BinaryPublisher

Rubio won the backing of Paul Ryan.

(CNN) - Ohio Rep. Paul Ryan, widely viewed as a rising star in the Republican Party and a favorite among conservatives, is endorsing former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio’s bid for the Senate Republican nomination in that state.

“In the coming years, America faces critical decisions on government spending, taxes and entitlements that will require idea-driven leaders,” Ryan said in a statement released by the Rubio campaign. “Marco Rubio has proven he is exactly the type of consistent, principled conservative the Republican Party needs to ensure the relationship between the federal government and the individual is one that maximizes freedom and prosperity.”

Rubio is running against Gov. Charlie Crist, the early favorite who won the national party’s endorsement last summer. But many conservative leaders have never been fond of Crist - considered to be a moderate who backed President Barack Obama’s stimulus measure last year - and recent polls suggest Crist’s lead over Rubio has narrowed to single digits.

News of the Ryan endorsement comes a day after Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer, appointed by Crist in 2007, resigned his post after being assailed for months by GOP activists who accused Greer of mismanaging party finances and favoring Crist over Rubio in the primary.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal will announce Wednesday that he'll run for Sen. Chris Dodd's seat.

(CNN) – Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal will announce Wednesday that he’ll run for Sen. Chris Dodd’s seat, a highly placed Connecticut Democrat tells CNN.

Blumenthal is expected to announce his bid for Senate at a news conference at Connecticut Democratic Party headquarters in Hartford Wednesday afternoon.’

Dodd, a five term Democratic senator, plans to announce his retirement Wednesday, two sources close to the lawmaker told CNN. He plans to announce the decision at a news conference just two and half hours before Blumenthal’s scheduled event. Dodd, 65, had been considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats seeking re-election in 2010.

The 63-year-old Blumenthal has been Connecticut’s attorney general since 1990 and served in the state legislature from 1984 to 1990.

(CNN) - Rob Simmons, a Republican running for the Senate nomination in Connecticut who has been a fierce critic of Sen. Chris Dodd, said in a statement Dodd’s decision to retire does not change his own campaign plans:

“I want to thank Senator Chris Dodd for his long service in Congress. While our disagreements have been profound, Heidi and I wish him and his family all the best. Today’s announcement does not change my plan to seek and win the Senate seat from Connecticut.

“Whoever the Democratic nominee is, he or she will have to defend the failed Democratic policies of higher taxes, bigger government, exploding debt, and a misguided approach to national security that treats terrorists as mere criminals rather than the enemy combatants that they are. My entire political career is defined by running in tough races and I expect no less this time around, but I believe voters in Connecticut are seeking real changes in the way government operates and I am the only candidate who has the broad experience and track record to deliver for the state and nation.”

Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut, plans to announce his retirement, two sources close to the lawmaker told CNN.

Washington (CNN) - Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut, plans to announce his retirement, two sources close to the lawmaker told CNN.

A news conference is planned for Wednesday to announce the decision, one of the sources said.

Dodd, 65, had been winning congressional elections in his state since 1974, but has recently been considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats seeking re-election in 2010. He has been criticized for ties to the financial industry, and several formidable challengers have been vying to challenge him in the November election.

The senator was criticized last year for his role in handing out big bonuses at AIG, after the insurance giant received taxpayer bailout money. Dodd initially denied having anything to do with the American International Group paying out millions in bonuses, then later acknowledged his role.

Dodd, who is chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, acknowledged to CNN that he was responsible for language added to the stimulus bill to ensure that existing contracts for bonuses at bailout recipients, such as AIG, were honored.

Soon after that, Dodd acknowledged that his poll numbers had slipped.

Rumors about Dodd’s retirement have swirled around Washington, D.C., for months.

Dodd’s news conference comes a day after another Democratic senator, Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, announced that he will not seek re-election in November.

Dodd’s exit also paves the way for other Connecticut Democrats to enter the race.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is one possible candidate to run for Dodd’s seat. Blumenthal is one of Connecticut’s most popular Democrats, and his candidacy could increase the likelihood that Democrats will retain the Senate seat in November’s midterm election.

