Ice-T weighs in on presidential race from Sundance (AP)

PARK CITY, Utah ? Regardless of the outcome of the presidential primaries, Ice-T already has his mind made up about the forthcoming election.

The rapper and actor, who is making his directorial debut at the Sundance Film Festival with the documentary "Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap," says he expects President Barack Obama to be re-elected. After that, he predicts Hillary Clinton will be the next president.

The 53-year-old entertainer said, "She did the Secretary of State job, she was a G, she held it down, she didn't cry," referring to the former New York Senator with the hip-hop term for gangster (a positive thing).

"Obama will support her," he said, "and she'll be the first woman president."

Ice-T's documentary premiered at the Sundance festival, which continues through Sunday in Park City, Utah.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_en_mu/us_film_sundance_ice_t

chuck liddell dancing with the stars beanie wells beanie wells dina manzo dina manzo once upon a time

Futurity.org ? For smokers, lead linked to kidney cancer

Smokers with a higher than normal level of lead in their blood may face an increased risk of developing renal cell carcinoma, the most common type of kidney cancer in adults. Georgi Roshkov / Shutterstock)

PENN STATE (US) ? Higher than normal levels of lead in the blood may double a smoker?s risk of developing kidney cancer, new research shows.

?Past studies (in cadavers) have shown that, compared with kidneys from individuals without cancer, kidneys from individuals with cancer have higher lead levels,? says Emily B. Southard, medical student at Penn State College of Medicine.

?But prior to this study, the identification of higher lead in blood as a risk factor among healthy individuals before they develop kidney cancer had not been shown.?

Southard, working with Robin Taylor Wilson, associate professor of public health sciences, analyzed data collected from the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene (ATBC) Cancer Prevention Study to measure blood levels of lead, calcium, and vitamin D in stored blood donated by healthy individuals several years before renal cell carcinoma ever developed.

Renal cell carcinoma is the most common type of kidney cancer in adults, accounting for 92 percent of kidney cancers, according to the National Institutes of Health. The National Cancer Institute of the NIH predicted that there would be about 56,000 new cases of RCC in 2011 and has reported that nearly 300,000 people in the United States are living with kidney cancer today.

In previous studies involving animals, researchers had found an inverse correlation between the amount of lead retained in the body and the amount of calcium in the diet. This supports the hypothesis that higher calcium levels in the body can reduce lead retention.

While Southard and Wilson also found that levels of calcium were higher in men who had a lower risk of kidney cancer, there was not a strong correlation between blood levels of lead and blood level of calcium or 25-hyrdoxyvitamin D. Therefore, they could not conclude that calcium or vitamin D levels had an influence on the risk observed related to blood lead levels.

Southard and Wilson looked at whether the subjects had ever been in a ?high-risk occupation,? which would expose the subject to more lead than an average person?such as mining, asbestos fabric manufacture, or oil refining.

?There were no significant differences in occupational history or smoking history between cases and controls in our study that would sufficiently explain the association we observed,? the researchers report online in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.

The ATBC study, initially conducted to study lung cancer prevention,?included nearly 30,000 Finnish male smokers between the ages of 50 and 69 years, enrolled from 1985 to 1988.? It collected blood samples periodically for over two decades. Finland has a cancer registry that tracks patients, making it easier to follow up with patients after diagnosis than it is in the United States.

The researchers looked at a cohort within the ATBC study that included 154 renal cell carcinoma cases, diagnosed after the initial blood collection, and 308 controls.

Notably, they found that among renal cancer cases alone, those with higher blood levels of calcium and vitamin D had a longer period of time before they developed cancer, as measured from blood when they first enrolled in the study as healthy individuals.

?This association suggests that vitamin D and calcium biomarkers may be important clues that can lead us to the early diagnosis of cancer,? Wilson says. The finding is important because there are currently no available screening tests for kidney cancer.

?Studies have shown that people with kidney cancer have higher average lead levels in their kidney tissue, compared with people without kidney cancer,? says Southard.

?Prior to our study, this was only shown in cadavers and not in living people. Now we have shown that elevated blood lead levels put smokers at higher risk for renal cell carcinoma.?

Further work is in progress to identify risks among women and non-smokers to find early detection biomarkers.

The American Institute for Cancer Research and the Pennsylvania Department of Health Tobacco Settlement Fund supported the work.

