"I'm not interested in bailing out individual institutions that have wealthy people that wanna make sure their shares are worth something. I am interested in making sure that we preserve our financial system, our currency, the banks across the entire country, and I will always put the interest of the American people ahead of the interests of any institution."

 

Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, is the current front-runner. He opened tonight's debate sponsored by the Washington Post and Bloomberg, pledging to work across party lines. Earlier today he received the endorsement from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

 

President's jobs bill faced its first congressional test and it failed to get the votes needed to overcome a procedural hurdle in the Senate. As NPR's Tamara Keith reports, the opposition from Republicans was unanimous.

 

Two Democrats joined the Republicans in voting "no". As a result, the bill came up well short of the 60 votes needed to begin debate. The bill included a payroll tax cut for workers and businesses, spending on infrastructure projects and an extension of unemployment benefits. Republicans said these ideas were a rehash of failed policies. In a statement President Obama said the fight isn't over. He says he plans to work with Senate Democrats to bring individual proposals in the bill up for a vote. Tamara Keith, NPR News, the Capitol.

 

US government says it has thwarted a plot by the government of Iran to arrange the murder of Saudi Arabia's ambassador here in Washington. The alleged Iranian plan was to hire Mexican drug cartel to carry out the assassination. NPR's Tom Gjelten says the Obama administration is promising to hold the government of Iran accountable for the alleged plot.

 

Attorney General Eric Holder did not say upper reaches of the Iranian government knew about the plot but he did point a finger at senior members of the Quds Force, part of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. He described them as elements of the Iranian government.

 

"I think one has to be concerned about the chilling nature of what the Iranian government attempted to do here, and one of the things that our State Department will be doing. We'll be getting in touch with other of our allies and nations around the world."

 

Secretary Hillary Clinton says the US will be consulting on how to send a strong message to the government of Iran and how to deepen its international isolation. Tom Gjelten, NPR News, Washington.

 

Announced flight reductions by American Airlines could cost some employees their jobs in the coming quarter. The Dallas-based airline says it will cut passenger capacity for the current quarter by roughly 3% compared to a year ago. Citing a weak economy, analysts say the cuts along with similar actions taken by other airlines show the industry is taking steps to control costs.

 

On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 16 points to close at 11,416. The NASDAQ was up 16 points.

 

This is NPR.

 

One witness testifying at the trial of the accused underwear bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, today described hearing a large pop after the Nigerian man tried to detonate a concealed explosive device after returning to his seat. Mike Zantow, a passenger on the flight, says he tried to move Abdulmutallab away from the burning seat. Prosecutors in opening remarks for the jury have said the Nigerian man was on a martyrdom mission for al-Qaeda.

 

Democrats in Wisconsin say they will begin gathering signatures next month to try to recall Governor Scott Walker from office. Wisconsin Public Radio's Shawn Johnson reports it continues what's been a tumultuous year in the state.

 

Democrats have been talking about recalling Governor Walker ever since he introduced his plan to roll back union bargaining rights for public employees. November is the soonest as they can start. Once they begin circulating recall petitions they'll have 60 days to get the 540,000 signatures they need. State Democratic Party chair Mike Tate told MSNBC's "The Ed Show" that organizers would hit that goal.

 

"I think we can, you know, we saw people of Ohio get about a million signatures for an initiative there last month. We've done the math; we've done the number; we're very well-prepared."

 

If Democrats are successful, a special election for governor could be held as early as March. For NPR News, I'm Shawn Johnson in Madison.

 

A Los Angeles company's announced it's recalling more than 375,000 pounds of ground beef products shipped to restaurants in California and Nevada. That's because of a possible E. coli contamination. The announcement from US Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Services comes after routine monitoring confirmed a positive test for E. coli in the meat sent by Commercial Meat Co. No illness has been reported so far.