– CNN’s John King and Dana Bash contributed to this report.

(updated 7 am with additional information)

The CNN Washington Bureau’s morning speed read of the top stories making news from around the country and the world.

Compiled by Alison Harding

WASHINGTON/POLITICAL
For the latest political news: www.CNNPolitics.com

CNN: Sen. Dodd to retire, sources tell CNN
Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut, plans to announce his retirement, two sources close to the lawmaker told CNN. A news conference is planned for Wednesday to announce the decision, one of the sources said.

CNN: Dorgan announces he won’t seek re-election
North Dakota Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan announced Tuesday that he will not seek re-election in 2010.

CNN: Obama, House Dems finalize decision to bypass formal health care conference
President Barack Obama and congressional Democratic leaders finalized a decision Tuesday to bypass a formal House and Senate conference to meld their health care bills, according to two congressional Democratic leadership sources.

The Hill: Pelosi tells C-SPAN: ‘There has never been a more open process’
C-SPAN wrote a letter to congressional leaders Tuesday asking that TV cameras be allowed to film negotiations to reconcile the House and Senate versions of healthcare reform legislation. But Pelosi said Congress has already been transparent throughout the process.

USA Today: Congressional ‘earmarks’ in spending bills cut by a third
The 2010 federal spending bills disclose $10.2 billion for pet projects inserted by members of Congress, a drop of nearly a third since 2008, an analysis of the bills shows.

CNN: Obama: ‘System failed’ in a major way
President Obama said Tuesday that U.S. intelligence has had considerable success, but that the botched Christmas Day attack shows “the system has failed” in a major way.

CNN: Top intel officer slams work of U.S. spies in Afghanistan
U.S. spies “can do little but shrug” when commanders ask for the information they need to fight the Taliban insurgency, the top U.S. military intelligence officer in Afghanistan said in a blistering report.

CNN: U.S. lowers threshold for inclusion on no-fly lists
The U.S. government has lowered the threshold for information deemed important enough to put suspicious individuals on a watch list or no-fly list, or have their visa revoked, senior State Department officials tell CNN.

CNN: U.S. halting transfer of Guantanamo detainees to Yemen
The United States is halting for now its plans to continue transferring terror suspects detained at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, facility to Yemen, President Barack Obama said Tuesday.

Washington Post: $250 million initiative for science, math teachers planned
President Obama will announce a $250 million public-private effort Wednesday to improve science and mathematics instruction, aiming to help the nation compete in key fields with global economic rivals.

Los Angeles Times: Schwarzenegger to propose spending $500 million for worker training
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today will lay out plans to spend $500 million on worker training in an effort to create 100,000 jobs, along with other measures to stimulate the economy, as a centerpiece of his policy agenda for his final year in office.

New York Times: Harold Ford Jr. Weighs a Challenge to Gillibrand
Encouraged by a group of influential New York Democrats, Harold Ford Jr., the former congressman from Tennessee, is weighing a bid to unseat Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand in this fall’s Democratic primary, according to three people who have spoken with him.

Attleboro Sun Chronicle: US Senate candidates spar in debate
U.S. Senate candidate Scott Brown compared himself to the late President John Kennedy in a debate Tuesday, while his Democratic opponent said he is more like George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Brown, a state senator from Wrentham, said he ran television advertisements in which an image of Kennedy morphed into him to show that although they are from different eras and different parties, he and Kennedy agree on lowering taxes.

NATIONAL
For the latest national news: www.CNN.com

CNN: Federal court limits rights of Guantanamo detainees
Accused foreign terrorists and war fighters in U.S. custody will have a more difficult time challenging their detention in the wake of a key ruling Tuesday by a federal appeals court.

Los Angeles Times: Male prostitution is Nevada’s newest legal profession
After months of debate in the state’s surprisingly squeamish brothel community, Nye County officials agree to let Shady Lady Ranch near Death Valley hire men.