More news from Penn State: http://live.psu.edu/

Source: http://www.futurity.org/health-medicine/for-smokers-lead-linked-to-kidney-cancer/

norad how to carve a turkey how to cook a turkey yorkshire pudding whitney cummings larry the cable guy miracle on 34th street

Fed adds more punch to low-rate pledge

Larry Downing / Reuters

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has been a dominant force in pushing for more openness at the central bank.

By John W. Schoen, Senior Producer

New normal, meet the new Fed.

The Federal Reserve took two major new steps Wednesday to assure businesses and consumers that it intends to keep borrowing costs at record low levels for the foreseeable future ? at least three years.

For the first time in its 94-year history, the central bank opened its mind to the public, publishing a collection of charts that break down policymakers? forecasts on interest rates, inflation and unemployment. ?And for the first time ever, it set an explicit target for inflation, 2 percent a year, instead of an implied target.

Both steps are in keeping with Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke?s stated goal of making the Fed?s decisions ever more transparent. Economists welcomed the new moves but said they have their own risks.

The first headline to come out after central bankers ended their two-day meeting Wednesday was the news that policymakers do not expect to raise short-term interest rates until late 2014 at the earliest, rather than mid-2013 as they said a month ago.? Those record-low rates are still needed to help boost an improving but still sluggish economy, the Fed said in the new statement.??

"I think what they are seeing is that the rate of growth is not sufficient to bring down the unemployment rate,? said Brian Dolan, chief strategist at Forex.com. Unemployment stood at 8.5 percent at the latest reading in December, with 13 million Americans who would like a job unable to find one.

The latest data show the economy beginning to strengthen: Hiring has picked up, factories are increasing output and car sales are rising. Still, the threat of a recession in Europe continues to weigh on the global economy. U.S. consumers have been resorting to borrowing again to maintain spending levels that may not be sustainable.

In its latest forecast, the central bank cut its growth outlook this year but is now a bit more optimistic about the unemployment rate. It expects the U.S. economy to grow between 2.2 percent and 2.7 percent this year. That's down from its November's forecast of between 2.5 percent and 2.9 percent. But it sees unemployment falling as low as 8.2 percent this year, better than its earlier forecast of 8.5 percent. December's rate was 8.5 percent.

By making its plans and expectations clear and explicit, the Fed is hoping to boost public confidence that interest rates will stay low. If the strategy works, that higher confidence will encourage investment and spending that would give the moribund economy a lift.

The plan could create problems for Fed officials down the road as economic conditions change. Though the disclosures are being billed as ?expectations,? investors have come to view the pronouncements as commitments. If events overtake the Fed?s current thinking, those expectations may have to be altered. That could undermine the credibility of these forecasts, according to Credit Suisse economists.

?Eventually, the Fed is bound to discover it cannot live up to the policy trajectory communicated to the market,? they wrote in a recent note explaining the changes in Fed?s communication strategy. ?When this happens the Fed will have enhanced its transparency at the expense of its credibility. And between those two assets, credibility is by far the more important.?

That, the economists argue, could have ?the perverse effect of encouraging greater volatility in the fixed income markets, especially when the FOMC eventually starts forecasting higher funds rate targets.?

Promising to keeping rates low to spur borrowing and spending may be a double-edged sword. Potential home buyers, for example, may be happy to sit on the fence as long as they don?t have to worry about missing out on record-low mortgage rates.

?It may take the floor away from the housing market,? said Douglas C. Borthwick, managing director at Faros Trading. ?With no apparent need for buyers to lock in lower rates today they may be more encouraged to wait a little while longer to pull the trigger. Why buy today when there may be more supply tomorrow?"

Since the Great Recession of 2007-09 and the biggest housing collapse since the 1930s, the Fed has thrown pretty much everything in its toolkit at the financial system, trying to revive the economy. Conventional moves targeting short-term lending have been followed by unorthodox schemes that included massive buying of mortgage bonds and a switch in the maturities of Treasury bonds to drive down longer-term rates. On Wednesday, the Fed announced no new plans to buy bonds.

Economists generally believe the Fed?s initial moves succeeded in heading off a deeper financial and economic collapse. But the economy is still growing slowly, and the job and housing markets are still badly broken.

