2012: Bachmann wins Ames straw pol with 4,823 votes; Ron Paul got 4,671. Pawlenty got 2,292. [Thomas DeFrank and Rich Schapiro / Daily News]
2012: Pawlenty drops out. [ABC News]
2012: Texas Gov. Rick Perry enters, officially. [Dave Montgomery / Star-Telegram]
2012: “Perry’s announcement stepped on Bachmann’s triumph in the Ames Straw Poll, the biggest moment yet in her presidential campaign.” [West, Mehta and Reston / SentinelSource.com]
2012: “Republicans sense a new opportunity to win back the White House, but there was little clarity about whether voters would choose someone from the party establishment, an outsider or a hybrid.” [Jeff Zeleny / New York Times]
2012: Romney’s name was on the Ames ballot, but didn’t campaign; Perry was not on the ballot. [Jonathan Weisman and Neil King Jr. / WSJ]
2012: Fact-checking Perry’s statements on budget, jobs. [Dallas News]
2012: Perry’s program to fund tech companies in Texas gave a lot of money to companies run by political donors. [Charles Dameron / WSJ]
Congress: “Rep. Nydia Velazquez has not sponsored one bill, amendment or resolution this year.” [Alison Gendar / Daily News]
Lawsuit: GOP County Exec in Buffalo, Collins, accused of unfairly firing a prominent Democrat in his administration. [Phil Fairbanks / Buffalo News]
Ads: Spokeswoman for Collins’ Dem rival explained why they are using actors in their campaign ads. [Robert McCarthy / Buffalo News]
Ads: Bloomberg highlights his fight against coal. [Flickr]
Redistricting: “About the only thing near-certain is that all of Staten Island will remain in the 13th C.D., which will link in some fashion to Brooklyn and not Manhattan, as it did several decades back.” [Judy Randall / SI Advance]
Layoffs: NYC delayed sending pink slips to 465 park workers; may send next week if deal with labor union isn’t achieved. [Michael Saul / WSJ]
Unions: CSEA will tally votes tomorrow on whether to accept deal with Cuomo. [Rick Karlin / Times Union]
NYPD: Ticket-fixing probe shrinks scope down to 12 cops. “No high-ranking member of the NYPD are expected to be charged.” [Alison Gendar andKevin Deutsch / Daily News]
NYC Dept. of Corrections: Chief Davis resigned. He may have used a public employees as “his personal valets.” [Reuven Blau and John Doyle / Daily News]
NYC Dept. of Corrections: “Department of Investigation began looking into allegations that Davis took vacations that were paid for by his subordinates.” [Goldenberg, Otis and Perone / NY Post]
Brooklyn: Vito Lopez allies are new board members of Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council. [Gary Buiso and Aaron Short / NY Post]
Crown Heights: How much has changed since the 1991 riots there? [Simone Weichselbaum and Katie Nelson / Daily News]
Transportation: “[W]e hope New Yorkers will heed our ad campaign, “Don’t Be a Jerk,” and call out the rogue riders,” wrote NYC Transportation Commissioner. [Voice of the People / Daily News]
Fracking: Editors urge Christie to veto NJ bill outlawing franking. “[I]t would do enormous damage. To the nation. To Jersey. And even to Christie’s own political prospects (should he ever decide to seek national office).” [NY Post]
Trees: Some newly planted trees in Brooklyn aren’t doing so well. [Sarah / KensingtonProspect.com]
Schools: In one year, Buffalo Superintendent out of town “more a total of more than 130 days.” Currently on vacation while Board of Ed tries firing him. [Mary Pasciak / Buffalo News]
Schools: Bloomberg defends new sex education requirement; says parents aren’t teaching their kids these lessons. [Michael Saul and Lisa Fleisher / WSJ]
District Attorney: Two high-profile losses may hinder a Texas DA’s first re-election. [Geoff Grammar / Santa Fe New Mexican]
Opinion: “He is still the same anti-American leftist he was before becoming our president.” [Norman Podhoretz / WSJ]
Media: NYT public editor asks, “did Joe Nocera really go too far” when he called Tea Party members “terrorists” on a “jihad”? [Arthur Brisbane / New York Times]
