President Obama welcomes China’s Hu Jintao to the White House for a State Dinner on January 19. (REUTERS/Jim Young)
–The Obama approval bump seems to be more than statistical noise; another poll shows him creeping up into the 50 percent range.
–China agrees to purchase $45 billion in American exports and the pandas get all the headlines.
—Leslie Gleb thinks Hu came out of the summit with the upper hand.
—Labor was rankled by Blankfein, Mrs. Murdoch making the White House guest list.
–Gabrielle Giffords has stood up and Loughner has been indicted.
–Scherer has a thorough overview of Romney’s return in this week’s newsstand edition of TIME. Mitt’s “rugged jawline” and “thick blow-dry” look better in glossy print, so let us send you a copy.
–Real Clear Politics reports Palin is toeing the waters in Iowa. It reads a bit like push back from her inner circle on the “she’ll get in late if at all” narrative:
Palin’s aides have long emphasized in private conversations that she relishes opportunities to engage with voters face-to-face in small venues and would not repeat the mistakes that Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani made in 2008 by declining to do the hard work required in the early states.
–Chris Murphy, whom I mentioned yesterday, steps forward in Connecticut.
–What the Macker is up to in Virginia.
–And Hu Jintao pays for the state dinner while Obama is in the bathroom.