Seattle Times: Washington state felons should have voting rights, federal court rules
A federal appeals court on Tuesday tossed out Washington’s law banning incarcerated felons from voting, finding the state’s criminal-justice system is “infected” with racial discrimination.

INTERNATIONAL
For the latest international news: http://edition.cnn.com

CNN: Jordanian doctor called double agent behind CIA attack
The man identified as the double agent who killed eight people at a U.S. base in Afghanistan was a Jordanian doctor recruited as a counterterrorism intelligence source, a senior Jordanian official said Tuesday.

New York Times: U.S. Saw a Path to Qaeda Chiefs Before Bombing
Before detonating a suicide bomb in Afghanistan last week, a Jordanian militant was considered by American spy agencies to be the most promising informant in years about the whereabouts of Al Qaeda’s top leaders, including Ayman al-Zawahri, the terrorist group’s second-ranking operative.

New York Times: Iran Shielding Its Nuclear Efforts in Maze of Tunnels
Last September, when Iran’s uranium enrichment plant buried inside a mountain near the holy city of Qum was revealed, the episode cast light on a wider pattern: Over the past decade, Iran has quietly hidden an increasingly large part of its atomic complex in networks of tunnels and bunkers across the country.

Washington Post: At U.N., China insists it’s not ‘right’ time for sanctions on Iran
China’s envoy to the United Nations said Tuesday that his government is not ready to impose tough new sanctions on Iran for defying the world body’s demands that it suspend its uranium enrichment program.

Wall Street Journal: Authorities in China Likely Knew of Bad Milk
- New signs emerged that Chinese health authorities suspected a Shanghai dairy was producing milk tainted with deadly melamine well before the first public announcements last week that it had been shut.

BBC News: Anti-whaling activists accuse Japan fleet of attack
Anti-whaling activists have accused a Japanese vessel of ramming their high-tech speed boat during a confrontation in the Southern Ocean.

Christian Science Monitor: Taiwan curbs US beef imports in latest Asia trade frictions
Health concerns and angry protests have prompted partial bans on US beef imports in Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea – most recently by Taipei on Tuesday. The recurring dispute has strained relations.

BUSINESS
For the latest business news: www.CNNMoney.com

CNNMoney: 3-D TV coming soon to your living room
Both ESPN and Discovery Communications announced Tuesday that they will launch 3-D TV networks. ESPN will start airing its 3-D sports network in June, while Discovery Communications did not specify when it would begin airing 3-D content.

Wall Street Journal: China Dethrones Germany as Top Goods Exporter
China took over the mantle of the world’s top merchandise exporter from Germany in 2009, according to the latest figures, aided by a global economic crisis that has taken a greater toll on other trading powers.

Bloomberg: Buffett Reins In Kraft, Recalling Coke’s Retreat on Quaker Oats
Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor who helped scuttle Coca-Cola Co.’s bid for Quaker Oats 10 years ago, is restraining Kraft Foods Inc. in its quest to acquire Cadbury Plc. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Kraft’s biggest shareholder, urged fellow investors to oppose a plan to issue as many as 370 million shares to help buy the U.K.-based candy maker.

Los Angeles Times: Most automakers report boom in December sales
Car dealers are seeing buyers come back to their showrooms - giving the beaten-down auto industry a glimmer of hope that a long-awaited turnaround has begun.

Bloomberg: Northern Hemisphere Freeze Boosts Oil, Hurts Crops
Crude oil traded near its highest level in 14 months, citrus growers in Florida fought to protect their crops and Beijing had its coldest morning for almost four decades as winter weather gripped China, Europe and the U.S.

CNN: Google unveils Nexus One ’superphone’
Calling it their “superphone,” Google unveiled the Nexus One on Tuesday, marking the online search giant’s first leap into the smartphone market.

In Case You Missed It

President Obama says the Christmas Day terror attempt shows that the security system failed.

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Sen. Byron Dorgan announced Tuesday that he will not seek re-election this year.

Washington (CNN) - North Dakota Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan announced Tuesday that he will not seek re-election in 2010.

