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January 31, 2012 | | FLORIDA Newt Gingrich declared Tuesday that the presidential race is “a long way from being over,” despite his facing the increasing likelihood that he could lose Florida’s winner-take-all primary. “I’d say June or July unless Romney drops out earlier,” he said while campaigning near Orlando. The 50 delegates up for grabs on Tuesday represent more than all of the previous contests combined—and because the state lets only Republicans vote, the independent factor is out of play. Thirty-six percent of Florida’s voters had already cast their ballots through early voting, according to a poll by the American Research Group. Fifty-one percent of early voters backed Mitt Romney, while only 29 percent voted for Gingrich—meaning that Gingrich would have to get 51 percent of all votes cast Tuesday just to tie Romney. STRAINED Egypt’s justice minister on Tuesday returned a letter to a U.S. ambassador asking Egypt to end a travel ban on Americans who are being investigated for illegally funding pro-democracy groups in the country. The minister said publicly that the letter should have been sent to the investigating justice, and that only those affected by the ban were entitled to make such a request. Egypt’s Parliament speaker, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, said the letter was “interference by the American embassy.” Several Americans were banned from leaving Egypt after their nongovernmental organizations were raided by the Egyptian military and are currently taking refuge at the U.S. embassy in Cairo. ON THE BRINK U.S. intelligence officials said in a report Tuesday that Iran is increasingly willing to attack on U.S. soil in response to American threats. National intelligence director James Clapper said that an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington was evidence of a new boldness in response to U.S. actions that Iran believes undermine its security. The assessment, part of an annual overview of America’s most serious security concerns, is another strain in the tense relationship between Washington and Iran at a time when many suspect Israel may be planning a preemptive attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities with tacit U.S. support. PLAYBOOK The GOP has won repeatedly by defending tax cuts for the rich. But as The Daily Beast’s Michael Tomasky argues, Democrats could prevail in 2012 by showing that middle-class fairness produces growth. HORRIFIC A man who taught for 30 years at a Los Angeles elementary school has been charged with performing sex acts on 23 children from 2008 to 2010. Mark Berndt, 61, was arrested Monday after police found photos in his home of children ages 7 to 10 tied up, some with cockroaches crawling on them, and others holding spoons near their mouths. The photos seem to have been taken at Berndt’s school, and a plastic spoon recovered from his classroom tested positive for his semen. Ten children in the photographs have still not been identified; more than 80 students and staff have been interviewed. Berndt is being held on $2.3 million bail. | | 
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