Politics

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"This is not a tax on the rich. This is a tax on the very, very, very rich," said Sen. Bernard Sanders. He delivered an eight-hour speech on Friday in opposition to President Obama's tax-cut deal with Republicans. (Associated Press)

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Former Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell, Delaware Republican. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

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House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, Massachusetts Democrat (right), confers with the committee's ranking Republican, Spencer Bachus of Alabama, during a September hearing. Mr. Bachus, who will succeed Mr. Frank as chairman in January, is expected to exhibit a more reserved style. (Associated Press)

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, poses in his office on Capitol Hill on Thursday. The midterm elections, which gave the GOP more seats in the Senate, strengthened Mr. McConnell's hand in dealing with the president. (Associated Press)

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"I'm not going to run for president. I've got a great job," said New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Sunday. (Associated Press)

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Hashim Thaci, leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, gives a thumbs up as he arrives to cast his ballot in general elections in Kosovo's capital, Pristina, on Sunday, Dec. 12, 2010. Kosovars were voting in the first general poll since the country's declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008, a critical election already marred by ethnic tension that many feared would split the world's newest country. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

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FILE - In this Aug. 20, 2009 file photo, Libyan Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, who was found guilty of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, gestures on his arrival at an airport in Tripoli, Libya. Diplomatic cables revealed by WikiLeaks show that the British government feared Libya would take harsh action against it if the Lockerbie bomber died in prison.(AP Photo/File)

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The Prince of Wales talks to navy personnel in the gardens of Clarence House, London Friday Dec 10 2010, as he presents operational medals for service in Afghanistan . The violent attack on a car containing Prince Charles and his wife the previous day has led to a flurry of questions about UK security. (AP Photo/ Gareth Fuller/PA) UNITED KINGDOM OUT NO SALES NO ARCHIVE

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A protestor bangs on the window of the car carrying Britain's Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, in London, Thursday, Dec. 9, 2010. Angry protesters in London have attacked a car containing Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. An Associated Press photographer saw demonstrators kick the car in Regent Street, in the heart of London's shopping district. The car then sped off. Charles' office, Clarence House, confirmed that "their royal highnesses' car was attacked by protesters on the way to their engagement at the London Palladium this evening, but their royal highnesses are unharmed." (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

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Britain's Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, react as their car is attacked by angry protesters in London, Thursday, Dec. 9, 2010. An Associated Press photographer saw demonstrators kick the car in Regent Street, in the heart of London's shopping district. The car then sped off. Charles' office, Clarence House, confirmed that "their royal highnesses' car was attacked by protesters on the way to their engagement at the London Palladium this evening, but their royal highnesses are unharmed." (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

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A list of paintings that were borrowed by the Old National Gallery to decorate the apartment of Adolf Hitler is displayed in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, Dec. 9, 2010 during an exhibition of paintings that were lost after World War II and have now been returned to Berlin . (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

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In this Thursday Dec. 9, 2010 photo, Charlie Gilmour, the son of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, is seen participating in a demonstration in central London against government plans to triple tuition fees. Charlie Gilmour has issued a public apology for climbing on top of one of Britain's most important war memorials and trying to rig a British flag during the violent student protests against rising university fees. He added in a statement Friday Dec. 10, 2010 that he was ashamed for his 'moment of idiocy' and he did not realize the Cenotaph in central London commemorates Britain's war dead. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

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Afghan soldiers stand near a damaged military check post after a suicide attack in Kunduz, north of Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday, Dec. 11, 2010. (AP Photo/Fulad Hamdard)

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Former North Carolina senator and Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, right, and his daughter Cate, left, arrive for funeral services for Elizabeth Edwards at Edenton Street United Methodist Church in Raleigh, N.C., on Saturday, Dec. 11, 2010. Edwards died Tuesday of cancer at the age of 61. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

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President Barack Obama looks on as former President Bill Clinton speaks in the briefing room of the White House in Washington on Friday, Dec. 10, 2010. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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** FILE ** President Barack Obama talks briefly about taxes and his meeting the day before with Republican and Democratic Congressional leaders on Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2010, in the Oval Office at the White in Washington. The president was in a meeting with former Secretary of State Colin Powell, not shown. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)