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December 29, 2011 | | 2012 With just days to go before Iowa’s vote, Ron Paul is a dead heat with Mitt Romney—which means it’s time for the Republican establishment to start worrying. The Daily Beast’s Michael Medved on how a win for the libertarian insurgent will help Obama paint the GOP as a party of fringe extremists. DEAL The U.S. will sell Saudi Arabia $30 billion worth of F-15 fighter jets, the Obama administration said Thursday. The deal comes on the heels of rising tensions with Iran, and is considered essential in strengthening the U.S.’s military relationship with Saudi Arabia. The deal also calls for the production of 84 new aircraft, and the modernization of 70 current aircraft along with “munitions, spare parts, training, maintenance, and logistics,” according to White House spokesman Josh Earnest. The White House says the deal will help create 50,000 jobs. TROOPER The day after her Iowa campaign chair quit to join Ron Paul’s camp, Michele Bachmann is brushing off reports of her campaign’s imminent collapse. “Our campaign organization is very strong,” she said in Des Moines today, after appearing with her new chairman. Bachmann claimed that former Iowa campaign chairman and state legislator Kent Sorenson flipped to Paul simply because he was offered “a lot of money.” Still, the Bachmann team hasn’t had a good week. A pro-Bachmann super PAC just switched allegiances to Mitt Romney, and a South Carolina endorsement that her campaign bragged about turned out to be a progressive Democrat who said Bachmann’s nomination would ensure an Obama win. GET READY Maybe this will go the way of Bank of America’s $5 banking fee? An internal memo leaked Thursday revealed that Verizon plans to charge customers $2 for every bill they pay online or by phone. The new fee will go into effect on Jan. 15. Customers who use autopay or pay their bills with an electronic check will not be charged, and neither will customers using a standard paper check, a money order, Verizon Wireless gift cards, or rebate cards. Verizon said that customers will be notified of the fee before they complete their transactions. BLAME GAME Egyptian government troops on Thursday raided the offices of 17 nonprofit firms that specialize in civil rights—including at least three financed by the U.S. The Egyptian government said the raid is part of an investigation their claim that “foreign hands” are causing the latest protests against military rule. Witnesses reported that heavily-armed men wearing the security police’s black uniforms tore through boxes while preventing the employees from leaving—and the security police took files and computers with them as they left. Human rights groups have urged the ruling Egyptian military to drop this investigation into foreign groups, which prosecutors have claimed is treason. | | 
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