President Obama's Unprecedented International Defense of LGBT (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | This is the kind of change many Americans have hoped for since 2008.

On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported that President Barack Obama ordered United States diplomats to defend the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities abroad, in an unprecedented move for international human rights.

President Obama's order will make employees of the State, Justice, Treasury, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services departments, among a plethora of others, push to end the criminalization of LGBT persons and communities overseas and ramp up efforts to end the discrimination and violence many of them suffer abroad, with some nations punishing LGBT sexual activity with death, flogging, exile, or imprisonment. The president also mentioned that a "standing group" would be placed within the State Department to ensure rapid and effective responses to situations where the civil and human rights of LGBT persons or communities are impinged upon.

Two months after forcefully calling for the end of the Defense of Marriage Act at the annual Human Rights Campaign dinner, Obama's bold statement highlights how drastically the foreign policy debate has shifted, now that the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11,2001 have long since left the proverbial rear view mirror.

LGBT communities experience more violence and discrimination overseas than stateside and it is impressive that the president considers the protection of human rights more of a cornerstone of his foreign policy than wielding economic or military influence abroad.

President Obama's order will make employees of(list agencies) push to end the criminalization of LGBT persons and communities overseas and ramp up efforts to end the discrimination and violence many of them suffer in places like Saudi Arabia or Yemen, which at times punish LGBT sexual activity with death or flogging.

This order is In stark contrast to GOP presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann's claim that gay, lesbian, or transgender people can marry so long as they marry someone of the opposite sex, reported by the Des Moines Register. And it's a far cry from the ABC News report of Rick Santorum's recent decree that gay sex and marriage are not equal to their heterosexual counterparts.

Perhaps it is a result of changing American culture; but in my lifetime, I cannot remember a president or presidential candidate who made protecting LGBT communities overseas as one of his or her chief foreign policy goals.

Leaders of nations that outlaw, criminalize, and punish individuals merely for their sexual orientation, along with other public officials(domestic and foreign) that paint homosexuality as a disease and a cancer that will destroy a nation, could learn from President Obama's powerful claim that "No country should deny people their rights because of who they love."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111207/pl_ac/10616109_president_obamas_unprecedented_international_defense_of_lgbt

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Transparent crab shells could lead to better bendy screens, solar cells (Yahoo! News)

Obama greets a crowd at Wilkes Barre/Scranton International Airport (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

Republicans on a private Republican National Committee conference call with allies warned Tuesday that party surrogates should refrain from personal attacks against President Barack Obama, because such a strategy is too hazardous for the GOP.

"We're hesitant to jump on board with heavy attacks" personally against President Obama, Nicholas Thompson, the vice president of Tarrance Group, a Republican polling firm, said on the call. "There's a lot of people who feel sorry for him."

Recent polling data indicates that while the president still suffers significantly low job approval ratings, voters still give "high approval" to Obama personally, Thompson said.

Voters "don't think he's an evil man who's out to change the United States" for the worse--even though many of the same survey respondents agree that his policies have harmed the country, Thompson said. The upshot, Thompson stressed, is that Republicans should "exercise some caution" when talking about the president personally.

On the call--which Yahoo News was invited to attend because of a mistake by someone on the staff of the Republican National Committee--Ari Fleischer, the former press secretary for George W. Bush, encouraged Republicans to turn around the Democratic attacks lobbed at the GOP presidential candidates (Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, for starters) for "flip-flopping."

"I don't like playing defense," Fleischer said. He suggested the listeners to Tuesday's call label the president as a flip-flopper on the following issues: opposing tax increases for those making under $250,000; opposing the Bush tax cuts; opposing raising the debt limit; and opposing a health care mandate.

"When it comes to flip flopping, Barack Obama is the king of flip flopping," Fleischer said. "You can offer that to anybody," he suggested.

Thompson noted that Obama may be boxed in by similarly strong personal approval numbers for Republican lawmakers as he ponders attacking the GOP House majority during the 2012 campaign.

