisome governance, encouraging street protests and unpredictability that could jeopardize growth and stability in an already troubled part of the continent.

Many of the problems are common far beyond the region: indebted states hiking taxes and slashing state spending to stay solvent. But the added burdens come to a region that was already grappling with much deeper poverty and corruption than in the West before the global financial crisis hit.

In recent days, the situation has played out most dramatically in Romania, where pent-up fury with the government and an eroding standard of living exploded into days of street protests that at times turned violent. In Bucharest over the weekend, 59 people were injured in fighting that saw riot police turn tear gas on protesters who attacked them with stones and firebombs.

"What happened last weekend is only the beginning," commentator Gabriel Bejan wrote in Tuesday's Romania Libera daily paper. "We are in an important electoral year and such confrontations will be frequent. What will they lead to when nobody seems willing to take a step back?"

Much of the frustration goes back to the way Romania transitioned to democracy after its 1989 coup against dictator Nicolae Ceausescu ? with many former communists keeping control of power and resources. The results, today, are seen in entrenched cronyism, a huge gap between rich and poor and a lack of government transparency that feeds a widespread sense of injustice.

"The Mafioso government stole everything we had!" protesters declared on banners at several of the rallies that have taken place in more than a dozen Romanian cities since Thursday and appear set to go on.

Hungarians have also been taking to the streets with increased frequency in recent months over a new constitution and a blizzard of new laws that concentrate power for the right-wing Fidesz party of Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Freedom House, a U.S. group that carries out a yearly global survey of political freedom and civil liberties, has observed "hints of re-emergent illiberalism" across central Europe, said Christopher Walker, the group's vice president for strategy and analysis.

This year's report, to be published Thursday, will highlight what it sees as a deteriorating climate for civil liberties in Hungary due to threats to the independence of the press and the judiciary.

"Hungary has shown a bent towards illiberalism which is really inconsistent with the European idea," Walker said.

The EU agrees. On Tuesday the EU Commission launched legal challenges against Budapest over its new constitution and other laws which took effect Jan. 1, saying they undermine the independence of the national central bank and the judiciary and do not respect data privacy principles.

Orban's tightening hold on many institutions comes thanks to an overwhelming 2010 victory for his party on the heels of near economic collapse by the previous, Socialist-led government.

But the mounting EU pressure appeared to have some effect: EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Wednesday that he received a letter from Orban promising to modify the legislation that raised EU concerns.

In Slovakia, meanwhile, opinion polls predict a probable return to power in March elections for Robert Fico, a former left-wing prime minister who has also worried Western diplomats with a sympathetic approach toward authoritarian states. Fico took Russia's side during its 2008 war with Georgia ? bucking a trend across the former Soviet bloc to express concern over Moscow's use of power. He has also celebrated Fidel Castro's Cuban revolution.

In striking contrast to trouble in much of the region, there is one relative oasis: Poland, the largest of the 10 ex-communist states that joined the EU in recent years. Its economy has seen unusual dynamism given the difficult times, thanks in some part to massive infrastructure projects in recent years as Poland prepares to co-host this summer's European football championships with Ukraine.

But economists fear that its economy, too, could lose momentum after the Euro 2012 and with far-ranging austerity measures set to start taking effect this year in an effort to keep state debt from spiraling out of control.

But for now, anger is clearly greater in Hungary and Romania, and in both places the unfolding developments are shaped greatly by the legacy of communist rule.

In Hungary, Orban has justified his upending of the country's laws by arguing that the former communists and their way of thinking were never purged entirely from democratic Hungary.

Romania sees many of its problems exacerbated by the continued rule of some former communists, including President Traian Basescu, 60, who under Ceausescu was a ship captain for the state shipping company Navrom in Antwerp. That was a position of privilege which allowed him to earn coveted hard currency.

Feeding frustration is a sense that there is too little transparency over the doings, past and present, of Romania's leaders.

More than two decades after the overthrow of Ceausescu, authorities have opened only a handful of the files of the former dreaded Securitate secret police, which had 760,000 informers in a nation of 22 million. Former agents are believed to be active in politics, business and the media ? though the public has never been given the full picture.

Also, only a handful of senior officials were ever tried for the mass shootings of unarmed civilians in the 1989 revolution, perpetuating a sense that that story, too, is being covered up.

A political analyst who has studied the revolutions of Eastern Europe, Christopher Chivvers with the RAND Corporation, sees many of today's injustices as being rooted in the overly rapid move toward a market economy in the 1990s.

