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January 03, 2012 | | BOLD He may be in a three-way tie with Ron Paul and Rick Santorum for the lead in Tuesday’s Iowa caucuses, but don’t tell that to Mitt Romney. Monday night in front of a crowd of 500 voters, Romney announced, “We’re gonna win this thing with all of our passion and strength.” Meanwhile, Ron Paul is setting the bar low, telling reporters he doesn’t quite picture himself in the Oval Office. The Daily Beast’s Howard Kurtz on what to look for today as voters finally weigh in—and who’s unlikely to survive after tonight. BUDGETS Defense Secretary Leon Panetta plans to unveil his shrunken budget for the Pentagon this week, part of a deal this summer to cut about $450 billion from military spending. One effect of the cuts: the U.S. will no longer fight two ground wars simultaneously. Instead, Panetta says, the military will be able to fight one major war and “spoil” a second opponent's ambitions in another part of the world. Every aspect of the military is potentially on the chopping block, including salaries, retirement, and health benefits. There’s a chance that Panetta will have to make $500 billion in additional cuts down the road if Congress pushes for steeper reductions, something he says would be disastrous. NEW FRIENDS Rupert Murdoch appears to be getting the hang of Twitter. He used his new account to signal support for Rick Santorum Monday night, tweeting that Santorum is the “only candidate with genuine big vision” for the United States. It wasn't quite an endorsement, but Murdoch went on to praise Santorum in other tweets, saying it was “good to see santorum surging in Iowa.” That may be bad news for Fox contributor Alan Colmes, who yesterday made the bizarre claim that Santorum took his dead son home and “played with it for a couple of hours so his other children would know that the child was real.” He has since apologized. Uprising The head of the Arab League called for an immediate ceasefire in Syria, saying that although Syria's military has withdrawn from residential areas, snipers remain. “Gunfire should be stopped and there are snipers,” said Nabil Elaraby, secretary-general of the Arab League. “We call upon the Syrian government to fully commit to what it promised.” Activists say at least 12 people were killed yesterday, while Army defectors seized two checkpoints and captured dozens of members of the security forces. Activists accuse the league of being manipulated by Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad. Threats Iran’s latest threat: keep that U.S. aircraft carrier out of the Persian Gulf, or else. The carrier left the Gulf because of Iranian naval exercises. "Iran will not repeat its warning ... the enemy's carrier has been moved to the Sea of Oman because of our drill,” said Army chief Ataollah Salehi. Iran wrapped up its 10-day naval exercise yesterday with the firing of two cruise missiles. Meanwhile Iran's currency appears to be taking a beating. It's lost about 35 percent of its value since September, including a steep 12 percent drop yesterday when President Obama signed a bill sanctioning Iran's central bank. | | 
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