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January 09, 2012 | | CAMPAIGN TRAIL After taking a beating in Iowa, Newt Gingrich came out guns blazing on Sunday, aiming his fire squarely at frontrunner Mitt Romney's "pious baloney"—and the Web liked what it heard. The Daily Beast's new Election Oracle—which, unlike traditional polls, analyzes views expressed on the Internet to determine favorability ratings (see methodology here)—shows Gingrich’s rating moving up 10 points to 27 on Sunday. Just a week ago he was at the bottom of the field with a favorability rating of -58. REVOLVING DOOR There goes another chief of staff. Bill Daley, who has directed Obama's White House since January of 2011, handed in his resignation last week, senior administration officials tell The Chicago Tribune. Daley's stated reason is to spend more time in his hometown of Chicago. Current budget director Jack Lew is set to take over the role at the end of the month. (Lew also served as budget director under Bill Clinton.) Though the administration was heading into a tough election year, the sources say Daley wasn't pushed out and that his resignation caught the president by surprise. Daley replaced original chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, who left for a successful run at Chicago's mayorship. NUCLEAR Diplomats confirm Iran's claim that it's begun uranium enrichment at is secure underground bunker. Yesterday Iran's state media claimed that enrichment has begun at the country's Fordo site near the holy city of Qom. The Fordo centrifuges are reportedly producing Uranium enriched to 20 percent, far higher than the 3.5 percent made at Iran's primary plant. The new uranium can more easily be made into warhead material, and the bunker, underground and protected by air defenses, is difficult to attack. If Iran is using the uranium for a weapon, American officials estimate they would have six months to a year to react before Iran finished enriching weapons-grade uranium. FOOT IN MOUTH If Mitt Romney is trying to rebuff accusations that he was a job-killing CEO at Bain Capital, declaring that he likes “being able to fire people” probably isn’t the best move. Romney made the statement Monday to a group of business executives from the Nashua Greater Chamber of Commerce when questioned on what type of healthcare system he’d implement as president. The former Massachusetts governor argued that people should be able to choose their own insurance plans apart from their employers and be able to fire them. Just a day earlier he attempted to prove he’s not the ruthless executive Democrats and fellow Republicans are making him out to be by telling New Hampshire voters that he understands fearing a “pink slip.” Romney has since urged people not to take his "I like to be able to fire people" comment out of context. "In politics, people are going to grasp at anything," he said about the instant attention attracted by his quote. PRESSURE Merkozy united again: At a summit today, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy threatened to cut off bailout funds for Greece unless the cash-strapped nation is able to restructure its debt. Both leaders explicitly rejected calls to alleviate the losses of private investors who stand to lose billions if Greece defaults and vowed to move ahead with a tax on financial transactions, despite opposition from Britain. Whether Greece can get private bondholders to agree on a settlement remains an open question. Chief among the concerns is whether the investors would be protected by credit default insurance if a writedown of Greece’s debt takes place. | | 
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