Here are some stories we’re following today:

Payroll tax cut: President Obama has hit the campaign trail and ramped up his rhetoric; he says he’ll forego his annual Hawaiian vacation to stay in Washington until Congress passes an extension of last year’s payroll tax holiday. Failure to extend the cuts would mean the average American family would see an additional $1000 taken out of their paychecks in 2012. With less than three weeks until the new year, Congress continues to battle over this legislation.

Debate night: A string of new polls this week confirm Newt Gingrich as the current GOP frontrunner. His surge couldn’t have come at a better time, with only three and a half weeks until the Iowa caucuses. Gingrich and the other leading Republican presidential candidates will take the stage on Saturday for another presidential debate. After being knocked off his top-of-the-pack perch, will Mitt Romney go on the attack?

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