When state-run industries were privatized then, it was generally only the former communist apparatchiks who knew how to maneuver the system to take hold of them and run them.

"Those who had the know-how ? the former regime officials ? were able to snatch up large amounts of former state property in ways that ultimately entrenched their position in society and in the state," said Chivvers, who is also a professor in European studies at Johns Hopkins University.

Many Romanians express deep frustration over this.

"We still have unanswered questions regarding shady privatization deals made in the 90s," said Cristina, a Romanian woman who asked that her last name not be published because she works for the government and fears retribution.

___

Vanessa Gera reported from Warsaw, Poland. Associated Press writer Karel Janicek contributed from Prague.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_re_eu/eu_eastern_europe_s_gloom

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Vermont Can?t Shut Down Nuclear Plant, Judge Rules

[unable to retrieve full-text content]A federal judge blocked Vermont from shutting down the Vermont Yankee reactor, saying the state is trying to regulate nuclear safety, something only the federal government can do.

Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=76402b418df741a4f4bc673cde270272

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US military chief in Israel to discuss Iran nukes (AP)

JERUSALEM ? The top U.S. general, visiting Israel at a delicate and dangerous moment in the global standoff with Tehran, is expected to press for restraint amid fears that the Jewish state is nearing a decision to attack Iran's nuclear program.

Thursday's arrival of Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, just four months after he took office as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, underscores Washington's concern about a possible Israeli military strike.

It also spotlights key questions at the center of the global maneuvering to prevent an Iranian bomb:

? How effective are the current economic sanctions in pressuring Iran's leadership? Israel wants a far tougher regime, while the Americans seem confident the current path will suffice.

? Could aerial bombardment or missile strikes, the expected Israeli military toolkit, damage nuclear installations deep underground enough to be worth a counterstrike from Iran? Some think Israel is mainly saber-rattling to scare governments into tougher sanctions.

? Might covert activity suffice? Iranian scientists and military officials have been killed, computer viruses unleashed, a missile base blown up. Finger-pointing and denials abound; evidence about who's behind it all does not.

? Could Israel really surprise Washington, its main ally and protector, with a military move that could affect America itself, in an election year to boot? Israeli officials have not pledged to give advance warning.

In the background, rarely openly discussed, is the somewhat prickly relationship between the Obama administration and the rightist government in Israel. The antipathy, born largely of disagreements on the Palestinian front, may not be helping navigate a situation as delicate as Iran.

But the main thing for Israel is the acute sense that a Rubicon is about to be crossed ? that a nuclear-armed Iran, whose President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls for Israel's destruction, is a direct existential threat.

Most of the West does agree with Israel that Iran, despite denials, is developing nuclear weapons technology. But the United States is clearly concerned that a military attack could backfire, fragmenting international opposition to Iran and sending oil prices skyrocketing.

Beginning Friday, Dempsey is set to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and much of Israel's political and military leadership. Israeli officials involved in the preparations for the meetings said they expected Dempsey to urge restraint as the U.S. tries to rally additional global pressure on Iran. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the visit.

In a joint statement, the U.S. and Israel said the visit would focus on "cooperation between the two militaries, as well as mutual security challenges."

Israeli Cabinet Minister Dan Meridor, whose responsibilities include monitoring the Iranian nuclear program, said there was broad agreement with the Americans and the West on the need to stop the Iranians. "If the sanctions work, then all the other options will remain strictly theoretical," he said.

An air raid on Iran would require flying over potentially hostile Arab airspace and could well trigger a response from Iran, which possesses an arsenal of missiles capable of striking Israel. The Iranians could also encourage their proxies, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, to heat up Israel's northern and southern borders. American soldiers based in the Persian Gulf might come under fire. Islamist backers of Iran could target civilians all over the world.

It also remains unclear how much damage an attack could inflict. Iran's nuclear facilities are scattered throughout the country and buried deep underground. Israeli officials concede that any attack could set back, but not destroy, Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Speaking with The Associated Press, a senior military official said Thursday that the threat is real. "If you are talking about the use of power against Iran, any kind of power, and create any damage over there, yes, it can be done," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity under military guidelines.

Israel has attacked nuclear sites in foreign countries before. In 1981, Israeli warplanes destroyed an unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor. In 2007, Israeli aircraft destroyed a site in Syria that the U.N. nuclear watchdog deemed to be a secretly built nuclear reactor.