"Obama running against Congress is not going to work," Thompson said.

In a poll conducted in early November by the Tarrance Group and the Democratic group Lake Research for Politico and George Washington University, voters gave their personal member of Congress a 46 percent approval rating--even higher than the 44 percent personal approval numbers for Obama in the survey, Thompson said. (The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percent.)

Fifty-eight percent of the voters surveyed disapproved of how Obama is handling relations with Congress, according to Tarrance's November poll.

"It's a tough road for him when you look at those numbers," Thompson said of the president.

Thompson said that his group's research suggests that voters are giving Obama higher approval on foreign policy than on the issue of jobs and the economy.

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/techblog/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_technews/20111205/tc_yblog_technews/transparent-crab-shells-could-lead-to-better-bendy-screens-solar-cells

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American Country Awards 2011: List of Winners!


Jason Aldean dominated the field with six wins, including Artist of the Year, at the 2011 American Country Awards, where the fans vote and determine the winners.

So he's pretty popular then!

Aldean also won Album of the Year by a Male Artist for My Kinda Party and shared Single and Music Video of the Year with Kelly Clarkson for "Don't You Wanna Stay."

The only artist to come close to Aldean was Carrie Underwood, the Female Artist of the Year and a winner for Music Video and Single of the Year for "Mama's Song."

Carrie Underwood, New Hairstyle

Absentee Brad Paisley was named Male Artist of the Year, while Blake Shelton took home Music Video of the Year by a Male Artist, plus the Video of the Year.

New Artist of the Year Scotty McCreery thanked American Idol for propelling him into his current lofty position, and also performed at the star-studded event.

Most stunningly, Taylor Swift (not present) went home empty-handed despite six nominations. That's okay. Spreading the wealth around a little is okay too.

Follow the jump for the list of winners from the 2011 American Country Awards:

Artist of the Year: Jason Aldean
Male Artist of the Year: Brad Paisley
Female Artist of the Year: Carrie Underwood
Group of the Year: Lady Antebellum
New Artist of the Year: Scotty McCreery
Breakthrough Artist of the Year: Chris Young
Album of the Year: My Kinda Party, Jason Aldean
Single of the Year: "Voices," Chris Young
Single of the Year, Male Artist:
Single of the Year, Female Artist: "Mama's Song," Carrie Underwood
Single of the Year by a Group: "Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not," Thompson Square
Single of the Year, New Artist: "Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not," Thompson Square
Single of the Year, Vocal Collaboration: "Don't You Wanna Stay," Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson
Touring Artist of the Year: Jason Aldean
Music Video of the Year: "Who Are You When I'm Not Looking," Blake Shelton
Music Video, Male Artist: "Who Are You When I'm Not Looking," Blake Shelton
Music Video, Female Artist: Carrie Underwood, "Mama's Song"
Music Video, Duo, Group or Collaboration: "Don't You Wanna Say," Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson
Music Video, New Artist: "Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not," Thompson Square
Greatest Hits Award: Alabama
Artist of the Decade: Toby Keith

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/12/american-country-awards-2011-list-of-winners/

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US service firms expanded in Nov. at slower pace (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Service companies, which employ 90 percent of the U.S. work force, expanded at a slower pace in November and a measure of employment at those firms fell.

Separately, the government said orders to U.S. factories dropped for the second straight month.

Monday's data show that the economy remains vulnerable despite recent signs of improvement. Still, economists said the broader message from other reports is that economic growth and hiring continue at a modest and steady pace.

"As it comes at a time when all the other economic news has been quite good, it is not too much to worry about," said Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics.

The Institute for Supply Management said Monday that its index of service sector activity dropped to 52 from 52.9 in October. Any reading above 50 indicates expansion. The service sector has grown for two straight years. But the reading was the lowest since January 2010.

There were some positive signs in the report: New orders and business activity rose.

The trade group of purchasing managers surveys a range of industries, including hotels and restaurants, financial services, construction and agriculture.

The Commerce Department said companies cut their orders to U.S. factories in October for the second straight month. A key measure of business investment also declined.