“It is a hard decision to make after thirty years in the Congress, but I believe it is the right time for me to pursue these . . . interests,” Dorgan said in a written statement announcing his decision.

The Democrat also said Tuesday that his decision had nothing to do with his prospects for re-election this year.

“[M]y decision has no relationship to the prospect of a difficult election contest this year. Frankly, I think if I had decided to run for another term in the Senate I would be reelected,” Dorgan said.

Two well-respected, nonpartisan political reports, the Cook Political Report and the Rothenberg Political Report, had rated Dorgan’s seat as safe in the 2010 elections, and Dorgan won re-election by a large margin in 2004.

North Dakota’s other senator, Kent Conrad, is also a Democrat. Conrad predicted Tuesday that Dorgan’s exit from the political stage was a temporary one. “Although Senator Dorgan is leaving the Senate at the end of 2010, I have a feeling that this will not be the last of his public service,” he said in a statement. “It is my guess he will be on a short list of future Cabinet nominees to the Obama Administration in the coming years.”

Some Republicans have urged the state’s governor, John Hoeven, to mount a bid for the seat. Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said Tuesday that Dorgan’s decision “highlights just how vulnerable both Senate and House Democrats have become since deciding to walk in lockstep with President Obama’s government-run policies….” he said in a statement. “While Senator Dorgan might be the first Democrat to announce his retirement this year, I predict he will not be the last” to bow out in 2010.

In the last two presidential elections, however, Republicans have won the state at the presidential level, with John McCain beating Barack Obama by eight percentage points in 2008 and George W. Bush winning North Dakota by 28 percentage points in 2004.

Updated: 7:10 p.m.

Dorgan’s full statement:

STATEMENT BY U.S. SENATOR BYRON DORGAN
Tuesday, January 5, 2010

“Representing North Dakota in the U.S. Congress for nearly 30 years has been one of the great privileges of my life.

“The work I have been able to do to expand our economy, create new opportunities in energy and water development, invent the Red River Research Corridor with cutting-edge world class research, build a stronger safety net for family farmers and much more has been a labor of love for me.

“In recent years, becoming Chairman of key Senate Committees on Energy and Water, Indian Affairs, Aviation and more has given me much greater opportunity to help our state and country.

“For the past year, I have been making plans to seek another six-year Senate term in next year’s election. Those plans included raising campaign funds and doing the organizing necessary to wage a successful campaign.

“Even as I have done that, in recent months I began to wrestle with the question of whether making a commitment to serve in the Senate seven more years (next year plus a new six-year term) was the right thing to do.

“I have been serving as an elected official in our state for many years. Beginning at age 26, I served ten years as State Tax Commissioner followed by thirty years in the U.S. Congress by the end of 2010. It has been a long and wonderful career made possible by the people of North Dakota. And I am forever grateful to them for the opportunity.

“Although I still have a passion for public service and enjoy my work in the Senate, I have other interests and I have other things I would like to pursue outside of public life. I have written two books and have an invitation from a publisher to write two more books. I would like to do some teaching and would also like to work on energy policy in the private sector.

“So, over this holiday season, I have come to the conclusion, with the support of my family, that I will not be seeking another term in the U.S. Senate in 2010. It is a hard decision to make after thirty years in the Congress, but I believe it is the right time for me to pursue these other interests.

“Let me be clear that this decision does not relate to any dissatisfaction that I have about serving in the Senate. Yes, I wish there was less rancor and more bipartisanship in the U.S. Senate these days. But still, it is a great privilege to serve and I have the utmost respect for all of the men and women with whom I serve.

“It has been a special privilege to serve with Senator Conrad and Congressman Pomeroy, who do an outstanding job for our state. And although he inherited an economy in serious trouble, I remain confident that President Obama is making the right decisions to put our country back on track.
Further, my decision has no relationship to the prospect of a difficult election contest this year. Frankly, I think if I had decided to run for another term in the Senate I would be reelected.