While Israel is unlikely to strike without coordinating with the Americans, who maintain thousands of forces on aircraft carriers and military bases in the Gulf, Israeli officials will not make any promises to Dempsey, the officials said.

This week, Netanyahu told lawmakers that four rounds of international sanctions "have harmed the Iranians but not in a way that would stop their nuclear program." His deputy prime minister, Moshe Yaalon, expressed disappointment in a radio interview that the U.S. has delayed plans to expand sanctions, suggesting election-year considerations were to blame.

And in an interview published Thursday, the recently retired Israeli military intelligence chief claimed Iran already has all the components to build a nuclear bomb. "If the Iranians get together tonight and decide to secretly develop a bomb, then they have all the resources and components to do so," Amos Yadlin told the Maariv daily.

In a balancing message, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Wednesday that Israel was "very far" from deciding whether to strike. And Israel and the United States this week postponed a major military exercise.

Israelis generally assess that Iran is close to acquiring the expertise and know-how to build a bomb but a year or two away from being able to build and deliver an atomic weapon.

In a possible preview of Dempsey's message, a senior U.S. State Department official convened Israeli journalists on Wednesday and insisted American sanctions have been effective, Israeli newspapers reported.

The official, who was not identified, reportedly said sanctions were gradual to avoid a sudden jump in oil prices but could be ramped up to include an embargo on Iran's central bank ? and were already having a harsh effect on Iran's economy.

For more than three years, Tehran has blocked International Atomic Energy Agency attempts to follow up on U.S. and other intelligence alleging covert Iranian work on nuclear arms, dismissing the charges as baseless and insisting all its nuclear activities were peaceful. In November the IAEA issued a report saying some of Iran's alleged experiments have no other purpose than developing nuclear weapons.

In Paris, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said he hoped European Union foreign ministers will reach an accord at a meeting Monday in Brussels on an embargo on Iranian petroleum exports and a freeze on the assets of the Iranian Central Bank.

The U.S. last month enacted similar sanctions, though it has delayed implementing them for at least six months in fear of sending oil prices higher at a time when the global economy is struggling. Iran has threatened to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz in response to sanctions.

At the Pentagon on Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the U.S. military was "fully prepared" to deal with any Iranian effort to close the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has threatened to close the strategic waterway, the route for about one-sixth of the global oil flow, because of new U.S. sanctions.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_iran

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First link between potentially toxic PFCs in office air and in office workers' blood

Public release date: 18-Jan-2012
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Contact: Michael Bernstein
m_bernstein@acs.org
202-872-6042
American Chemical Society

In a first-of-its-kind study, scientists are reporting that the indoor air in offices is an important source of worker exposure to potentially toxic substances released by carpeting, furniture, paint and other items. Their report, which documents a link between levels of these so-called polyfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in office air and in the blood of workers, appears in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Michael McClean and colleagues explain that PFCs, used in water-repellent coatings on carpet and furniture, may have adverse effects on human health. The substances are widespread in the environment and in humans around the world. Scientists know that potential sources of exposure include food, water, indoor air, indoor dust and direct contact with PFC-containing objects. But the link between levels in air and blood had not been explored previously, so McClean's group set out to fill that gap with a study of 31 office workers in Boston.

They found concentrations of a PFC called fluorotelomer alcohol (FTOH) in office air that were 3-5 times higher than those reported in previous studies of household air, "suggesting that offices may represent a unique and important exposure environment." In addition, the study found a strong link between concentrations of FTOH in office air and perfluorooctanoic acid (a metabolite of FTOH) in the blood of office workers. The results also suggested that workers in newly renovated office buildings may receive considerably higher doses of PFCs than workers in older buildings.

###

The authors acknowledge funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 18-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Michael Bernstein
m_bernstein@acs.org
202-872-6042
American Chemical Society

In a first-of-its-kind study, scientists are reporting that the indoor air in offices is an important source of worker exposure to potentially toxic substances released by carpeting, furniture, paint and other items. Their report, which documents a link between levels of these so-called polyfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in office air and in the blood of workers, appears in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Michael McClean and colleagues explain that PFCs, used in water-repellent coatings on carpet and furniture, may have adverse effects on human health. The substances are widespread in the environment and in humans around the world. Scientists know that potential sources of exposure include food, water, indoor air, indoor dust and direct contact with PFC-containing objects. But the link between levels in air and blood had not been explored previously, so McClean's group set out to fill that gap with a study of 31 office workers in Boston.