The report also wasn't all bad. Manufacturers boosted their stockpiles 0.9 percent in October after more modest increases in previous months. That suggests they are optimistic about future sales.

Manufacturing has been showing signs of rebounding after slowing earlier this year. Auto sales and production are up now that supply chain disruptions caused by the earthquake in Japan have eased. And the ISM, which reports separately on manufacturing, said last week that factory output expanded in November for 28th straight month.

Some economists were surprised that the ISM service-sector survey showed its employment index fell below 50 for the second time in three months. That's a sign that companies are cutting workers, which conflicts with other data on hiring.

On Friday, the government said the unemployment rate fell to 8.6 percent last month, the lowest level in 2 1/2 years. Employers added 120,000 net new jobs and more jobs were generated in September and October than the government previously estimated. Half of those jobs added in November were at retailers, bars and restaurants ? all service firms.

"We hope this is a rogue number," said Ian Shepherdson, an economist High Frequency Economics, referring to the ISM employment index for service firms. "It is certainly not consistent with the decline in jobless claims and the rebound in the flow of new online help wanted ads, but we cannot yet be sure."

About half the drop in the unemployment rate occurred because many of those out of work gave up searching for jobs. When the unemployed stop looking for work, they are no longer counted in the unemployment rate.

Still, the overall jobs report was positive and the latest sign that the economy is improving, despite a still-high unemployment rate, a debt crisis in Europe and slowing growth in China.

More jobs means consumers should have more income to spend while shopping, at restaurants, or on cable TV subscriptions and other services.

Holiday shopping is already off to a good start. Americans dropped a record $52.4 billion over the Thanksgiving weekend, according to the National Retail Federation, a trade group. A separate report from MasterCard found spending was up almost 9 percent from last year.

Car sales also rose sharply in November, normally a lackluster month for the auto industry. Chrysler, Ford, Nissan and Hyundai all reported double-digit gains on Thursday, compared to a year ago.

Those reports have led many economists to raise their forecasts for the final three months of the year, to about a 3 percent annual rate. That would be an improvement from growth of 2 percent in the July-September period.

___

AP Economics Writer Derek Kravitz contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111205/ap_on_bi_ge/us_economy_services

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Mechanisms cells use to remove bits of RNA from DNA strands

ScienceDaily (Dec. 4, 2011) ? When RNA component units called ribonucleotides become embedded in genomic DNA, which contains the complete genetic data for an organism, they can cause problems for cells. It is known that ribonucleotides in DNA can potentially distort the DNA double helix, resulting in genomic instability and altered DNA metabolism, but not much is known about the fate of these ribonucleotides.

A new study provides a mechanistic explanation of how ribonucleotides embedded in genomic DNA are recognized and removed from cells. Two mechanisms, enzymes called ribonucleases (RNases) H and the DNA mismatch repair system, appear to interplay to root out the RNA components.

"We believe this is the first study to show that cells utilize independent repair pathways to remove mispaired ribonucleotides embedded in chromosomal DNA, which can be sources of genetic modification if not removed," said Francesca Storici, an assistant professor in the School of Biology at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "The results also highlight a novel case of genetic redundancy, where the mismatch repair system and RNase H mechanisms compete with each other to remove misincorporated ribonucleotides and restore DNA integrity."

The findings were reported Dec. 4, 2011 in the advance online publication of the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. The research was supported by the Georgia Cancer Coalition, National Science Foundation and Georgia Tech Integrative BioSystems Institute.

Storici and Georgia Tech biology graduate students Ying Shen and Kyung Duk Koh conducted the study in collaboration with Bernard Weiss, a professor emeritus in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Emory University.

"We wanted to understand how cells of the bacterium Escherichia coli and the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae tolerate the presence of different ribonucleotides embedded in their genomic DNA. We found that the structure of a ribonucleotide tract embedded in DNA influenced its ability to cause genetic mutations more than the tract's length," said Storici.

