Jerry Seib on The News Hub looks at four ways leverage has tilted–slightly but perceptibly–toward President Obama in the current budget showdown with Congress. Seib points out any negotiator will tell you that the key in a bargaining session is knowing at the outset who has leverage, and where it comes from. “So it is in the great deficit-cutting showdown …

The push by Asia-Pacific leaders to establish a trading bloc that would cover almost one-third of the global economy threatens to overshadow Washington’s plans for a trans-Pacific economic partnership. The WSJ’s Patrick Barta has the story.

Brahmin David Cunliffe leaves his Herne Bay residence to drill out John Key during the 2011 election. Seriously, who really believes Cunliffe’s rant about “the rich fellas” is totally authentic. Hard to sound working class when you are a Herne Bay resident.