The Fed has been debating for some time the idea of publishing its internal inflation and unemployment forecasts. The central bankers have been following an unofficial inflation target of about 2 percent of the last few years.

Part of the problem with publishing both inflation and unemployment targets is that, while they are both part of the Fed?s ?dual mandate,? managing the two objectives often call for conflicting policies. Controlling inflation often calls for tighter monetary policy, for example, which typically slows growth and raises the level of unemployment.

The Fed?s new rate-forecast policy may already be having the desired impact. As details of the Fed?s new policy have been disclosed, interest rates on U.S. Treasury bonds, a bellwether for borrowing costs from mortgages to corporate commercial paper, have been edging lower.

On Wednesday, Treasury yields fell on the news that the Fed plans no rate increase until late 2014 at the earliest. The yield on the 10-year note sank to 1.95 percent, down from 2.02 percent just before the Fed made its announcement.

Lower yields could help further reduce mortgage rates and possibly boost stock prices as investors shift out of lower-yielding Treasurys. Stocks, which had traded lower before the Fed announcment, quickly recovered their losses. The Dow Jones industrial average, which had been down about 60 points before the announcement, was up 81 points shortly before the close.

Is the Fed helping the economy with its latest actions?

Related:

?

?

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke says he will "not get involved in political rhetoric" and also shares insight on Dodd-Frank.

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/25/10235144-fed-adds-more-punch-to-low-rate-pledge

golden globe winners the express zappos hacked jane fonda morgan freeman jon huntsman bit coin

Megaupload chief loses No. 1 rank in 'Call of Duty'

Activision

By Matthew Hawkins

Much has been said about Kim Schmitz, otherwise known as Kim Dotcom, the recently arrested mastermind behind Megaupload. Most of it centers around his decadent lifestyle, which included a lavish collection of sports cars, yachts, and mansions. But there's a virtual prize he also greatly treasured, of which most are unaware. And which he also recently lost.

Schmitz was, up until a few days ago, the top ranked player of "Call of Duty: Modern Warefare 3" in the entire world???at least among Xbox 360 players. As MEGARACER, yet another alias of his, on Xbox Live, here's footage of Schmitz nabbing the number one slot late last year:

As much hard work, skill, and dedication it takes to claim such a coveted spot, it requires just as much to keep it secure. Which, unfortunately for Schmitz, is not quite possible when you're spending time in a New Zealand prison cell.

During the week in which he wasn't been able to log into Live (and there's evidence enough to believe that he may never, for a very long time), MEGARACER was overtaken by another player who goes by the handle Arazos. According to the gaming news portion of VentureBeat, GamesBeat.

Arazos currently has 9.09 million points on the "Modern Warfare 3" leader boards, compared to MEGARACER's 9.05 million. Furthermore, Arazos has 181,000 kills and 63,418 underneath his belt, for?a kill/death ratio of 2.87,?which tops MEGARACER's record of 180,980 kills and 86,241 deaths, which is a kill/death ratio of 2.10.

Related stories:

Be sure to check out In-Game on?Facebook, and too keep abreast of Matthew Hawkins, on either?Twitter?or his personal home-base,?FORT90.com.

Source: http://ingame.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/24/10226771-megaupload-chief-also-loses-title-of-top-ranked-call-of-duty-player

blaine gabbert netflix stock home affordable refinance program harp harp world series game 5 moammar gadhafi

Firm stops file sharing after Megaupload case (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? FileSonic, a website providing online data storage, has disabled its file sharing services following a U.S.-led crackdown on a rival website and amid heated debate over Washington's attempts to clamp down on online piracy.

Police in New Zealand and Europe have made a number of arrests in recent days related to an investigation led by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation of the Megaupload.com website.

The group have been accused of engaging in a scheme that took more than $500 million away from copyright holders and generated over $175 million in proceeds from subscriptions and advertising. Megaupload's lawyers have said the company simply offered online storage.

FileSonic, which describes itself as the "Unlimited Storage Company," said in a statement on its website that it would only allow users to access their own files.

"All sharing functionality of FileSonic is now disabled. Our service can only be used to upload and retrieve files that you have uploaded personally."

The firm, which lists addresses in Britain and Hong Kong, did not immediately respond to an email sent requesting further comment on the move.

The Megaupload case is being heard as the debate over online piracy reaches fever pitch in Washington where Congress is trying to craft tougher legislation.