With double-stranded DNA, when wrong bases are paired or one or few nucleotides are in excess or missing on one of the strands, a mismatch is generated. If mismatches are not corrected, they can lead to mutations.

The researchers found that single mismatched ribonucleotides in chromosomal DNA were removed by either the mismatch repair system or RNase H type 2. Mismatched ribonucleotides in the middle of at least four other ribonucleotides required RNase H type 1 for removal.

"We were excited to find that a DNA repair mechanism like mismatch repair was activated by RNA/DNA mismatches and could remove ribonucleotides embedded in chromosomal DNA," explained Storici. "In future studies, we plan to test whether other DNA repair mechanisms, such as nucleotide-excision repair and base-excision repair, can also locate and remove ribonucleotides in DNA."

Using gene correction assays driven by short nucleic acid polymers called oligonucleotides, the researchers showed that when ribonucleotides embedded in DNA were not removed, they served as templates for DNA synthesis and produced a mutation in the DNA. If both the mismatch repair system and RNase H repair mechanisms are disabled, ribonucleotide-driven gene modification increased by a factor of 47 in the yeast and 77,000 in the bacterium.

Defects in the mismatch repair system are known to predispose a person to certain types of cancer. Because the mismatch repair system is conserved from unicellular to multicellular organisms, such as humans, this study's findings open up the possibility that defects in the mismatch repair system could have consequences more critical than previously thought given the newly identified function of mismatch repair to target RNA/DNA mispairs.

The results also provide new information on the capacity of RNA to play an active role in DNA editing and remodeling, which could be the basis of an unexplored process of RNA-driven DNA evolution.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Georgia Institute of Technology Research News.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Ying Shen, Kyung Duk Koh, Bernard Weiss, Francesca Storici. Mispaired rNMPs in DNA are mutagenic and are targets of mismatch repair and RNases H. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, 2011; DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.2176

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111204144654.htm

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Tech Ticker: Yahoo stock jumps, Apple exec departs, Sprint mends fences

Yahoo stock jumps as board contemplates offers

As Yahoo's (YHOO) board continues to debate bids for all or part of the company, investors are betting the end result of the current negotiations will be a higher stock price.

Yahoo stock rose as much as 4.8 percent during Thursday trading, and settled at $16.23 at the close for a gain of 3.3 percent. That price is not far from the $16.60 a share that a group led by Menlo Park-based private equity firm Silver Lake Partners has reportedly offered for a large stake in Yahoo.

Yahoo's board reportedly met Wednesday to discuss bids for the company, including the Silver Lake bid and another bid for a minority stake by TPG Capital, according to reports from The New York Times and Bloomberg News.

Reports say nobody has yet made a bid for the entire Sunnyvale company, but Alibaba -- one of China's biggest Internet companies, which is partly owned by Yahoo -- is reportedly building such a bid with partners that would exceed $20 a share after factoring in tax savings.

-- Jeremy C. Owens, staff

Apple exec who boosted government sales exits

Apple's (AAPL) vice president in charge of sales to the U.S. government, who helped get its devices into more federal agencies, has left the company, according to a person with knowledge of the move.

Ron Police, who had run the government sales force since 2004, left in October, said the person, who asked not to be named because the departure hasn't been disclosed. Police's LinkedIn profile indicates that he's no longer at the company.

Police helped Apple's iPhone and iPad gain a foothold at government agencies, a market traditionally dominated by technology products from companies such as Microsoft, Dell and Research In Motion. To further that effort, Apple is seeking security certification from the National Institute of Standards, the agency that provides technology recommendations to the federal government.

-- Bloomberg News

Sprint renews commitment to Clearwire's WiMax

Sprint Nextel is mending fences with independent subsidiary Clearwire, pledging Thursday to use the data network Clearwire is planning to build and to participate if the company raises more capital.

The announcement is a lifeline for Clearwire, which is struggling financially. It's using a network technology called WiMax that has been bypassed by all phone companies except Sprint, and lacks the funding to upgrade to the industry's standard technology.

