The “not-Colbert” super PAC started by the Comedy Central comedian Stephen Colbert has released a negative hit tonight, urging voters to cast their ballots for Herman Cain instead of Stephen in South Carolina. The ad features the voice of actor Samuel L. Jackson:

Newt Gingrich’s daughters, Kathy Lubbers and Jackie Cushman, wrote ABC News the following letter after news broke that the network will air a interview with Gingrich’s ex-wife, Marianne. Read it below:

To: ABC News Leadership From: Kathy Lubbers, Jackie Cushman Date: January 18, 2012

The failure of a marriage is a terrible and emotional experience for everyone involved. Anyone who has had that experience understands it is a personal tragedy filled with regrets, and sometimes differing memories of events.

We will not say anything negative about our father’s ex-wife. He has said before, privately and publicly, that he regrets any pain he may have caused in the past to people he loves.

ABC News or other campaigns may want to talk about the past, just days before an important primary election. But Newt is going to talk to the people of South Carolina about the future– about job creation, lower taxes, and about who can defeat Barack Obama by providing the sharpest contrast to his damaging, extreme liberalism. We are confident this is the conversation the people of South Carolina are interested in having.

Our father is running for President because of his grandchildren – so they can inherit the America he loves. To do that, President Obama must be defeated. And as the only candidate in the race, including Obama, who has actually helped balance the national budget, create jobs, reform welfare, and cut taxes and spending, Newt felt compelled to run - to serve his country and safeguard his grandchildren's future.

Jon Huntsman’s daughters had some viral internet hits over the course of his otherwise ill-fated campaign. In the days after the Iowa caucuses, ABC News reports, the girls made a video that staffers insisted they not release, fearing its attacks on Mitt Romney were too barbed.

You can see the video here

The Newt Gingrich campaign has sent out the following email:

Atlanta, GA - Newt 2012 today announced that Dr. Michael Youssef has endorsed Newt Gingrich, and Dr. Youssef will be joining the Gingrich Faith Leaders Coalition as a National Co-Chair.

Michael Youssef is the Founder and President of the worldwide ministry, Leading The Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. Dr. Youssef’s weekly television and daily radio programs are broadcast in 20 languages to more than 190 countries - airing 3,300 times per week. He is also the founding pastor of The Church of The Apostles in Atlanta, Ga.

In a video message Dr. Youssef explained his reasons for supporting Newt Gingrich.

"As good citizens, we are commanded to diligently as good stewards to look carefully…in choosing a Commander in Chief,” Youssef said.

"Newt is one of the few people in all of the United States…who truly understands the dangers that are surrounding our nation and Western Civilization. He is one of the few people who truly knows…the threat that is coming to our doorstep. "

“I’m couldn’t be happier in having Dr. Youssef on board,” said Newt Gingrich. “Our Faith Leaders Coalition will benefit tremendously from his leadership as a Pastor, a communicator, and an immigrant to the U.S.”

CNN’s John King reported on-air Wednesday night that during the final day of the network’s South Carolina Republican primary poll, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich surged after his solid debate performance. The overall poll shows former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with a ten point lead over Gingrich, but King said the trend changed on the last day the poll was conducted — Tuesday, the day after the Republican debate in the state.

TPM’s transcript:

KING: We begin here in south carolina this evening with the fast changing Republican presidential race. Fast, as in overnight. Our new CNN/ORC tonight shows Mitt Romney leading here by 10 points. 33 percent for the former Massachusetts Governor to 23 percent for the former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, but, and this is important, the final 24 hours of our polling suggests a Gingrich surge. And my sources in several Republican campaigns tell me tonight, there numbers too are detecting a significant shift, a shift that benefits Gingrich heading into the final hours here. Want proof? A senior Romney campaign aid described this to me as a troublesome development, and the response from team Romney was immediate. A tough new tv ad labeling Gingrich an unreliable leader.

Rick Santorum sent out the following statement through his campaign email list:

"Today's decision by the Obama Administration is but another capitulation to the radical environmental fringe - and in turn putting our national security and economy at risk. Our nation needs energy and this pipeline will provide this much needed resource. In rejecting this responsible project that will create thousands of American jobs, we are simply diverting this energy to our international competitors like China. This announcement is utterly irresponsible and one more reason why Barack Obama is not the right man to lead this country. As President, I would approve the Pipeline on day-one."

The Romney camp is pushing back against an ABC report about Mitt Romney’s offshore tax havens, calling it “wrong” and pushing for a correction. From Romney spox Andrea Saul:

ABC is flat wrong. The Romney’s investments in funds established in the Cayman Islands are taxed in the very same way they would be if those funds were established in the United States. These are not tax havens and it is false to say so.

A federal grand jury has indicted 26-year-old former Muskogee County Jail detention officer Jerrod Porter Lane on civil rights charges for pepper spraying a fully restrained victim, the Justice Department announced Wednesday. From a press release:

Lane is charged with violating the civil rights of the victim for spraying him with Oleoresin Capsicum (OC or pepper spray) on Oct.1, 2011, while the victim was fully restrained. Lane is also charged with falsifying both his own incident report and the report of a fellow jailer when Lane falsely wrote that the victim was physically resisting and that the victim was not restrained at the time Lane dispensed his pepper spray.

Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) will announce at 1 p.m. on Thursday that he won’t seek reelection, WNYC reports:

Hinchey has been battling colon cancer–though the statement said his latest treatment showed he was cancer free–and was considered unlikely to serve much longer. His name usually came up in redistricting conversations, as New York needs to loose two seats this year. The loss of an incumbent means one less voice arguing for the best lines, and could result in major shifts to what is currently the 22nd Congressional District. The district stretches from Ithaca, through Binghamton, over to Poughkeepsie.

From CNN’s transcript of Newt Gingrich’s interview with Wolf Blitzer, the former House Speaker offers further praise of Sarah Palin:

BLITZER:  A lot of us noticed last night that Sarah Palin virtually endorsed you.  She said if she lived in South Carolina, she’d probably vote for you right now, which in my mind, and I suspect in others, immediately raised the possibility if you were to get the nomination, would she be on your short list as a potential vice presidential running mate?

GINGRICH:  Well, look, I don’t want to suggest anything about--we haven’t talked about anything at all.  Governor Palin is somebody who I think was a very good reform governor.  She was extraordinarily effective negotiating with big oil.  She did a good job in the state of Alaska.  I think she’s a very articulate leader of the Tea Party conservative movement.  I was honored and delighted last night when she said if she were in South Carolina, she’d vote for Newt Gingrich.  I hope everybody who likes her decides she’s right.  And I hope they vote for me.

Certainly, she’s one of the people I’d call on for advice.  I would ask her to consider taking a major role in the next administration if I’m president, but nothing has been discussed of any kind.  And it wouldn’t be appropriate to discuss it at this time.

I’m just delighted that she and Todd have been both of them so supportive of my candidacy.  And they recognize that, you know, I’m a Tea Party Reform conservative.  I’m not part of the Washington establishment.  And I think that’s the signal that her endorsement last night really sends.

Newt Gingrich, in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, said his rival Mitt Romney doesn’t understand how government can create jobs, and how government can kill jobs.

President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign will unveil its first television ads of 2012 on Thursday in four crucial battleground states.

The President’s campaign has purchased ad time in Michigan, Virginia, Ohio and North Carolina with the intention of airing the spots for one day only.  

The roll out of the ads will coincide with Obama’s planned multi-state tour following next week’s State of the Union address.

A magazine published by Al-Qaida was discovered in the cell of a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay prison, leading to an inspection of cells, the AP reports. It’s unclear how the magazine got there, or who received it, prosecutors say.

Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign team sent the following email containing the candidate’s reaction to the Keystone Pipeline announcement:

"President Obama's decision to reject the XL pipeline weakens America's national security and kills thousands of well paying American jobs.

Along with yesterday's decision to cancel the long planned U.S.-Israeli war game, the Obama administration is signaling extraordinary national security weakness at a time when the Iranian regime is threatening to shut down the Straits of Hormuz.

President Obama has made it clear once again that he is committed to Saul Alinksy radicalism at the expense of working Americans. This radicalism is especially evident in today's decision given that just 24 hours ago President Obama's own Panel on Jobs and Competitiveness published a report calling for the creation of new jobs through the construction of pipelines like Keystone XL Pipeline and the expansion of oil and gas production.

At a time when American families and businesses are facing record high gas prices and a weak economy, the President has made clear that is not going to do anything to help them. I will grant the permit to build the Keystone XL Pipeline on my first day in the Oval Office, as well as unleash domestic energy production to strengthen the economy and create jobs."

Rick Santorum on Wednesday took a dig at Newt Gingrich, saying the only woman he has shared a couch with is his wife.

“Judgment matters,” he said, according to the Washington Post. “When the winds are blowing, what we’ve seen with Romney and Gingrich is that they put their sails up and they go. I tack against the wind. I stand up for the values that I know are true.”

The House on Wednesday passed 239-176 a resolution disapproving of President Obama’s latest request to raise the debt limit, TPM’s Sahil Kapur reports. The resolution heads to the Senate, where it is expected to fail.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney remains in control in South Carolina, according to a new polls from CNN and TIME Magazine. The poll was conducted Friday though Tuesday, straddling the Republican debate in the state, and shows the race tightening within the news organizations' own polling — Romney had a nineteen point lead on former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on January 4th and 5th, and has a ten point lead on Gingrich in the latest. But the newest result is closer to our TPM Poll Average, which has shown Romney with around a ten point lead over the last week or so.

In Florida, Romney leads the field by 24 points, with former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum second with 19 to Romney’s 43.

“Gingrich appears to be the only candidate with momentum as the race in South Carolina enters the final few days,” said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. “Support for Romney and Santorum appears to be slipping, and Paul and Perry seem flat. Gingrich, however, has gained ground and cut Romney’s lead in half since early January.”

The pundit tide seems to have turned against Rick Perry today. Talk radio host Laura Ingraham and RedState founder Erick Ericksson are among those suddenly urging Rick Perry to drop out so as to help boost Newt Gingrich’s chances of solidifying the anti-Romney vote.

However, so far the Perry camp don’t seem to be listening. According to NBC News' embedded reporter Carrie Dan, Perry’s spokesman Mark Miner said: “we have no intention of leaving the race.” He went on to say that the people of South Carolina will decide this, and not “pundits.”

CNN reports:

Former President Jimmy Carter on Wednesday charged Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich with crafting his campaign message in a way that speaks to prejudice.

"I wouldn't say he's racist, but he knows the subtle words to use to appeal to a racist group," the former Democratic president said in an interview set to air on CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight."

Speaker Boehner, addressing the State Department’s decision to reject the Keystone XL oil pipeline, said “this is not the end of the fight.”

Boehner said President Obama will not stand up to his political base, “even to create jobs.”