(Reporting by Ed Davies in Sydney; Editing by Alex Richardson)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/media_nm/us_internet_piracy_filesonic

brass monkey x factor auditions x factor auditions flds flds revenge revenge

Money talk dominating Romney, Gingrich contest

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at National Gypsum Company in Tampa, Fla., Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at National Gypsum Company in Tampa, Fla., Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich arrives at the Tick Tock Restaurant, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, gestures to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich during a Republican presidential debate Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidates, from left, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, take part in a Republican presidential debate Monday Jan. 23, 2012, at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla, as moderator Brian Williams of NBC News listens. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidate former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum gestures during a Republican presidential debate Monday Jan. 23, 2012, at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

(AP) ? Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich's fight for Florida and the states beyond stayed at a high boil Tuesday as Romney released tax returns showing annual income topping $20 million ? including a now-closed Swiss bank account ? and Gingrich insisted his high-paid consulting work for a mortgage giant that contributed to the housing crisis didn't include lobbying.

After a night of mutual sniping in a debate, the two leading GOP presidential candidates tried to turn the arguments over their various business dealings to his own advantage. Romney's release of two years' worth of tax documents, showing him at an elite level even among the nation's richest 1 percent, kept the focus on the two men's money and how they earned it.

Romney's income put him in the top 0.006 percent of Americans, according to Internal Revenue Service data from 2009, the most recent year available. His net worth has been estimated as high as $250 million.

As the former Massachusetts governor relented to pressure and released more than 500 pages of tax documents, Gingrich kept up the heat, saying Romney was "outrageously dishonest" for accusing him of influence peddling for government-backed mortgage giant Freddie Mac.

The former House speaker said Romney's charges were ironic, given that it was revealed after Monday's debate that Romney himself was an investor in both Freddie Mac and its sister entity, Fannie Mae.

"I don't own any Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stock. He does, so presumably he was getting richer," Gingrich told Fox News on Tuesday.

The specter of well-off Gingrich and wealthier Romney feuding over money matters pleased Rick Santorum, who lags in polls for next Tuesday's Florida primary but hopes to benefit from the dust-up as the race moves on. He told MSNBC: "The other two candidates have some severe flaws."

Striking out in two directions, Romney planned to offer advance criticism of President Barack Obama's Tuesday night State of the Union address, then focus on Florida's housing woes in an event sure to again highlight Gingrich's $25,000 monthly retainer from Freddie Mac.

Gingrich, starting a busy day of campaign rallies along Florida's Gulf Coast, also took on Obama, criticizing him on foreign policy, energy plans and other issues. "I'm not so much interested in trying to tear Obama down as I am interested in getting the country to see clearly who he is," he said in St. Petersburg.

Records released by Romney's campaign show he closed a bank account in Switzerland in 2010, as he was entering the presidential race. He also kept money in the Cayman Islands, another spot popular with investors sheltering their income from U.S. taxes. But Benjamin Ginsberg, the Romney campaign's legal counsel, said Romney didn't use any aggressive tax strategies to help reduce or defer his tax income.

"Gov. Romney has paid 100 percent of what he owes," Ginsberg said Tuesday.

Romney paid about $3 million on nearly $22 million in income in 2010 and indicated his 2011 taxes would be about the same, $3.2 million on nearly $21 million in income.

During the debate, Romney predicted his tax information would generate chatter but not any surprises, saying what he paid was "entirely legal and fair."

Romney had declined to disclose any tax releases until he came under mounting criticism from his rivals.

In 2010, he donated a combined $3 million to the Mormon Church and other charitable causes. His effective tax rate was about 14 percent, the records showed. For 2011, he'll pay an effective tax rate of about 15.4 percent, a level far lower than standard rates for high-income earners, reflecting the lower rate for long-term capital gains.

The tax records may silence Gingrich and others who argued that Republican voters should know the details of Romney's wealth before they select their presidential nominee and not after. But it also could open up new lines of attack.

After Gingrich's overwhelming victory in South Carolina last Saturday, Romney can ill afford to lose Florida's Jan. 31 primary, and he showcased a new aggression from the opening moments of the debate. He said Gingrich had "resigned in disgrace" from Congress after four years as speaker and then had spent the next 15 years "working as an influence peddler."