Sprint said it will collaborate with Clearwire on building the new network and expects to sell phones that can use it, starting in 2013. It will pay up to $350 million in advance for network capacity if Clearwire meets certain buildout goals.

Clearwire shares climbed 14 percent 2 to $2.03 in Thursday's trading. Earlier in the day, the stock was up as much as 37 percent.

-- Associated Press

Source: http://www.siliconvalley.com/ci_19450661?source=rss_viewed

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Apple Licenses Touchscreen Patent in Atypical About-Face

Apple is involved in so many patent suits across the globe, one might think the Cupertino hardware giant is only interested in crushing would-be competitors with iron-fisted lawyers. One might think that, but one might be wrong. The Verge just reported that Apple is licensing one of its patents that describes list scrolling and document manipulation on a touchscreen display.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/qVRnJ3UsOAw/

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Iran says it shot down unmanned US spy plane (AP)

TEHRAN, Iran ? Iran's armed forces have shot down an unmanned U.S. spy plane that violated Iranian airspace along the country's eastern border, the official IRNA news agency reported Sunday.

An unidentified military official quoted in the report warned of a strong and crushing response to any violations of the country's airspace by American drone aircraft.

"An advanced RQ-170 unmanned American spy plane was shot down by Iran's armed forces. It suffered minor damage and is now in possession of Iran's armed forces," IRNA quoted the official as saying.

No further details were published.

The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan said in a statement the aircraft may be an American drone that its operators lost contact with last week while it was flying a mission over neighboring western Afghanistan.

A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the classified nature of the incident, said the U.S. HAD "absolutely no indication" that the drone was shot down.

Iran is locked in a dispute with the U.S. and its allies over Tehran's disputed nuclear program, which the West believes is aimed at developing nuclear weapons. Iran denies the accusations, saying its nuclear program is entirely peaceful and that it seeks to generate electricity and produce isotopes to treat medical patients.

The type of aircraft Iran says it downed, an RQ-170 Sentinel, is made by Lockheed Martin and was reportedly used to keep watch on Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan as the raid that killed him was taking place earlier this year.

The surveillance aircraft is equipped with stealth technology, but the U.S. Air Force has not made public any specifics about the drone.

Iran said in January that two pilotless spy planes it had shot down over its airspace were operated by the United States and offered to put them on public display. In July, Iranian military officials showed Russian experts several U.S. drones they said were shot down in recent years.

Also in July, Iranian lawmaker Ali Aghazadeh Dafsari said Iran's Revolutionary Guard shot down an unmanned U.S. spy plane that was trying to gather information on an underground uranium enrichment site.

Dafsari said the pilotless plane was flying over the Fordo facility near the holy city of Qom in central Iran but the Guard denied the report, saying its air defenses had only hit a test target.

Iran publicly confirmed for the first time in Feb. 2005 that the United States has been flying surveillance drones over its airspace to spy on its nuclear and military facilities.

The Islamic Republic holds frequent military drills, primarily to assert an ability to defend against a potential U.S. or Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities.

Tehran has focused part of its military strategy on producing drones for reconnaissance and attacking purposes.

Iran announced three years ago it had built an unmanned aircraft with a range of more than 600 miles (1,000 kilometers), far enough to reach Israel.

Ahmadinejad unveiled Iran's first domestically built unmanned bomber aircraft in August 2010, calling it an "ambassador of death" to Iran's enemies.

___

Associated Press correspondent Anne Flaherty contributed to this report from Washington, DC.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111204/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_drone

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GOP rivals hope to court Cain supporters (AP)

WASHINGTON ? A day after Herman Cain shuttered his Republican candidacy for president, struggling GOP hopefuls looked to pick up the fallen candidate's tea party following and upset a primary dynamic that has pushed Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich to the forefront.

Gingrich's campaign, ramping up its operations in early nominating states, was meeting with former Cain aides and advisers now looking for jobs. While Cain's endorsement remained up for grabs, Gingrich and his rivals were looking to schedule one-on-one meetings this week with the former pizza executive.

