It's a much different electoral landscape in 2012 for the Republican Party.  It's a landscape in which California plays a central role in the presidential nominating process, not because its primary comes early like New Hampshire or South Carolina, but because its primary comes so late in the process... and has the most delegates up for grabs.

Independents & Moderates Will Chose Which Republicans Emerge From New Hampshire

ologypolitics:

The Eurozone will eventually collapse, with at least one member nation leaving this year, says the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), a noted British think tank. It sees a probability of 99% for a complete breakup within ten years. It could easily happen much faster. If one country leaves, it would destabilize the entire wobbly apparatus.

As primary season rolls on, a recent CBS poll of Republican voters finds that they are not satisfied with the current crop of GOP presidential candidates.  According to the survey, 58% of Republican voters want more candidate choices even with the presidential selection process already in motion.  That’s up 12% since October 2011. Only 37% of the voters polled are satisfied with the current field vying for the nomination.

We're asking you: Who will win the New Hampshire primary?

When it comes to gauging the direction of the economy, most of us think “inside the box,” expecting things to continue the way they have been going. But signs have begun to indicate that our economic condition may be on the mend, with the possibility of better times ahead.

The Washington Post has provided some great resources for tracking the 2012 Presidential Election. Here are a few of our favorite at IVN.us:

Tracking TV ads in the Presidential Campaign! 

Great site to watch recent campaign ads, see how much each candidate is spending on ads, and the top messages in the 2012 presidential election ads. 

It is a virtual axiom of contemporary political strategy, that Independent voters cast the decisive ballots in closely contested elections. Unlike their Democratic and Republican counterparts, Independent voters can be fairly unpredictable and may remain undecided as to how they will cast their ballots up to election day itself. It is therefore all the more remarkable that there are so few polls and surveys which focus solely on Independent voters, especially given the fact that Independents outnumber Democrats and Republicans alike nationwide.

Several proposed big solar projects, including one in California, have switched from concentrated solar power (CSP) to the more familiar photovoltaic (PV). The trend now seems irreversible. Photovoltaic will now be the dominant technology used for big solar plants. CSP, with one notable exception, is losing out everywhere.