In particular, he referred to the contract Gingrich's consulting firm had with Freddie Mac, a government-backed mortgage giant that Romney said "did a lot of bad for a lot of people and you were working there."

"I have never, ever gone and done any lobbying," Gingrich retorted emphatically, adding that his firm had hired an expert to explain to employees "the bright line between what you can do as a citizen and what you do as a lobbyist."

Rep. Ron Paul, who's bypassing Florida in favor of smaller, less expensive states, returned to Texas after Monday's debate. Santorum will appeal to the tea party to help revive his candidacy, appearing at two tea party events.

___

Associated Press writers Kasie Hunt in Florida and Connie Cass, Jack Gillum, Stephen Braun and Stephen Ohlemacher in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-24-GOP%20Campaign/id-2f0d9174aa5b4a5e919e6dc64c0d3f4d

barefoot bandit bowl schedule barry bonds hazing colton harris moore hurd hurd

Mexico Navy takes over traffic police in top port (AP)

VERACRUZ, Mexico ? Authorities say the Mexican Navy has taken over traffic policing duties in the port city of Veracruz, which has been plagued by drug cartel violence.

Veracruz state Gov. Javier Duarte said in a statement Monday that two rear admirals are now the directors of traffic police in the neighboring cities of Veracruz and Boca del Rio.

The move is part of an effort to root out corruption from law enforcement and start from zero in the city of Veracruz.

In December, the police departments in both cities were disbanded and taken over by the Navy. Authorities said the departments had been infiltrated by the Zetas drug cartel. In Mexico traffic police are separate from other police departments.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_mexico_police_disbanded

dallas cowboys cheerleaders leftover turkey recipes leftover turkey recipes hugo hugo the muppets percy harvin

Fielder saga nearing end?

January 23, 2012, 1:51 pm

? ?
Trying to decipher fact from fiction in the ongoing Prince Fielder saga is like trying to drink coffee with a fork. You can certainly try, but your chances for success are minimal.

As each day this month passes, it becomes more and more difficult to figure out what exactly is going on in Fielder's quest to sign with some major-league club. The handful of people actually in the know are saying very little -- if anything at all -- leaving the rumor mill to sustain itself through all manner of reports ... some of them legitimate, many of them not.

The saga reached perhaps a new low point late Sunday night, when two obscure Twitter users posted fairly emphatic reports about Fielder having signed -- except one report said he had signed with the Nationals while the other claimed he had signed with the Rangers. That set off a chain of retweets and unsubstantiated rumor spreading, including from a handful of professional journalists who never bothered to check the validity of either report before passing it along as fact.

In the end, of course, neither report was accurate. As of this afternoon, Fielder remains unsigned, and no reputable baseball reporter has offered any substantial new information to suggest a deal has been reached with anyone.

That said, it does appear we're inching ever so slowly toward a resolution to this matter at long last. A handful of clubs have been identified by multiple reporters as contenders to acquire Fielder, including the Nationals, Rangers and possibly the Dodgers and Orioles.

No one is suggesting a final decision has been made, and Nationals sources continue to insist nothing has changed from their perspective. But we've probably reached the final leg of this unprecedented ordeal. At this point, agent Scott Boras is merely trying to milk whatever few dollars more he can get out of the contending clubs, trying to play them off each other. Soon enough, those offers will be final and Fielder will have to make his choice.

No free agent has ever gone this deep into the off-season before signing a nine-figure contract. Fielder will be the first to do that. But he probably won't make everyone wait too much longer. Which means we won't be subjected to these wild (and usually unreliable) rumors anymore, a fact reporters and fans alike will certainly appreciate.

Source: http://www.csnwashington.com/blog/nationals-talk/post/Fielder-saga-nearing-conclusion?blockID=636600&feedID=6458

amber rose natalie wood van halen annalynne mccord billy the kid neville neville

This Week's Top Web Comedy Video: I Didn't Know I Was Gilbert Gottfried [Video]

Not knowing you're pregnant until you actual give birth on a toilet one night? Please. Anyone can make a TV show about that (and they did!). But the real drama (read: comedy) comes when an unsuspecting young woman wakes up one morning and realizes she's turned into the shriekiest, yelliest comedian of the modern age. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/yeeDqk_o2ec/this-weeks-top-web-comedy-video-i-didnt-know-i-was-gilbert-gottfried

texas killing fields burzynski pete seeger gazelle gazelle pumpkin carving patterns pumpkin carving patterns

Romney tries to change the subject from his taxes (AP)

GILBERT, S.C. ? Working to fend off a surging Newt Gingrich in what's become an unexpectedly tight race, presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Friday tried to change the subject from his unreleased tax returns to the ethics investigation Gingrich faced 15 years ago.