Reps. Ron Paul of Texas and Michele Bachmann of Minnesota said Sunday they expected Cain supporters would fall in line behind them because of their messages on limited government, despite their low standing in the polls. Meanwhile, last-place rival Rick Santorum predicted he now had a good chance of winning the Iowa caucus.

While such brazen predictions are probably overstated, the 11th-hour press comes at a crucial time and could upset an already volatile race for the GOP endorsement. A month before the first vote is cast in the Iowa caucus and five weeks before the New Hampshire primary, most GOP candidates were looking to a week of heavy campaigning in Iowa ahead of the next debate, scheduled for Saturday. The stakes are possibly the highest for Mitt Romney, who could be hurt the worst if Cain supporters rally behind Gingrich.

"A lot of Herman Cain supporters have been calling our office and they've been coming over to our side," said Bachmann. "They saw Herman Cain as an outsider and I think they see that my voice would be the one that would be most reflective of his."

Likewise, Paul said he was optimistic that Cain's departure would reinvigorate his campaign.

"We're paying a lot of attention to that, because obviously they're going to go somewhere in the next week or so," Paul said of Cain's supporters.

Santorum predicted that his campaign would pick up steam in coming days.

"We have a very strong, consistent conservative message that matches up better with Iowans than anybody else. And we think we're going to surprise a lot of people," he said.

Once surging in the polls, Cain dropped out of the race Saturday after battling allegations of sexual harassment and a claim that he had a 13-year extramarital affair. The Georgia businessman has denied the accusations.

Gingrich, the former House speaker from Georgia, has so far been the biggest beneficiary of Cain's slide. A Des Moines Register poll conducted Nov. 27-30 and released late Saturday found the former House speaker leading the GOP field with 25 percent support, ahead of Paul at 18 percent and Romney at 16.

A separate NBC News/Marist poll showed Gingrich beating Romney, 26 percent to 18 percent, among Republican caucus attendees in Iowa.

Gingrich also is enjoying national popularity that could give him the momentum he needs to overcome deficiencies in the organization of his campaign. At the same time, Gingrich says he knows his surge in the polls could disappear if his opponents stage a comeback.

"I'm not going to say that any of my friends can't suddenly surprise us," Gingrich said at a recent town hall meeting in New York sponsored by tea party supporters.

Meanwhile, Romney is running strong in New Hampshire, which holds the nation's first primary on Jan. 10. Romney is also seen by most conservatives at this point as having the greatest chance of defeating President Barack Obama next year.

But Romney continues to be viewed with suspicion by many conservatives who say he has changed his stance on such critical issues as abortion and health care. Santorum acknowledged Sunday that Romney has embraced more conservative positions on issues.

"The question is, you know, what's the sincerity of the move and whether he can be trusted," said Santorum.

Bachmann said it was too soon to declare anyone a true front-runner because the dynamic in the race was constantly changing.

"We've got 30 days," she said. "That's an eternity in this race."

Reince Priebus, the Republican Party chairman, said Sunday that he was indifferent to Cain's departure and that it was "only natural" in the face of falling poll numbers and trouble raising money.

This week's agenda for the primary candidates included a stop in Arizona by Romney and a forum Wednesday by the Republican Jewish Coalition in Washington, which is expected to attract Bachmann, Gingrich, Huntsman, Perry, Romney and Santorum. Gingrich was scheduled to meet Monday with real-estate mogul Donald Trump at Trump's New York offices. Trump, who briefly entered the primary race in the spring and drew considerable publicity when he questioned the validity of Obama's birth certificate, said he would moderate a Republican presidential debate in Iowa on Dec. 27.

Paul, who has clashed publicly with Trump, said he thought the GOP was making a mistake in giving Trump so much credibility.

"I don't understand the marching to his office. I mean I didn't know that he had an ability to lay on hands, you know, and anoint people," Paul said.

Paul and Bachmann spoke on CNN's "State of the Union." Santorum spoke on ABC's "This Week." Priebus spoke on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111205/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_campaign

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