“But I feel that after serving 30 years, I want to make time for some other priorities. And making a commitment to serve in the Senate for the next seven years does not seem like the right decision for me.

“So, 2010 will be my last year in the Senate. I will continue to work hard for the best interests of our state and country during this coming year. We need to get the economic engine restarted and put people back to work. We need to reform our financial system to make sure that which happened to cause this deep recession will not happen again. And we need to get our fiscal and budget policies under control. The federal budget deficits are not sustainable.

“But even as we face all of these difficult issues, I am convinced that our country will rise to the challenge.

“We are a great nation. And I have a deep sense of optimism about the future of our country.”

Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama and congressional Democratic leaders finalized a decision Tuesday to bypass a formal House and Senate conference to meld their health care bills, according to two congressional Democratic leadership sources.

The two told CNN that Obama and Democratic congressional leaders will instead hold informal negotiations to sidestep possible Republican delays of the process.

Avoiding a formal conference has long been expected, but one of the Democratic leadership sources said the president used Tuesday evening’s White House meeting with Democratic congressional leaders to formally clear the idea.

To hold a formal conference, conferees - members of the House and Senate - must be appointed by both bodies with resolutions passed by the Senate and the House. Democratic leadership aides said getting those resolutions passed could delay and even derail Democratic efforts, because Republicans would be allowed to offer amendments and hold lengthy debates on the resolutions to appoint conferees.

Instead, White House, House and Senate Democratic leaders and their key committee chairmen will informally meet to find compromise between the two health care bills.

In fact, the White House, criticized by many Democrats for months for having too much of a hands-off approach to health care, has promised that the president and his aides will take a more “prominent role” in the final health care talks, according to a Democratic leadership source.

Obama aides will begin convening and coordinating initial discussions with House and Senate Democratic aides, the source said. The first will take place Wednesday at the White House.

Another Democratic leadership source said house Democratic leaders, who huddled Tuesday in the House speaker’s office, will hold a follow-up meeting at the Capitol on Wednesday morning, then go to the White House on Wednesday afternoon.

House Democratic leaders returned a week early from congressional recess to start plotting strategy in resolving what House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer acknowledged Tuesday are “significant differences” between the House and Senate health care bills.

Washington (CNN) - Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele modified his prediction that the GOP will not take control of the House in 2010 - this far in advance, he told CNN Tuesday, no one knows what will happen.

Steele responded to a question about GOP prospects in 2010 Monday night by telling Fox News that Republicans were unlikely to take back the House: “Not this year,” he said. But the GOP leader told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Tuesday that he simply isn’t ready to make any kind of prediction and that Republicans now are trying to “put in place good candidates to win and winning as if we will take the House in the fall.”

“No one is right now declaratively stating that we will win the House back in this November,” Steele said. “If they are saying that, I’d like to see the crystal ball they are looking through, because there is a lot of politics to unfold here, and a lot of races to be settled on both sides of the political tracks.”

Earlier Tuesday, the National Republican Congressional Committee aimed to negate Steele’s comments, with spokesman Ken Spain saying he thinks the GOP can win back the majority in the House in the upcoming midterm elections.

“The NRCC’s goal has always been to recapture the majority in 2010,” NRCC spokesman Ken Spain said in a statement. “Independent political analysts and even liberal columnists have stated that Republicans have a very real shot at taking back the majority in 2010. Make no mistake about it, we are playing to win.”

Steele said he agreed with the statement, and said Republicans will run tough races this year.

“It was not a slap at me, and there we go, trying to create a diversion and distraction and there is tension on the Republican side,” Steele said. “I will not sit back and say, we will take back the House. What I agree with is the RNC and NRCC and others that we will be in play and fight hard to win the seats, and we will be competitive all of the way to the end.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham was censured Monday by a county party in South Carolina.

(CNN) – South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham defended his record as a consensus-builder on Tuesday and said the Lexington County Republican Party’s decision to censure him on Monday was the work of a few angry Ron Paul supporters intent on purifying the GOP.