Romney's campaign appeared visibly rattled the day before the South Carolina primary, his standing in polls having tumbled after a week of constant attack ads and self-made problems. The former Massachusetts governor faced a potentially difficult day Saturday, and senior aides acknowledged they wouldn't be surprised if he lost the primary.

Romney came to South Carolina after twin victories in Iowa and New Hampshire, only to see his Iowa victory thrown into question because of problems with the count. He's spent a week trying to answer questions about his personal wealth and when he will release his tax returns.

Gingrich's House reprimand in 1997 presented an opportunity to talk about something else. When asked if Gingrich should release the Ethics Committee report that resulted in the first such action against a House speaker, Romney replied, "Of course he should."

"Nancy Pelosi has the full record of that ethics investigation," he said. "You know it's going to get out ahead of the general election."

In fact, the 1,280-page committee report on Gingrich is already public. Campaign officials said Romney was referring to other documents that Gingrich has referenced and that Pelosi has also mentioned.

"Given Speaker Gingrich's newfound interest in disclosure and transparency, and his concern about an `October surprise,' he should authorize the release of the complete record of the ethics proceedings against him," Romney spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said.

Romney's campaign is calling South Carolina voters with a recording attacking Gingrich's ethics record and calling on him to release any documents related to the inquiry.

In December, Pelosi told Talking Points Memo that she had served on the committee that conducted the investigation and implied that more information about the investigation could come to light. At the time Gingrich said the House should retaliate against Pelosi if she released any additional information.

"We turned over 1 million pages of material," Gingrich said then. "We had a huge report."

Gingrich's campaign said Romney's criticism represented a "panic attack" on the part of his campaign.

Romney on Friday said again that he wouldn't release his tax returns until April, which would probably be after Republicans choose their nominee.

"I realize that I had a lot of ground to make up and Speaker Gingrich is from a neighboring state, well-known, popular in the state," Romney said as he campaigned in Gilbert. "Frankly, to be in a neck-and-neck race at this last moment is kind of exciting."

Romney's campaign has rolled out endorsement after endorsement this week as he has tried to build a case that he is the most electable nominee. Ohio Sen. Rob Portman joined him on Thursday and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell campaigned with him Friday.

McDonnell said Friday he had been in touch with Romney's campaign for several weeks as they discussed the timing for the endorsement ? and decided it was most needed now, even as Romney looks ahead to a long campaign.

"It's the first Southern primary. I'm a Southern governor. I thought I could help," McDonnell said.

But the campaign's attack message has jumped from rival to rival and topic to topic as Romney's fought to stay afloat here.

At the beginning of the week, Romney was attacking rival Rick Santorum over voting rights for felons. Then he went after Gingrich's claims that he created jobs under President Ronald Reagan, saying Gingrich was living in "fantasyland." Meanwhile, his surrogates held a series of conference calls attacking his rivals, first calling Gingrich an unreliable leader and then pivoting to attack his ethics record.

In Thursday night's GOP debate, Romney continued his string of off-message remarks about his wealth, saying he has lived "in the real streets of America." A multimillionaire, he has three homes, one each in Massachusetts, California and New Hampshire.

Romney held three campaign events Friday in his last-ditch push to stem Gingrich's momentum. After stopping in Gilbert, he held a rally in North Charleston and flew to Greenville in the conservative upstate for a nighttime rally and a stop at his campaign headquarters before an evening event in Columbia, the state capital.

On a plane between events Friday night, Romney was outwardly cheerful in spite of a difficult day ahead, gamely bantering with reporters as he served pastries from Panera Bread.

"Pain au chocolat, smart move!" he said to one, proferring the box and a pair of tongs to take the desserts.

As he moved farther back into the plane, though, he dispensed with the tongs.

"Just use your fingers," he said. "To heck with it!"

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_el_pr/us_romney

earthquake california day light savings time curmudgeon daylight savings time 2011 selena daylight savings bobolink