They found concentrations of a PFC called fluorotelomer alcohol (FTOH) in office air that were 3-5 times higher than those reported in previous studies of household air, "suggesting that offices may represent a unique and important exposure environment." In addition, the study found a strong link between concentrations of FTOH in office air and perfluorooctanoic acid (a metabolite of FTOH) in the blood of office workers. The results also suggested that workers in newly renovated office buildings may receive considerably higher doses of PFCs than workers in older buildings.

###

The authors acknowledge funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/acs-flb011812.php

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Thursday Candidate Schedule (TIME)

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China's growth ebbs in final quarter of 2011 (AP)

BEIJING ? China appears on track to avoid an abrupt economic slowdown with possible global repurcussions after growth eased to a still robust 8.9 percent in the last quarter of 2011.

The expansion in the world's second-largest economy was the slowest in 2 1/2 years but December retail sales and factory output accelerated, data showed Tuesday. Growth in the previous quarter was 9.1 percent.

"Today's outcome seems to confirm a `soft landing' scenario," said Frances Cheung of Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong.

China is one of the biggest importers and slower growth could have global repercussions if it cuts demand for iron ore, industrial components and other goods from Australia, Brazil, Southeast Asia and elsewhere.

Growth decelerated in 2011 as Beijing hiked interest rates and tightened investment curbs to prevent overheating and tame politically dangerous inflation. Communist leaders reversed course and started easing lending late in the year after plunging U.S. and European export demand raised the threat of job losses and unrest.

The slowdown was in line with government plans, said Ma Jiantang, commissioner of the National Bureau of Statistics. He said the "ideal situation" would be to keep growth between 8.5 percent and 9 percent, with inflation low.

In 2012, China faces "complexity and challenges" due to global malaise and pressure for prices to rise, Ma said at a news conference. Still, he said, "The fundamentals of China's longterm steady economic growth have not changed."

Growth in the three months ending in December was the slowest since the second quarter of 2009, when the economy expanded 7.9 percent.

Retail sales growth rebounded to 18.1 percent from November's 17.1 percent while factory output rose 12.8 percent, up from November's 12.4 percent.

"This all reaffirms our outlook on China for a soft landing," said Moody's Analytics economist Glenn Levine in a report. "Export demand has cooled, but domestic demand is still running strong."

Consumer inflation, a volatile element in a society where poor families spend up to half their incomes on food, edged down in December to 4.1 percent after hitting a 37-month high of 6.5 percent in July.

That could give Beijing leeway to stimulate the economy, helping small companies that have been hurt by plunging export demand and squeezed by lending curbs, forcing thousands out of business and wiping out jobs.

Analysts expect Beijing to try to stimulate growth with an interest rate cut, tax cuts or other measures. The central bank promised pro-growth measures this month to help entrepreneurs though it also pointed to inflation pressures and global uncertainties and said its monetary policy will stay "prudent."

Also in 2011, China's urban population exceeded the number of rural dwellers for the first time, rising to 51.3 percent of the nation's 1.3 billion people, the government reported.

Industry surveys show manufacturing and exports contracted in November and December, while a slowdown in real estate sales triggered by government efforts to stop speculation and cool surging housing prices has sparked concern about the impact on the overall economy. December import growth fell to 11.8 percent, barely half the previous month's 22.1 percent gain.

"The slowdown has yet to come to an end," said economist Zhang Xinfa at China Galaxy Securities in Beijing.

Analysts say Beijing still needs to boost consumer spending to reduce reliance on exports and investment to drive growth.

The communist government has pledged for years to reorient its economy but is only starting to make progress after its stimulus in response to the 2008 global crisis fueled a surge in construction spending.

Ma, the statistics official, pointed to the shift in population toward cities and said that might help to spur consumption growth.

"If we can rely more on domestic consumption," said Credit Agricole CIB's Cheung, "that will help the economy to sail through all these headwinds."

___

AP researcher Zhao Liang contributed.

___

National Bureau of Statistics (in Chinese): http://www.stats.gov.cn

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120117/ap_on_bi_ge/as_china_economy

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Rivals say split SC conservative vote aids Romney (AP)

COLUMBIA, S.C. ? A splintered conservative vote in South Carolina could pave the way for Mitt Romney to win this week's pivotal primary, some rivals said Sunday, acknowledging an outcome that prominent state lawmakers suggested could end the nomination fight.