The resolution, which censured Graham for supporting the 2008 financial bailout and working towards a compromise on cap-and-trade legislation, passed Monday night by a 13-7 vote.

“I have tried my best to be a conservative that can grow and build this party,” Graham said, according to The State newspaper. “They have no desire to do that - I do.”

South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson, who became a conservative hero after he shouted “You lie!” at President Obama during a major speech last year, hails from Lexington County. He also defended Graham.

“Lindsey Graham has been a great leader for our state and party,” Wilson said in a statement to CNN. “I appreciate everything he has done for me and his tireless work in helping Republicans at all levels of government. He’s a team player. Ronald Reagan always said that people who agree with you 80 percent of the time should be considered a good friend. Reagan was a wise man and if we want to build a strong, vibrant Republican Party we should follow his advice.”

Shortly after Graham’s comments about the censure on Tuesday, former leaders of the Lexington County Republican Party in South Carolina contacted the current party chairman to question the censure effort.

Four former Lexington County GOP chairs co-wrote an e-mail to party chairman Rich Bolen claiming that Graham was “ambushed” by the vote because party members were not told ahead of Monday’s meeting that any resolutions would be considered - especially one censuring the state’s senior senator. As a result, they wrote, not all members of the county party attended the meeting to express their views.

“The resolution should have been added to the agenda and sent out in advance, and every member of the committee should have been given a chance to participate in the process,” they wrote.

The e-mail, provided to CNN by a source close to Graham, was written by former Lexington GOP leaders Scott Malyerck, Katrina Shealy, Butch Wallace, and Lyman Whitehead.

(Full text of e-mail after the jump)

The former chairs said the censure was the product of a “vocal” and “disgruntled” minority within the Lexington GOP.

“We don’t agree with the Senator on every issue, but we don’t agree with any elected official on every vote,” they wrote. “Overall, we believe Senator Graham to be a conservative stalwart and accomplished leader in our Party.”

Graham was also censured by the Charleston County GOP in November over similar complaints about his commitment to conservative principles.

Full text of e-mail to Lexington County GOP chairman Rich Bolen:

January 5, 2010

Rich Bolen, Chairman
Lexington County Republican Party
PO Box 1346
Lexington, SC 29071

Dear Rich,

We are incredibly disappointed about the events of last night’s Executive Committee meeting, and we are very discouraged about what a handful of members of the committee were allowed to do in the name of the Lexington County Republican Party. We believe the actions of a disgruntled few will tarnish the years of hard work invested by thousands of Republicans who have worked for years to build our Party.

Senator Lindsey Graham is a conservative problem-solver who is helping us build the Republican Party in Lexington County and South Carolina. With a 90% lifetime conservative rating, he fits the mold of his predecessor Strom Thurmond, who we all knew. We don’t agree with the Senator on every issue, but we don’t agree with any elected official on every vote. Overall, we believe Senator Graham to be a conservative stalwart and accomplished leader in our Party. He certainly did not deserve to be ambushed like he was last night.

We think it is unfair that the censure resolution was allowed to move forward last evening. On the e-mail notice that went out before the meeting, there was no mention that any resolutions would be considered, much less a resolution to censure our senior United States Senator. When the time came for a decision about whether a quorum existed or whether the motion should be postponed until February, the demands of a vocal minority won. For something as serious as a censure resolution, the process should have been above reproach – especially as to whether a quorum even existed or if the people voting were even on the executive committee (a list which no one had at the meeting). The resolution should have been added to the agenda and sent out in advance, and every member of the committee should have been given a chance to participate in the process.

As it now stands, 13 people have now spoken for our county’s 70 organized precincts and the 23,000 Republicans who voted in our 2008 primary. This is completely unfair and very disappointing.

We stand ready to fight Democrats, register more conservative voters, and get more Republicans to the polls, but we will not be part of circular firing squads that tear down our beloved Party.

Sincerely,

Scott Malyerck, Katrina Shealy, Butch Wallace, and Lyman Whitehead

Former Chairmen of the Lexington County Republican Party