Live streaming video of President Obama’s address to Congress on the jobs crisis. Watch.

The clash between Rick Perry and Mitt Romney over Social Security continued to unfold today. Not only an important issue in its own right, but this is the first real substantive pivot point in the primary race thus far, so it’s fascinating politically as well.

Sen. Franken confronts notorious vote fraud bamboozler Hans von Spakovsky at senate hearing on voter suppression.

Jamie McFadden at Frum Forum has got more on why Rick Perry’s reiterating that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme could spell trouble for him.

McFadden also makes this point: “Perhaps not since George McGovern’s annihilation at the hands of Richard Nixon in 1972 has a candidate’s Primary base been so alienated from the center of American political thought as the Tea Party is today.”

There were signs today that Perry recognizes the trouble he’s in on this issue.

Stay tuned.

Are Mitt Romney’s economics advisors too sane for today’s GOP?

We’ve been covering it closely, but I haven’t had a chance to flag in here the bizarro situation in New York, where Democrats are scrambling to hold onto the House seat in the heavily Democratic 9th Congressional District.

That’s the seat which was held by Anthony Weiner until his Twitter meltdown so perhaps only fitting that the bizarreness continues.

What do I mean by “scrambling”? National Democrats are now involved, throwing money into the race to save the Democratic candidate, who by almost every measure has been a disaster. The election is Tuesday.

In a cycle with little margin of error for Democrats, this is a potentially big unforced error.

FBI raids office of bankrupt solar panel maker in California that benefited from loans guaranteed by Department of Energy.

Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals says no to Virginia’s challenge of the Affordable Care Act.

Scientists developing new technology that might make cell phone reception not suck.

With everything else you hear about the “Super Committee”, remember this. The ‘trigger’ cuts are dire. But they don’t come into effect until early 2013, after the 2012 election. In 2012 nothing happens. So if committee Republicans refuse any revenue increases and no agreement is reached, the consequences of the failure to agree move to the top of the 2012 agenda. Sharp cuts to Social Security and Medicare or tax hikes on dollars made over $250,000 per year. It’s a frame for the 2012 election Republicans are very much trying to avoid. So the incentives for both sides on the committee are not necessarily what they seem.