"I think the only way that a Massachusetts moderate can get through South Carolina is if the vote is split," said Newt Gingrich, portraying himself as the lone conservative with a "realistic chance" of beating Romney in the first-in-the South contest.

Polls show Romney, the former Massachusetts governors who struggled to a fourth-place finish in South Carolina during his 2008 White House run, with a lead heading into Saturday's vote. The state has a large population of evangelicals and other conservative Christians, and concerns arose four years ago about his Mormon faith.

But Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Rick Perry all said Romney, after victories in Iowa and New Hampshire, continued to benefit from the fractured GOP field and the failure of social conservatives to fully coalesce around a single alternative.

"If for some reason he's not derailed here and Mitt Romney wins South Carolina ... I think it should be over," said the state's senior senator, Republican Lindsey Graham. He added, "I'd hope the party would rally around him if he did in fact win South Carolina."

Santorum said South Carolina is "not going to be the final issue" and spoke of the "need to get this eventually down to a conservative alternative" to Romney. "When we get it down to a two-person race, we have an excellent opportunity to win this race," said the former Pennsylvania senator who won the endorsement of an influential group of social conservatives and evangelical leaders Saturday in Texas.

Perry, the Texas governor, said it was "our intention" to compete in the next contest, Florida's primary Jan. 31, even if he finished last in South Carolina.

Gingrich said he would "reassess" his candidacy if he lost in South Carolina and acknowledged that a Romney victory would mean "an enormous advantage going forward."

The former House speaker appealed for the support of "every conservative who wants to have a conservative nominee."

"I hope every conservative will reach the conclusion that to vote for anybody but Gingrich is, in fact, to help Romney win the nomination," he said.

To Rep. Tim Scott, R-S.C., the equation is simple: "If Romney wins South Carolina, I think the game's over. This is the last stand for many candidates."

He noted that three candidates are pursuing the evangelical vote "very strongly and without any question that works to the Romney campaign's benefit. It's hard to find a single candidate that rallies all of the Christian voters in South Carolina and therefore that splintered approach will probably have a major impact" in the primary.

Romney took a rare day off from campaigning while his opponents focused on the South Carolina coast. They also attended church services and prayer breakfasts in a state with a large population of evangelicals and other conservative Christians.

At the Cathedral of Praise in North Charleston, Gingrich was cheered by church members as he criticized activist judges who he said had made "anti-American" rulings to keep God out of schools. Santorum spoke at the same church Saturday.

At a prayer breakfast in Myrtle Beach, Perry appealed to religious conservatives to back his candidacy.

"Who will see the job of president as that of faithful servant to the American people, and the God who created us?" Perry said. "I hope each of you will peer into your heart and look for that individual with the record and the values that represent your heart."

The candidates faced a packed week of campaign events and nationally televised debates Monday and Thursday. No Republican has won the party's presidential nomination without carrying South Carolina.

Santorum battled Romney to a virtual tie in Iowa before falling to fifth place in New Hampshire. Gingrich and Perry fared poorly in both states.

All three have the backing of well-financed independent groups known as super political action committee that can help keep their candidacies afloat.

Santorum refused to suggest anyone should drop out of the race as a way to consolidate conservative support behind an anti-Romney candidate. But he said Republicans would have a hard time beating President Barack Obama in November if Romney were the nominee. Santorum cited Romney's push for mandatory insurance coverage in Massachusetts.

Gingrich and Perry used television interviews to focus on Romney's former leadership of the Bain Capital venture firm. Both defended raising questions about Bain's business practices, saying Romney's tenure would come under relentless assault from Democrats in the general election.

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman picked up the endorsement of The State, one of South Carolina's leading newspaper. Huntsman came in a weak third in New Hampshire after skipping Iowa, but the paper described him as a "realist" able to appeal to the centrist voters who will decide the general election.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul was returning to campaigning for the first time since Wednesday. He has spent several days at home in Texas after his second-place finish in the New Hampshire primary last week.

Gingrich, Graham and Scott appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press," while Santorum spoke on "Fox News Sunday" and Perry was interviewed on CNN's "State of the Union."

___

Associated Press writers Tom Beaumont in Myrtle Beach and Julie Pace in North Charleston contributed to this report.

___

Follow Beth Fouhy on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/bfouhy

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120115/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_campaign

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